Shloka 15
Vidura’s Message to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Authorization for Dāna and Public Welfare (विदुरवाक्यम्—दानानुज्ञा)
द्वैपायनप्रसादाच्च त्वमपीदं तपोवनम् । राजन्नवाप्य दुष्प्रापां गतिमग्र्यां गमिष्यसि
Dvaipāyana-prasādāc ca tvam apīdaṃ tapovanam | rājan avāpya duṣprāpāṃ gatim agryāṃ gamiṣyasi, nareśvara ||
Nārada said: “By the grace of Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa), you too, O king, have reached this forest of austerities. Having come here, you will undertake penance and attain that rare, hard-to-win supreme state—an exalted destiny, O lord of men.”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Spiritual progress is enabled by both divine/saintly grace (Vyāsa’s prasāda) and personal discipline (tapas). Even a king, after fulfilling worldly duties, can attain the highest destiny by entering a life of austerity and inner purification.
Nārada addresses the king who has arrived at the tapovana (hermitage-forest). He explains that this arrival is due to Vyāsa’s grace and foretells that, by practicing austerities there, the king will attain a rare and supreme spiritual end.