Shloka 30
इष्टापूर्तफलं न स्यान्न शिष्यो न गुरुर्भवेत् । पुरुष: कर्मसाध्येषु स्याच्चेदयमकारणम्,यदि कर्मसाध्य फलोंमें पुरुष (एवं उसका प्रयत्न) कारण न होता अर्थात् वह कर्ता नहीं बनता तो किसीको यज्ञ और कूपनिर्माण आदि कर्मोंका फल नहीं मिलता। फिर तो न कोई किसीका शिष्य होता और न गुरु ही
iṣṭāpūrtaphalaṁ na syān na śiṣyo na gurur bhavet | puruṣaḥ karmasādhyeṣu syāc ced ayam akāraṇam ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “If, in actions whose results are produced by effort, the person (and his striving) were not a cause—if he did not become an agent—then there would be no fruit of sacrifices and public works such as digging wells. In that case, no one would be anyone’s disciple, and no one would be a teacher either.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse argues for human moral agency: when results are action-dependent, the person’s effort must be a real cause. Otherwise, merit from sacrifice and charity would be impossible, and even the social-ethical structure of learning (teacher and disciple) would collapse.
Yudhiṣṭhira is reasoning about causality and responsibility in dharma: he uses examples of ritual merit (iṣṭa) and public benefaction (pūrta) to show that denying human agency makes ethical practice and the guru–śiṣya relationship meaningless.