Shloka 89
राजन! नृपश्रेष्ठ अपने परम कल्याणकी इच्छा रखनेवाले श्रोताको महाभारतको सुनने तथा इसका पारायण करनेके लिये सदा प्रयत्नशील रहना चाहिये ।।
rājan nṛpaśreṣṭha ātmanaḥ parama-kalyāṇecchāṃ dhārayamāṇena śrotṛṇā mahābhārataṃ śrotuṃ tad-adhyetuṃ ca sadā yatnaśīlena bhavitavyam | bhārataṃ śṛṇuyān nityaṃ bhārataṃ parikīrtayet | bhārataṃ bhavane yasya tasya hastagato jayaḥ ||
वैशम्पायन उवाच—राजन् नृपश्रेष्ठ! यः श्रोता परमकल्याणकामः स सदा महाभारतश्रवणे तस्य च पारायणे प्रयत्नशीलो भवेत्। भारतं शृणुयान्नित्यं भारतं परिकीर्तयेत्। यस्य भवने भारतं तस्य हस्तगतो जयः॥
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that regular engagement with the Mahābhārata—hearing it and reciting it—is a sustained spiritual-ethical discipline aimed at one’s highest welfare (parama-kalyāṇa). Keeping the Bhārata in one’s home symbolizes continual access to dharma-guidance, which is said to bring ‘victory’—both practical success and moral triumph.
In the closing portion of the Mahābhārata (Svargārohaṇa Parva), the narrator Vaiśampāyana addresses the king and concludes with a phalaśruti-like statement, praising the merit and benefit of listening to and reciting the epic, and asserting its auspicious power for those who preserve it in their household.