Shloka 20
Dharma-śaṅkā-nivāraṇa: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Response on Karma-Phala and Trust in Dharma
एवं हठाच्च दैवाच्च स्वभावात् कर्मणस्तथा । यानि प्राप्रोति पुरुषस्तत् फल पूर्वकर्मणाम्,इस प्रकार हठ, दैव, स्वभाव तथा कर्मसे मनुष्य जिन-जिन वस्तुओंको पाता है, वे सब उसके पूर्वकर्मोके ही फल हैं
evaṁ haṭācca daivācca svabhāvāt karmaṇas tathā | yāni prāpnoti puruṣas tat phalaṁ pūrvakarmaṇām ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Whatever a person comes to possess—whether it seems to arise from sheer insistence, from fate, from one’s innate disposition, or from one’s present actions—should be understood as the fruition of deeds done in the past.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts moral causality: outcomes attributed to forceful effort, destiny, temperament, or present action ultimately ripen from prior deeds (pūrvakarma). It frames life’s gains and losses as ethically conditioned results rather than random events.
Yudhiṣṭhira is reflecting on why people obtain various results and how to interpret apparent causes like fate, nature, or effort. His statement situates these visible causes within a deeper karmic framework, reinforcing a dharmic understanding of responsibility and consequence.