Shloka 37
बक-गौतमाख्यानम् / The Baka–Gautama Account
On Gratitude and Friendship Ethics
तत्र घोरतमं वृत्तमृषीणां मे परिश्रुतम्
tatra ghoratamaṃ vṛttam ṛṣīṇāṃ me pariśrutam | us samaya vahāṃ eka atyanta bhayaṅkara ghaṭanā ghaṭita huī, jise maiṃne ṛṣiyoṃ ke muṃh se sunā thā | jaise tārāoṃ ke ugane par nirmala ākāśa meṃ candramā kā uday ho, usī prakāra us yajñamaṇḍapa meṃ agni ko idhar-udhar bikhērakar eka bhayaṅkara bhūta prakaṭ huā, aisā sunā jātā hai ||
毗湿摩说道：“在那里，我曾从诸圣者之口听闻一桩最为可怖的异事。其时，正如群星既现、清空之中月轮升起；同样地——在祭场之内将祭火四散抛洒——一尊骇人的鬼灵显现。传说便是如此。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral warning through remembered tradition: even sacred settings like a yajña can be disrupted when ominous forces arise, reminding the listener that ritual order and dharmic vigilance are essential, and that elders’ transmitted accounts (pariśruta) carry instructive authority.
Bhishma reports a dreadful episode he learned from sages: in a sacrificial pavilion, a terrifying spirit manifested, scattering the sacrificial fire in different directions—an inauspicious disruption likened, by contrast, to the orderly beauty of the moon rising among stars.