कुरवः पाण्डवाश् चैव वृष्णयो ऽन्ये च मानवाः ॥
अहं च सह पुत्रेण अध्रुवा इति चिन्त्यताम् ॥
पर्यायेण वयं सर्वे कालेन बलिना हताः ॥
परलोकं गमिष्यामः स्वैः स्वैः कर्मभिर् अन्विताः ॥
तपस् तप्त्वा तु यांल् लोकान् प्राप्नुवन्ति तपस्विनः ॥
क्षत्रधर्माश्रिताः शूराः क्षत्रियाः प्राप्नुवन्ति तान् ॥
kuravaḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva vṛṣṇayo 'nye ca mānavāḥ ||
ahaṃ ca saha putreṇa adhruvā iti cintyatām ||
paryāyeṇa vayaṃ sarve kālena balinā hatāḥ ||
paralokaṃ gamiṣyāmaḥ svaiḥ svaiḥ karmabhir anvitāḥ ||
tapas taptvā tu yāṃl lokān prāpnuvanti tapasvinaḥ ||
kṣatradharmāśritāḥ śūrāḥ kṣatriyāḥ prāpnuvanti tān ||
"Kauravas and Pandavas alike, the Vrishnis and other men, and I together with my son -- all are impermanent: consider this well. In turn, all of us, struck down by mighty Time, shall pass to the other world, each accompanied by his own deeds. And whatever worlds ascetics attain through their austerities, those same worlds are attained by heroic kshatriyas faithful to their kshatriya duty."
8d854c762e46 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:36:52 PM UTC
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Drona raises his consolation to the higher truth of impermanence: "adhruvāḥ iti cintyatām" -- all are transient, even the teacher and his son; "paryāyeṇa... kālena balinā hatāḥ," in turn all are struck down by mighty Time. It is telling what equivalence he draws: the worlds won by ascetics through penance are obtained by the kshatriya through fidelity to his own dharma -- the duty of battle is set equal to austerity. In the mouth of one who by morning will array the formation for another's death, these words on the transience of all things sound also as a foretelling of his own end. The verse teaches that remembrance of universal mortality, and that only our deeds follow us, frees one from fear and turns duty into a path equal to the austerities of the saints.