Shloka 7
Dāna–Tapaḥ Praśaṃsā and Gṛhastha-Upadeśa
Maitreya
अचिरेणैव कालेन कीट: पार्थिवसत्तम | प्रजापालनधर्मेण प्रेत्य विप्रत्वमागत:
acireṇaiva kālena kīṭaḥ pārthiva-sattama | prajā-pālana-dharmeṇa pretya vipratvam āgataḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “O best of kings, within a short time that former worm, having upheld the duty of protecting and governing the people in accordance with dharma, died and thereafter attained birth in a brāhmaṇa lineage—such was the power of the dharma of righteous rule.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Righteous governance—protecting and sustaining one’s subjects according to dharma—has immense moral power and yields elevated spiritual results, even transforming a being of low birth into a higher rebirth.
Bhīṣma tells Yudhiṣṭhira that a being who was formerly a worm practiced the dharma of protecting the people; after dying soon thereafter, he attained rebirth in a brāhmaṇa family as the fruit of that righteous conduct.