Devanagari
जीवितं मरणं जन्तोर्गति: स्वेनैव कर्मणा ।
राजंस्ततोऽन्यो नास्त्यस्य प्रदाता सुखदु:खयो: ॥ २५ ॥
Verse text
jīvitaṁ maraṇaṁ jantor
gatiḥ svenaiva karmaṇā
rājaṁs tato ’nyo nāsty asya
pradātā sukha-duḥkhayoḥ
Synonyms
jīvitam
—
the living
;
maraṇam
—
the dying
;
jantoḥ
—
of a living being
;
gatiḥ
—
the destination in his next life
;
svena
—
by his own
;
eva
—
only
;
karmaṇā
—
work
;
rājan
—
O King
;
tataḥ
—
than that
;
anyaḥ
—
another
;
na asti
—
there is not
;
asya
—
for him
;
pradātā
—
bestower
;
sukha
—
duḥkhayoḥ — of happiness and distress .
Translation
The life and death of an embodied soul and his destination in the next life are all caused by himself through his own activity. Therefore, O King, no other agent is actually responsible for creating one’s happiness and distress.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The life and death of an embodied soul and his destination in the next life are all caused by himself through his own activity. Therefore, O King, no other agent is responsible for creating one's happiness and distress.
Hear the philosophy behind what you are doing out of grief for your father. The actions of the living entity cause his destination such as Svarga on dying. This is the normal arrangement for low living entities (jantoḥ). But your father’s living, dying and attaining the Supreme Lord’s abode were by the Lord’s arrangement. The Lord protected him by his own hand from the weapon of Aśvatthāmā and also arranged for him to die by the curse of the sage. He arranged from him to attain his spiritual abode through the teachings his beloved Śukadeva. All these events were arranged by the Lord. Takṣaka is a cause of this death in name only.
Purport
Although King Parīkṣit apparently died by the bite of Takṣaka, it was Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself who brought the King back to the kingdom of God. Bṛhaspati wanted young King Janamejaya to see things from the spiritual point of view.