Shloka 94
Adhyāya 199: Karma–Jñāna Causality and the Nirguṇa Brahman
Manu’s Instruction
ततो मे सुकृतं कर्म कृतमात्मविशुद्धये । गावौ च कपिले क्रीत्वा वत्सले बहुदोहने,तदनन्तर मैंने भी अपनी शुद्धिके लिये पुण्यकर्म किया। राजन! दो अधिक दूध देनेवाली कपिला गौएँ, जिनके साथ उनके बछड़े भी थे, खरीदकर उन्हें मैंने एक उज्छवृत्तिवाले ब्राह्मणको विधि और श्रद्धा-पूर्वक दे दिया। प्रभो! उसी गोदानका फल मैं पुनः इसे वापस करना चाहता हूँ
tato me sukṛtaṃ karma kṛtam ātmaviśuddhaye | gāvau ca kapile krītvā vatsale bahudohane |
Dann, um mich selbst zu läutern, vollbrachte ich eine verdienstvolle Tat. O König, ich erwarb zwei kapilā‑Kühe (falbfarben), jede mit ihrem Kalb und reich an Milch, und schenkte sie—nach rechtem Ritus und in voller Glaubenshingabe—einem Brāhmaṇa, der nach der ucchavṛtti‑Lebensweise (vom Auflesen der Ährenreste) lebte. O Herr, nun wünsche ich, ihm den eigentlichen Ertrag jener Kuhspende wieder zurückzugeben.
विरूप उवाच
Educational Q&A
Merit is cultivated through dharmic giving performed with proper procedure and faith, especially gifts that sustain life (like cows). Such acts are framed as means of inner purification, and their ‘fruit’ (phala) is treated as a moral-spiritual consequence that one may seek to direct or restore through further righteous intention.
Virūpa recounts a past act done for self-purification: he bought two high-yielding kapilā cows with calves and donated them, ritually and with faith, to a poor Brahmin who lived by gleaning. He then states his wish to return or restore the fruit of that cow-gift, indicating a concern with the ethical accounting of merit and its consequences.