Shloka 119
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
तेषां सकाशात् सूर्यस्तु श्रुत्वा वै भावितात्मनाम् । आत्मानुगामिनां राजन् श्रावयामास वै तत:,तेषामकथयत् सूर्य: सर्वेषां भावितात्मनाम् । पवित्र अन्तः:करणवाले उन सिद्धोंके मुखसे भगवान् सूर्यने इस माहात्म्यको सुना। राजन! सूर्यने सुनकर अपने पीछे चलनेवाले साठ हजार भावितात्मा मुनियोंको इसका श्रवण कराया। लोकमें तपते हुए सूर्यके आगे चलनेके लिये जिन ऋषियोंकी सृष्टि हुई है, उन भावितात्माओंको भी सूर्यदेवने भगवान्की यह महिमा सुनायी थी
Teṣāṁ sakāśāt sūryas tu śrutvā vai bhāvitātmanām | ātmānugāmināṁ rājan śrāvayāmāsa vai tataḥ, teṣām akathayat sūryaḥ sarveṣāṁ bhāvitātmanām |
Bhīṣma said: “O King, the Sun-god, having heard this sacred account from those perfected sages of purified inner being, then recited it to the great-souled seers who follow in his train. Thus Sūrya proclaimed this divine glory to all those disciplined, spiritually matured ascetics—those ṛṣis who were brought forth to go before the blazing Sun in the world.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sacred knowledge is preserved and made effective through purity and disciplined inner cultivation (bhāvitātman). Even a deity like Sūrya receives and then transmits the teaching in a lineage-like manner, emphasizing that spiritual truths are to be heard, internalized, and responsibly passed on.
Bhīṣma tells the king that Sūrya first heard a holy account from perfected sages and then recited it to the ascetics who accompany him. The passage highlights a chain of hearing and proclamation: sages → Sūrya → Sūrya’s attendant ṛṣis.