Shloka 816
ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana
River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor
नियतं कालपाशेन बद्ध॑ शक्र विकत्थसे । इन्द्र! यही कारण है कि मैं तुम्हारे सब अपराध चुपचाप सहे लेता हूँ। अब भी मेरा वेग तुम्हारे लिये अत्यन्त दुःसह है। किंतु जब समयने पलटा खाया है
niyataṁ kālapāśena baddhaḥ śakra vikatthase | indra! yahi kāraṇa hai ki maiṁ tumhāre sab aparādha chupcāp sahe letā hūṁ | ab bhī merā vega tumhāre liye atyanta duḥsaha hai | kiṁtu jab samaya ne palṭā khāyā hai, kālarūpī agni ne mujhe sab or se gher liyā hai aur maiṁ kālapāś se niścitarūp se baṁdh gayā hūṁ, tab tum mere sāmne khaṛe hokar apanī jhūṭhī baṛāī kiye jā rahe ho
Bhishma dit : « Lié sûrement par le lacet du Temps, ô Shakra, tu te vantes. Indra — voilà pourquoi j’ai supporté en silence toutes tes offenses. Même à présent, ma force te serait insoutenable ; mais lorsque le cours du temps s’est renversé, lorsque le feu qu’est le Temps m’a cerné de toutes parts et que je suis assurément pris dans son piège, tu te tiens devant moi et poursuis ta fausse auto-glorification. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power and victory are not grounds for arrogance: Time (kāla) ultimately binds all beings. Ethical restraint includes forbearance toward others’ faults, yet boasting over someone weakened by fate is condemned as false self-glorification.
Bhishma addresses Indra (Shakra), rebuking him for boasting. Bhishma says he had endured Indra’s offenses earlier, and that even now his own might would be unbearable—yet the reversal of time has bound him in the ‘noose of Time,’ so Indra’s triumphal boasting is misplaced.