Shloka 8

Tapas-śreṣṭhatā: Anāśana as the Highest Austerity

Bhagīratha–Brahmā Saṃvāda

Devanagari script

भगीरथ उवाच निष्काणां वै हाददं ब्राह्मणे भ्य: शतं सहस््राणि सदैव दानम्‌ । बाह्दां व्रतं नित्यमास्थाय विद्धन्‌ न त्वेवाहं तस्य फलादिहागाम्‌

Transliteration

Bhagīratha uvāca—niṣkāṇāṃ vai śataṃ sahasrāṇi brāhmaṇebhyaḥ sadaiva dānam | brahmacarya-vrataṃ nityam āsthāya viddhan na tv evāhaṃ tasya phalād iha āgām ||

Translation

バギーラタは言った。「賢者よ、我は梵行（ブラフマチャリヤ）の誓いを堅く守り、常に婆羅門たちへ十万のニシュカ（黄金貨）を施してきた。だが、その施しの果によって、我はここに至ったのではない。」

Word by Word

• {'bhagīratha uvāca': 'Bhagīratha said', 'niṣkāṇām (niṣka)': 'gold coin/ornament used as a unit of wealth', 'śataṃ sahasrāṇi': 'a hundred thousands (100,000)', 'brāhmaṇebhyaḥ': 'to/for the Brahmins', 'sadaiva': 'always, continually', 'dānam': 'gift, charitable giving', 'brahmacarya-vratam': 'the vow of celibate discipline/student-like restraint', 'nityam': 'daily, constantly', 'āsthāya': 'having undertaken, relying upon', 'viddhan (vidvan)': 'O learned one, O wise man', 'na tu eva': 'not indeed, not at all', 'tasya phalāt': 'from the fruit/result of that (act)', 'iha': 'here (in this state/place)', 'āgām (āgataḥ/āgaccham)': 'I came/arrived'}

Speaker

भगीरथ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhagīratha
• Brāhmaṇas
• niṣka (gold coins)
• brahmacarya-vrata

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even immense charity performed with strict discipline does not automatically explain one’s present spiritual condition; Bhagīratha distinguishes mere accumulation of merit from the specific cause of his current attainment, pointing to the subtlety of karma and the limits of external acts when separated from the deeper determining factors.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhagīratha addresses a learned interlocutor and recounts his former practice: daily giving vast wealth to Brahmins while observing brahmacarya. He then clarifies that his arrival ‘here’ (his present state or realm) is not due to the fruit of that charity, preparing the ground for a discussion of what truly led to his present outcome.