Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
मृत्युस्त्वं चैव हेतुर्हि बालस्यास्य विनाशने । उभयं कारणं मन्ये न कारणमकारणम्
mṛtyus tvaṃ caiva hetur hi bālasyāsya vināśane | ubhayaṃ kāraṇaṃ manye na kāraṇam akāraṇam ||
Engkau dan Kematian sama-sama menjadi sebab kehancuran anak ini. Karena itu aku memandang keduanya bertanggung jawab; aku tidak menerima bahwa yang satu saja patut disalahkan sementara yang lain bebas dari sebab dan cela.
लुब्धक उवाच
The verse frames ethical causality as shared: when harm occurs, responsibility may lie in multiple contributing causes (here, both the immediate agent and the overarching force of mortality). It rejects the simplification that only one party is culpable while the other is entirely without causal role.
The hunter addresses Death, asserting that the child’s demise cannot be attributed to a single factor. He argues that both Death and the addressed party (implicitly the proximate cause) together constitute the cause of the child’s destruction.