Shloka 16
Varṇa-lakṣaṇa and Ātma-saṃyama (Marks of Social Conduct and Self-Restraint) | वर्णलक्षणम् एवं आत्मसंयमः
कोई बालक हो, तरुण हो या बूढ़ा हो, वह जो भी शुभाशुभ कर्म करता है, दूसरे जन्ममें उसी-उसी अवस्थामें उस-उस कर्मका फल उसे प्राप्त होता है ।।
yathā dhenusahasreṣu vatso vindati mātaram | tathā pūrvakṛtaṃ karma kartāram anugacchati ||
Bhishma dit : De même qu’un veau, fût-il parmi mille vaches, reconnaît sa propre mère et la rejoint, de même l’acte accompli jadis suit infailliblement celui qui l’a fait. Qu’on agisse dans l’enfance, dans la jeunesse ou dans la vieillesse, le fruit des œuvres bonnes ou mauvaises est rencontré par cette même personne, dans une condition correspondante, lors d’une naissance ultérieure : nul acte ne se perd, et nul autre ne peut en recevoir le résultat.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the inevitability of karmic consequence: actions—good or bad—remain linked to their agent and will mature into results that the same person must experience, even across rebirths. Karma is portrayed as precise and inescapable, like a calf unerringly finding its own mother.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right conduct, Bhishma is advising Yudhishthira about moral causality. He uses a vivid pastoral analogy—calf and mother-cow—to explain that deeds do not vanish and do not transfer to others; they return to the doer at the appropriate time and condition.