Shloka 15
आस्तीक-उपाख्यान-प्रस्तावः | Introduction to the Āstīka Narrative
अटमान: कदाचित् स्वान् स ददर्श पितामहान् । लम्बमानान् महागर्ते पादैरूर्ध्वैरवाड्मुखान्,वे कभी वायु पीकर रहते और कभी भोजनका सर्वथा त्याग करके अपने शरीरको सुखाते रहते थे। उन महर्षिने निद्रापर भी विजय प्राप्त कर ली थी, इसलिये उनकी पलक नहीं लगती थी। इधर-उधर विचरण करते हुए वे प्रज्वलित अग्निके समान तेजस्वी जान पड़ते थे। घूमते-घूमते किसी समय उन्होंने अपने पितामहोंको देखा जो ऊपरको पैर और नीचेको सिर किये एक विशाल गड्ढेमें लटक रहे थे
aṭamānaḥ kadācit svān sa dadarśa pitāmahān | lambamānān mahāgarte pādair ūrdhvair avāṅmukhān ||
Śaunaka said: While wandering about, he once beheld his own forefathers—his grandfathers—hanging in a vast pit, their feet turned upward and their faces downward. The sight signals a moral crisis: ancestral welfare is shown as dependent on the continuity of dharma through progeny and the proper performance of rites, making personal ascetic striving inseparable from responsibility to one’s lineage.
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores pitṛ-dharma: one’s spiritual life is tied to obligations toward ancestors. The ancestors’ precarious state symbolizes that lineage-continuity and prescribed rites (especially offerings to the pitṛs) are ethical duties, not optional add-ons to personal austerity.
A wandering ascetic figure (as introduced by Śaunaka’s narration) suddenly sees his own forefathers suspended upside down in a huge pit. This ominous vision sets up the reason he must act—typically by ensuring progeny and/or performing rites—so that the ancestors may be relieved.