Shloka 3
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय ७७: पुरुषकार–दैवसंयोगः तथा दुष्टमन्त्रपरामर्शस्य राजनैतिक-परिणामः
Human Effort, Contingency, and the Political Effects of Corrupt Counsel
अफल मन्यसे वापि पुरुषस्य पराक्रमम् | न चान्तरेण कर्माणि पौरुषेण फलोदय:
aphalaṁ manyase vāpi puruṣasya parākramam | na cāntareṇa karmāṇi pauruṣeṇa phalodayaḥ ||
Arjuna dijo: «¿O consideras estéril el valor de un hombre? Pues sin la acción de los actos pasados (karma), ningún fruto nace únicamente del esfuerzo personal».
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the tension between personal effort (pauruṣa/puruṣārtha) and the force of prior karma: results do not arise from effort alone if the supporting conditions shaped by past deeds are absent.
Arjuna challenges the implied view that human valor is ineffective, arguing that outcomes depend on a conjunction of present exertion and the momentum of past actions, a key ethical reflection amid the deliberations of the Udyoga Parva.