Mahabharata 11.2.8 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 2, Shloka 8
Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)
काल: कर्षति भूतानि सर्वाणि विविधान्युत । न कालस्य प्रिय: वक्रिन्न द्वेष्प: कुरुसत्तम
kālaḥ karṣati bhūtāni sarvāṇi vividhāny uta | na kālasya priyaḥ kaścid na dveṣyaḥ kuru-sattama ||
Vidura says: “Time draws all beings along—of every kind, without exception. For Time has no favorites and no enemies, O best of the Kurus.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time is impartial and inexorable: it carries all beings onward without preference or hatred. Therefore, one should not fuel vengeance or despair by imagining that fate targets someone personally; instead, one should cultivate discernment, restraint, and acceptance of impermanence.
In the Stree Parva’s aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, Vidura offers counsel to a Kuru leader/elder. He frames the immense losses within the larger truth of kāla (Time), aiming to calm grief and prevent further cycles of hatred and retaliation.
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