Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda
Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity
येन यः प्रीयते देव: प्रीयन्ते पितरस्तथा । ऋषय: प्रमथा: श्रीक्ष चित्रगुप्तो दिशां गजा:,जिससे देवता, पितर, ऋषि, प्रमथगण, लक्ष्मी, चित्रगुप्त और दिग्गज प्रसन्न होते हैं
yena yaḥ prīyate devaḥ prīyante pitaras tathā | ṛṣayaḥ pramathāḥ śrīś ca citragupto diśāṁ gajāḥ ||
येन येन कर्मणा यो देवः प्रीयते, तेनैव पितरः प्रीयन्ते; तथा ऋषयः प्रमथाश्च, श्रीश्च चित्रगुप्तश्च दिशां गजाश्च तुष्टिं यान्ति।
भीष्म उवाच
That proper worship and righteous conduct have broad spiritual efficacy: pleasing the intended deity also brings satisfaction to ancestors, sages, attendant beings, prosperity (Śrī), the moral record-keeper (Citragupta), and the guardians of the directions—signaling harmony with the wider moral-cosmic order.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma continues instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he emphasizes the far-reaching results of acts that please the divine—such acts are portrayed as simultaneously gratifying multiple classes of revered and cosmic beings.