Shloka 16
याज्यान् सर्वानुपादाय प्रतिगृहा पशूंस्तत: । सोम पास्यामहे हृष्टा: प्राप्प यज्ञ महाफलम्,राजन्! एक दिनकी बात है, उनके दोनों भाई एकत और द्वित यज्ञ और धनके लिये चिन्ता करने लगे। शत्रुओंको संताप देनेवाले नरेश! उनके मनमें यह विचार उत्पन्न हुआ कि हमलोग त्रितको साथ लेकर यजमानोंका यज्ञ करावें और दक्षिणाके रूपमें बहुत-से पशु प्राप्त करके महान् फलदायक यज्ञका अनुष्ठान करें और उसीमें प्रसन्नतापूर्वक सोमरसका पान करें
vaiśampāyana uvāca | yājyān sarvān upādāya pratigṛhā paśūṃs tataḥ | somaṃ pāsyāmahe hṛṣṭāḥ prāpya yajña-mahāphalam, rājan |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Having taken up all the prospective sacrificers and then, from house to house, obtained cattle as fees, we shall joyfully drink the Soma—having secured the great reward of a sacrifice, O king.” (In context, this reflects a calculating intent: to use ritual service as a means to acquire wealth and then indulge in the sacrificial drink, raising an ethical tension between sacred duty and profit-driven motivation.)
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights an ethical tension: sacred ritual can be approached as dharma (service and sanctity) or as a strategy for gain. It implicitly cautions that when yajña becomes a tool for profit and indulgence, the spirit of dharma is compromised even if the outer form of ritual is maintained.
A plan is voiced to gather patrons for sacrifices, go from household to household to obtain cattle as sacrificial fees (dakṣiṇā), and then celebrate by drinking Soma, claiming the ‘great fruit’ of the sacrifice. The surrounding story (as reflected in the Gītā Press Hindi) connects this to brothers scheming about wealth through conducting yajñas.