Shloka 596
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
पिबामि सुहुतं हव्यं कव्यं च श्रद्धयान्वितम् “एकमात्र मैं ही देवताओं और पितरोंका भी पिता हूँ। मैं ही हयग्रीवरूप धारण करके समुद्रमें वायव्यकोणकी ओर रहता हूँ और विधिपूर्वक हवन किये हुए हव्य और श्रद्धापूर्वक समर्पित किये हुए कव्यका भी पान करता हूँ
pibāmi suhutaṃ havyaṃ kavyaṃ ca śraddhayānvitam | ekamātraṃ mayā eva devatānāṃ pitṝṇāṃ ca pitāham | aham eva hayagrīvarūpaṃ dhṛtvā samudre vāyavyakoṇe vasāmi | vidhivat hutaṃ havyaṃ śraddhayā samarpitaṃ kavyaṃ ca pibāmi |
Bhishma dijo: «Bebo las oblaciones havya ofrecidas correctamente en el fuego, y también participo de las ofrendas kavya presentadas con fe a los antepasados. Yo solo soy el padre tanto de los dioses como de los Pitṛs. Asumiendo la forma de Hayagrīva, moro en el océano hacia el cuadrante noroccidental, y recibo—conforme al rito—el havya del sacrificio y el kavya dedicado con reverencia.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ritual offerings reach their intended recipients only when performed correctly and with śraddhā (faith). The verse also frames gods’ oblations (havya) and ancestral offerings (kavya) as ultimately grounded in a single supreme source who receives and authorizes them.
In Bhishma’s discourse on dharma and sacred rites, a divine voice/identity is presented as declaring its cosmic status: it receives both havya and kavya, assumes the Hayagrīva form, and is said to dwell in the ocean toward the north-west—linking geography, deity-form, and the efficacy of sacrifice.