Shloka 116
Adhyāya 199: Karma–Jñāna Causality and the Nirguṇa Brahman
Manu’s Instruction
नायं धारयते किज्चिज्जिज्ञासा त्वत्कृते कृता । कालो धर्मस्तथा मृत्यु: कामक्रोधौ तथा युवाम्
nāyaṃ dhārayate kiñcij jijñāsā tvat-kṛte kṛtā | kālo dharmas tathā mṛtyuḥ kāma-krodhau tathā yuvām ||
Virūpa said: “This one bears nothing at all—no burden, no obligation; nor is there any debt owed to me on his account. All this was only a play enacted to test you. Time, Dharma, Death, Desire, Anger—and you two as well—have each been tried against one another’s touchstone, right before your eyes. Now, wherever you wish, go by your own earned merit to those worlds you have won through your deeds.”
विरूप उवाच
Educational Q&A
True worth is revealed through testing: one’s conduct is weighed against Dharma amid forces like time, death, desire, and anger. The verse affirms that ethical victory is earned by one’s own karma, leading to the attainment of higher realms.
Virūpa explains that the preceding events were staged as a deliberate examination of the addressee(s). The cosmic principles—Time, Dharma, Death, Desire, and Anger—have been set in mutual comparison as a ‘touchstone’ test, after which the tested person(s) are told to proceed to the worlds merited by their deeds.