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

王は言った。「婆羅門よ、もし汝がこのジャパより生じたダルマの果を告げぬなら、知られぬ報いがわれに何の役に立とう。もしこの行の果を宣言せぬなら、その果は汝に帰せ、婆羅門よ。われは疑いに包まれた報いを望まぬ。」

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.