Shloka 8
Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)
काल: कर्षति भूतानि सर्वाणि विविधान्युत । न कालस्य प्रिय: वक्रिन्न द्वेष्प: कुरुसत्तम,कुरुश्रेष्ठ! काल नाना प्रकारके समस्त प्राणियोंको खींच लेता है। कालको न तो कोई प्रिय है और न उसके द्वेषका ही पात्र है
kālaḥ karṣati bhūtāni sarvāṇi vividhāny uta | na kālasya priyaḥ kaścid na dveṣyaḥ kuru-sattama ||
Vidura says: Time draws all beings along—of every kind, without exception. For Time has no favorites and no enemies, O best of the Kurus. In the wake of war and bereavement, this teaching urges steadiness: do not mistake personal loss or victory for a private vendetta of fate; the same impartial Time carries all toward change, decay, and death, and thus one should respond with discernment rather than hatred.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time is impartial and inexorable: it carries all beings onward without preference or hatred. Therefore, one should not fuel vengeance or despair by imagining that fate targets someone personally; instead, one should cultivate discernment, restraint, and acceptance of impermanence.
In the Stree Parva’s aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, Vidura offers counsel to a Kuru leader/elder. He frames the immense losses within the larger truth of kāla (Time), aiming to calm grief and prevent further cycles of hatred and retaliation.