Shloka 32
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
विद्वान् पुरुष शिकार करने, जूआ खेलने, स्त्रियोंके संसर्गमें रहने और मदिरा पीनेके प्रसंगोंकी बड़ी निन््दा करते हैं, परंतु इन पापकर्मोमें अनेक शास्त्रोंके श्रवण और अध्ययनसे सम्पन्न पुरुष भी संलग्न देखे जाते हैं ।।
janaka uvāca | vidvān puruṣāḥ śikāra-karaṇe dyūta-krīḍāyāṃ strī-saṃsarge ca madya-pāne ca prasangeṣu mahāṃ nindāṃ kurvanti, kintu etaiḥ pāpa-karmabhir aneka-śāstra-śravaṇa-adhyayana-sampannā api puruṣāḥ saṃlagnā dṛśyante || iti kālena sarvārtha-niḥspṛhāni spṛśanti sarva-bhūtāni; iṣṭāni aniṣṭāni ca prāpnuvanti; nimittaṃ nopalabhyate—adṛṣṭam eva kāraṇam iva dṛśyate ||
阇那迦王说道：“智者严厉谴责狩猎、赌博、沉溺女色与饮酒等事。然而我们仍见到，即便是因聆听与研习多种经典而自负有成的人，也陷入这些罪行之中。由是可知，在时间之压迫下，一切众生不断遭遇所欲与所不欲之境。对于这些得失，并无清晰可见的原因；除那不可见的命运之力（阿德里什塔，adṛṣṭa）外，似乎再无他因。”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the learned can fall into condemned pleasures; therefore moral failure cannot be explained only by knowledge. Janaka points to Kāla (Time) and adṛṣṭa (the unseen force of destiny/karmic fruition) as shaping the arrival of desirable and undesirable experiences, reminding one to cultivate vigilance and self-mastery rather than relying on learning alone.
King Janaka is speaking in the Śānti Parva, reflecting on human conduct. He observes a paradox: people who know the śāstras still engage in hunting, gambling, sensual indulgence, and intoxication. He then generalizes this observation into a philosophical claim that beings meet with pleasant and unpleasant outcomes under the influence of Time, with no obvious visible cause beyond the unseen workings of destiny.