Shloka 51
मानसतीर्थ-शौचप्रशंसा | Praise of the ‘Mental Tīrtha’ and the Marks of Purity
अभिगच्छेन्महादेवं विमानस्थं महाबलम् । अश्वमेधसहस्रस्य फल प्राप्नोत्यनुत्तमम्
abhigacchenmahādevaṁ vimānasthaṁ mahābalam | aśvamedhasahasrasya phalaṁ prāpnotyanuttamam ||
Bhīṣma said: “If one goes to seek audience with Mahādeva—mighty, seated in his celestial chariot—one attains unsurpassed merit, equal to the fruit of a thousand Aśvamedha sacrifices.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Approaching and honoring Mahādeva (Śiva) is presented as yielding supreme spiritual merit—so great that it is likened to the fruit of performing a thousand Aśvamedha sacrifices—thereby elevating devotion and divine encounter as a powerful means of dharmic attainment.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction (Anuśāsana context), he praises the extraordinary merit gained by going to Mahādeva, described as mighty and seated in a celestial vimāna, and he quantifies that merit by comparing it to the famed royal sacrificial rite, the Aśvamedha, multiplied a thousandfold.