Shloka 22
बक-गौतमाख्यानम् / The Baka–Gautama Account
On Gratitude and Friendship Ethics
तस्मिन् धर्मे स्थिता देवा: सहाचार्यपुरोहिता: । आदित्या वसवो रुद्रा: ससाध्या मरुदश्वचिन:
tasmin dharme sthitā devāḥ sahācārya-purohitāḥ | ādityā vasavo rudrāḥ sasādhyā marudaśvinau ||
Bhīṣma said: In that very Dharma were established the gods together with their teachers and household priests—namely the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, and the Aśvin twins.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is presented as a timeless, cosmic foundation: even the gods and their guiding authorities (teachers and priests) are ‘established’ in it. This elevates Dharma from a human rule-set to the sustaining order that governs divine and human life alike.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he enumerates major classes of celestial beings and states that all of them abide in that Dharma. The listing functions as testimony: the highest beings uphold the same righteous order being taught to the human listener.