Shloka 57
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
अम्भोधरान् समुद्रांश्ष सरांसि सरितस्तथा । मूर्तिमन्तः पितृगणांश्षतुर: पश्य सत्तम,'साधुशिरोमणे! बादल, समुद्र, सरोवर और सरिताओंको भी मेरे भीतर मूर्तिमान् देख लो। चारों प्रकारके पितृगण भी सशरीर प्रकट हैं, इनका भी दर्शन कर लो
ambhodharān samudrāṁś ca sarāṁsi saritas tathā | mūrtimantaḥ pitṛgaṇāṁś caturaḥ paśya sattama, sādhūśiromaṇe |
Bhishma said: “O best of the good, foremost among the virtuous—behold within me the embodied forms of the rain-bearing clouds, the oceans, the lakes, and the rivers. See also the four classes of the Pitṛs (ancestral beings) manifest here with bodies.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a vision of the cosmos and ancestral orders as present within a single sacred locus, emphasizing interconnectedness: natural forces (clouds, oceans, rivers) and the Pitṛs are not separate from the deeper reality being revealed. Ethically, it reinforces reverence—toward nature and toward ancestors—as integral to dharma.
Bhishma addresses a virtuous listener and invites them to ‘see’ within him the manifested forms of major elements of the world—clouds, seas, lakes, rivers—and also the four classes of Pitṛs appearing bodily. The scene functions as a revelatory display meant to instruct and inspire awe and right conduct.