Shloka 816
ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana
River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor
नियतं कालपाशेन बद्ध॑ शक्र विकत्थसे । इन्द्र! यही कारण है कि मैं तुम्हारे सब अपराध चुपचाप सहे लेता हूँ। अब भी मेरा वेग तुम्हारे लिये अत्यन्त दुःसह है। किंतु जब समयने पलटा खाया है
niyataṁ kālapāśena baddhaḥ śakra vikatthase | indra! yahi kāraṇa hai ki maiṁ tumhāre sab aparādha chupcāp sahe letā hūṁ | ab bhī merā vega tumhāre liye atyanta duḥsaha hai | kiṁtu jab samaya ne palṭā khāyā hai, kālarūpī agni ne mujhe sab or se gher liyā hai aur maiṁ kālapāś se niścitarūp se baṁdh gayā hūṁ, tab tum mere sāmne khaṛe hokar apanī jhūṭhī baṛāī kiye jā rahe ho
ビーシュマは言った。「時（カーラ）の縄に固く縛られながら、なおも誇るのか、シャクラよ。インドラよ—だからこそ私は、お前のあらゆる非礼を黙して耐えてきた。今なお我が勢いはお前には耐え難いであろう。だが時の潮目が変わり、時そのものの火が四方から我を取り囲み、我が確かに時の罠に縛られたそのとき、お前は我が前に立ち、偽りの自讃をなおも続けるのだ。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power and victory are not grounds for arrogance: Time (kāla) ultimately binds all beings. Ethical restraint includes forbearance toward others’ faults, yet boasting over someone weakened by fate is condemned as false self-glorification.
Bhishma addresses Indra (Shakra), rebuking him for boasting. Bhishma says he had endured Indra’s offenses earlier, and that even now his own might would be unbearable—yet the reversal of time has bound him in the ‘noose of Time,’ so Indra’s triumphal boasting is misplaced.