Shloka 163
एष धर्मो महान् शक्र महागुणफलोदय: । “सहस्र नेत्रधारी इन्द्र! आप तीन वर्षके पुराने बीजों (जौ, गेहूँ आदि अनाजों)-से यज्ञ करें। यही महान् धर्म है और महान् गुणकारक फलकी प्राप्ति करानेवाला है”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | eṣa dharmo mahān śakra mahāguṇaphalodayaḥ | sahasranetradhārī indra! āpa tīna varṣake purāne bījoṃ (jau, gehūṃ ādi anājoṃ)-se yajña kareṃ | yahī mahān dharma hai aura mahān guṇakāraka phalakī prāpti karānevālā hai |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Śakra (Indra), this is a great form of dharma, one that brings forth the rise of great virtues and their fruits. O thousand‑eyed Indra, perform sacrifice using grain-seeds that are three years old (such as barley and wheat). This indeed is the great dharma, capable of yielding the fruits born of great merit.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that a properly conducted sacrifice, even down to the prescribed purity and suitability of its materials (here, aged grain-seeds), is a form of great dharma that generates substantial virtue and corresponding spiritual results (phala).
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, reports an instruction addressed to Indra (Śakra, the thousand‑eyed). The instruction identifies a specific sacrificial practice—using three‑year‑old grain-seeds—as an exemplary dharmic act that yields great merit.