Shloka 18
Human Nature — Chanakya Niti
कर्मायत्तं फलं पुंसां बुद्धिः कर्मानुसारिणी ।
तथापि सुधियश्चार्या सुविचार्यैव कुर्वते ॥
karmāyattaṃ phalaṃ puṃsāṃ buddhiḥ karmānusāriṇī |
tathāpi sudhiyaścāryā suvichāryaiva kurvate ||
A person’s results depend on action, and the intellect tends to follow the course of action. Even so, the wise act only after careful deliberation.
FAQs
Within the broader Nītiśāstra milieu, such verses are typically situated in a didactic setting where practical reasoning, agency, and consequence are discussed in relation to governance, household management, and personal conduct. The formulation reflects a classical Indian intellectual environment in which karma (action) and phala (result) are treated as linked, while simultaneously emphasizing deliberative judgment as a valued elite virtue.
The verse characterizes “wisdom” (sudhī) less as abstract knowledge and more as a procedural quality: undertaking actions only after “suvicāra” (careful consideration). The contrast implies that although outcomes are tied to actions and cognition often follows the momentum of action, the idealized wise figure is portrayed as interrupting impulsive action through prior reflection.
The compound karmāyatta (“dependent on karma/action”) compresses a causal thesis into a single adjective, while karmānusāriṇī (“following action”) portrays buddhi as reactive—tracking what is done rather than always directing it. The middle-voice verb kurvate can suggest self-involvement in the act (undertaking for oneself), aligning with the verse’s focus on agency and internal deliberation. The term āryāḥ functions as a conventional marker of esteem, indicating a normative social ideal rather than a specific ethnic category in this context.