Shloka 68
मानसतीर्थ-शौचप्रशंसा | Praise of the ‘Mental Tīrtha’ and the Marks of Purity
देवकन्यानिवासे च तस्मिन् वसति मानव: । जाह्ववीवालुकाकीर्ण पूर्ण संवत्सरं नर:,वह मानव देवकन्याओंके उस निवासस्थानमें उतने वर्षोतक निवास करता है, जितने कि गंगाजीमें बालूके कण हैं
devakanyānivāse ca tasmin vasati mānavaḥ | jāhnavīvālukākīrṇa-pūrṇa-saṃvatsaraṃ naraḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: In jener Wohnstatt der himmlischen Jungfrauen verweilt ein Mensch so viele Jahre, wie Sandkörner die Jāhnavī (die Gaṅgā) erfüllt.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that righteous or meritorious action yields vast results, expressed through an immeasurable time-span: the reward is as countless as the sands of the Gaṅgā. It emphasizes moral causality—ethical conduct has enduring consequences beyond ordinary human calculation.
Bhīṣma is describing the fruit (phala) of a certain dharmic practice discussed in the surrounding discourse. He illustrates the magnitude of the resulting heavenly residence by comparing its duration to the number of sand-grains in the Gaṅgā (Jāhnavī), a traditional hyperbolic measure of countlessness.