Shloka 15
सोमक उवाच पुण्यान्न कामये लोकानृते<हं ब्रह्मवादिनम् । इच्छाम्यहमनेनैव सह वस्तुं सुरालये,सोमक बोले--धर्मराज! मैं अपने वेदवेत्ता पुरोहितके बिना पुण्यलोकोंमें जानेकी इच्छा नहीं रखता। स्वर्गलोक हो या नरक--मैं कहीं भी इन्हींके साथ रहना चाहता हूँ। देव! मेरे पुण्यकर्मोंपर इनका मेरे समान ही अधिकार है। हम दोनोंको यह पुण्य और पापका फल समानरूपसे मिलना चाहिये
Somaka uvāca: puṇyān na kāmaye lokān ṛte ’haṃ brahmavādinam | icchāmy aham anenaiva saha vastuṃ surālaye ||
Somaka said: “I do not desire meritorious worlds if I must go there without my Brahmin teacher, knower of the Veda and speaker of sacred truth. I wish to dwell together with him alone—even in the abode of the gods. For whatever merit I have earned, he has an equal claim to it; therefore the fruits of both virtue and sin should come to us alike.”
सोमक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Somaka asserts an ethical ideal of gratitude and shared moral destiny: spiritual merit is not merely personal property but can be morally owed to those who enabled one’s dharma—here, the Brahmin teacher/priest. He values companionship and loyalty over solitary enjoyment of heaven, implying that true righteousness includes honoring one’s benefactors and accepting shared consequences.
Somaka speaks to a revered interlocutor (addressed as a dharmic authority in the surrounding narrative) and declares that he refuses to accept heavenly reward if his Brahmin teacher cannot accompany him. He asks that both should dwell together in heaven and that the fruits of virtue and sin be apportioned equally between them, emphasizing the teacher’s equal stake in his religious merit.