Shloka 21
Dharma-śaṅkā-nivāraṇa: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Response on Karma-Phala and Trust in Dharma
धातापि हि स्वकर्मव तैस्तैहेंतुभिरी श्वर: । विदधाति विभज्येह फल पूर्वकृतं नृणाम्,जगदाधार परमेश्वर भी उपर्युक्त हठ आदि हेतुओंसे जीवोंके अपने-अपने कर्मको ही विभक्त करके मनुष्योंको उनके पूर्वजन्ममें किये हुए कर्मके फलरूपसे यहाँ प्राप्त कराता है
Dhātāpi hi svakarmabhiḥ tais tair hetubhir īśvaraḥ | vidadhāti vibhajyeha phalaṃ pūrvakṛtaṃ nṛṇām ||
Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: «Incluso el Creador—Dios, el Señor—por medio de esas diversas causas, reparte las obras propias de cada cual y, en este mundo, dispensa a los hombres los resultados de acciones realizadas en tiempos anteriores. Así, lo que uno experimenta no es azar, sino la fructificación moralmente ordenada de su propio karma bajo el gobierno del Supremo.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that experiences in this life arise as the fruits of one’s own past actions, distributed in an orderly way by the Lord; moral causality (karma) operates under divine governance rather than mere chance.
Yudhiṣṭhira is reflecting on why people receive differing outcomes—happiness, suffering, success, failure—and explains it through the framework of karma: the Creator apportions results according to each person’s prior deeds.