Shloka 11

अर्जुनोक्तिः—कृष्णं प्रति पुरुषकार‑कर्म‑विचारः

Arjuna’s Address to Krishna: Agency, Action, and Immediate Counsel

Devanagari script

लोकस्य नान्यतो वृत्ति: पाण्डवान्यत्र कर्मण: । एवंबुद्धि: प्रवर्तेत फलं स्यादुभयान्वये

Transliteration

lokasya nānyato vṛttiḥ pāṇḍavānyatra karmaṇaḥ | evaṃbuddhiḥ pravarteta phalaṃ syād ubhayānvaye, pāṇḍunandana |

Translation

Bhīmasena disse: “Para os homens, não há outro meio de sustento e progresso senão a ação—e, sobretudo, para os Pāṇḍava. Compreendendo isso, deve-se firmar a mente no esforço e agir de acordo. Então o fruto é alcançado pela conjunção de dois fatores: o destino (o que já foi posto em movimento) e o empenho humano, ó filho de Pāṇḍu.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'lokasya', 'gloss': 'of the world

• of people in general (gen. sg.)'}, {'term': 'na anyataḥ', 'gloss': 'not from elsewhere

• not by any other means'}, {'term': 'vṛttiḥ', 'gloss': 'sustenance, livelihood

• practical course of life'}, {'term': 'pāṇḍavān', 'gloss': 'the Pāṇḍavas (acc. pl.)'}, {'term': 'anyatra', 'gloss': 'except

• other than'}, {'term': 'karmaṇaḥ', 'gloss': 'than action/effort

• from karma (abl. sg.)'}, {'term': 'evaṃ-buddhiḥ', 'gloss': 'such an understanding

• this conviction'}, {'term': 'pravarteta', 'gloss': 'should proceed/engage

• should be set in motion (optative)'}, {'term': 'phalam', 'gloss': 'fruit, result, outcome'}, {'term': 'syāt', 'gloss': 'would be

• comes to be'}, {'term': 'ubhayānvaye', 'gloss': 'in the connection/combination of both (destiny and effort)'}, {'term': 'pāṇḍu-nandana', 'gloss': 'O son of Pāṇḍu (address to a Pāṇḍava)'}]

Speaker

भीमसेन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīmasena
• Pāṇḍavas
• Pāṇḍu

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Human life cannot be sustained by fate alone; one must act with deliberate effort. Results arise from the combined operation of destiny (prārabdha) and personal endeavor (puruṣārtha), so ethical responsibility requires active engagement rather than fatalism.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations, Bhīma urges a Pāṇḍava addressee to reject passivity and commit to decisive action. His counsel frames the coming conflict as requiring purposeful effort while acknowledging that outcomes also depend on what has already been set in motion by prior causes.