Shloka 43
Adhyāya 270 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s inquiry on saṃnyāsa; Bhīṣma on calculable time, tamas, and karma
Vṛtra–Uśanā exemplum begins
ततोअब्रवीत् कुण्डधारो दिव्यं ते चक्षुरुत्तमम् । पश्य राज्ञां गतिं विप्र लोकांश्वैव तु चक्षुषा
tato 'bravīt kuṇḍadhāro divyaṃ te cakṣur uttamam | paśya rājñāṃ gatiṃ vipra lokāṃś caiva tu cakṣuṣā ||
Then Kuṇḍadhāra said: “O best of Brahmins, you have obtained the supreme divine sight. Therefore, with that very vision, behold the destiny that befalls kings—what course they attain after death and to which worlds they proceed.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames kingship within moral accountability: rulers are not exempt from karmic consequence, and their post-mortem destiny and the worlds they reach are to be understood through higher discernment (divine vision), implying that ethical governance has metaphysical results.
Bhīṣma reports that Kuṇḍadhāra addresses a Brahmin, granting/acknowledging his attainment of divine sight and instructing him to use it to directly perceive the fate of kings and the realms they go to—setting up a revelatory description of royal destinies.