Shloka 793
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
प्राणानुत्सृज्य तत्रैव मोक्ष प्राप्नोति मानव: । कुरुश्रेष्ठ! अविमुक्त तीर्थमें जाकर तीर्थसेवी मनुष्य देवदेव महादेवजीका दर्शनमात्र करके ब्रह्महत्यासे मुक्त हो जाता है। वहीं प्राणोत्सर्ग करके मनुष्य मोक्ष प्राप्त कर लेता है
prāṇān utsṛjya tatraiva mokṣaṁ prāpnoti mānavaḥ | kuruśreṣṭha! avimukta-tīrthe gatvā tīrtha-sevī manuṣyo devadeva-mahādevasya darśana-mātreṇa brahmahatyāyāḥ pramucyate | tatraiva prāṇotsargaṁ kṛtvā manuṣyo mokṣaṁ prāpnoti |
Ghulastya said: “O best of the Kurus! A man who goes to the sacred ford called Avimukta and lives as a pilgrim there is freed from the sin of brahmin-slaying merely by obtaining the sight of Mahādeva, the God of gods. And if he relinquishes his life there itself, he attains liberation.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage teaches the extraordinary purificatory power attributed to certain tīrthas and to Śiva’s darśana: even the gravest sin (brahmahatyā) is said to be removed by pilgrimage and the mere sight of Mahādeva at Avimukta, and dying there is presented as a direct means to mokṣa.
A speaker named Ghulastya addresses a Kuru noble (“Kuruśreṣṭha”) and praises Avimukta-tīrtha, stating that a pilgrim who goes there and beholds Mahādeva is freed from brahmahatyā, and that relinquishing life at that sacred place leads to liberation.