यम उवाच । मृत्यो न किञ्चिच्छक्तस्त्वमेको मारयितुं बलात् । मारणीयस्य कर्माणि तत्कर्तॄणीति नेतरत् ॥ १० ॥
yama uvāca | mṛtyō na kiñcicchaktastvamēkō mārayituṁ balāt | māraṇīyasya karmāṇi tatkartṝṇīti nētarat || 10 ||
Translation
Yama said: "Death, you alone are not able to kill anyone by force. It is the actions of the one to be killed that do it, nothing else.
Word by word
- mṛtyō
- Death
- na
- not
- kiñcit
- anyone
- śaktas
- (śaktaḥ) are able
- tvam
- you
- ēkō
- (ekaḥ) alone
- mārayituṁ
- to kill
- balāt
- by force
- māraṇīyasya
- of the one to be killed
- karmāṇi
- the actions
- tat
- that
- kartṝṇi
- do it
- iti
- so
- itarat
- else
Meaning
This is the first teaching of the sarga, and it is a teaching about every death. Death is not a power acting from outside on an innocent body; he is the fulfilment of what the creature's own actions have prepared. The commentary: whoever you kill, it is his own actions that kill him; there is no other cause of your weakness here. Death needs a handle, and the handle is karma. Where there is no karma, Death has nothing to hold.