Shloka 144
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
अश्वमेधस्य यत् पुण्यं तन््मासेनाधिगच्छति । सर्वतीर्थवरे चैव यो वसेत महाह्दे
aśvamedhasya yat puṇyaṃ tan māsena adhigacchati | sarvatīrthavare caiva yo vaset mahāhrade ||
Ghūlastya dijo: «El mérito que se obtiene del sacrificio Aśvamedha, ese mismo mérito se alcanza en el plazo de un mes, si uno mora en el más excelso de todos los tīrthas, junto al gran lago. La enseñanza afirma que la residencia sincera y la vida disciplinada en un tīrtha eminente pueden igualar el fruto de los grandes ritos reales.»
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the spiritual merit associated with an expensive, royal-scale sacrifice like the Aśvamedha can be matched through a month of disciplined residence at an exceptionally sacred tīrtha (here, a great lake). It elevates accessible, sustained practice—pilgrimage, restraint, and reverent living—over mere grandeur of ritual.
A speaker named Ghūlastya is praising a particular sacred place (described as the best of all tīrthas, a great lake) by stating its extraordinary efficacy: staying there for a month grants merit equal to that of performing the Aśvamedha. This functions as tīrtha-māhātmya within the Vana Parva’s pilgrimage context.