Shloka 43
दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort
संसारमें समस्त सुदुर्लभ सुख-भोग किसी पापीको प्राप्त हो जाय तो भी वह उसके पास टिकता नहीं, शीघ्र ही उसे छोड़कर चल देता है। जो मनुष्य लोभ और मोहमें डूबा हुआ है उसे दैव भी संकटसे नहीं बचा सकता ।।
saṃsāre samasta-sudurlabha-sukha-bhogāḥ kasyacid api pāpinaḥ prāptāḥ syuḥ cet, te 'pi tasya samīpe na tiṣṭhanti; kṣipram eva taṃ tyaktvā prayānti. yo manuṣyo lobha-mohābhyāṃ nimagno bhavati, taṃ daivam api saṅkaṭāt na trātuṃ śaknoti. yathāgniḥ pavanoddhūtaḥ susūkṣmo 'pi mahān bhavet, tathā karma-samāyuktaṃ daivaṃ sādhū vivardhate.
Bhīṣma said: Even if a sinner happens to obtain the rarest pleasures and enjoyments in this world, they do not stay with him; they quickly abandon him and depart. A man drowned in greed and delusion cannot be rescued from calamity even by fate itself. Just as a tiny fire, fanned by the wind, can grow into a great blaze, so too destiny, when joined with human effort and right action, gains extraordinary strength.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly pleasures are unstable for the unethical, and greed-delusion make one unprotectable even by 'fate'; destiny becomes effective when it is supported by purposeful action (karma/puruṣārtha), like fire growing when fanned by wind.
In Bhishma’s instruction (Anushasana Parva), he offers a moral reflection: ill-gotten or unmerited enjoyments do not endure, and he uses the fire-and-wind analogy to explain how human effort amplifies what is called destiny.