Shloka 22

Go-apahāra (Cattle Theft), Go-dāna (Cow-Gift), and Suvarṇa-dakṣiṇā (Gold Fee): Karmic Consequence and Purificatory Merit

Devanagari script

अस्ति चैव कृतं पापमज्ञानात्‌ तदपि त्वया । चरस्व पापं पश्चाद्‌ वा पूर्व वा त्वं यथेच्छसि

Transliteration

asti caiva kṛtaṃ pāpam ajñānāt tad api tvayā | carasva pāpaṃ paścād vā pūrva vā tvaṃ yathecchasi ||

Translation

« Pourtant, toi aussi tu as commis un péché, sans le vouloir, par ignorance. Aussi subis-en la conséquence, plus tard ou d’abord, selon ton choix. »

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'asti', 'definition': 'there is

• it exists'}, {'term': 'caiva (ca + eva)', 'definition': 'and indeed

• moreover, emphatically'}, {'term': 'kṛtam', 'definition': 'done

• committed'}, {'term': 'pāpam', 'definition': 'sin

• wrongful act (and its moral consequence)'}, {'term': 'ajñānāt', 'definition': 'from ignorance

• without knowing'}, {'term': 'tad api', 'definition': 'even that

• that too'}, {'term': 'tvayā', 'definition': 'by you (instrumental singular)'}, {'term': 'carasva', 'definition': 'undergo

• bear (the result)'}, {'term': 'paścāt', 'definition': 'afterwards

• later'}, {'term': 'vā', 'definition': 'or'}, {'term': 'pūrva', 'definition': 'before

• first'}, {'term': 'tvaṃ', 'definition': 'you'}, {'term': 'yathecchasi (yathā + icchasi)', 'definition': 'as you wish

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• ब्राह्मण (Brāhmaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even unintended wrongdoing (done from ignorance) still carries karmic consequence; moral order requires that it be experienced, though the timing of its fruition may be presented as a choice.

What is happening in the narrative?

A brāhmaṇa speaker states that the addressed person, despite many merits, has also incurred a single sin unknowingly, and is told to undergo its result either later or earlier according to preference.