Shloka 19
दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort
स्वं चेत् कर्मफलं न स्यात् सर्वमेवाफलं भवेत् । लोको दैवं समालक्ष्य उदासीनो भवेन्ननु
svaṁ cet karmaphalaṁ na syāt sarvam evāphalaṁ bhavet | loko daivaṁ samālakṣya udāsīno bhaven nanu ||
Bhishma dit : «Si les actes de chacun ne produisaient pas le fruit qui leur revient, toute action deviendrait vaine. Ne voyant plus que le destin (daiva) comme arbitre, les hommes tomberaient dans l’indifférence et cesseraient tout effort délibéré.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma argues that moral and practical life depends on the meaningfulness of action: if actions did not produce results, society would collapse into passivity, with people blaming fate and abandoning responsible effort. The verse supports the ethical necessity of karma-phala (action having consequences) and warns against fatalism.
In the Anushasana Parva’s instruction setting, Bhishma continues his didactic discourse on dharma. Here he makes a reasoning-based point: denying the efficacy of one’s own action would render all endeavors pointless and make people indifferent, since they would look only to destiny.