Shloka 34
Prāyaścitta-vidhāna: Tapas, Dāna, Vrata, and Proportional Expiation (प्रायश्चित्तविधानम्)
देवानषीन् मनुष्यांश्व पितृन् गृह्माश्व देवता:
devān ṛṣīn manuṣyāṁś ca pitṝn gṛhyāṁś ca devatāḥ
Vyāsa said: “The deities encompass and sustain all orders of beings—gods, seers (ṛṣis), human beings, the ancestral fathers (Pitṛs), and even the powers of the household and the presiding divinities of rites.” In the ethical frame of the Śānti Parva, this underscores that dharma is not merely social law but a cosmic order linking humans to sages, ancestors, and the divine forces that uphold life and ritual responsibility.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma operates across multiple planes: humans are ethically and ritually connected to sages (knowledge), ancestors (gratitude and continuity), and deities (cosmic governance). Right conduct therefore includes honoring these relationships through duty, restraint, and appropriate rites.
Vyāsa is enumerating categories of beings/powers—gods, sages, humans, ancestors, and household presiding deities—to frame a teaching in Śānti Parva that situates human conduct within a wider sacred and moral ecology.