Shloka 60
भीष्मविक्रमदर्शनं तथा क्रौञ्चारुणव्यूहविधानम् | Bhīṣma’s Ascendancy and the Organization of the Krauñcāruṇa Formation
स्वभावजेन कौन्तेयः निबद्धः स्वेन कर्मणा । कर्तु नेच्छसि यन्मोहात् करिष्यस्यवशो5पि तत्,हे कुन्तीपुत्र! जिस कर्मको तू मोहके कारण* करना नहीं चाहता, उसको भी अपने पूर्वकृत स्वाभाविक कर्मसे बँधा हुआ परवश होकर करेगाः
svabhāvajena kaunteyaḥ nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā | kartuṁ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo 'pi tat ||
Bound by your own action born of your nature, O son of Kuntī, you will be compelled to do that very deed which, out of delusion, you do not wish to do. The force of your ingrained disposition and past practice will drive you even against your present reluctance—showing that evasion of rightful duty does not free one from responsibility, but entangles one further in confusion.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A person cannot truly escape action: one’s ingrained nature (svabhāva) and the momentum of one’s own past conduct (karma) compel behavior. Therefore, refusing one’s rightful duty out of delusion does not remove obligation; it leads to being driven by compulsion rather than acting with clarity and responsibility.
In the Bhīṣma Parva’s battlefield instruction context, Arjuna is being addressed as ‘son of Kuntī’ and warned that even if he presently refuses to act due to confusion, his own warrior disposition and prior commitments will force him into action anyway—highlighting the futility of avoidance and the need for conscious alignment with dharma.