Shloka 2
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Reproof and Vow-Logic: On Dice-Deception, Exile Terms, and the Governance of Anger
Adhyāya 35
प्रत्यक्ष मन्यसे काल॑ मर्त्य: सन् कालबन्धन: । फेनधर्मा महाराज फलधर्मा तथैव च,भीमसेन बोले--महाराज! आप फेनके समान नश्वर, फलके समान पतनशील तथा कालके बन्धनमें बँधे हुए मरणधर्मा मनुष्य हैं तो भी आपने सबका अन्त और संहार करनेवाले, बाणके समान वेगवान, अनन्त, अप्रमेय एवं जलस्रोतके समान प्रवाहशील लंबे कालको बीचमें देकर दुर्योधनके साथ सन्धि करके उस कालको अपनी आँखोंके सामने आया हुआ मानते हैं
bhīmasena uvāca | pratyakṣaṁ manyase kālaṁ martyaḥ san kālabandhanaḥ | phenadharmā mahārāja phaladharmā tathaiva ca ||
Bhīmasena said: “O great king, though you are a mortal bound by Time—perishable like foam and destined to fall like a fruit—you still treat Time as something directly before your eyes.”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīma stresses human mortality and the inescapable bondage to Time: since life is as transient as foam and as fall-bound as ripe fruit, one should not act with complacency or delay as though Time were under one’s control.
In the Vana Parva context, Bhīma rebukes the king he addresses for treating the passage of Time as if it were safely manageable and for adopting a stance of delay/compromise, reminding him that Time swiftly brings decline and death.