Shloka 76
Adhyaya 3 — The Dharmapakshis’ Past-Life Curse and Indra’s Test of Truthfulness
दैवमात्रं परं मन्ये धिक् पौरुषमनर्थकम् ।
अकार्यं कारितो येन बलादहमचिन्तितम् ॥
daivamātraṃ paraṃ manye dhik pauruṣam anarthakam |
akāryaṃ kārito yena balād aham acintitam ||
Ich halte allein das Geschick für das Höchste; Schande dem vergeblichen menschlichen Bemühen. Denn durch es (das Geschick) wurde ich gewaltsam dazu gebracht, eine undenkbare Tat zu begehen, die nicht hätte getan werden dürfen.
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FAQs
The speaker laments that destiny overwhelms personal agency, leading one into improper action despite better judgment. Ethically, the verse captures remorse and the recognition that actions can occur under overpowering circumstances—yet the very labeling of the act as akārya preserves a dharmic standard (there remains a moral yardstick even amid compulsion).
This verse is not directly sarga/pratisarga (creation), vaṃśa (genealogies), manvantara (Manu cycles), or vaṃśānucarita (dynastic histories) in itself; it functions as narrative-ethical reflection within the Purana’s dialogic/story framework. At most, it supports dharma-śikṣā (moral instruction) embedded alongside pancalakṣaṇa materials.
On an inner level, 'daiva' can be read as the overpowering momentum of past karma and saṃskāras that drives the embodied mind into actions it would not choose in clarity. The condemnation of 'pauruṣa' here is not a denial of discipline in general, but a moment of existential humility: the ego’s sense of control collapses, revealing deeper causal forces that must be purified rather than merely asserted against.