Verse 3.7.18

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.18:

निष्पत्तिमात्रे कर्तृत्वं सर्वत्रैवास्ति कारके ।
व्यापारभेदापेक्षायां करणादित्वसंभवः ॥ १८ ॥

niṣpattimātre kartṛtvaṃ sarvatraivāsti kārake |
vyāpārabhedāpekṣāyāṃ karaṇāditvasaṃbhavaḥ || 18 ||

18. The quality of merely bringing about exists in all the accessories: It is when the particular function of each is desired to be known that the quality of being instrument etc. is recognised.

Commentary

It is now stated that the word do-er (kāraka) has been applied to the agent (kartā) etc. in accordance with the true meaning of the root in that word.

[Read verse 18 above]

[All actions are brought about by a set of accessories. All of them thus become agents. If one wants to know how each one becomes the agent, it is like this: Each of them performs a particular function in regard to the main action and thus acquires a special name such as instrument (kāraṇa). That which sets the other accessories in motion is the real Agent (kartā). That which the Agent seeks to reach by his action, to make, to mar or to modify, is called the object (karma) and so on. All these functions having a special name come under the general heading of do-er (kāraka). The word kāraka and the special names can be used in apposition to each other for this reason. Nothing which is not already a kāraka can get one of the special names. Of the six kārakas, one is the Agent (karta) and three more can be treated as such. The starting point (apādāna) and the recipient (saṃpradāna) cannot be so treated. We can never say rāmo dadāti for rāmāya dadāti or vṛkṣaḥ patati for vṛkṣāt patati. But in certain circumstances, we can say odanaḥ pacyate, ‘kāṣṭhāni’ pacanti and sthālī pacati. In other words, ‘karma’, ‘karaṇa’ and ‘adhikaraṇa’ can be sometimes treated as agents (kartā).]

An illustration is now given.