Shloka 17
राजधर्मः, दण्डनीतिः, कर्तृत्व-विचारः च
Royal Duty, Lawful Discipline, and the Question of Agency
अथापि पुरुष: कर्ता कर्मणो: शुभपापयो: । न परो विद्यते तस्मादेवमेतच्छुभं कृतम्
athāpi puruṣaḥ kartā karmaṇoḥ śubhapāpayoḥ | na paro vidyate tasmād evam etac chubhaṃ kṛtam ||
Vyāsa said: “Even if one holds that the individual alone is the doer of actions—meritorious and sinful—and that there is no other agent (such as God) beyond him, still, in this case you have performed a righteous deed. For those who were slain were sinners and the supporters of sinners; moreover, what came to them in this form was simply the fruition of their own destined past karma. You were only the instrumental cause.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even under a view that denies a separate divine agent and treats the individual as the sole doer, moral evaluation still applies: the act can be righteous when it removes wrongdoers, while the slain also receive the fruition of their own past karma; the warrior functions as an instrument in that unfolding.
Vyāsa addresses a moral doubt about responsibility for killing in conflict. He reassures the listener that the deed was auspicious because the targets were sinners and their allies, and because their fate corresponded to their own karmic destiny, with the killer serving as a mere instrument.