Shloka 2
आपद्धर्मे कोशबलन्यायः | Treasury, Force, and Crisis-Ethics for the King
पुराहं राजशार्दूल तीर्थान्यनुचरन् प्रभो । समासादितवान् दिव्यं नरनारायणाश्रमम्,नृपश्रेष्ठ पहलेकी बात है, मैं सब तीर्थोमें विचरण करता हुआ भगवान् नरनारायणके दिव्य आश्रममें जा पहुँचा
bhīṣma uvāca | purāhaṃ rājaśārdūla tīrthāny anucaran prabho | samāsāditavān divyaṃ nara-nārāyaṇāśramam, nṛpaśreṣṭha |
Bhishma said: O tiger among kings, O lord—once, while I was journeying through the sacred fords and pilgrimage places, I came upon the radiant hermitage of Nara and Narayana, O best of rulers.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames instruction through a dharmic model: a revered elder (Bhīṣma) grounds ethical discourse in pilgrimage and contact with sanctified sages. It suggests that right understanding of dharma is sought by approaching holy places and exemplary ascetics (Nara-Nārāyaṇa), not merely by power or argument.
Bhīṣma begins a recollection addressed to the king (Yudhiṣṭhira), stating that in earlier times, while traveling among tīrthas, he arrived at the divine hermitage of the twin sages Nara and Nārāyaṇa—setting the scene for a subsequent teaching or episode connected with that āśrama.