Shloka 22

Karma-Phala Rahasya and the Ethics of Dāna (कर्मफल-रहस्यं दानधर्मश्च)

Devanagari script

यथा धेनुसहस्रेषु वत्सो विन्दति मातरम्‌ | एवं पूर्वकृतं कर्म कर्तारमनुगच्छति

Transliteration

yathā dhenusahasreṣu vatso vindati mātaram | evaṃ pūrvakṛtaṃ karma kartāram anugacchati ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“如同小牛纵在千牛之中，亦能寻得其母；往昔所作之业亦复如是，识得其作者而随逐不舍。”

Word by Word

• यथा: just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• धेनु-सहस्रेषु: among thousands of cows
• धेनु-सहस्रेषु: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: धेनु-सहस्र
• Form: neuter, locative, plural

• वत्सः: the calf
• वत्सः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वत्स
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• विन्दति: finds
• Type: Verb
• Root: विद्
• Form: present, third, singular, parasmaipada

• मातरम्: its mother
• मातरम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: मातृ
• Form: feminine, accusative, singular

• एवम्: thus, in the same way
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एवम्

• पूर्व-कृतम्: previously done
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पूर्व-कृत
• Form: neuter, nominative, singular

• कर्म: deed, action (karma)
• कर्म: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: neuter, nominative, singular

• कर्तारम्: the doer (agent)
• कर्तारम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्तृ
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• अनुगच्छति: follows
• Type: Verb
• Root: अनु-गम्
• Form: present, third, singular, parasmaipada

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• calf (vatsa)
• cow (dhenu)
• karma (deed)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Past actions are inescapably connected to the agent: karma does not vanish or misidentify its recipient, but returns to the very doer with appropriate results, just as a calf unfailingly finds its own mother.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma and conduct, he uses a vivid pastoral simile—calf and mother-cow—to explain the certainty and precision with which karmic consequences track the person who performed the deed.