Shloka 17
Ādi-parva Adhyāya 3 — Janamejaya’s Rite, Dhaumya’s Parīkṣā, and Uttanka’s Kuṇḍala Quest (सर्पसत्रप्रस्तावना–गुरुपरीक्षा–उत्तङ्कोपाख्यान)
समर्थो5यं भवत: सर्वा: पापकृत्या: शमयितु-मन्तरेण महादेवकृत्याम्,यह तुम्हारी सम्पूर्ण पापकृत्याओं (शापजनित उपद्रवों)-का निवारण करनेमें समर्थ है। केवल भगवान् शंकरकी कृत्याको यह नहीं टाल सकता
samartho ’yaṁ bhavataḥ sarvāḥ pāpakṛtyāḥ śamayitum, antareṇa mahādevakṛtyām; yā tuṣmākam samastapāpakṛtyānāṁ (śāpajanitopadravāṇām) nivāraṇe samarthā, kevalaṁ bhagavataḥ śaṅkarasya kṛtyāṁ na śaknoti nivārayitum.
এ ব্যক্তি তোমার সকল পাপকৃত্যাজনিত উপদ্রব প্রশমিত করতে সক্ষম—কেবল মহাদেবের দ্বারা প্রবর্তিত কৃত্যাকে সে নিবারণ করতে পারে না।
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores a hierarchy of powers and accountability: many harms (even those arising from curses) may be pacified by suitable means, but what is directly sanctioned by Śiva (Mahādeva/Śaṅkara) is presented as beyond ordinary counteraction—implying reverence for divine ordinance and the limits of human or secondary remedies.
Rāma addresses someone afflicted by curse-born disturbances, assuring them that a certain agent or remedy can neutralize all such harmful rites, with one exception: the specific destructive kṛtyā attributed to Mahādeva, which cannot be averted by that means.