Shloka 4
Vyādha–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Śāpa, Vṛtta-Dharma, and Counsel Against Viṣāda
Grief
पिता माता च भगवन् गुरुरेव च सत्तम | यच्चान्यद् देवविहितं तच्चापि भूगुनन्दन,“भगवन! श्रेष्ठ ब्रह्मर्ष] इस जगत्में सूर्य, चन्द्रमा, वायु, पृथिवी, अग्नि, पिता, माता और गुरु--ये प्रत्यक्ष देवता दिखायी देते हैं। भूगुनन्दन! इसके सिवा अन्य जो देवतारूपसे स्थापित देवविग्रह हैं, वे भी प्रत्यक्ष देवताओंकी ही कोटियें हैं"
pitā mātā ca bhagavan gurur eva ca sattama | yac cānyad devavihitaṃ tac cāpi bhṛgunandana ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “Kagalang-galang, ang ama, ang ina, at tunay ngang ang guro—O pinakamainam sa mabubuti—ay dapat ituring na mga diyos na hayag na naririto. At anumang iba pa na itinakda at itinatag bilang anyo ng mga diyos, O ligaya ng angkan ng Bhṛgu, ay kabilang din sa kaparehong uri ng nakikitang pagka-diyos.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that dharma begins with reverence to those who directly sustain and guide one’s life—father, mother, and guru—treating them as ‘manifest’ divinity; it also affirms respect for other divinely sanctioned forms of worship as belonging to the sphere of visible sacred presence.
Vaiśampāyana, in the course of recounting the Vana Parva narrative, states a general dharmic principle: certain human relationships (parents and teacher) are to be honored as immediate, tangible embodiments of the divine, alongside other divinely instituted objects/forms of reverence.