Shloka 66
मानसतीर्थ-शौचप्रशंसा | Praise of the ‘Mental Tīrtha’ and the Marks of Purity
जो बारह महीनेतक प्रति चौदहवें दिन हविष्यान्न भोजन करता है, वह महामेध यज्ञका फल पाता है ।। अनिर्देश्यवयोरूपा देवकन्या: स्वलंकृता: । मृष्टतप्तांगदधरा विमानैरुपयान्ति तम्,जिनके यौवन तथा रूपका वर्णन नहीं हो सकता, ऐसी देवकन्याएँ तपाये हुए शुद्ध स्वर्णके अंगद (बाजूबन्द) और अन्यान्य अलंकार धारण करके विमानोंद्वारा उस पुरुषकी सेवामें उपस्थित होती हैं
Bhīṣma uvāca: yo dvādaśa māsān prati caturdaśe dine haviṣyānna-bhojanaṁ karoti, sa mahāmedha-yajñasya phalaṁ prāpnoti. anirdeśya-vayo-rūpā devakanyāḥ su-alaṅkṛtāḥ, mṛṣṭa-taptāṅgada-dharā vimānaiḥ upayānti tam.
Bhishma said: He who, for twelve months, eats the simple oblation-food (haviṣyānna) on every fourteenth day attains merit equal to that of the Mahāmedha sacrifice. Celestial maidens—whose youth and beauty cannot be adequately described—adorned with ornaments and wearing armlets of purified, fire-refined gold, approach that man in aerial cars to attend upon him.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sustained self-restraint through a regulated vow-diet (haviṣyānna on each fourteenth day for a year) is presented as dharmically potent, yielding merit comparable to a major sacrifice; inner discipline can substitute for costly ritual.
Bhishma describes the spiritual ‘fruit’ of a specific annual observance: the practitioner gains the merit of the Mahāmedha sacrifice and is honored in heaven, symbolized by celestial maidens arriving in vimānas to attend him.