Shloka 156
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
समुद्राश्चापि चत्वार: समानीताश्च दर्भिणा । तेषु सनातो नरश्रेष्ठ न दुर्गतिमवाप्रुयात्
samudrāś cāpi catvāraḥ samānītāś ca darbhīṇā | teṣu snāto naraśreṣṭha na durgatim avāpnuyāt ||
“ദർഭീ മുനി നാലു സമുദ്രങ്ങളെയും ഒരുമിച്ച് കൂട്ടിയിരുന്നു. നരശ്രേഷ്ഠാ! അവയിൽ സ്നാനം ചെയ്യുന്നവൻ ദുർഗതി പ്രാപിക്കുകയില്ല.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the purificatory and merit-bearing power of ritually sanctioned acts—here, bathing in sanctified waters—presented as a means to avert durgati (an evil fate). It reflects the Mahābhārata’s broader ethic that disciplined, dharmic observances can transform one’s spiritual outcome.
The speaker asserts a wondrous ritual claim: that the four oceans may be made to ‘converge’ through the agency of darbha (kuśa grass, a standard Vedic ritual implement). Bathing in those gathered waters is said to protect a person from attaining a bad destiny.