Shloka 166
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ४०
Karṇa’s Pressure on the Pāñcālas; Duryodhana Disabled; Arjuna’s Counter-Advance
भवानेव विशिष्टो हि पतत्रिभ्यो विहड़म । (एतेडतिपातिन: पश्य विहड्डान् वियदाश्रितान् | एभिस्त्वमपि शक्तो हि कामान्न पतितं त्वया ।।
bhavān eva viśiṣṭo hi patatribhyo vihaṅgama | eted atipātinaḥ paśya vihaṅgān viyad-āśritān | ebhis tvam api śakto hi kāmān na patitaṃ tvayā ||
Sañjaya sprach: Als die jungen Prinzen jene Schwäne erblickten, redeten sie den Raben so an: „O Vogel! Wahrlich, du bist der Vorzüglichste unter allen geflügelten Wesen. Sieh—diese himmelswandernden Schwäne steigen in die Lüfte und fliegen über gewaltige Weiten. Auch du hast die Kraft, so weit zu fliegen wie sie; nur aus eigenem Entschluss hast du einen solchen Flug bislang nicht gewagt.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
True limitation is not always lack of power; often it is lack of resolve or a chosen restraint. The passage highlights how potential can remain unrealized when one does not willfully attempt what one is capable of, and it also warns against judging excellence merely by comparison or flattery.
In a brief illustrative episode narrated by Sañjaya, the princes see swans flying high and far. They address a crow, praising it as superior among birds and suggesting it too could match the swans’ long flight, implying that its not doing so is a matter of choice rather than inability.