Shloka 8
Dharma and Wealth — Chanakya Niti
साधूनां दर्शनं पुण्यं तीर्थभूता हि साधवः ।
कालेन फलते तीर्थं सद्यः साधुसमागमः ॥
sādhūnāṁ darśanaṁ puṇyaṁ tīrthabhūtā hi sādhavaḥ |
kālena phalate tīrthaṁ sadyaḥ sādhusamāgamaḥ ||
To behold the virtuous is merit, for the virtuous themselves are a tīrtha, a holy ford. A pilgrimage-site bears fruit in time; meeting the virtuous bears fruit at once.
FAQs
In classical Indian didactic and nīti traditions, moral authority is frequently framed through religious idioms such as puṇya (merit) and tīrtha (pilgrimage site). The verse reflects a social-religious milieu in which encounters with reputedly virtuous individuals were imagined as conferring merit comparable to, or exceeding, that associated with pilgrimage—an idea attested broadly across Sanskrit ethical and devotional literature.
Puṇya is presented descriptively as a positive moral-religious outcome associated with contact or audience (darśana) with sādhus. The verse frames merit as something that can be accrued through proximity to exemplary persons, and it compares the temporal efficacy of such merit to that of pilgrimage practices.
The key metaphor is tīrthabhūta—literally “having become a tīrtha,” implying that virtuous persons function as mobile or living sacred sites. The contrast between kālena phalate (“bears fruit in time”) and sadyaḥ (“immediately”) uses temporal language to distinguish delayed ritual efficacy from immediate social-spiritual efficacy attributed to sādhusamāgama (association with the virtuous).