Shloka 3
Nārada’s Exempla of Tapas and Assurance to Dhṛtarāṣṭra (नारदोपदेशः—तपःसिद्ध्युदाहरणम्)
उस समय उन लोगोंमें विचित्र पदों और नाना श्रुतियोंसे युक्त धर्म और अर्थ-सम्बन्धी चर्चाएँ होती रहीं ।।
pāṇḍavās tv abhito mātur dharaṇyāṃ suṣupus tadā | utsṛjya tu mahārhāṇi śayanāni narādhipa ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: Zu jener Zeit setzten sich unter ihnen die Gespräche über Dharma und Artha fort, reich an vielfältigen Wendungen und zahlreichen Zitaten aus den Śruti. Doch die Pāṇḍavas, o König, legten ihre kostbaren Lager beiseite und schliefen auf bloßer Erde rings um ihre Mutter, als Zeichen von Selbstzucht und ehrfürchtigem Dienst inmitten der Entbehrungen des Waldlebens.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
True nobility is shown through self-restraint and reverent duty: the Pāṇḍavas reject luxury and choose hardship to honor and serve their mother, aligning conduct (ācāra) with dharma even after worldly power has been attained.
While the group continues learned conversations on dharma and artha, the Pāṇḍavas physically enact humility by leaving expensive bedding and sleeping on the earth around their mother, signaling a shift toward ascetic, service-centered life in the forest setting.