Shloka 15

Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda

Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time

Devanagari script

भीष्म उवाच परतन्त्रं कथं हेतुमात्मानमनुपश्यसि । कर्मणां हि महाभाग सूक्ष्म होतदतीन्द्रियम्‌

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | paratantraṁ kathaṁ hetum ātmānam anupaśyasi | karmaṇāṁ hi mahābhāga sūkṣmo hy etad atīndriyam |

Translation

Bhishma dit : «Ô noble être, puisque tu demeures toujours dépendant—soumis au Temps, au destin invisible et au Seigneur—comment peux-tu te regarder comme la cause de tes actes favorables et défavorables ? Car la causalité véritable des actions est d’une subtilité extrême et dépasse la portée des sens.»

Word by Word

• {'bhīṣma uvāca': 'Bhishma said', 'paratantram': 'dependent on another

• not autonomous (under higher powers such as time, fate, God)', 'katham': 'how? why?', 'hetum': 'cause

• responsible factor', 'ātmānam': 'oneself

• the self (as the doer/agent)', 'anupaśyasi': 'you perceive/consider

• you look upon (as)', 'karmaṇām': 'of actions/deeds', 'mahābhāga': 'O fortunate/noble one (honorific address)', 'sūkṣmaḥ': 'subtle

• hard to discern', 'hi': 'indeed

• for', 'etat': 'this', 'atīndriyam': 'beyond the senses

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma challenges the assumption of complete personal authorship of deeds, stressing that the real causes behind action are subtle and supersensory; human agency operates under larger determinants such as time, unseen destiny, and the divine order, so moral reflection should include humility about causation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction, he addresses his interlocutor as “mahābhāga” and questions why the person claims to be the direct cause of good and bad actions, introducing a teaching on the hidden, complex causality of karma.