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,राजाने कहा--विप्रवर! यदि इस प्रकार मुझे फल समर्पण करनेके कारण आपको फलकी प्राप्ति नहीं हो रही है और पुनः: जप करनेमें ही आपकी श्रद्धा होती है तो आप मेरे साथ ही चलें और जप-दानजनित फलको प्राप्त करें
rājovāca yady evam aphalā siddhiḥ śraddhā ca japituṃ tava | gaccha vipra mayā sārthaṃ jāpakaṃ phalam āpruhi ||
O rei disse: “Se assim é—se, por teres oferecido o mérito a mim, a realização se torna sem fruto para ti, e ainda assim tua fé permanece firme em continuar o japa—então vem comigo, ó brāhmaṇa. Recebe o fruto que nasce do japa e da caridade.”
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.