Shloka 156
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
समुद्राश्चापि चत्वार: समानीताश्च दर्भिणा । तेषु सनातो नरश्रेष्ठ न दुर्गतिमवाप्रुयात्
samudrāś cāpi catvāraḥ samānītāś ca darbhīṇā | teṣu snāto naraśreṣṭha na durgatim avāpnuyāt ||
“Incluso los cuatro océanos pueden ser reunidos por quien porta hierba kuśa. ¡Oh el mejor de los hombres! Quien se bañe en esas aguas (así congregadas) no caerá en un destino funesto.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the purificatory and merit-bearing power of ritually sanctioned acts—here, bathing in sanctified waters—presented as a means to avert durgati (an evil fate). It reflects the Mahābhārata’s broader ethic that disciplined, dharmic observances can transform one’s spiritual outcome.
The speaker asserts a wondrous ritual claim: that the four oceans may be made to ‘converge’ through the agency of darbha (kuśa grass, a standard Vedic ritual implement). Bathing in those gathered waters is said to protect a person from attaining a bad destiny.