Shloka 51
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
गत्वा वीरप्रमोक्ष॑ं च सर्वपापै: प्रमुच्यते । कृत्तिकामघयोश्रैव तीर्थमासाद्य भारत,एककालं निराहारो लोकानावसते शुभान् | वीरप्रमोक्षतीर्थमें जाकर मनुष्य सब पापोंसे छुटकारा पा जाता है। भारत! कृत्तिका और मधघाके तीर्थमें जाकर मानव अग्निष्टोम और अतितरात्र यज्ञोंका फल पाता है। वहीं प्रात:-संध्याके समय परम उत्तम विद्यातीर्थमें जाकर स्नान करनेसे मनुष्य जहाँ-कहीं भी विद्या प्राप्त कर लेता है। जो सब पापोंसे छुड़ानेवाले महाश्रमतीर्थमें एक समय उपवास करके एक रात वहीं निवास करता है, उसे शुभ लोकोंकी प्राप्ति होती है
ghulastya uvāca | gatvā vīrapramokṣaṃ ca sarvapāpaiḥ pramucyate | kṛttikāmaghayoś caiva tīrtham āsādya bhārata, ekakālaṃ nirāhāro lokān āvasate śubhān |
Ghulastya said: “By going to the sacred ford called Vīrapramokṣa, a person is released from all sins. O Bhārata, having reached the tīrtha associated with Kṛttikā and Maghā, and then observing a single-meal fast, one who stays there for a night attains auspicious worlds.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disciplined pilgrimage—approaching sacred places with restraint (such as fasting and staying with reverence)—is presented as a dharmic means of purification from sin and of gaining auspicious spiritual results.
In the Vana Parva’s pilgrimage discourse (tīrtha-māhātmya), the speaker Ghulastya instructs Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira) about specific tīrthas—Vīrapramokṣa and the tīrtha linked with the nakṣatras Kṛttikā and Maghā—describing the merits obtained by visiting them and observing a brief fast and stay.