Shloka 4
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Saṃvāda
Kṛpa’s Counsel on Destiny and Human Effort
सत्पुरुषोंमें श्रेष्ठ अश्वत्थामन्! केवल दैव या प्रारब्धसे अथवा अकेले पुरुषार्थसे भी कार्योंकी सिद्धि नहीं होती है। दोनोंके संयोगसे ही सिद्धि प्राप्त होती है ।।
satpuruṣeṣu śreṣṭha aśvatthāman! kevalaṃ daivāt vā prārabdhāt athavā kevalena puruṣārthena api kāryāṇāṃ siddhir na bhavati; ubhayasaṃyogenaiva siddhiḥ prāpyate. tābhyām ubhābhyāṃ sarvārthā nibaddhā adhamottamāḥ; pravṛttāś caiva dṛśyante nivṛttāś caiva sarvaśaḥ.
Kṛpa said: “O Aśvatthāman, best among the noble—success in undertakings does not arise from fate (or what has already begun to bear fruit) alone, nor from human effort alone. Accomplishment is attained only from the conjunction of both. From these two are bound all ends—high and low alike; and by them, everywhere, one sees actions of engagement as well as actions of withdrawal.”
कृप उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kṛpa teaches that outcomes arise from the combined operation of daiva/prārabdha (fate, already-fructifying karma) and puruṣārtha (human effort). Neither alone is sufficient; both together condition all results, whether considered noble or base, and they underlie both engagement in action (pravṛtti) and withdrawal from action (nivṛtti).
In the Sauptika Parva, after the great war’s climax, Kṛpa addresses Aśvatthāman in a moment of intense moral and strategic tension. He frames the situation philosophically, reminding him that success and failure are not solely a matter of personal will or destiny, but of their interplay—an admonition that implicitly bears on how Aśvatthāman should choose his next course of action.