Shloka 20
कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च
Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation
दग्धमेवानुदहति हतमेवानुहन्यते । नश्यते नष्टमेवाग्रे लब्धव्यं लभते नर:
śakra uvāca | dagdham evānudahati hatam evānuhanyate | naśyate naṣṭam evāgre labdhavyaṃ labhate naraḥ ||
जो काल के द्वारा पहले ही दग्ध हो चुका है, वही मानो फिर से जलाया जाता है; जिसे काल ने पहले ही मार डाला है, वही फिर मारा जाता है। जो वस्तु पहले ही नष्ट हो चुकी है, वही नष्ट होती हुई प्रतीत होती है; और जिसका मिलना पहले से निश्चित है, वही मनुष्य को प्राप्त होता है।
श॒क्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the inevitability of outcomes governed by Kāla (Time) and destiny: events that occur appear to be caused by immediate agents, but in a deeper sense they unfold because they were already determined. This encourages humility, steadiness, and reduced attachment to success or failure.
Śakra (Indra) speaks in a reflective, instructive tone, using parallel examples—burning, killing, destroying, obtaining—to convey that what happens to beings and things follows an already-established course, and human actions often serve as instruments in that larger order.