Shloka 7
दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort
यथा बीजं विना क्षेत्रमुप्तं भवति निष्फलम् | तथा पुरुषकारेण विना दैवं न सिध्यति,जैसे बीज खेतमें बोये बिना फल नहीं दे सकता, उसी प्रकार दैव (प्रारब्ध) भी पुरुषार्थके बिना नहीं सिद्ध होता
yathā bījaṃ vinā kṣetram uptaṃ bhavati niṣphalam | tathā puruṣakāreṇa vinā daivaṃ na sidhyati ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: “Así como un campo, sin semilla, aunque se siembre y se cuide, queda sin fruto, así también el ‘destino’ (resultado de actos pasados) no llega a cumplirse sin el esfuerzo humano.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Destiny (daiva/prārabdha) is not independently productive; it requires puruṣakāra—conscientious human effort—to manifest results. The verse argues for moral agency and disciplined action rather than fatalism.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and right conduct. Here he uses an agricultural analogy—seed and field—to explain the relationship between fate and personal exertion.