Shloka 7
कर्कोटक-उपदेशः
Karkoṭaka’s Counsel and Nala’s Concealment
नाकाले विहितो मृत्युर्म्त्यानां पुरुषर्षभ । तत्र कान्ता त्वयोत्सृष्टा मुहूर्तमपि जीवति,“पुरुषशिरोमणे! मनुष्योंकी मृत्यु असमयमें नहीं होती, तभी तो आपकी यह प्रियतमा आपसे परित्यक्त होकर दो घड़ी भी जी रही है
nākāle vihito mṛtyur martyānāṃ puruṣarṣabha | tatra kāntā tvayotsṛṣṭā muhūrtam api jīvati ||
“O bull among men, death is not ordained for mortals before its proper time. That is why your beloved, though abandoned by you there, still survives even for a moment.”
ब॒हृदश्चव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms a Mahābhārata theme: life and death unfold according to an appointed order of time (kāla). Ethically, it cautions against using ‘she is still alive’ as justification for neglect—survival may simply mean the destined hour has not yet arrived, so one must still act with responsibility and compassion.
Bṛhadaśva addresses a ‘best of men’ and comments that death does not occur prematurely; therefore the man’s beloved, though left behind by him, continues to live even for a short while. The statement functions as both reassurance about fate and a pointed reminder of the moral seriousness of abandoning someone.