Shloka 11
Khaḍgotpattiḥ (Origin and Dharmic Function of the Sword) | खड्गोत्पत्तिः
मूलं लोभस्य मोहो वै कालात्मगतिरेव च । छिने भिन्ने तथा लोभे कारणं काल एव च
mūlaṃ lobhasya moho vai kālātmagatir eva ca | chinne bhinne tathā lobhe kāraṇaṃ kāla eva ca ||
Bhīṣma dit : L’illusion est bien la racine de la cupidité, et c’est le Temps lui-même—se mouvant comme le Soi intérieur—qui pousse les êtres vers la voie qui leur est dévolue. Même lorsque la cupidité est tranchée ou brisée en fragments, la cause décisive de sa naissance comme de sa dissolution n’est autre que le Temps seul.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Greed does not stand on its own: its root is delusion (moha), and behind both the arising and the breaking of greed stands Time (kāla) as an overarching, inevitable principle. Ethical effort therefore requires clarity of understanding to counter delusion, while recognizing the larger force of time that ripens tendencies and outcomes.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and inner discipline after the war. Here he analyzes the causal chain behind moral downfall: delusion gives birth to greed, and Time governs the unfolding, intensification, and eventual dissolution of such impulses.