Shloka 78
Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
नरेश्वरर कालके इस प्रकार कहनेपर गौतमी ब्राह्मणीको यह निश्चय हो गया कि मनुष्यको अपने कर्मोंके अनुसार ही फल मिलता है। फिर वह अर्जुनकसे बोली ।।
Gautamy uvāca: naiva kālo na bhujago na mṛtyur iha kāraṇam | svakarmabhir ayaṃ bālaḥ kālena nidhanaṃ gataḥ ||
Gautamī berkata: “Wahai pemburu, di sini bukanlah Kāla, bukan ular, dan bukan pula Maut yang menjadi sebab. Anak ini, digerakkan oleh karmanya sendiri, telah menemui kebinasaan melalui perantaraan Waktu.”
काल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the decisive cause of one’s suffering or death is one’s own karma; Time, death, or an apparent external agent (like a serpent) functions only as an instrument through which karmic results manifest.
Gautamī, reflecting on the event of a child’s death, rejects blaming external forces such as Time, a snake, or Death itself. She asserts a moral-causal explanation: the child’s own past actions have ripened, with Time serving as the means by which the outcome occurs.