Shloka 57
Dasyu-maryādā and Buddhi-guided Rāja-nīti (दस्युमर्यादा तथा बुद्धिप्रधान-राजनीति)
प्रलाप: सुमहान् कस्मात् क्रियते शोकमूर्च्छितै: । यदि काल: प्रमाणं ते कस्माद् धर्मोडस्ति कर्तृषु,यदि आप कालको ही प्रमाण मानते हैं तो शोकसे मूर्च्छित हुए प्राणी क्यों महान् प्रलाप एवं हाहाकार करते हैं? फिर कर्म करनेवालोंके लिये विधि-निषेधरूपी धर्मके पालनका नियम क्यों रखा गया है?
pralāpaḥ sumahān kasmāt kriyate śokamūrcchitaiḥ | yadi kālaḥ pramāṇaṃ te kasmād dharmo 'sti kartṛṣu ||
Brahmadatta dijo: «¿Por qué quienes desfallecen de pena alzan tan inmenso lamento y clamor? Si para vosotros el Tiempo es la única autoridad decisiva, ¿por qué existe entonces el dharma—la norma de lo que debe y no debe hacerse—prescrita para quienes obran?»
ब्रह्मदत्त उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse challenges a purely fatalistic view (“Time alone decides everything”). If everything is only Time’s doing, then human grief, blame, praise, and especially moral injunctions (dharma as do’s and don’ts) lose their meaning. The implied teaching is that ethical agency and responsibility must be acknowledged alongside any role attributed to Time.
Brahmadatta is arguing in a reflective, philosophical exchange typical of the Śānti Parva. He questions an interlocutor’s reliance on Kāla (Time) as the sole explanation for events, pointing to ordinary human reactions (intense lamentation in grief) and the very existence of dharma for agents as evidence that human choice and moral accountability are treated as real.