Shloka 35
दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort
बलिदवीैरोचनिर्बद्धों धर्मपाशेन दैवतै: । विष्णो: पुरुषकारेण पातालसदन: कृत:,विरोचनकुमार बलिको देवताओंने धर्मपाशसे बाँध लिया और भगवान् विष्णुके पुरुषार्थसे वे पातालवासी बना दिये गये
Balir vairocanir baddho dharmapāśena daivataiḥ | Viṣṇoḥ puruṣakāreṇa pātālasadanaḥ kṛtaḥ ||
ഭീഷ്മൻ പറഞ്ഞു—വിരോചനപുത്രനായ ബലിയെ ദേവന്മാർ ധർമ്മപാശംകൊണ്ട് ബന്ധിച്ചു; വിഷ്ണുവിന്റെ പുരുഷപ്രയത്നത്താൽ അവനെ പാതാളവാസിയാക്കി।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power is not self-justifying: when authority violates dharma, it becomes legitimately restrainable (‘dharmapāśa’). The verse also highlights that divine agency (Viṣṇu’s puruṣakāra) restores equilibrium—sometimes by relocating and limiting a ruler’s domain rather than annihilating him.
Bhīṣma recalls the fate of Bali, son of Virocana: the gods bind him with the ‘noose of Dharma,’ and through Viṣṇu’s effective intervention Bali is made to dwell in Pātāla (the netherworld), indicating a divinely enforced curtailment and reassignment of his sovereignty.