Shloka 3.23.29
महोत्पात-लक्षणानि (Omens before Khara’s Assault)
एतच्चान्यच्च बहुशो ब्रुवाणाः परमर्षयः।।।।जातकौतूहलास्तत्र विमानस्थाश्च देवताः।ददृशुर्वाहिनीं तेषां राक्षसानां गतायुषाम्।।।।
etac cānyac ca bahuśo bruvāṇāḥ paramarṣayaḥ |
jāta-kautūhalās tatra vimāna-sthāś ca devatāḥ |
dadṛśur vāhinīṃ teṣāṃ rākṣasānāṃ gatāyuṣām ||
As the great seers spoke again and again of this and much besides, the gods—curious and seated in their vimānas—beheld the host of those rākṣasas whose span of life was already ebbing, doomed to fall.
The great ascetics were talking thus and more. The gods waiting eagerly on heavenly chariots saw the army of the demons whose life span was shortened (who were doomed to death).
Dharma is portrayed as inexorable moral causality: those aligned with adharma move toward self-destruction, their ‘life-span reduced’ by their own wrongdoing.
Celestial observers in vimānas watch the rākṣasa army assembling, as seers continue speaking about the unfolding events.
The seers’ virtue is discernment (viveka): they interpret events within a moral cosmos where outcomes reflect righteousness or its absence.