Shloka 121
ययातिदौहित्रपुण्यसमुच्चयः | Yayāti and the Grandsons’ Consolidation of Merit
इति श्रीमहाभारते उद्योगपर्वणि भगवद्यानपर्वणि गालवचरिते ययातिस्वर्गभ्रंशे एकविंशत्यधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate udyogaparvaṇi bhagavadyānaparvaṇi gālavacarite yayātisvargabhraṁśe ekaviṁśatyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Udyoga Parva—specifically the section on the Lord’s mission (Bhagavad-yāna)—in the episode concerning Gālava, and in the account of King Yayāti’s fall from heaven, ends the one-hundred-and-twenty-first chapter. The line serves as a colophon, closing a narrative unit and framing the ethical reflection: even heavenly attainments are unstable when pride, the depletion of merit, or moral lapse arises, and the text sets this within the broader pre-war effort at counsel and right conduct.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse does not add new instruction but highlights the ethical frame of the preceding episode: worldly and even heavenly attainments are impermanent, and dharma—humility, self-restraint, and right conduct—matters more than status or reward.
The text is closing a chapter and identifying its placement: Udyoga Parva, within Kṛṣṇa’s embassy section, in the Gālava episode, specifically the portion describing King Yayāti’s fall from heaven. It signals the end of Adhyāya 121.