Shloka 22
Adhyāya 3: Indra’s Invitation and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Refusal to Abandon the Dog
Svargārohaṇa Test
इस समय भी “यह कुत्ता मेरा भक्त है” ऐसा सोचकर तुमने देवराज इन्द्रके भी रथका परित्याग कर दिया है; अतः स्वर्गलोकमें तुम्हारे समान दूसरा कोई राजा नहीं है ।।
dharmarāja uvāca | adya api “ayaṁ śvā mama bhaktaḥ” iti matvā tvaṁ devarāja-indrasya api rathasya parityāgaṁ kṛtavān; ataḥ svargaloke tvat-samaḥ anyaḥ kaścid rājā nāsti || atas tava akṣayā lokāḥ sva-śarīreṇa bhārata | prāpto ’si bharata-śreṣṭha divyāṁ gatim anuttamām ||
达摩罗阇说道：“即便此刻，你念着‘此犬乃我之虔诚随从’，竟连天帝因陀罗之车也舍弃。故而在天界，再无一王可与你等同。由此，噢，婆罗多啊，婆罗多族中最卓越者啊，你以此身便得不朽诸界；你已抵达无上、神圣之境。”
धर्मरज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Uncompromising dharma: true righteousness protects the vulnerable and honors loyalty even when tempted by divine reward. Yudhiṣṭhira’s refusal to abandon the dog becomes the very reason he attains imperishable realms in the same body.
At the end of the great journey, Indra offers Yudhiṣṭhira a chariot to enter heaven but objects to the dog accompanying him. Yudhiṣṭhira rejects the offer rather than abandon the dog, and Dharmarāja (here speaking) declares that this act proves his unmatched virtue and grants him an unsurpassed divine destination.