Shloka 4
Adhyāya 115: On Restraint Under Verbal Provocation in the Assembly (सभायां आक्रोश-सहिष्णुता)
टिट्टिभं तमुपेक्षेतर वाशमानमिवातुरम् । लोकविद्वेषमापन्नो निष्फलं प्रतिपद्यते
ṭiṭṭibhaṃ tam upekṣeta ra vāśamānam ivāturam | lokavidveṣam āpanno niṣphalaṃ pratipadyate ||
قال بهيشما: «ينبغي أن تُعرِض عن ذلك المفترِي الذي لا يكفّ عن الصياح—كطائر اللَّبْوِينغ أو كمريضٍ ينوح. أمّا إن انخرط المرء في هذا التعييب على الملأ، جرّ على نفسه بغض الناس وصارت أعماله الصالحة هباءً.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not engage with a noisy slanderer; practice upekṣā (deliberate disregard). Responding or getting drawn into public fault-finding leads to social hostility (lokavidveṣa) and makes one’s merit and good works fruitless (niṣphala).
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira on how to deal with abusive or censorious speech: treat the slanderer like an irrelevant, wailing disturbance—like a lapwing’s cry or a sick man’s moaning—and move on without retaliation.