Shloka 5
दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत अनुशासनपर्वके अन्तर्गत दानधर्मपर्वमें शुक और इन्द्रका संवादविषयक पाँचवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ,ब्रह्मोवाच (बीजतो हाड्कुरोत्पत्तिरड्कुरात् पर्णसम्भव: । पर्णान्नाला: प्रसूयन्ते नालात् स्कन्ध: प्रवर्तते ।।
brahmovāca |
bījato 'ṅkurotpattir aṅkurāt parṇa-sambhavaḥ |
parṇān nālāḥ prasūyante nālāt skandhaḥ pravartate ||
skandhāt pravartate puṣpaṁ puṣpān nirvartate phalam |
phalān nirvartate bījaṁ bījaṁ na aphalam ucyate ||
na bījaṁ jāyate kiñcin na bījena vinā phalam |
bījād bījaṁ prabhavati bījād eva phalaṁ smṛtam ||
Dijo Brahmā: “Oh sabio, de la semilla nace el brote; del brote surgen las hojas. De las hojas crecen los tallos; del tallo se forma el tronco. Del tronco aparecen las flores; de las flores viene el fruto; y del fruto se produce de nuevo la semilla—por eso jamás se dice que la semilla sea estéril. Nada nace sin semilla, y sin semilla no hay fruto. De la semilla nace semilla, y de la semilla sola se entiende que procede el fruto.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a strict principle of causality: results (phala) arise from causes (bīja). Just as seed leads to sprout, flower, fruit, and again seed, ethical actions—especially dāna and dharmic conduct—are ‘seeds’ that inevitably mature into corresponding outcomes.
Within Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Anuśāsana Parva’s section on the dharma of giving, a cited speech of Brahmā explains the natural cycle of seed-to-fruit to illustrate how actions generate results and why no outcome arises without an originating cause.