Text 28
īśvarasya vidhiṁ ko nu
vidhunoty anyathā pumān
bhūmer bhārāvatārāya
yo ’vatīrṇo yadoḥ kule
īśvarasya — of the Supreme Lord; vidhim — the law; kaḥ — what; nu — at all; vidhunoti — can shake off; anyathā — otherwise; pumān — person; bhūmeḥ — of the earth; bhāra — the burden; avatārāya — in order to diminish; yaḥ — who; avatīrṇaḥ — has descended; yadoḥ — of Yadu; kule — in the family.
Who can defy the injunctions of the Supreme Lord, who has now descended in the Yadu dynasty to diminish the earth’s burden?
Naturally, we would like to ask Dhṛtarāṣṭra, “If you know all this, why don’t you behave properly?” Of course, this is exactly Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s point: he feels that since events have already been set in motion, he is helpless to change them. In fact, events have been set in motion by his attachment and sinful propensities, and therefore he should have taken responsibility for his own acts. Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly states in the Bhagavad-gītā (5.15), nādatte kasyacit pāpam: “The Supreme Lord does not accept responsibility for anyone’s sinful activities.” It is a dangerous policy to claim that we are acting improperly because of “destiny” or “fate.” We should take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously and create an auspicious future for ourselves and our associates.
Finally, one may argue that, after all, Dhṛtarāṣṭra is involved in the Lord’s pastimes and is actually His eternal associate. In answer to this we may say that the Lord’s pastimes are not only entertaining but also didactic, and the lesson here is that Dhṛtarāṣṭra should have acted properly. This is what the Lord wanted to teach. Dhṛtarāṣṭra claims that Kṛṣṇa came to relieve the burden of the earth, but the earth’s burden is precisely the improper behavior of its inhabitants. So, let us take the lesson the Lord wants to teach here and be instructed for our benefit.