Shloka 25
कुरुवंशप्रश्नः—दुःषन्तस्य राजधर्मवर्णनम्
Kuru Lineage Inquiry and the Portrait of King Duḥṣanta’s Rule
शरीरेण कृतं पापं वाचा च मनसैव च । सर्व संत्यजति क्षिप्रं य इदं शृणुयात्नर:,जो मानव इस महाभारतको सुनता है, वह शरीर, वाणी और मनके द्वारा किये हुए सम्पूर्ण पापोंको त्याग देता है
śarīreṇa kṛtaṃ pāpaṃ vācā ca manasaiva ca | sarvaṃ saṃtyajati kṣipraṃ ya idaṃ śṛṇuyān naraḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: Wer dies (das Mahābhārata) hört, legt rasch alle Sünden ab, die durch den Körper, durch die Rede und durch den Geist begangen wurden.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that attentive listening to the Mahābhārata is spiritually purifying: it is said to remove wrongdoing accrued through the three channels of human conduct—physical acts (body), verbal acts (speech), and mental acts (mind).
Vaiśampāyana, as the reciter-narrator, states the fruit (phala) of hearing the epic. This functions as a laudatory assurance to the audience, emphasizing the Mahābhārata’s role as a dharma-text whose reception is itself meritorious.