Shloka 27
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
नतु पर्यायधर्मेण राज्यं प्राप्रोति मानुष: । मनसैवानुकूलानि विधाता कुरुते वशे
na tu paryāya-dharmeṇa rājyaṃ prāpnoti mānuṣaḥ | manasaivānukūlāni vidhātā kurute vaśe ||
ਕੇਵਲ ਨਾਮ-ਮਾਤਰ, ਰਿਵਾਜੀ ਧਰਮ ਦੇ ਦਿਖਾਵੇ ਨਾਲ ਮਨੁੱਖ ਰਾਜ ਨਹੀਂ ਪਾਂਦਾ। ਵਿਧਾਤਾ ਹੀ ਮਨ ਦੇ ਸੰਕਲਪ-ਮਾਤਰ ਨਾਲ ਸਭ ਕੁਝ ਆਪਣੇ ਅਨੁਕੂਲ ਮੋੜ ਕੇ ਵਸ਼ ਕਰ ਲੈਂਦਾ ਹੈ।
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts outward, merely conventional ‘dharma’ with the decisive force of vidhātā (Providence/Fate): political power is not secured by a token display of righteousness; outcomes are portrayed as being shaped by a higher ordering will that can make circumstances compliant.
In Udyoga Parva, Ulūka speaks as a messenger in the tense pre-war diplomacy. Here he advances a hard-edged, fatalistic argument meant to unsettle moral claims and emphasize that success in gaining or holding a kingdom depends less on professed dharma and more on the overpowering turn of destiny.