Shloka 14

आपद्-राजनीतिः (Āpad-rājanīti) — Policy Options in Multi-Front Crisis

Devanagari script

सत्कृत्य नोपकुरुते परं शक्‍्त्या यथा्हत: । या सक्ता सर्वभूतेषु सा55शा कृशतरी मया

Transliteration

satkṛtya nopakurute paraṁ śaktyā yathāhataḥ | yā śaktā sarvabhūteṣu sāśā kṛśatarī mayā ||

Translation

Kṛśa dijo: «Cuando un hombre honra al suplicante y, tras avivar su esperanza, aun así no presta ayuda en la debida medida según su capacidad, entonces la esperanza que nace en el corazón de todos los seres se vuelve más delgada que yo: más consumida que mi propio ser.»

Word by Word

• सत्कृत्य: having honored / after honoring
• सत्कृत्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Verb
• Root: सत्कृ (धातु) / सत्+कृ
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्यय (gerund)

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• उपकुरुते: does a favor / helps
• Type: Verb
• Root: उपकृ (धातु)
• Form: लट्, आत्मनेपद, 3, singular

• परम्: another person (the other)
• परम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• शक्त्या: by (one's) ability
• शक्त्या: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शक्ति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, instrumental, singular

• यथा: as / according to
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• अर्हतः: than what is proper / deserved
• अर्हतः: Apadana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अर्हत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, ablative, singular

• या: which
• या: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• आशा: hope
• आशा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: आशा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• सक्ता: attached / fixed (upon)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सञ्ज्/सक्त (धातु-जन्य) / सक्त (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त (past passive participle used adjectivally), feminine, nominative, singular

• सर्वभूतेषु: in all beings
• सर्वभूतेषु: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्वभूत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: neuter, locative, plural

• सा: that (she/it)
• सा: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• अशा: hopelessness / lack of hope
• अशा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अशा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• कृशतरी: more meagre / thinner
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कृशतर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• मया: by me / than me (as standard of comparison)
• मया: Karana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: instrumental, singular

Speaker

कृश उवाच

Characters & Entities

• कृश (Kṛśa)
• याचक (supplicant/beggar) (implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not create expectations through honor and promises if you will not help according to your capacity; raising hope and then failing to act is ethically worse than refusing plainly, because it diminishes trust and harms the vulnerable.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kṛśa comments on a moral failing: a person respectfully receives a petitioner and kindles hope, but then withholds appropriate assistance. Kṛśa uses a striking comparison—hope itself becomes ‘more emaciated than me’—to show how such conduct starves and weakens the spirit of beings.