Shloka 20
Kṣātra-dharma as the Public Foundation of Dharma (क्षात्रधर्म-प्रशंसा)
अर्चयित्वा पितृन् सम्यक् पितृयजैर्यथाविधि । देवान् यज्ैर््रषीन् वेदैरर्चयित्वा तु यत्नतः
arcayitvā pitṝn samyak pitṛyajñair yathāvidhi | devān yajñair ṛṣīn vedair arcayitvā tu yatnataḥ ||
Bhishma berkata: “Setelah menghormati para leluhur dengan sempurna menurut tatacara melalui upacara Pitṛ-yajña, serta menyembah para dewa melalui korban dan memuliakan para ṛṣi melalui pengajian Veda dengan tekun, seorang kṣatriya—apabila saat akhir hayat mendekat—yang ingin menempuh disiplin āśrama yang lain, akan melaluinya setahap demi setahap dan dengan itu mencapai penyempurnaan tertinggi.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that a ruler’s spiritual progress must rest on disciplined fulfillment of prescribed obligations—honoring ancestors through Pitṛ-yajña, gods through sacrifice, and seers through Vedic study—so that, at life’s end, one may legitimately and fruitfully transition through the later āśramas toward the highest attainment.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct. Here he summarizes a kṣatriya’s religious foundations—ancestral rites, sacrificial worship, and Vedic learning—as the proper preparation for adopting later life-stages (vānaprastha/saṃnyāsa) when old age or the end of life approaches.