मिथोऽङ्गानि समासाद्य द्वयोरेकैककर्तृता । हस्तादीनां हतत्वे ह न दैवेन क्वचित्कृतम् ॥ १० ॥
mithō’ṅgāni samāsādya dvayōrēkaikakartṛtā | hastādīnāṁ hatatvē ha na daivēna kvacitkṛtam || 10 ||
Translation
When two things meet, limb and tool, the work is the work of one or the other. When hands and the like have been destroyed, nothing has ever been done by fate.
Word by word
- mithō
- (mithaḥ) together
- aṅgāni
- limbs
- samāsādya
- meeting
- dvayōr
- (dvayoḥ) of two
- ēkaika
- one or the other
- kartṛtā
- the work
- hasta
- hands
- ādīnāṁ
- and the like
- hatatvē
- when destroyed
- ha
- indeed
- na
- not
- daivēna
- by fate
- kvacit
- ever
- kṛtam
- done
Meaning
The commentary gives the examples: in writing and cutting, pen or razor and hand meet, and of the two only one does the work; another commentary adds that when the hand has been struck with palsy, fate has never yet moved the pen. So tools and limbs are in the visible chain of causes, and fate is nowhere in it. The test is what happens when the hand is gone. If fate were really a doer, its work would go on. It stops. It can be hard to read this and not think of one's own limbs: these hands are what is available to the good one means to do, and for a limited time.