Shloka 7
Keśava-tattva-kathana
On the Principle of Keśava: Cosmogony and Divine Epithets
राजोवाच यद्येवमफला सिद्धि: श्रद्धा च जपितुं तव । गच्छ विप्र मया सार्थ जापकं फलमाप्रुहि
rājovāca yady evam aphalā siddhiḥ śraddhā ca japituṃ tava | gaccha vipra mayā sārthaṃ jāpakaṃ phalam āpruhi ||
王は言った。「もしそのとおりで—私に功徳を捧げたがゆえに、汝にとって成就が果を結ばぬものとなり、しかもなお汝の信はジャパを続けることに固く定まっているのなら、婆羅門よ、私と共に来よ。ジャパと施しから生ずる果報を受け取るがよい。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical sensitivity around religious merit: if a practitioner’s merit is considered diverted by dedicating it to another, the proper response is not to diminish devotion but to ensure the practitioner receives due fruit—linking faith (śraddhā), disciplined practice (japa), and rightful recompense (phala) through dharmic action.
A king addresses a brāhmaṇa who performs japa. Hearing that offering the merit to the king may leave the brāhmaṇa without fruit, yet the brāhmaṇa remains eager to continue recitation, the king invites him to accompany him so that the brāhmaṇa may obtain the merit associated with japa and charitable acts.