मृत्यु-काल-प्रबोधनम् (Instruction on Mortality, Time, and Truth) — Mahābhārata, Śānti-parva 169
पूर्वान् समर द्विज ज्ञातीन् प्रख्यातान् वेदपारगान् । तेषां वंशेडभिजातस्त्वमीदृश: कुलपांसन:
pūrvān samara dvija jñātīn prakhyātān vedapāragān | teṣāṁ vaṁśe 'bhijātas tvam īdṛśaḥ kulapāṁsanaḥ ||
ভীষ্ম ক’লে—“হে ব্ৰাহ্মণ, তোমাৰ পুৰ্বপুৰুষসকলক স্মৰণ কৰা—খ্যাতিমান আত্মীয়, বেদপাৰঙ্গত। তেওঁলোকৰ বংশত জন্ম লৈ তুমি এনেকুৱা—কুল-মৰ্যাদাত কলঙ্ক।”
भीष्म उवाच
One should uphold the standards of dharma and learning associated with one’s lineage; forgetting ancestral exemplars and acting ignobly brings moral shame and social dishonor.
Bhīṣma rebukes a brāhmaṇa, urging him to remember his celebrated, Veda-master ancestors and condemning him as a ‘family-disgrace’ for behaving contrary to that inherited ideal.