Shloka 69
Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
भीष्म उवाच अथोपगम्य कालस्तु तस्मिन् धर्मार्थसंशये । अब्रवीत् पन्नगं मृत्युं लुब्धं चार्जुनकं तथा,भीष्मजी कहते हैं--युधिष्ठिर! तदनन्तर धार्मिक विषयमें संदेह उपस्थित होनेपर काल भी वहाँ आ पहुँचा; तथा सर्प, मृत्यु एवं अर्जुनक व्याधसे इस प्रकार बोला
bhīṣma uvāca athopagamya kālas tu tasmin dharmārtha-saṁśaye | abravīt pannagaṁ mṛtyuṁ lubdhaṁ cārjunakaṁ tathā ||
Bhishma said: “O Yudhiṣṭhira, when a doubt arose concerning what is right (dharma) and what is beneficial (artha), Time itself arrived there. Then it addressed the serpent, Death, the greedy hunter, and Arjunaka as well.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical conflict between dharma (what is right) and artha (what is expedient/beneficial), and introduces Kāla (Time) as an overarching force that intervenes—suggesting that moral dilemmas unfold within the larger inevitability of time, consequence, and mortality.
Bhishma narrates to Yudhiṣṭhira that, when a doubt about dharma and artha arises, Time arrives on the scene and speaks to a set of figures—serpent, Death, and hunters (Lubdha and Arjunaka)—setting up a didactic episode involving these characters.