Devanagari
न ह्यस्य कर्हिचिद्राजन् पुमान् वेद विधित्सितम् ।
यद्विजिज्ञासया युक्ता मुह्यन्ति कवयोऽपि हि ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
na hy asya karhicid rājan
pumān veda vidhitsitam
yad vijijṣāsayā yuktā
muhyanti kavayo ’pi hi
Synonyms
na
—
never
;
hi
—
certainly
;
asya
—
His
;
karhicit
—
whatsoever
;
rājan
—
O King
;
pumān
—
anyone
;
veda
—
knows
;
vidhitsitam
—
plan
;
yat
—
which
;
vijijṣāsayā
—
with exhaustive inquiries
;
yuktāḥ
—
being engaged
;
muhyanti
—
bewildered
;
kavayaḥ
—
great philosophers
;
api
—
even
;
hi
—
certainly .
Translation
O King, no one can know the plan of the Lord [Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. Even though great philosophers inquire exhaustively, they are bewildered.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O King! No one can understand the plan of Kṛṣṇa because even those engaged in reasoning and scripture are bewildered by that inquiry.
Purport
The bewilderment of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira over his past sinful acts and the resultant sufferings, etc., is completely negated by the great authority Bhīṣma (one of the twelve authorized persons). Bhīṣma wanted to impress upon Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira that since time immemorial no one, including such demigods as Śiva and Brahmā, could ascertain the real plan of the Lord. So what can we understand about it? It is useless also to inquire about it. Even the exhaustive philosophical inquiries of sages cannot ascertain the plan of the Lord. The best policy is simply to abide by the orders of the Lord without argument. The sufferings of the Pāṇḍavas were never due to their past deeds. The Lord had to execute the plan of establishing the kingdom of virtue, and therefore His own devotees suffered temporarily in order to establish the conquest of virtue. Bhīṣmadeva was certainly satisfied by seeing the triumph of virtue, and he was glad to see King Yudhiṣṭhira on the throne, although he himself fought against him. Even a great fighter like Bhīṣma could not win the Battle of Kurukṣetra because the Lord wanted to show that vice cannot conquer virtue, regardless of who tries to execute it. Bhīṣmadeva was a great devotee of the Lord, but he chose to fight against the Pāṇḍavas by the will of the Lord because the Lord wanted to show that a fighter like Bhīṣma cannot win on the wrong side.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“So what should I conclude?” Here is the general conclusion. Everyone agrees that no one can interfere with the plans of the Kṛṣṇa and no one can even understand what his plans are, even today. No person, starting with Brahmā and Śiva, knows the plan of the Lord, what to speak of me!
Maybe no one knows. But inquiry is necessary. Does he want to give us suffering? Does he want to give us joy? Does he want to give us suffering and happiness? It cannot be the first, because then his quality of being affectionate to his devotee would be cancelled. It cannot be the second option, because we have not seen any happiness. It cannot be the third option because that would be a contradiction to his kind nature. It is finally decided that one cannot solve the problem by inquiry. Thus the verse says that even those who use their intelligence to discriminate and those use knowledge of scripture are bewildered by inquiry.