Verse 2.244

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

आ समाप्तेः शरीरस्य यस्तु शुश्रूषते गुरुम् ।
स गच्छत्यञ्जसा विप्रो ब्रह्मणः सद्म शाश्वतम् ॥ २४४ ॥

ā samāpteḥ śarīrasya yastu śuśrūṣate gurum |
sa gacchatyañjasā vipro brahmaṇaḥ sadma śāśvatam || 244 ||

The Brāhmaṇa who, till the dissolution of his body, serves his teacher, goes forthwith to the eternal abode of brahman.—(244)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse lays down the reward of Life-long Studentship.

‘Dissolution of the body’—renouncing of life;—‘till’—up to that time;—‘who serves’—attends upon—‘his Teacher’;—such a Brāhmaṇa—‘goes’ to the ‘abode’—place, mansion—‘of Brahman’—‘eternal’;—i.e., he does not return again to the cycle of births.

‘Forthwith,’—i.e., by an easy path; not by the roundabout way of passing through the lives of animals and men.

The word ‘Brahman’ here stands, according to the view of the Purāṇas, for the particular God with four faces; and his ‘abode’ is a particular place in Heaven; while according to the Vedanta standpoint,’ ‘Brahman’ is the supreme Self, and his ‘abode’ is that Self itself, i.e., becoming absorbed hereinto.—(244)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 459) as describing the reward that accrues to the life-long Student;—in Vidhānapārijāta (p. 504) to the same effect;—also in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 550);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 170).

 

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 243-244)

See Comparative notes for Verse 2.243.