Shloka 15
Gautama–Yama Saṃvāda: Mātṛ-Pitṛ-Ṛṇa (Debt to Parents) and Śubha-Loka Attainment
भवन्त: सुमहाभागास्तस्मात् पृच्छामि संशयम् । आशावान् पुरुषो यः स्यादन्तरिक्षमथापि वा
bhavantaḥ sumahābhāgās tasmāt pṛcchāmi saṁśayam | āśāvān puruṣo yaḥ syād antarīkṣam athāpi vā |
Bhīṣma said: “You are greatly fortunate and accomplished; therefore I ask you to resolve my doubt. If, on one side, there is a man sustained by hope, and on the other, the boundless sky itself—who, in the world’s estimation of greatness, appears the greater to you? I wish to hear the truth of this. Indeed, having come here, what could still be difficult to obtain?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral-philosophical inquiry: true ‘greatness’ is not only cosmic vastness (the sky) but may lie in the human capacity for hope and aspiration, which drives effort, endurance, and ethical striving.
Bhīṣma respectfully addresses revered interlocutors (tapasvins/wise ones) and asks them to settle a doubt by comparing the greatness of a hopeful person with the vast sky, requesting a principled, truthful explanation.