Shloka 63
Umā–Maheśvara-saṃvāda: Varṇa-bhraṃśa, Ācāra (Vṛtta), and Karmic Ascent/Decline
पूजा ममैषा नास्त्यन्या यावल्लोका: प्रतिष्ठिता: । उस रूपमें उनके द्वारा की हुई पूजाको मैं यथार्थरूपसे अपनी पूजा मानकर ग्रहण करता हूँ। जबतक ये सम्पूर्ण लोक प्रतिष्ठित हैं
bhīṣma uvāca | pūjā mamaiṣā nāsty anyā yāval lokāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ |
Bhishma said: “This alone is my worship; there is no other. So long as the worlds remain established, this worship—performed by them in that very form—I accept as truly worship offered to me. Any worship different from this is not my worship.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma defines an exclusive, ethically grounded form of honoring him: he recognizes only that specific mode of reverence as genuine. The emphasis is that true ‘pūjā’ is not merely ritual variety, but the right kind of conduct and honoring as prescribed in the surrounding instruction; anything contrary to that is not accepted as real worship.
In Anushasana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma is speaking as an authoritative elder-teacher. He affirms that the particular reverence being offered (as previously described in the dialogue) is the only worship he acknowledges, and he declares its validity to endure as long as the worlds endure.