Shloka 28
Phala of Vrata, Niyama, Svādhyāya, Dama, Satya, Brahmacarya, and Service (व्रत-नियम-स्वाध्याय-दम-सत्य-ब्रह्मचर्य-शुश्रूषा-फलप्रश्नः)
सर्वान् दृष्टवा तदहं धर्मराज- मवोचं वै प्रभविष्णुं पुराणम् क्षीरस्यैता: सर्पिषश्नैव नद्य: शश्वत्सत्रोता: कस्य भोज्या: प्रदिष्टा:
sarvān dṛṣṭvā tad ahaṃ dharmarājam avoceṃ vai prabhaviṣṇuṃ purāṇam | kṣīrasya etāḥ sarpiṣaś caiva nadyaḥ śaśvat-srotāḥ kasya bhojyāḥ pradiṣṭāḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «À la vue de tout cela, je m’adressai à l’antique et puissant Seigneur du Dharma (Dharmarāja) : “Ô Maître, ces rivières de lait et de ghee qui coulent sans cesse, dont la source ne tarit jamais, à qui a-t-il été assigné d’en jouir comme nourriture ?”»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry into how enjoyment and sustenance in the otherworld are apportioned: unending abundance is not random but ‘assigned’ according to moral law (dharma) and the fruits of actions.
Bhishma, after witnessing a wondrous scene of inexhaustible rivers of milk and ghee, questions Dharmaraja (Yama) about who is entitled to partake of them—prompting an explanation of karmic entitlement and the distribution of rewards.