Shloka 20
Akṣara–Kṣara Viveka: Vasiṣṭha–Karāla-Janaka Saṃvāda (अक्षर-क्षर विवेकः)
सतोये<न्यत् तु यत् तोयं तस्मिन्नेव प्रसिच्यते । वृद्धे वृद्धिमवाप्रोति सलिले सलिलं यथा
satoye'nyat tu yat toyaṃ tasminneva prasicyate | vṛddhe vṛddhim avāpnoti salile salilaṃ yathā rājann |
Parāśara said: “O King, just as when additional water is poured into a vessel already containing water, the water within increases by merging with what is newly added, so too do previously accumulated merits grow when fresh meritorious deeds are performed in the same spirit. Earlier virtue and newly performed virtue unite, and by their combined increase a person becomes ever more richly endowed with merit.”
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Merit grows cumulatively: earlier virtuous actions are not replaced by later ones; rather, new good deeds merge with stored merit and increase it, like water added to water.
Parāśara addresses a king and uses a simple physical analogy—pouring water into an already water-filled vessel—to explain how continued righteous conduct amplifies one’s accumulated virtue.