Shloka 18
Adhyāya 33 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Post-Conflict Remorse and Inquiry on Āśrama Discipline (शोक-विमर्शः, आश्रम-जिज्ञासा)
हेतुमात्रमिदं तस्य विहितं भरतर्षभ । यद्धन्ति भूतैर्भूतानि तदस्मै रूपमैश्वरम्
hetumātram idaṁ tasya vihitaṁ bharatarṣabha | yad dhanti bhūtair bhūtāni tad asmai rūpam aiśvaram ||
婆罗多族中的雄牛啊，这场战争只是祂所安立的工具。众生借由众生而相互杀戮——这正是祂至高而神圣的形相：时间，它完成毁灭，却并不亲自成为偏袒一方的行动者。
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the war as merely an instrument in the hands of a higher power: Time (Kāla). Destruction occurs through the agency of beings themselves, revealing a divine sovereignty that operates through secondary causes rather than personal, partisan action.
Vyāsa addresses a Bharata leader and interprets the great conflict as something arranged by the cosmic order. He explains that the slaying of creatures by other creatures is not random but a manifestation of the lordly power of Time, which uses events like war as its occasion.