Shloka 20
कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च
Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation
दग्धमेवानुदहति हतमेवानुहन्यते । नश्यते नष्टमेवाग्रे लब्धव्यं लभते नर:
śakra uvāca | dagdham evānudahati hatam evānuhanyate | naśyate naṣṭam evāgre labdhavyaṃ labhate naraḥ ||
ما قد احترق من قبل فكأنما يُحرَق ثانيةً؛ وما قد قُتِل من قبل فكأنما يُقتَل ثانيةً. وما كان قد هلك سلفًا هو الذي يبدو كأنه يُدمَّر، وما كان قد قُدِّر أن يُنال هو الذي ينتهي الإنسان إلى امتلاكه. والعبرة أن العواقب تنكشف وفق الزمان (كالا) والقدر؛ وأن فعل الإنسان يجري ضمن ما قد أُطلق من قبل، فليعمل المرء بلا كِبْر وبلا حزنٍ مُفرِط.
श॒क्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the inevitability of outcomes governed by Kāla (Time) and destiny: events that occur appear to be caused by immediate agents, but in a deeper sense they unfold because they were already determined. This encourages humility, steadiness, and reduced attachment to success or failure.
Śakra (Indra) speaks in a reflective, instructive tone, using parallel examples—burning, killing, destroying, obtaining—to convey that what happens to beings and things follows an already-established course, and human actions often serve as instruments in that larger order.