Shloka 69
Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
भीष्म उवाच अथोपगम्य कालस्तु तस्मिन् धर्मार्थसंशये । अब्रवीत् पन्नगं मृत्युं लुब्धं चार्जुनकं तथा
bhīṣma uvāca athopagamya kālas tu tasmin dharmārtha-saṁśaye | abravīt pannagaṁ mṛtyuṁ lubdhaṁ cārjunakaṁ tathā ||
Sinabi ni Bhishma: “O Yudhiṣṭhira, nang sumapit ang pag-aalinlangan tungkol sa dharma (ang nararapat) at artha (ang kapakinabangan), dumating doon ang Kāla mismo. Pagkaraan, nagsalita ito sa ahas, sa Kamatayan, sa sakim na mangangaso, at kay Arjunaka rin.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical conflict between dharma (what is right) and artha (what is expedient/beneficial), and introduces Kāla (Time) as an overarching force that intervenes—suggesting that moral dilemmas unfold within the larger inevitability of time, consequence, and mortality.
Bhishma narrates to Yudhiṣṭhira that, when a doubt about dharma and artha arises, Time arrives on the scene and speaks to a set of figures—serpent, Death, and hunters (Lubdha and Arjunaka)—setting up a didactic episode involving these characters.