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 ||
Wika ni Bhishma: “Sa anumang gawa na ikinalulugod ng isang diyos, sa gayon ding gawa nalulugod ang mga Pitṛ (mga ninuno); gayundin ang mga Ṛṣi, ang mga Pramatha na mga tagasunod, si Śrī (Lakṣmī), si Citragupta, at ang mga elepanteng tagapagbantay ng mga panig ng daigdig.”
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.