Shloka 76
Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
एवं नाहं न वै मृत्युने सर्पो न तथा भवान् । नचेयं ब्राह्मणी वृद्धा शिशुरेवात्र कारणम्,इस प्रकार विचार करनेसे न मैं, न मृत्यु, न सर्प, न तुम (व्याध) और न यह बूढ़ी ब्राह्यणी ही इस बालककी मृत्युमें कारण है। यह शिशु स्वयं ही कर्मके अनुसार अपनी मृत्युमें कारण हुआ है
evaṁ nāhaṁ na vai mṛtyunā sarpo na tathā bhavān | na ceyaṁ brāhmaṇī vṛddhā śiśur evātra kāraṇam ||
Kāla said: “Thus, neither I, nor Death, nor the serpent, nor you (the hunter), nor even this aged brāhmaṇī is truly the cause of the boy’s death. In this matter, the child himself—through the force of his own past actions—has become the cause of his death.”
काल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that apparent agents (Time, Death, serpent, hunter, or the grieving mother) are not the ultimate cause; the deeper cause is the individual’s own karma. It reframes blame into moral causality, emphasizing responsibility across lifetimes rather than immediate scapegoating.
Kāla (Time), speaking in a didactic context, addresses the tendency to assign guilt for a child’s death. He denies that any external figure is the true cause and asserts that the child’s death occurs according to his own karmic trajectory, redirecting the discussion toward dharma and the workings of moral law.