Shloka 8
शोकाकुल-युधिष्ठिरं प्रति कुन्त्याः कालोचितोपदेशः | Kuntī’s Timely Counsel to the Grief-Stricken Yudhiṣṭhira
ततः कालपरीत: स वैरस्योद्धरणे रत: । प्रतीपकारी युष्माकमिति चोपेक्षितो मया,“तदनन्तर वह कालके वशीभूत हो वैरका बदला लेनेमें लग गया और तुमलोगोंके विपरीत ही सारे कार्य करने लगा; यह देखकर मैंने उसकी उपेक्षा कर दी”
tataḥ kālaparītaḥ sa vairasyoddharaṇe rataḥ | pratīpakārī yuṣmākam iti copīkṣito mayā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Then, overcome by the force of time, he became intent on extracting revenge. Seeing him act in ways hostile to you—working against your interests—I therefore chose to disregard him.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames revenge as a distortion produced by kāla (the pressure of circumstance and time). Ethically, it suggests that when someone becomes fixated on hostility and acts against others’ welfare, wise agents may withdraw attention and refuse to enable that destructive trajectory.
Vaiśampāyana reports that a certain person, driven by the turn of time, became absorbed in taking revenge and began acting contrary to the interests of the addressed group (“you”). Observing this antagonistic conduct, the narrator states that he ignored or set that person aside.