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 ||
بادشاہ نے کہا— اے برہمنِ برتر! اگر یوں مجھے پھل سونپ دینے سے تیری سِدھی بے پھل ہو جاتی ہے، اور پھر بھی تیری شردھا جپ ہی میں قائم ہے، تو میرے ساتھ چل؛ جپ اور دان سے پیدا ہونے والا پھل حاصل کر۔
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.