जीवितान्ताय कौरव्यो मन्मथस्य वशं गतः ॥
शापजं भयम् उत्सृज्य जगामैव बलात् प्रियाम् ॥
तस्य कामात्मनो बुद्धिः साक्षात् कालेन मोहिता ॥
संप्रमथ्येन्द्रियग्रामं प्रनष्टा सह चेतसा ॥
स तया सह संगम्य भार्यया कुरुनन्दन ॥
पाण्डुः परमधर्मात्मा युयुजे कालधर्मणा ॥
jīvitāntāya kauravyo manmathasya vaśaṃ gataḥ ||
śāpajaṃ bhayam utsṛjya jagāmaiva balāt priyām ||
tasya kāmātmano buddhiḥ sākṣāt kālena mohitā ||
saṃpramathyendriyagrāmaṃ pranaṣṭā saha cetasā ||
sa tayā saha saṃgamya bhāryayā kurunandana ||
pāṇḍuḥ paramadharmātmā yuyuje kāladharmaṇā ||
"At the end of his life the Kaurava, fallen under the sway of passion, casting off the fear born of the curse, nonetheless by force joined his beloved. His intellect, possessed by passion, darkened directly by Time, having overwhelmed the host of senses, perished together with consciousness. And he, having joined with that wife, O joy of the Kurus -- Pandu, righteous in the highest degree -- united with the law of Time."
d70f8fe62e8f · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:41:49 PM UTC
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Here the death of Pandu comes to pass -- the exact fulfilment of Kindama's curse. It is significant that the scripture names not mere passion but "Time itself" (Kala) as the destroyer that darkened his reason: when the fruit of karma has ripened, fate acts through a man's passion. Here two truths converge in a single moment: free will (Pandu yielded to kama) and inescapable fate (the curse had ripened). It is telling that even one "righteous in the highest degree" (parama-dharmatma) perishes so: neither righteousness nor knowledge of the curse saved him, for he did not master his senses in the fateful hour. Herein lies a bitter lesson: righteousness alone is not enough if the senses are not conquered; and what saves is not so much knowledge of sin as living shelter -- surrender to the Lord, under whose protection even kama loses its power. Thus the death of the righteous Pandu stands as an eternal warning: unconquered desire destroys even the saintly.