Shloka 15

राजधर्मप्रश्नः — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry into Rājadharma (Śānti-parva 56)

Devanagari script

साधारण द्वयं होतद्‌ दैवमुत्थानमेव च । पौरुषं हि परं मन्ये देवं निश्चितमुच्यते

Transliteration

sādhāraṇaṃ dvayaṃ hy etad daivam utthānam eva ca | pauruṣaṃ hi paraṃ manye daivaṃ niścitam ucyate ||

Translation

Bhishma dit : « Pour mener à bien toute entreprise, on reconnaît d’ordinaire deux causes : le destin et l’effort personnel. Pourtant, je tiens l’effort humain pour le principe le plus élevé ; car le “destin” est dit déjà fixé d’avance. »

Word by Word

• {'sādhāraṇam': 'common, generally accepted', 'dvayam': 'a pair, twofold', 'etad': 'this', 'daivam': 'destiny

• that which arises from the divine/previously ordained', 'utthānam': 'rising up

• personal effort', 'eva': 'indeed, precisely', 'ca': 'and', 'pauruṣam': 'human effort

• self-initiative', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'param': 'higher, supreme, primary', 'manye': 'I think, I consider', 'niścitam': 'fixed, determined, settled', 'ucyate': 'is said, is called'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Though destiny and effort are both cited as causes of success, Bhishma prioritizes personal effort as ethically and practically primary, while destiny is treated as already determined.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living and governance, Bhishma teaches Yudhishthira by reflecting on causality in human action—how much depends on fate versus one’s own exertion.