Verse 2.224

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

धर्मार्थावुच्यते श्रेयः कामार्थौ धर्म एव च ।
अर्थ एवैह वा श्रेयस्त्रिवर्ग इति तु स्थितिः ॥ २२४ ॥

dharmārthāvucyate śreyaḥ kāmārthau dharma eva ca |
artha evaiha vā śreyastrivarga iti tu sthitiḥ || 224 ||

Spiritual merit and wealth are called “good”; or pleasure and wealth; or spiritual merit alone, or wealth alone is “good”; but the truth is that it is the aggregate of the three.—(224)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

In a friendly spirit, the Author now proceeds to explain what it is that is praiseworthy, which, when carried into practice, does no harm either visible or invisible, and which is called ‘good’ in ordinary parlance.

What is stated here is not founded on the Veda, nor is it an explanation of the denotation of words, as we have had before in the case of such words as ‘preception’ and the rest. The fact of the matter is that when a man acts he seeks to obtain something ‘good’; and the Author is going to explain that such and such a thing is the ‘good’ for the sake of which man acts.

On this point he puts forward the different opinions that have been held.

(1) Some people have held that spiritual merit and wealth are “good” ‘Spiritual merit’ consists in the due observance of the Injunctions and Interdictions contained in the scriptures. ‘Wealth’ consists in cattle, lands, gold and so forth. These alone constitute “good”; since man’s happiness depends upon them.

(2) Another opinion is that ‘pleasure and wealth’ constitute the “good.” Pleasure is the one thing desired by men; hence pleasure is the “good and wealth also, since it is conducive to pleasure. The Cārvākas (Atheists) have declared that “Pleasure is the one end of man, and wealth is the means to it, as also is ‘Spiritual Merit,’ if there is such a thing.”

(3) [The third opinion is that] Spiritual Merit is the highest ‘good’ of all,—all this being based upon that. To this end it has been declared that ‘from Spiritual Merit proceed Wealth and Pleasure.’

(4) That Wealth is the sole ‘good’ is held by tradesmen aud professionals.

(5) The real truth is that it consists in ‘the aggregate of the three’ Hence it follows that one should attend to Wealth and Pleasure also, but only such as are compatible with Spiritual Merit, and not such as are contrary to it. So says Gautama (9.46)—‘One should, as far as lies in his power, make his mornings, middays and evenings fruitful with Spiritual Merit, Wealth and Pleasure.’

‘Aggregate of three’;—i.e., a group consisting of three factors. That is, the name ‘good’ is applied by convention to the three taken together.—(224)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Hopkins remarks “four schools are noted but he ignores the fifth,—the Siddhānta—‘trivargamiti tu sthitiḥ’ ‘the truth is that it is the aggregate of the three.’

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 158), which adds that Dharma, Artha and Kāma are the ‘group of three’;—this constitutes the ‘Śreyaḥ’, which one should constantly bear in mind as the aim to be attained.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (9.48.49).—‘Either the morning or the midday or tho evening, he shall not make devoid of merit, wealth and pleasure;—from among these he should regard merit as the highest.’

Vaśiṣṭha (1.1).—‘The investigation of Dharma for the good of man.’

Viṣṇu (1.8).—‘Merit is the essence of all.’

Āpaslamba Dharmasūtra (1.20.3).—‘When a man does what is meritorious, wealth follows.’