Shloka 1
Dhaumya’s Enumeration of Eastern Tīrthas
Prācī-diś Tīrtha-kathana
न लक - शम्याका अर्थ है डंडा। कोई बलवान पुरुष डंडेको खूब जोर लगाकर फेंके तो वह जहाँ गिरे, उतनी दूरके स्थानको एक शम्यानिपात कहते हैं। ऐसे ही छ: शम्यानिपातकी दूरी समझ लेनी चाहिये। > तिलोंसे गौकी आकृति बनाकर उसका दान करे। पञ्चाशीतितमोब<् ध्याय: गंगासागर, अयोध्या, चित्रकूट, प्रयाग आदि विभिन्न तीर्थोकी महिमाका वर्णन और गंगाका माहात्म्य पुलस्त्य उवाच अथ संध्यां समासाद्य संवेद्यं तीर्थमुत्तमम् । उपस्पृश्य नरो विद्यां लभते नात्र संशय:,पुलस्त्यजी कहते हैं--भीष्म! तदनन्तर प्रात:-संध्याके समय उत्तम संचवेद्यतीर्थमें जाकर स्नान करनेसे मनुष्य विद्यालाभ करता है; इसमें संशय नहीं है
Pulastya uvāca: atha sandhyāṃ samāsādya saṃvedyaṃ tīrtham uttamam | upaspṛśya naro vidyāṃ labhate nātra saṃśayaḥ ||
Pulastya said: “O Bhīṣma, thereafter, at the time of dawn-sandhyā, if a man reaches the excellent sacred ford called Saṃvedya and bathes there (performing the purificatory rite), he gains true knowledge; of this there is no doubt.” The verse frames pilgrimage and ritual purity as supports for inner cultivation—learning is presented not merely as study, but as a fruit of disciplined, dharmic practice at sanctified places and times.
पुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disciplined observance—especially bathing at an auspicious time (dawn-sandhyā) in a revered tīrtha—supports the attainment of vidyā (true knowledge). Knowledge is portrayed as a moral-spiritual fruit of dharmic practice, not only an intellectual acquisition.
Pulastya is instructing Bhīṣma within a tīrtha-māhātmya section, describing the merit of visiting a particular sacred place (Saṃvedya-tīrtha) at dawn and performing ritual bathing, promising the gain of knowledge as its result.