Shloka 53
यदृच्छया मोक्षितो5सि तत्र का परिदेवना | राजन! यदि तुम्हारे राज्यमें निवास करनेवाले पाण्डवोंने इसी नीतिके अनुसार दैववश तुम्हें शत्रुओंके हाथसे छुड़ा दिया है, तो इसमें खेद करनेकी क्या बात है?
yadṛcchayā mokṣito 'si tatra kā paridevanā | rājan! yadi tava rājyena nivāsaṃ kurvantaḥ pāṇḍavāḥ asyā nīteḥ anusāreṇa daivavaśāt tvāṃ śatrūṇāṃ hastāt mocitavantaḥ, tarhi atra khedaṃ kartum kim?
Karna said: “If you have been released by mere chance, what is there to lament? O King, if the Pāṇḍavas—dwelling within your realm—have, in accordance with this policy and by the turn of fate, freed you from the hands of your enemies, then what cause is there for regret?”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Karna frames an unexpected rescue as something that should not be mourned: whether it happened ‘by chance’ or ‘by fate’ and in line with prudent policy (nīti), deliverance from enemies is a benefit, not a humiliation. The emphasis is on accepting favorable outcomes without self-defeating regret.
Karna addresses a king who has been freed from enemy control. He argues that if the Pāṇḍavas—living within that king’s realm—have, by destiny and consistent with political-ethical conduct, secured the king’s release, then the king has no reason to lament the manner of his liberation.