Shloka 20
Chapter 78: Royal Responsibility for Wealth, Social Order, and the Protection of Dvijas
Kekaya Exemplum
तपस्विनो मे विषये पूजिता: परिपालिता: । संविभक्ताश्न सत्कृत्य मामकान्तरमाविश:
tapasvino me viṣaye pūjitāḥ paripālitāḥ | saṃvibhaktāś ca satkṛtya māmakaṃ antarāmāviśaḥ |
毗湿摩说道：“在我的国土之中，我常敬奉并护持苦行的圣仙；恭敬迎接之后，也按礼分给他们所需之物。即便如此，你又如何能进入我身之内？”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the dharmic duty of honoring and protecting ascetics through respectful hospitality and fair provision, while also raising a moral question: even when one performs outward duties, hidden faults or deeper karmic causes may still allow suffering or impurity to ‘enter within’.
Bhishma addresses an unseen or internalized presence (spoken to as ‘you’), expressing surprise that it could enter his body despite his consistent reverence, protection, and generous support of ascetic sages in his kingdom.