Shloka 13
त्याज्यं त्यक्त्वा चासुराणां वधाय कार्याकार्ये कारणं चैव पार्थ | कृतं करिष्यत् क्रियते च देवो राहुं सोम॑ विद्धि च शक्रमेनम्
tyājyaṃ tyaktvā cāsurāṇāṃ vadhāya kāryākārye kāraṇaṃ caiva pārtha | kṛtaṃ kariṣyat kriyate ca devo rāhuṃ somaṃ viddhi ca śakram enam, kuntīnandana! |
Bhishma dit : «Ô Pârtha, il est Un qui, après avoir rejeté ce qui doit être renoncé, devient lui-même la cause de l’anéantissement des asuras. Ce qu’il faut faire et ce qu’il ne faut pas faire, ainsi que la cause de l’un et de l’autre, sont son essence même. Ce Seigneur divin est la forme de l’acte : ce qui a été fait, ce qui sera fait et ce qui se fait. Ô fils de Kuntî, sache-le comme Râhu, comme Soma (la Lune) et comme Shakra (Indra).»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma presents the Lord as the ultimate ground of moral discernment and causality: He is the basis of what should be done and avoided, and the causal power by which even world-protecting violence (the destruction of asuras) occurs. The verse frames ethical action within a theistic-cosmic order, where duty and its consequences are ultimately rooted in the divine.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs Arjuna on dharma and the supremacy of the divine (commonly understood here as Narayana). In this verse he emphasizes that the same Lord manifests as major cosmic powers (Rahu, the Moon, Indra) and as the very flow of actions across time, thereby urging Arjuna to recognize divine sovereignty behind events and duties.