Shloka 6
Dāna–Tapaḥ Praśaṃsā and Gṛhastha-Upadeśa
Maitreya
भीष्म उवाच सो<प्यरण्यमनुप्राप्य पुनरेव युधिष्ठिर । महर्षेर्वचनं श्रुत्वा प्रजा धर्मेण पाल्य च
bhīṣma uvāca: so 'py araṇyam anuprāpya punar eva yudhiṣṭhira | maharṣer vacanaṃ śrutvā prajā dharmeṇa pālya ca ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „O Yudhiṣṭhira, bester der Könige! Jenes Wesen, das einst ein Wurm gewesen war, gelangte abermals in den Wald, hörte die Weisung des großen ṛṣi und regierte daraufhin das Volk gemäß dem Dharma. Danach kehrte es noch einmal in den Wald zurück und ging bald in die jenseitige Welt ein; und durch die Macht dieses Dharma, die Untertanen zu schützen, wurde es in einer brāhmaṇa-Familie wiedergeboren.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights rājadharma: a ruler’s foremost ethical duty is to protect and sustain the people according to dharma. Such righteous governance is presented as spiritually potent, yielding auspicious results even beyond death (karmaphala leading to higher rebirth).
Bhishma recounts that a being from a previous state (described in the surrounding context as a former creature) goes to the forest, hears a great sage’s counsel, then rules and protects the subjects righteously. After returning to the forest, he dies and, due to the merit of that dharma of protecting subjects, attains rebirth in a brāhmaṇa family.