Shloka 5
Varṇāśrama-ācāra and Vikarma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry on Safe Dharmas (शिवधर्मप्रश्नः)
तत्रारण्यकशास्त्राणि समधीत्य स धर्मवित् । ऊर्ध्वरेता: प्रव्रजित्वा गच्छत्यक्षरसात्मताम्
tatrāraṇyakśāstrāṇi samadhītya sa dharmavit | ūrdhvaretaḥ pravrajitvā gacchaty akṣarasātmatām ||
वहाँ धर्मज्ञ पुरुष आरण्यक-शास्त्रों का भली-भाँति अध्ययन करके वानप्रस्थ-धर्म का पालन करे। तत्पश्चात् ऊर्ध्वरेता होकर, विधिपूर्वक प्रव्रज्या (संन्यास) ग्रहण करे; और इस प्रकार वह अक्षर—अविनाशी ब्रह्म—की आत्मता को प्राप्त होता है।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse outlines a graded spiritual path within the āśrama framework: study of contemplative Vedic teachings (Āraṇyakas), disciplined forest-dweller life (vānaprastha), then celibate renunciation (pravrajyā/sannyāsa), culminating in realization of the Imperishable—Brahman.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma after the war. Here he describes how a dharma-knower should progress from forest discipline and scriptural study to formal renunciation, presenting liberation as the ethical and spiritual end of this progression.