Shloka 46
Śama-prāptiḥ — Gautamī–Lubdhaka–Pannaga–Mṛtyu–Kāla-saṃvāda
Restraint through the Analysis of Karma and Time
यद्य॒हं कारणत्वेन मतो लुब्धक तत्त्वतः । अन्य: प्रयोगे स्यादत्र किल्बिषी जन्तुनाशने,सर्पने कहा--व्याध! प्रयोजक (प्रेरक) कर्ता रहे या न रहे, प्रयोज्य कर्ताके बिना क्रिया नहीं होती; इसलिये यहाँ यद्यपि हमलोग (मैं और मृत्यु) समानरूपसे हेतु हैं; तो भी प्रयोजक होनेके कारण मृत्युपर ही विशेषरूपसे यह अपराध लगाया जा सकता है। यदि तुम मुझे इस बालककी मृत्युका वस्तुतः कारण मानते हो तो यह तुम्हारी भूल है। वास्तवमें विचार करनेपर प्रेरणा करनेके कारण दूसरा ही (मृत्यु ही) अपराधी सिद्ध होगा; क्योंकि वही प्राणियोंके विनाशमें अपराधी है
yady ahaṃ kāraṇatvena mato lubdhaka tattvataḥ | anyaḥ prayoge syād atra kilbiṣī jantunāśane ||
The serpent said: “If, O hunter, you truly regard me as the cause, then consider the matter rightly: in this act of killing a living being, another is the culpable one here—the one who impels the deed. Without the agent who is set in motion, no action occurs; thus, even if we are both in some sense causes, the blame falls especially on the instigator. If you think I am in truth the cause of this boy’s death, that is your error. On reflection, it is the other—Death itself—that stands guilty, for it is the destroyer of creatures.”
सर्प उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse probes moral responsibility by distinguishing between a mere instrumental cause and the instigating cause: guilt is argued to lie more heavily with the one who impels or ordains the act (here identified with Death), rather than with a secondary instrument.
In a dispute over a child’s death, the serpent addresses the hunter and denies being the true culprit, arguing that the deeper cause is the instigator—Death—who brings about the destruction of living beings.