Shloka 47
दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort
न च फलति विकर्मा जीवलोके न दैवं व्यपनयति विमार्ग नास्ति दैवे प्रभुत्वम् | गुरुमिव कृतमग्रयं कर्म संयाति दैवं नयति पुरुषकार: संचितस्तत्र तत्र
na ca phalati vikarmā jīvaloke na daivaṁ vyapanayati vimārgaṁ nāsti daive prabhutvam | gurum iva kṛtam agryaṁ karma saṁyāti daivaṁ nayati puruṣakāraḥ saṁcitas tatra tatra ||
Bhishma teaches that in the world of living beings, a person who makes no effort never truly prospers. Fate does not possess such independent power that it can pull an idle person away from a wrong path and set him firmly on the right one. Rather, fate follows human initiative: just as a disciple walks with the teacher placed in front, so destiny moves behind one’s exertion. The effort a person has accumulated is what carries ‘fate’ wherever it is made to go.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Human effort (puruṣakāra) is primary: prosperity and moral progress do not come to the idle, and ‘fate’ is not an independent ruler that can reform a person by itself. Destiny is portrayed as following behind one’s accumulated actions and exertions.
Bhishma is instructing on dharma and right conduct, emphasizing ethical responsibility. In this teaching passage he argues against fatalism, explaining that personal initiative leads and what people call ‘daiva’ follows the momentum created by one’s deeds.