Beginning

The Mahabharata starts with the shloka on how to begin telling the tales of the epic. Jaya, meaning Victory, is the original name of Mahabharata. It is the so-called Ura-Mahabharata, the heart of the epic.

नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम्।
देवीं सरस्वतीं चैव ततो जयमुदीरयेत्॥

nārāyanam namaskrutya naram chaiva narottamam,
devīm sarasvatīm chaiva tato jayamudīrayet.

Jaya must be recited after having bowed in obeisance before nārāyana and also nara, the supreme human being, and also the goddess sarasvati.

Middle

The audacious claim below is that in matters of Dharma (Duty), Artha (Prosperity), Kama (Desire) and Moksha (Liberation), the epic has everything that one needs to learn.

धर्मे च अर्थे च कामे च मोक्षे च भरतर्षभ।
यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहाऽस्ति न तत्‌ क्वचित्‌॥

dharmé cha arthé cha kāmé cha mokshé cha bharatarshabha,
yadihāsti tadanyatra yannehāsti na tat kvachit.

O bull among the Bharatas! (know that) in the matters of dharma, artha, kāma, and moksha, what is here may be found elsewhere, but what is not here cannot be found anywhere.

End

Finally, it ends with the claim that the very act of listening to the Mahabharata is so valuable that one may acquire as much punya (loosely translated as virtue) that there would be no need to even visit Pushkara - the very place that the epic itself claims to be a pilgrimage that leads to moksha

यो भारतं समधिगच्छति वाच्यमानं; किं तस्य पुष्करजलैरभिषेचनेन॥

yo bhāratam samadhigacchati vāchyamānam; kim tasya pushkarajalairabhishechanena

If a person controls himself and listens to bhārata being recited, there is no need for him to sprinkle himself with water from pushkara.