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 ||
Sinabi ng hari: “Kung gayon nga—kung ang iyong pagtatamo ay nagiging tila walang bunga para sa iyo sapagkat inialay mo sa akin ang kabutihan, at gayunma’y nananatiling nakatuon ang iyong pananampalataya sa pagpapatuloy ng japa—sumama ka sa akin, O brahmana. Tanggapin mo ang bungang nagmumula sa japa at sa pagbibigay.”
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.