Shloka 266
गच्छन्ति सह पत्नीभि: सुतैरपि च शाश्वतीम् । हुताशन! आपके बिना सम्पूर्ण जगत् तत्काल नष्ट हो जायगा। ब्राह्मणलोग आपको नमस्कार करके अपनी पत्नियों और पुत्रोंके साथ कर्मानुसार प्राप्त की हुई सनातन गतिको प्राप्त होते हैं
gacchanti saha patnībhiḥ sutair api ca śāśvatīm | hutāśana! tvayā vinā samastaṃ jagat tatkālaṃ naśyeta | brāhmaṇāḥ tvāṃ namaskṛtya sva-patnī-putra-sahitāḥ karmānusāra-prāptāṃ sanātanīṃ gatiṃ prāpnuvanti |
Mandapāla said: “They go on, together with their wives and even their sons, to the everlasting state. O Fire (Hutāśana), without you the whole world would perish at once. The Brahmins, having bowed to you, attain—along with their wives and children—the eternal destination that is gained in accordance with their deeds.”
मन्दपाल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Agni is presented as indispensable to sustaining the world and to the Vedic sacrificial economy; honoring Fire (as the carrier of offerings) supports dharma, and the fruits of action—ritual and moral—lead householders, together with their families, toward an enduring posthumous destiny in accordance with karma.
Mandapāla addresses Hutāśana (Agni), emphasizing that without Fire the cosmos would collapse, and that Brahmins who salute and engage properly with Agni in their rites proceed—along with wives and children—to the ‘eternal’ destination earned by their deeds.