Shloka 117
Adhyāya 199: Karma–Jñāna Causality and the Nirguṇa Brahman
Manu’s Instruction
सर्वमन्योन्यनिष्कर्षे निघृष्टं पश्यतस्तव । गच्छ लोकान् जितान् स्वेन कर्मणा यत्र वाउछसि
sarvam anyonya-niṣkarṣe nighṛṣṭaṁ paśyatas tava | gaccha lokān jitān svena karmaṇā yatra vā icchasi ||
“Before your very eyes, all of us have been tested against one another in mutual examination and scrutiny. Now go—enter those worlds that you have won by your own deeds, wherever you wish.”
विरूप उवाच
Educational Q&A
That true worth is revealed through testing, and that one’s final attainment (the ‘worlds’ one reaches) is earned by one’s own karma—personal deeds and ethical conduct—rather than by mere claims or appearances.
Virūpa declares that the figures involved have been mutually ‘assayed’ in the presence of the listener, as part of a deliberate trial. With the test concluded, he grants permission to depart and enjoy the realms merited by the listener’s own actions, wherever the listener chooses.