Shloka 55
नमां मनुष्या: पश्यन्ति न मां पश्यन्ति देवता: । पापेनापिहित: पाप: पापमेवाभिजायते
na māṁ manuṣyāḥ paśyanti na māṁ paśyanti devatāḥ | pāpenāpihitaḥ pāpaḥ pāpam evābhijāyate ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Kein Mensch sieht mich, und auch die Götter sehen mich nicht.“ In diesem Wahn begeht der Sünder, vom Sündenschleier verhüllt, immer wieder Sünde und wird nur in sündige Leiber geboren—zu niedrigen und schädlichen Geburten.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The belief that wrongdoing is unseen (“no humans or gods are watching”) is itself a sinful delusion that fuels repeated sin; such actions generate karmic consequences, including rebirth in degraded or harmful conditions (pāpa-yoni).
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs on dharma and conduct. Here he describes the inner rationalization of a wrongdoer who imagines secrecy, and he states the resulting moral and karmic downward spiral.