Shloka 32
अर्जुनस्य रथाश्वमोचनं कृष्णस्याश्वसेवा च
Arjuna’s Horses Freed; Krishna’s Equine Service
पययिण वयं सर्वे कालेन बलिना हता: । परलोकं गमिष्याम: स्वैः स्वै: कर्मभिरन्विता:,बारी-बारीसे हम सभी लोग बलवान् कालके हाथों मारे जाकर अपने-अपने शुभाशुभ कर्मोके साथ परलोकमें चले जायँगे
paya yiṇa vayaṃ sarve kālena balinā hatāḥ | paralokaṃ gamiṣyāmaḥ svaiḥ svaiḥ karmabhir anvitāḥ ||
Sanjaya said: All of us, in due course, will be struck down by mighty Time. Bearing the burden and consequence of our own deeds—good and evil—we shall depart to the other world. The verse frames the war’s carnage within an ethical horizon: mortality is universal, and one’s afterlife journey is shaped not by status or faction, but by one’s own karma.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time (Kāla) is ultimately irresistible and brings all beings to death; what truly follows a person beyond death is one’s own karma—both auspicious and inauspicious—so ethical responsibility remains central even amid war.
Sanjaya, narrating the events of the Kurukṣetra war, reflects on the inevitability that everyone—regardless of side—will be overcome by Time and will proceed to the afterlife carrying the consequences of their individual actions.