Verse 1.109

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

आचाराद् विच्युतो विप्रो न वेदफलमश्नुते ।
आचारेण तु संयुक्तः सम्पूर्णफलभाग् भवेत् ॥ १०९ ॥

ācārād vicyuto vipro na vedaphalamaśnute |
ācāreṇa tu saṃyuktaḥ sampūrṇaphalabhāg bhavet || 109 ||

The Brāhmaṇa who departs from Right Behaviour, does not obtain the fruit of the Veda; he however who is equipped with Right Behaviour obtains the full reward.—(109)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse eulogises Right Behaviour iu another manner.

‘He who departs from Right behaviour,’—i.e. is devoid of Right Conduct—does not obtain the ‘fruit of the Veda’; what is called ‘the fruit of the Veda is the result proceeding from the performance of acts prescribed in the Veda. Even though the man may perform the acts prescribed in the Veda, in their entire and perfect forms, yet if he happens to be one who has fallen off from Right Behaviour, he does not obtain their results, in the shape of the ‘birth of a son’ and so forth. This is the deprecation of men not following Eight Behaviour.

This same idea is expressed obversely in the next sentence.

‘He who is equipped with Right Behaviour obtains the full reward,’—of all those optional acts that are done with a purpose.

In this connection some people argue as follows:—“In as much as the text contains the qualification ‘full,’ it follows that the man devoid of Right Behaviour does also obtain the results of his optional acts done with a purpose,—only the full result does not accrue to them.”

This is not right; because the term ‘full’ is purely commendatory [and hence cannot be taken as having any serious import].—(109).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 108-109)

See Comparative notes for Verse 1.108 (On morality [right behaviour]).