Shloka 24
प्रजापतयः देवगणाश्च दिशि-दिशि स्थिताः ऋषयः
Prajāpatis, Deva-Groups, and the Ṛṣis Assigned to the Directions
मत्स्यो यथा स्रोत इवाभिपाती तथा कृतं पूर्वमुपैति कर्म । शुभे त्वसौ तुष्यति दुष्कृते तु नतुष्यते वै परम: शरीरी
matsyo yathā srota iva abhipātī tathā kṛtaṃ pūrvam upaiti karma | śubhe tv asau tuṣyati duṣkṛte tu na tuṣyate vai paramaḥ śarīrī ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Wie ein Fisch vom Strom eines Baches fortgetragen wird, so wird der Mensch von der Kraft früher vollbrachter Taten weitergetrieben. Und doch, während er in diesem Fluss des Karma mitgerissen wird, freut sich das verkörperte Selbst—obwohl es in Wahrheit erhaben ist—über ein günstiges Ergebnis und betrübt sich über ein ungünstiges. Gerade diese Regung ist das Kennzeichen der Verblendung.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions propel the embodied being like a current carries a fish; wisdom lies in not being mentally elated by pleasant outcomes or crushed by painful ones, recognizing such reactive satisfaction and distress as delusion.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma teaches Yudhishthira using a vivid metaphor to explain how beings are driven by prior karma and why one should cultivate equanimity toward the fruits that inevitably arise.