Shloka 26
Kṣemadarśa–Kālakavṛkṣīya Saṃvāda: Counsel on Impermanence, Non-attachment, and Composure in Dispossession
तस्यैव द्वियमाणस्य स्रोतसेव तपोधन । फलमेतत् प्रपश्यामि यथालब्धेन वर्तयन्
tasyaiva dvīyamānasya srotaseva tapodhana | phalam etat prapaśyāmi yathālabdhena vartayan ||
ಭೀಷ್ಮನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಓ ತಪೋಧನನೇ! ಹರಿವು ವಸ್ತುಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊತ್ತುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುವಂತೆ, ಕಾಲದ ವೇಗವು ನನ್ನ ರಾಜ್ಯವನ್ನು ಅಪಹರಿಸಿತು. ಅದರ ಫಲವನ್ನು ನಾನು ಸ್ಪಷ್ಟವಾಗಿ ಕಾಣುತ್ತೇನೆ—ಆ ನಷ್ಟದಿಂದಲೇ ನಾನು ಶೋಕವನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ; ದೊರಕಿದದ್ದರಿಂದಲೇ ಜೀವನ ಸಾಗಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches acceptance of the overpowering force of Time and the ethical discipline of contentment: when worldly power is lost, one should recognize the result as a consequence unfolding in time and live steadily on whatever is rightly obtained (yathālabdhena), without grasping or despair.
Bhishma, speaking in the Shanti Parva, reflects on the loss of sovereignty: he compares it to an object swept away by a river’s current, attributing the loss to the irresistible momentum of Kāla (Time). He describes the sorrow that follows and his present condition of subsisting on whatever he can obtain.