Shloka 833
वधबन्धप्रमोक्षं च सर्व कालेन लभ्यते । पुरुषको लाभ-हानि, सुख-दुःख, काम-क्रोध, अभ्युदयपराभव, वध, कैद और कैदसे छुटकारा--यह सब काल (प्रारब्ध) से ही प्राप्त होते हैं
vadhabandhapramokṣaṃ ca sarvaṃ kālena labhyate | puruṣako lābha-hāniḥ sukha-duḥkhaṃ kāma-krodhaḥ abhyudaya-parābhavaḥ vadhaḥ kaidā ca kaidase chūṭkārā—idaṃ sarvaṃ kālāt (prārabdhāt) eva prāpyate |
Bhishma said: “Slaying, captivity, and release from bondage—indeed all such outcomes are obtained through Time. A person’s gain and loss, pleasure and pain, desire and anger, rise and fall, death, imprisonment, and freedom from imprisonment—everything comes to one by the working of Time (one’s ripened destiny).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that the major turns of worldly life—success and failure, joy and sorrow, even captivity and release—are governed by Kāla (Time), understood as the fruition of prārabdha-karma. The ethical implication is to cultivate steadiness and non-attachment while still acting rightly.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues a discourse on the forces that shape human experience. Here he emphasizes the sovereignty of Time over events, framing personal fortunes and misfortunes as outcomes of destiny rather than mere human control.