Shloka 19

Adhyāya 33 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Post-Conflict Remorse and Inquiry on Āśrama Discipline (शोक-विमर्शः, आश्रम-जिज्ञासा)

Devanagari script

कर्मसूत्रात्मकं विद्धि साक्षिणं शुभपापयो: । सुखदुःखगुणोदर्क कालं॑ कालफलप्रदम्‌,राजन! तुम्हें ज्ञात होना चाहिये कि काल जीवके पाप और पुण्यकर्मोंका साक्षी है। वह कर्मकी डोरीका सहारा ले भविष्यमें होनेवाले सुख और दुःखका उत्पादक होता है। वही समयानुसार कर्मोका फल देता है

Transliteration

karmasūtrātmakaṃ viddhi sākṣiṇaṃ śubhapāpayoḥ | sukhaduḥkhaguṇodarkaṃ kālaṃ kālaphalapradam ||

Translation

Vyāsa dit : Sache que le Temps (Kāla) est fait du fil du karma, témoin du mérite comme du péché. De lui naissent, en leur temps, les conséquences façonnées en bonheur et en douleur ; et c’est le Temps qui, à la saison convenable, dispense aux êtres les fruits de leurs actions.

Word by Word

कर्मसूत्रात्मकम्having the nature of the thread of karma

विद्धिknow (you)

साक्षिणम्witness

शुभपापयोःof good and evil (merit and sin)

सुखदुःखगुणोदर्कम्whose outcome is the qualities (effects) of pleasure and pain

कालम्Time

कालफलप्रदम्bestowing results in due time

राजन्O king

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

Kāla (Time)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Time (Kāla) functions as the impartial witness and regulator of karmic causality: it connects actions to their outcomes and delivers the fruits—pleasant or painful—when the proper conditions and season mature.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa instructs the king (rājan) about the principle of Kāla: how merit and sin are observed, how happiness and suffering arise as consequences, and how results are dispensed in due course.