Shloka 14
तांश्व त्वं विफलान् कुर्वन् क॑ नु लोक॑ गमिष्यसि । राजन् संशयिते मोक्षे परतन्त्रेषु देहिषु,“राजन! मोक्षकी प्राप्ति संशयास्पद है और प्राणी प्रारब्धके अधीन हैं। ऐसी दशामें उन अर्थार्थी सेवकोंको यदि आप विफल-मनोरथ करते हैं तो पता नहीं किस लोकमें जायँगे?
tānś ca tvaṁ viphalān kurvan ka nu lokaṁ gamiṣyasi | rājan saṁśayite mokṣe paratantrēṣu dehiṣu ||
Arjuna said: “O King, if you render those petitioners’ efforts fruitless, to what world will you go? For liberation is uncertain, and embodied beings are dependent on forces beyond their control (their allotted destiny). In such a condition, to disappoint those who seek gain and have taken refuge in your service is ethically perilous.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s dharma includes not frustrating the legitimate hopes of dependents and supplicants. Since embodied life is already constrained by destiny and uncertainty about liberation, ethical governance demands compassion and reliability; failing those who rely on you risks moral downfall.
Arjuna addresses a king and warns him that if he makes the efforts of those who have come seeking benefit (and serve under him) come to nothing, the king’s afterlife destination will be blameworthy. He frames the warning through the uncertainty of mokṣa and the dependence of embodied beings on fate.