Shloka 6

Devanagari script

विज्ञानबलपूतो यो वर्तते निन्दितेष्वपि । वृत्तिविज्ञानवान्‌ धीर: कस्तं वा वक्तुमहति,जो तत्त्वज्ञानके प्रभावसे पवित्र है और किस वृत्तिसे किसका निर्वाह हो सकता है, इस बातको अच्छी तरह समझता है, वह धीर नरेश यदि राज्यको संकटसे बचानेके लिये निन्दित कर्मोमें भी प्रवृत्त होता है तो कौन उसकी निन्दा कर सकता है?

Transliteration

vijñānabalapūto yo vartate ninditeṣv api | vṛttivijñānavān dhīraḥ kas taṃ vā vaktum arhati ||

Translation

قال بهيشما: «مَن تطهَّر بقوة المعرفة الحقّة، وفهم بوضوح سُبُل المعاش—ما الذي يُقيم أمرَ مَن، وبأي سلوكٍ يكون القِوام—فذلك الملك الرزين البصير، وإن باشر أفعالًا تُذَمّ عادةً لإنقاذ المملكة من الخطر، فمَن ذا الذي يَصلُح لأن يُدينَه؟»

Word by Word

• {'vijñāna': 'discriminative knowledge

• true understanding', 'bala': 'strength

• power', 'pūta': 'purified

• cleansed', 'yo': 'who', 'vartate': 'acts

• engages', 'ninditeṣu': 'in censured/blameworthy matters or actions', 'api': 'even

• even if', 'vṛtti': 'livelihood

• practical course of conduct', 'vijñānavān': 'possessing clear knowledge

• well-informed', 'dhīraḥ': 'steady

• self-controlled', 'kas': 'who?', 'tam': 'him', 'vā': 'indeed/then

• or (rhetorical)', 'vaktum': 'to speak (against)

• to declare', 'arhati': 'is worthy/fit

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma teaches that a ruler grounded in true discernment and practical understanding of livelihood and governance may, in exceptional emergencies, undertake ordinarily blameworthy measures to protect the realm; such action, when guided by wisdom and necessity, is not easily subject to moral condemnation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on raja-dharma in the Shanti Parva, he argues about the difficult choices kings face: when the kingdom is threatened, a wise and steady ruler may need to act in ways that appear censurable, and Bhishma challenges the audience by asking who could rightly blame such a ruler acting for the state’s preservation.