Shloka 683
ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana
River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor
तेन गर्जसि देवेन्द्र पूर्व कालहते मयि । देवराज! जिस कालका पहले मुझपर धावा हुआ है, वही पीछे तुमपर भी चढ़ाई करेगा। मैं पहले कालसे पीड़ित हो गया हूँ; इसीलिये तुम सामने खड़े होकर गरज रहे हो
tena garjasi devendra pūrva-kāla-hate mayi | devarāja! yasya kālasya pūrvaṁ mayi dhāvaḥ kṛtaḥ sa eva paścād api tvayi cāḍhāyī bhaviṣyati | ahaṁ pūrvaṁ kālena pīḍitaḥ; tasmāt tvaṁ sammukhaṁ tiṣṭhan garjasi |
भीष्म उवाच— तेन गर्जसि देवेन्द्र पूर्वकालहते मयि । देवराज, यः कालो मय्यग्रेऽभ्यपतत् स एव पश्चात् त्वामप्यभ्यपतिष्यति । अहं पूर्वमेव कालेन पीडितः; तस्मात् त्वं पुरतः स्थित्वा गर्जसि ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the mightiest—Indra included—cannot escape Kāla (Time/Death). Bhīṣma highlights the ethical need for humility and clear-sightedness: power and pride are temporary, while Time ultimately overcomes all embodied beings.
Bhīṣma addresses Indra directly, explaining that Indra’s confident roaring is only because Bhīṣma has already been subdued by Time. Bhīṣma warns that the same force of Time that has already afflicted him will, in due course, also come upon Indra.