Shloka 53

Adhyāya 199: Karma–Jñāna Causality and the Nirguṇa Brahman

Manu’s Instruction

Devanagari script

राजोवाच अज्ञातमस्य धर्मस्य फलं कि मे करिष्यति । फल ब्रवीषि धर्मस्य न चेज्जप्यकृतस्य माम्‌ | प्राप्रोतु तत्‌ फलं विप्रो नाहमिच्छे ससंशयम्‌

Transliteration

rājovāca ajñātam asya dharmasya phalaṁ kiṁ me kariṣyati | phalaṁ bravīṣi dharmasya na ced japyakṛtasya mām | prāpnotu tat phalaṁ vipro nāham icche sasaṁśayam ||

Translation

The king said: “Brāhmaṇa, if you will not tell me the fruit of this dharma born of japa, what use is an unknown reward to me? If you do not declare the fruit of this practice, then let that fruit go to you, O brāhmaṇa. I do not wish for a reward that remains uncertain.”

Word by Word

• {'rājā (rājovāca)': 'the king

• ‘the king said’', 'ajñāta': 'unknown, not made known', 'dharma': 'righteous duty

• moral/religious practice', 'phala': 'fruit

• reward (karmic/spiritual outcome)', 'kim me kariṣyati': 'what will it do for me? what use is it to me?', 'bravīṣi': 'you tell

• you declare', 'na ced': 'if not

• unless', 'japa': 'muttered prayer/recitation

• meditative repetition', 'japyakṛta': 'produced by japa

• arising from recitation', 'prāpnotu': 'let (him) obtain

• let it accrue', 'vipra': 'brāhmaṇa

• learned priest', 'nāham icche': 'I do not desire', 'sa-saṁśayam': 'with doubt

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• rājā (the king)
• vipra/brāhmaṇa (the brāhmaṇa interlocutor)
• japa (recitation practice)
• dharma (religious/moral practice)
• phala (fruit/reward)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights a tension between practicing dharma for its intrinsic rightness versus seeking a clearly stated reward. The king rejects an ‘unknown’ or ‘doubtful’ fruit, implying that ethical or spiritual practice can be approached either with faith and surrender or with a transactional demand for guaranteed results.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a dialogue between a king and a brāhmaṇa, the king presses the brāhmaṇa to specify the fruit of a japa-based religious merit. When the brāhmaṇa does not disclose it, the king says the merit may as well accrue to the brāhmaṇa, because the king does not want a reward whose outcome is uncertain.