Shloka 61

Adhyāya 199: Karma–Jñāna Causality and the Nirguṇa Brahman

Manu’s Instruction

Devanagari script

राजन! आपने स्वयं यहाँ आकर मुझसे जपके फलकी याचना की है और मैंने उसे आपके लिये दे दिया है; अतः आप उसे ग्रहण करें और सत्यपर डटे रहें ।।

Transliteration

rājan! āpane svayaṃ iha āgatya mayā japasya phalasya yācanāṃ kṛtavān asi, mayā ca tat tava kṛte dattam; ataḥ tvaṃ tad gṛhāṇa satye ca tiṣṭha. na ayaṃ loko 'sti na paraḥ, na ca pūrvān sa tārayet; kuta eva janiṣyāṃs tu mṛṣāvāda-parāyaṇaḥ?

Translation

婆罗门说道：“大王啊，是您亲自来到此处，向我祈求我持诵（japa）所得之果报；我已将其赐与您。故请受之，并坚住于真实。沉溺于虚妄之人，今世与来世皆无所得；连祖先亦不能度脱——又怎能指望为尚未出生的后代谋得安乐？”

Word by Word

• na: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na

• ayam: this
• ayam: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: idam
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• lokaḥ: world
• lokaḥ: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: loka
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• asti: exists
• Type: Verb
• Root: as
• Form: present indicative, 3, singular, parasmaipada

• na: nor/not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na

• paraḥ: the other (world), next
• paraḥ: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: para
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• na: nor/not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na

• ca: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca

• pūrvān: former ones, ancestors
• pūrvān: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: pūrva
• Form: masculine, accusative, plural

• saḥ: he
• saḥ: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: tad
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• tārayet: should/could deliver (save, ferry across)
• Type: Verb
• Root: tṝ
• Form: optative, 3, singular, parasmaipada

• kutaḥ: whence? how then?
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: kutaḥ

• eva: indeed, even
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva

• janiṣyān: one who will be born / future-born
• janiṣyān: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: jan
• Form: future active participle (śatṛ-type), masculine, nominative, singular

• tu: but
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu

• mṛṣā-vāda-parāyaṇaḥ: devoted to false speech (lying)
• mṛṣā-vāda-parāyaṇaḥ: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: mṛṣā + vāda + parāyaṇa
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• ब्राह्मण (a brāhmaṇa speaker)
• राजा/राजन् (the king addressed)
• जप (japa, the act/merit of recitation)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Truthfulness is presented as a foundational dharma: one who clings to false speech loses both worldly and otherworldly good and cannot even benefit ancestors—so integrity in speech is essential for personal, familial, and social welfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

A brāhmaṇa reminds a king that the king personally requested and received the merit (phala) of the brāhmaṇa’s japa. Having granted it, the brāhmaṇa urges the king to accept it properly and to remain steadfast in truth, warning that devotion to lying destroys one’s prospects in this life and the next.