Karma Veda · The Practice of Accountable Action
यन्त्र-उत्तरदायित्वम्
yantra-uttaradāyitvam
Mūla · Original verse
Sanskrit
Anvaya
Plain English meaning
A machine may act today, but responsibility remains human. Examine hidden defects and place justice within the system.
Kāvya
Poetic rendering
No mechanism is beyond morality merely because its hand is made of code, steel, market, or procedure.
Manana
Contemplation
Responsibility belongs across the chain of design, data, deployment, purchase, governance, and use. Automation must not create a gap through which accountability disappears.
Prayoga
Civilizational practice
Maintain named owners, risk classification, independent testing, incident reporting, human review, contestability, secure shutdown, and remedy for people harmed.
Param Veda Upaniṣad · One-to-One Bhāṣya
Sit near the question
The companion moves from words and meaning to inward reflection, public application, boundaries against misuse, dialogue, and practice.
Padārtha · Key terms
yantra — machine or system; karma — action; dāyitva — responsibility; mānava — human being; gupta-doṣa — hidden defect; nyāya — justice
Anvaya · Sequence of meaning
A machine may act today, but responsibility remains human. Examine hidden defects and place justice within the system.
Bhāṣya · Commentary
Automation can distribute action without distributing conscience. The hymn closes that gap: responsibility remains in the human chain of design, data, testing, procurement, deployment, governance, use, and response. Complexity may divide duties; it cannot make harm ownerless.
Loka-saṃgraha · Civilizational application
High-impact systems require named accountable owners, documented purpose, data provenance, security, representative performance testing, monitoring, human review, explanation, contestability, incident response, secure shutdown, and remedy. People should know when a consequential system affects them.
Maryādā · Boundary against misuse
A human in the loop is not sufficient if that person lacks time, authority, understanding, or a genuine ability to disagree. Conversely, insisting on manual action can preserve human bias and error. The standard is accountable control proportionate to impact.
Praśna–Uttara
Teacher and student
Prayoga · Practice
- 1 Map responsibility from design to remedy for one automated decision.
- 2 Give the affected person notice, meaningful human review, and power to contest.
Saṅgati · Canonical correspondences