Shloka 16
कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च
Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation
को हि लोकस्य कुरुते विनाशप्रभवावुभौ । कृतं हि तत् कृतेनैव कर्ता तस्यापि चापर:
śakra uvāca | ko hi lokasya kurute vināśa-prabhavāv ubhau | kṛtaṃ hi tat kṛtenaiva kartā tasyāpi cāparaḥ |
Śakra berkata: “Siapakah yang menyebabkan bagi dunia baik kehancuran maupun kelahiran? Sesungguhnya itu terjadi melalui perbuatan yang dilakukan makhluk-makhluk sendiri; namun bahkan bagi perbuatan-perbuatan itu pun ada Penggerak lain di belakangnya—Tuhan.”
श॒क्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse balances human moral responsibility with a higher metaphysical causality: worldly creation and destruction unfold through beings’ own actions (karma), yet the ultimate enabling/impelling principle behind action is a higher power (Īśvara).
Śakra (Indra) speaks in a didactic exchange in the Śānti Parva, reflecting on the causes behind cosmic events. He frames world-processes as arising from karma while also pointing to a transcendent instigator beyond the visible agents.