Mahabharata 16: Fate Falters Wisdom To Its Doom Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Not feasible is it to find
A beast with a body gold-lined,
Still, Ram was lured by such deer;
Defeat and an impending gloom
Oft deludes man's wisdom to doom.
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Here is the transliteration of the original verse:

a-sambhave hema-mayasya jantah
tathā api rāmah lulubhe mŗgāya |
prāyah sam-āsanna parābhavāņām
dhiyah viparyah tatarā bhavanti || sabhā 76-5 ||

This is what Vaishampayana (a disciple of sage Vyasa who had made his contribution to the epic) , the narrator of the story, had to say:

Misled by destiny, men have often failed to foresee a foolish act that would sure lead them astray. Vaishampayana drew from another epic, Ramayana, wherein Rama, the hero, was laid astray by a golden deer whom he chased against all common sense, and knowing it well that such a deer cannot exist. Note: Jantah = beast, animal; lulubhe = get enticed, tempted, allured; viparyah = inverted, contrary, misapprehension, error; tatarā bhavanti = become worse than before (tatamā= the worst) .

Well, the inevitable did happen and Yudhishthir lost the second round of dice game as expected. The bet this time was: the loser would suffer an exile in forest for twelve years, and spend the thirteenth year in hiding. One might say it was fated, it was their destiny. But it is doubtful if Fate has the habit to jest, nor destiny to play games. Fate is no fond of a game of dice. What one sows, so only reaps.