Shloka 10
कृते युगे धर्म आसीत् समग्र- स्त्रेताकाले ज्ञानमनुप्रपन्न: । बल॑ त्वासीद् द्वापरे पार्थ कृष्ण: कलौ त्वधर्म: क्षितिमिवाजगाम
kṛte yuge dharma āsīt samagraḥ | tretākāle jñānam anuprapannaḥ | balaṃ tv āsīd dvāpare pārtha kṛṣṇaḥ | kalau tv adharmaḥ kṣitim ivājagāma, pārtha ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Im Kṛta-Zeitalter stand das Dharma vollständig und unversehrt. Im Tretā-Zeitalter war Kṛṣṇa als vollendetes Wissen und Unterscheidungskraft gegründet. Im Dvāpara-Zeitalter, o Pārtha, war er als Stärke gegenwärtig. Doch im Kali-Zeitalter wird adharma über die Erde kommen, als sei es herabgestiegen, um Besitz zu ergreifen — sodass Unrecht zur herrschenden Macht wird.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a yuga-based moral cosmology: as time moves from Kṛta to Kali, the dominant principle shifts from complete dharma to the ascendancy of adharma. It frames ethical life as increasingly challenging in later ages, where unrighteousness tends to prevail socially and politically.
Bhīṣma, instructing Arjuna, summarizes the changing character of the four yugas. He describes how dharma, wisdom, and strength are successively prominent, and warns that in Kali Yuga adharma will seem to descend upon and overtake the earth.