Shloka 6
Dāna–Tapaḥ Praśaṃsā and Gṛhastha-Upadeśa
Maitreya
भीष्म उवाच सो<प्यरण्यमनुप्राप्य पुनरेव युधिष्ठिर । महर्षेर्वचनं श्रुत्वा प्रजा धर्मेण पाल्य च
bhīṣma uvāca: so 'py araṇyam anuprāpya punar eva yudhiṣṭhira | maharṣer vacanaṃ śrutvā prajā dharmeṇa pālya ca ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «¡Oh Yudhiṣṭhira, el mejor de los reyes! Aquel ser —que antaño fue un gusano—, tras llegar de nuevo al bosque, escuchó la instrucción del gran sabio y luego gobernó al pueblo conforme al dharma. Después, regresó una vez más al bosque y, al poco tiempo, pasó al otro mundo; y por el poder de ese dharma de proteger a los súbditos, renació en una familia de brāhmaṇas».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights rājadharma: a ruler’s foremost ethical duty is to protect and sustain the people according to dharma. Such righteous governance is presented as spiritually potent, yielding auspicious results even beyond death (karmaphala leading to higher rebirth).
Bhishma recounts that a being from a previous state (described in the surrounding context as a former creature) goes to the forest, hears a great sage’s counsel, then rules and protects the subjects righteously. After returning to the forest, he dies and, due to the merit of that dharma of protecting subjects, attains rebirth in a brāhmaṇa family.