Shloka 4
आपद्धर्मे कोशबलन्यायः | Treasury, Force, and Crisis-Ethics for the King
'राजन्! जहाँ वह रमणीय बदरीका वृक्ष है, जहाँ वैहायस- कुण्ड है तथा जहाँ अश्वशिरा (हयग्रीव) सनातन वेदोंका पाठ करते हैं (वहीं नरनारायणाश्रम है) ।। तस्मिन् सरसि कृत्वाहं विधिवत् तर्पणं पुरा । पितृणां देवतानां च ततो55श्रममियां तदा
bhīṣma uvāca | rājan! yatra sā ramaṇīyā badarīkā vṛkṣaḥ, yatra vaihāyasa-kuṇḍaḥ, tathā yatra aśvaśirā (hayagrīvaḥ) sanātanān vedān pāṭhayati (tad eva naranārāyaṇāśramaḥ) || tasmin sarasi kṛtvāhaṃ vidhivat tarpaṇaṃ purā pitṝṇāṃ devatānāṃ ca tato ’śramam iyāṃ tadā ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „O König, dort ist die Einsiedelei Nara und Nārāyaṇas—wo der liebliche Badarī-Baum steht, wo der himmlische Teich namens Vaihāyasa-kuṇḍa liegt, und wo Aśvaśiras (Hayagrīva) die ewigen Veden rezitiert. In jenem Gewässer vollzog ich einst nach Vorschrift das vorgeschriebene tarpana—die Wasserspende zur Befriedigung der Ahnen und der Götter; und dann begab ich mich zu jener Zeit zur Einsiedelei.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights dharma through disciplined sacred practice: honoring ancestors and gods via vidhivat tarpaṇa, and grounding spiritual pursuit in places and lineages associated with Vedic preservation (Hayagrīva’s recitation) and austere devotion (Nara–Nārāyaṇa).
Bhīṣma describes the location of Nara–Nārāyaṇa’s hermitage by naming its sacred markers (Badarī tree, Vaihāyasa-kuṇḍa, Hayagrīva’s Vedic recitation). He then recounts that he performed tarpaṇa in the lake for ancestors and gods and afterward went to the hermitage.