Shloka 70
Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
काल उवाच न हाहं नाप्ययं मृत्युर्नायं लुब्धक पन्नग: । किल्बिषी जन्तुमरणे न वयं हि प्रयोजका:
kāla uvāca | na hāhaṃ nāpy ayaṃ mṛtyur nāyaṃ lubdhaka pannagaḥ | kilbiṣī jantu-maraṇe na vayaṃ hi prayojakāḥ ||
Dijo el Tiempo: «Ni yo, ni esta Muerte, ni esta serpiente tienen la culpa, oh cazador, de la muerte de esta criatura. No somos instigadores ni agentes que provoquen la muerte de nadie. La causa verdadera está en otra parte: en los propios actos del ser y en la ley del dharma que hace madurar sus frutos.»
काल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that Time (kāla), Death (mṛtyu), and apparent instruments (like a serpent or a hunter) are not morally culpable as independent causes of a being’s death; rather, outcomes unfold according to the deeper law of karma and the ripening of prior actions.
Time personified addresses a hunter and denies that he, Death, or the serpent should be regarded as the guilty party in the creature’s death, shifting the discussion from surface-level blame to the ethical-metaphysical framework of karmic causation.