Shloka 141
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
चतुर्युगश्चतुर्वेदश्नातुहोत्रप्रवर्तक: । चातुराश्रम्यनेता च चातुर्व्ण्यकरश्न यः
caturyugaś caturvedaś snātu-hotrapravartakaḥ | cāturāśramyanetā ca cāturvarṇyakaraś ca yaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «Los cuatro yugas y los cuatro Vedas son tu propia forma; tú eres quien pone en marcha los cuatro tipos de ritos y ofrendas sacerdotales. Tú eres el guía de los cuatro āśramas y el creador y ordenador de las cuatro varṇas.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse attributes the foundations of dharma—time-cycles (yugas), revelation (Vedas), ritual practice, and the āśrama/varṇa frameworks—to the supreme principle addressed by Bhīṣma, presenting these institutions as deriving their authority from a single ultimate source rather than being merely human conventions.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and governance. Here he offers a hymn-like praise, identifying the addressed deity/principle as the originator and regulator of cosmic time, Vedic knowledge, sacrificial rites, and the social-spiritual disciplines that uphold order in society.