Shloka 18
पूर्ण श्रद्धाकें साथ क्रमश: कथा सुनते हुए उसे अन्ततक पूर्णरूपसे श्रवण करना चाहिये। यथाशक्ति श्रवणके लिये उद्यत रहकर मनको प्रसन्न रखे। हृदयमें हर्षसे उललसित हो मनमें संशय या तर्क-वितर्क न करे ।। सत्यार्जवरतो दान्त: शुचि: शौचसमन्वित: । श्रद्धधानो जितक्रोधो यथा सिध्यति तच्छृूणु,सत्य और सरलताके सेवनमें संलग्न रहे। इन्ट्रियोंका दमन करे, शुद्ध एवं शौचाचारसे सम्पन्न रहे। श्रद्धालु बना रहे और क्रोधको काबूमें रखे। ऐसे श्रोताको जिस प्रकार सिद्धि प्राप्त होती है, वह बताता हूँ; सुनो
pūrṇaśraddhayā saha kramaśaḥ kathāṃ śṛṇvan tām antataḥ pūrṇarūpeṇa śravaṇaṃ kuryāt | yathāśakti śravaṇāya udyataḥ san manaḥ prasannaṃ rakṣet | hṛdaye harṣeṇa ullasitaḥ san manasi saṃśayaṃ vā tarka-vitarkaṃ na kuryāt || satyārjavavrato dāntaḥ śuciḥ śaucasamanvitaḥ | śraddadhāno jitakrodho yathā sidhyati tac chṛṇu ||
Vaiśampāyana said: One should listen to the account step by step with complete faith, hearing it in full up to the very end. As far as one is able, one should remain intent on listening and keep the mind cheerful. With the heart uplifted by joy, one should not indulge in doubt or argumentative disputation. A listener who is vowed to truth and straightforwardness, self-controlled, pure and observant of cleanliness, faithful, and master of anger—how such a hearer attains spiritual success, that I shall tell you; listen.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the discipline of listening to sacred narrative: hear it fully and sequentially with faith, mental clarity, joy, and without skeptical quarrelling; cultivate truthfulness, straightforwardness, self-restraint, purity/cleanliness, faith, and mastery over anger to gain spiritual fruition (siddhi).
Vaiśampāyana pauses the storyline to instruct the audience on the proper inner attitude and ethical qualifications of a hearer, framing the act of listening itself as a dharmic practice that yields ‘siddhi’ when done rightly.