Shloka 42
Adhyāya 41 — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Briefing and the Renewal of the Great Engagement
“शल्य! तब उस ब्राह्मणने एकान्तमें घूमते हुए मुझसे आकर कहा--*तुमने प्रमादवश मेरी होमधेनुके बछड़ेको मार डाला है। इसलिये तुम जिस समय रणक्षेत्रमें युद्ध करते-करते अत्यन्त भयको प्राप्त होओ उसी समय तुम्हारे रथका पहिया गड्ढेमें गिर जाय” ।।
śalya! tadā sa brāhmaṇa ekānte paribhraman mām upetya uvāca— tvayā pramādavaśān mama homadhenoḥ batsaḥ hataḥ; tasmāt tvaṁ yasmin kāle raṇakṣetre yuddhyamānaḥ atyanta-bhayaṁ prāpsyasi tasminn eva kāle tava rathasya cakraṁ gartte nipatiṣyati iti. tasmād bibhemi balavad brāhmaṇa-vyāhṛtād aham; ete hi somarājān īśvarāḥ sukha-duḥkhayoḥ.
三阇耶说道：“沙利耶啊，后来那婆罗门在幽僻处独行时来到我面前，说道：‘你因疏忽杀了我祭火圣牛（homadhenu）的牛犊。因此，当你在战场上鏖战，正被极度恐惧攫住的那一刻，你战车的车轮必陷入坑穴。’所以我对婆罗门所宣告之言深感畏惧；因为这样的言辞，确能主宰欢乐与忧苦。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Negligent harm done to what is protected and sacred (here, a Brahmin’s sacrificial cow’s calf) generates moral consequence that can ripen at a critical moment. The passage underscores the Mahabharata’s ethic that careless wrongdoing, especially against dharmic persons and ritual property, returns as fate-like obstruction in war.
Sanjaya recounts to Shalya a prior incident: a Brahmin confronts him (or the referenced warrior) and pronounces a curse that, at the moment of greatest fear during battle, the chariot wheel will sink into a pit. Sanjaya then admits his strong fear of that utterance, treating the Brahmin’s words as determinative of future joy and sorrow.