Shloka 16
Adhyāya 222 — ब्रह्मस्थानप्राप्ति: मोक्षधर्मे समत्वव्रतम्
Attaining the Brahman-Station: The Vow of Equanimity in Mokṣadharma
पुरुषार्थस्य चाभावे नास्ति कश्चिच्च कारक: । स्वयं न कुर्वतस्तस्य जातु मानो भवेदिह
puruṣārthasya cābhāve nāsti kaścit ca kārakaḥ | svayaṃ na kurvatas tasya jātu māno bhaved iha ||
Sinabi ni Prahlāda: “Kapag walang sariling pagsisikap tungo sa mga layunin, walang sinuman ang tunay na matatawag na tagagawa. Gayunman, kahit hindi kailanman kumilos sa sarili, ang tao sa mundong ito’y nagkikimkim pa rin ng pagmamataas: ‘Ako ang gumawa.’”
प्रह्माद उवाच
Educational Q&A
True agency depends on deliberate personal effort (puruṣārtha). Yet people often develop the ego-notion of doership (māna) even when they have not actually acted—highlighting how pride and self-attribution can arise independent of real causation.
In Śānti Parva’s reflective discourse, Prahlāda is speaking as a moral-philosophical instructor, critiquing the mistaken sense of ‘I am the doer’ and urging discernment about effort, causality, and the ego.