Shloka 28
Adhyāya 199: Karma–Jñāna Causality and the Nirguṇa Brahman
Manu’s Instruction
धर्म उवाच यदि त्व॑ं नेच्छसे त्यक्तुं शरीरं पश्य वै द्विज । एष कालस्तथा मृत्युर्यमश्न त्वामुपागता:
dharma uvāca | yadi tvaṁ necchase tyaktuṁ śarīraṁ paśya vai dvija | eṣa kālas tathā mṛtyur yamaś ca tvām upāgatāḥ ||
Dharma said: “O brāhmaṇa, if you do not wish to abandon the body, then look—Time itself, Death, and Yama have come to you. Recognize that the summons of mortality has arrived, and that no embodied being can refuse the ordained course.”
धर्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the inevitability of death and the supremacy of Kāla (Time) over embodied life. Ethical wisdom here is to cultivate clear-sighted acceptance and detachment: when the ordained moment arrives, resistance is futile, and one should meet it with understanding rather than denial.
Dharma addresses a brāhmaṇa (dvija) who is reluctant to give up his body. Dharma points out that the forces personified as Time, Death, and Yama have already arrived, indicating that the moment of departure is at hand and cannot be postponed by mere desire.