Shloka 19
अश्वशिरो-आख्यानम्
Aśvaśiras / Hayaśiras Narrative: Retrieval of the Vedas
एतौ हि परमं धाम का5नयोराद्विकक्रिया,'ये ही दोनों परमधामस्वरूप हैं। इनका यह नित्यकर्म कैसा है? ये दोनों यशस्वी देवता सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंके पिता और देवता हैं। ये परम बुद्धिमान् दोनों बन्धु भला किस देवताका यजन और किन पितरोंका पूजन करते हैं?”
etau hi paramaṃ dhāma kānayoḥ ādvika-kriyā | ye hi dvau parama-dhāma-svarūpau | inayoḥ etat nitya-karma katham | etau dvau yaśasvinau devatau samasta-prāṇināṃ pitṛ-devatau | etau parama-buddhimantau dvau bandhu kasyā devatāyā yajanaṃ kurutaḥ keṣāṃ ca pitṝṇāṃ pūjanaṃ kurutaḥ |
Bhishma dijo: «Estos dos son, en verdad, la Morada suprema misma. ¿Cuál es, entonces, el rito primordial y eterno que les corresponde? Pues estas dos deidades ilustres son los padres y los guardianes divinos de todos los seres. Siendo sumamente sabios y unidos como parientes, ¿a qué deidad rinden culto, y a qué antepasados honran?»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a theological inquiry: if certain two divine principles are themselves the highest reality (paramaṃ dhāma), then their ‘eternal duty’ cannot be ordinary ritual for personal gain. The question points toward a higher understanding of dharma—where worship and ancestral honour are reinterpreted in relation to ultimate reality rather than as merely external acts.
Bhishma, in his instruction during the Shanti Parva, raises a probing question about two exalted deities described as the fathers and divine guardians of all beings. He asks whom they could possibly worship and which ancestors they could honour, setting up a discussion on the hierarchy of divinity, the meaning of ritual action, and the nature of supreme dharma.