Shloka 2
Saubhadra under Concentrated Assault; Pārṣata’s Intervention and Escalation
दिष्टमेव परं मन्ये पौरुषादिति मे मति: । यत्र शान्तनवो भीष्मो नातरद् युधि पाण्डवम्,मैं तो पुरुषार्थसे अधिक प्रबल भाग्यको ही मानता हूँ और इसीपर विश्वास करता हूँ, जिसके अनुसार शान्तनुनन्दन भीष्म युद्धमें पाण्डुपुत्र अर्जुनसे पार न पा सके
diṣṭam eva paraṃ manye pauruṣād iti me matiḥ | yatra śāntanavo bhīṣmo nātarad yudhi pāṇḍavam ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “I am convinced that destiny alone is supreme—stronger than human effort. For by the force of that destiny, Bhīṣma, the son of Śāntanu, could not prevail over the Pāṇḍava (Arjuna) in battle.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dhṛtarāṣṭra interprets a battlefield outcome as proof that daiva (destiny) overrides pauruṣa (human effort). Ethically, the verse highlights a common tendency to attribute results to fate—sometimes to cope with painful news or to avoid confronting one’s own responsibility in the chain of events.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra reacts to reports from the Kurukṣetra war. He notes that even Bhīṣma—renowned as nearly invincible—could not ‘cross over’ or overpower the Pāṇḍava warrior (understood here as Arjuna) in combat, and he concludes that destiny must be the decisive force.