Shloka 26
Kṣemadarśa–Kālakavṛkṣīya Saṃvāda: Counsel on Impermanence, Non-attachment, and Composure in Dispossession
तस्यैव द्वियमाणस्य स्रोतसेव तपोधन । फलमेतत् प्रपश्यामि यथालब्धेन वर्तयन्
tasyaiva dvīyamānasya srotaseva tapodhana | phalam etat prapaśyāmi yathālabdhena vartayan ||
قال بهيشما: «يا من غناه الزهد بالتقشف، أرى بوضوح أن هذا هو الثمر: كما يحمل التيار الأشياء ويجرفها، كذلك بقوة الزمن جُرف ملكي من يدي. ومن تلك الخسارة أذوق الآن طعم هذا الحزن، وأقيم حياتي بما يقع في يدي كيفما اتفق.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches acceptance of the overpowering force of Time and the ethical discipline of contentment: when worldly power is lost, one should recognize the result as a consequence unfolding in time and live steadily on whatever is rightly obtained (yathālabdhena), without grasping or despair.
Bhishma, speaking in the Shanti Parva, reflects on the loss of sovereignty: he compares it to an object swept away by a river’s current, attributing the loss to the irresistible momentum of Kāla (Time). He describes the sorrow that follows and his present condition of subsisting on whatever he can obtain.