Shloka 153
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
तत्राभिषेकं कुर्वाण: पितृदेवार्चने रत: । हयमेधमवाप्रोति शक्रलोकं॑ च गच्छति,उस तीर्थमें स्नान करके देवताओं और पितरोंकी पूजा करनेवाला पुरुष अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता और इन्द्रलोकमें पूजित होता है
tatrābhiṣekaṁ kurvāṇaḥ pitṛdevārcane rataḥ | hayamedham avāpnoti śakralokaṁ ca gacchati ||
One who performs the sacred bathing rite at that tīrtha and is devoted to worship of the gods and the ancestors attains the merit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice and goes to Śakra’s (Indra’s) world, honored there. The verse frames tīrtha-bathing not as mere ritual, but as ethically charged devotion expressed through reverence to both divine powers and one’s forebears.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that sincere tīrtha-bathing combined with worship of gods and ancestors yields extraordinary spiritual merit—comparable to the Aśvamedha—and leads to honored residence in Indra’s heaven. It emphasizes devotion and reverence (to devas and pitṛs) as the ethical heart of pilgrimage.
In the tīrtha-yātrā discourse of Vana Parva, the speaker is praising a particular sacred place: by bathing there and performing proper worship of deities and ancestors, a pilgrim gains great sacrificial merit and is said to reach Śakra’s world.