Shloka 15

Devanagari script

साधारण द्वयं होतद्‌ दैवमुत्थानमेव च । पौरुषं हि परं मन्ये देवं निश्चितमुच्यते,यद्यपि कार्यकी सिद्धिमें प्रारब्ध और पुरुषार्थ--ये दोनों साधारण कारण माने गये हैं, तथापि मैं पुरुषार्थको ही प्रधान मानता हूँ। प्रारब्ध तो पहलेसे ही निश्चित बताया गया है

Transliteration

sādhāraṇaṃ dvayaṃ hy etad daivam utthānam eva ca | pauruṣaṃ hi paraṃ manye daivaṃ niścitam ucyate ||

Translation

Bhishma sprach: „Für das Gelingen eines Vorhabens werden gemeinhin zwei Ursachen anerkannt: Schicksal und persönliches Bemühen. Doch halte ich menschliche Tatkraft für das höhere Prinzip; denn vom ‚Schicksal‘ heißt es, es sei bereits im Voraus festgelegt.“

Word by Word

• {'sādhāraṇam': 'common, generally accepted', 'dvayam': 'a pair, twofold', 'etad': 'this', 'daivam': 'destiny

• that which arises from the divine/previously ordained', 'utthānam': 'rising up

• personal effort', 'eva': 'indeed, precisely', 'ca': 'and', 'pauruṣam': 'human effort

• self-initiative', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'param': 'higher, supreme, primary', 'manye': 'I think, I consider', 'niścitam': 'fixed, determined, settled', 'ucyate': 'is said, is called'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Though destiny and effort are both cited as causes of success, Bhishma prioritizes personal effort as ethically and practically primary, while destiny is treated as already determined.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living and governance, Bhishma teaches Yudhishthira by reflecting on causality in human action—how much depends on fate versus one’s own exertion.