Shloka 10
कुण्डधारोपाख्यानम्
Kuṇḍadhāra-Upākhyāna: Dharma’s Superiority over Wealth and Desire
अत्र गाथा ब्रह्मगीता: कीर्तयन्ति पुराविद: । शुचेरश्रद्दधानस्य श्रद्दधानस्य चाशुचे:
atra gāthā brahmagītāḥ kīrtayanti purāvidaḥ | śucer aśraddadhānasya śraddadhānasya cāśuceḥ mīmāṃsitvobhayam devāḥ samam annam akalpayan |
भीष्म बोले—इस विषय में पुरावृत्त जानने वाले लोग ब्रह्मा की गायी हुई ‘ब्रह्मगीता’ का गान करते हैं—देवताओं ने दोनों की परीक्षा करके अन्न-आहुति को समान ठहराया: एक तो बाह्यतः शुद्ध पर श्रद्धाहीन, और दूसरा श्रद्धावान पर बाह्यतः अशुद्ध।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
External purity (śuci/aśuci) and inner faith (śraddhā/aśraddhā) do not always align; therefore the value of an offering should be assessed through thoughtful discernment rather than by outward markers alone. The verse highlights a deliberate, evaluative approach (mīmāṃsitvā) to ethical and ritual judgment.
Bhīṣma introduces an authoritative ancient saying attributed to Brahmā, reported by tradition-knowers. In that saying, the gods are described as having deliberated and then treated two contrasting kinds of donors—pure-but-faithless and faithful-but-impure—as equivalent with respect to the food-offering, emphasizing a nuanced standard of evaluation.