Shloka 4
दान-धर्म-आश्रमविधानम्
Dana, Dharma, and the Four Āśramas
पृथिवी पर्वता मेघा मूर्तिमन्तश्न ये परे । सर्व तद् वारुणं ज्ञेयमापस्तस्तम्भिरे यत:
pṛthivī parvatā meghā mūrtimantaś ca ye pare | sarva tad vāruṇaṃ jñeyam āpas tastambhire yataḥ ||
ಭೂಮಿ, ಪರ್ವತಗಳು, ಮೇಘಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಮೂರ್ತಿಮಂತವಾದ ಯಾವುದೆ ವಸ್ತುಗಳು—ಅವೆಲ್ಲವೂ ವಾರುಣ, ಅಂದರೆ ಜಲಸ್ವಭಾವವೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಯಬೇಕು; ಏಕೆಂದರೆ ಜಲವೇ ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಸ್ಥಿರಗೊಳಿಸಿ ಧರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
All tangible forms—earth, mountains, clouds, and other embodied things—are to be understood as fundamentally ‘watery’ in nature, because water is presented as the sustaining basis that stabilizes and supports them.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic discourse, Bharadvāja is explaining a cosmological principle about the elemental basis of the world, emphasizing water (āpaḥ) as a foundational support for manifest, formed entities.