Shloka 12
Adhyātma-nirdeśa
Definition of Adhyātma): Mahābhūtas, Indriyas, Guṇas, and the Witness (Kṣetrajña
गौक्ष प्रतिग्रहीता च दाता चैव सम॑ यदा । इहैव विलयं यान्ति कुतस्तेषां समागम:,गौ, गोदान करनेवाला मनुष्य तथा उसको लेनेवाला ब्राह्मण--ये तीनों जब यहीं मर जाते हैं, तब परलोकमें उनका कैसे समागम होता है?
Bharadvāja uvāca: gāvaḥ pratigrahītā ca dātā caiva samaṃ yadā | ihaiva vilayaṃ yānti kutas teṣāṃ samāgamaḥ ||
When the cows, the recipient, and the donor all alike meet their end here in this very world, how can there be any reunion or encounter among them in the next world?
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral-philosophical doubt about how the fruits of charity (especially gifting cows) connect donor and recipient beyond death, probing the mechanism of karmic linkage and posthumous consequence.
Bharadvāja raises a pointed question: if the donated cows, the giver, and the receiver all perish here, on what basis can scriptures speak of their meeting or shared outcome in the other world—thus inviting a doctrinal explanation of dāna and its results.