Shloka 62
उस महासमरमें कर्णके साथ द्वैरथयुद्ध करनेके लिये अर्जुन नहीं गये, यह बहुत अच्छा हुआ। ये दोनों वीर एक-दूसरेसे स्पर्धा रखते हैं; अतः युधिष्ठिर! यदि ये सब प्रकारसे दिव्यास्त्रोंका प्रयोग करते तो फिर अपने अस्त्रोंके नष्ट होनेपर सूतनन्दन कर्ण पीड़ित हो समरांगणमें इन्द्रकी दी हुई शक्तिको निश्चय ही अर्जुनपर चला देता। भरतश्रेष्ठ) उस दशामें तुमपर और भयंकर विपत्ति टूट पड़ती ।। दिष्ट्या रक्षो हतं युद्धे सूतपुत्रेण मानद । वासवीं कारणं कृत्वा कालेनोपहतो हासौ,मानद! यह हर्षकी बात है कि युद्धमें सूतपुत्र कर्णने उस राक्षसको ही मारा है। वास्तवमें इन्द्रकी शक्तिको निमित्त बनाकर कालने ही उसका वध किया है
vyāsa uvāca |
usa mahāsamare karṇake sātha dvairathayuddha karane ke liye arjuna nahīṃ gaye, yaha bahuta acchā huā | ye donoṃ vīra eka-dūsare se spardhā rakhate haiṃ; ataḥ yudhiṣṭhira! yadi ye saba prakāra se divyāstroṃ kā prayoga karate to phira apane astroṃ ke naṣṭa hone para sūtanandana karṇa pīḍita ho samarāṅgaṇa meṃ indrā kī dī huī śaktiko niścaya hī arjunapara calā detā | bharataśreṣṭha! usa daśā meṃ tumapara aura bhayaṅkara vipatti ṭūṭa paṛatī ||
diṣṭyā rakṣo hataṃ yuddhe sūtaputreṇa mānada |
vāsavīṃ kāraṇaṃ kṛtvā kālenopahato hy asau, mānada ||
Vyāsa said: It was truly fortunate that, in that great battle, Arjuna did not go to engage Karṇa in a chariot-duel. Those two heroes are rivals; therefore, O Yudhiṣṭhira, if they had unleashed every kind of divine weapon, then—when his own missiles were exhausted—Karna, distressed, would certainly have hurled at Arjuna the spear granted by Indra. O best of the Bharatas, in that situation an even more dreadful calamity would have fallen upon you. Happily, O honored one, the charioteer’s son Karṇa slew that rākṣasa in battle. In truth, making Indra’s spear the occasion, Time itself struck him down.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in heroic warfare, restraint and timing matter: avoiding a needless duel can prevent catastrophic outcomes. The verse also frames events through the lens of Kāla (Time/Fate), suggesting that divine weapons are instruments, while the deeper inevitability of destiny governs the final result.
Vyāsa explains to Yudhiṣṭhira that it was fortunate Arjuna did not fight Karṇa directly at that moment, because Karṇa might have used Indra’s one-time spear against Arjuna once other weapons were spent. Instead, Karṇa uses that spear in the battle to kill a rākṣasa, and Vyāsa interprets this as Time bringing about the rākṣasa’s death, with the spear serving as the immediate occasion.