Shloka 16
Śvetadvīpa-varṇana and Śāstra-pravartana (Śānti Parva 322)
यथा धेनुसहस्रेषु वत्सो विन्दति मातरम् | तथा पूर्वकृतं कर्म कर्तारमनुगच्छति,जैसे बछड़ा हजारों गौओंमेंसे अपनी माँको पहचानकर उसे पा लेता है, वैसे ही पहलेका किया हुआ कर्म भी अपने कर्ताके पास पहुँच जाता है
yathā dhenusahasreṣu vatso vindati mātaram | tathā pūrvakṛtaṃ karma kartāram anugacchati ||
Bhishma sprach: Wie ein Kalb selbst unter tausend Kühen seine eigene Mutter erkennt und findet, so folgt auch die einst vollbrachte Tat unweigerlich ihrem Täter und erreicht ihn.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
That karma is inescapable: actions, along with their moral consequences, inevitably return to and ‘find’ the very person who performed them, just as a calf unfailingly finds its own mother even in a large herd.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right conduct, Bhishma is teaching Yudhishthira through a vivid simile, emphasizing that past deeds inevitably pursue their agent and bear fruit.