Shloka 20
Vasiṣṭha on Saṃsāra, Guṇas, and Misattributed Agency
Mahābhārata 12.292
आहितानिनेहिं धर्मात्मा यः स पुण्यकृदुत्तम: । वेदा हि सर्वे राजेन्द्र स्थितास्त्रिष्वग्निषु प्रभो
āhitāgnir iha dharmātmā yaḥ sa puṇyakṛd uttamaḥ | vedā hi sarve rājendra sthitās triṣv agniṣu prabho ||
قال باراشارا: «أيها الملك، إن من أقام النيران المقدّسة وأدّى الأَغْنِيهوترا (Agnihotra) كلَّ يوم فهو حقًّا بارٌّ مستقيم؛ وهو الأوّل بين صانعي الأعمال ذات الثواب. فإن جميع الفيدات، يا سيّد الملوك، كأنها متجسّدة وحاضرة في النيران الثلاث: غارهَپَتْيَ (Gārhapatya)، وآهاڤَنِيَ (Āhavanīya)، ودَكْشِنَ (Dakṣiṇa).»
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that steadfast performance of the householder’s Vedic duty—especially maintaining the consecrated fires and offering the daily Agnihotra—constitutes exemplary righteousness and merit; the three sacred fires are revered as the living seat of Vedic authority.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, the sage Parāśara addresses a king and praises the āhitāgni householder, asserting that the Vedas are effectively present in the triad of ritual fires, thereby elevating daily sacrificial discipline as a central ethical-religious practice.