Shloka 18
मातापितृगुरुपूजा-प्रशंसा
Praise of Venerating Mother, Father, and Teacher
गुरुत्वेनाभिभवति नास्ति मातृसमो गुरु: । आचार्य सदा दस श्रोत्रियोंसे बढ़कर है। उपाध्याय (विद्यागुरु) दस आचार्योसे अधिक महत्त्व रखता है, पिता दस उपाध्यायोंसे बढ़कर है और माताका महत्त्व दस पिताओंसे भी अधिक है। वह अकेली ही अपने गौरवके द्वारा सारी पृथ्वीको भी तिरस्कृत कर देती है। अतः माताके समान दूसरा कोई गुरु नहीं है ।। गुरुर्गरीयान् पितृतो मातृतश्नलेति मे मति:
guru-tvenābhibhavati nāsti mātṛ-samaḥ guruḥ | ācāryaḥ sadā daśa śrotriyebhyo ’dhikaḥ | upādhyāyo daśācāryebhyo ’dhikaḥ | pitā daśopādhyāyebhyo ’dhikaḥ | mātā daśa-pitṛbhyo ’py adhikā | sā ekā sva-gauraveṇa sarvāṃ pṛthivīm api tiraskaroti | ataḥ mātṛ-samaḥ anyaḥ ko ’pi guruḥ nāsti || guruḥ garīyān pitṛto mātṛtaś ca iti me matiḥ ||
Bhishma said: “In the scale of reverence, none surpasses the mother; there is no teacher equal to her. An ācārya is held greater than ten learned śrotriyas; an upādhyāya is greater than ten ācāryas; a father is greater than ten upādhyāyas; and a mother is greater even than ten fathers. By her single dignity she eclipses the whole earth. Therefore, there is no guru comparable to the mother—indeed, in my judgment, the guru is weightier than the father, and the mother weightier still.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma ranks sources of authority and gratitude, concluding that the mother is the highest object of reverence—greater even than learned teachers and the father—because her singular dignity and sacrifice ground one’s very life and moral formation.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira by laying out a hierarchy of venerable figures (śrotriya, ācārya, upādhyāya, father, mother) to clarify whom one must honor most and why.