Shloka 5
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
एतत् तु नापरे चक्कुरपरे जातु साधव: । साधूनां पुनराचारो गरीयान् धर्मलक्षण:
etat tu nāpare cakṣur apare jātu sādhavaḥ | sādhūnāṃ punar ācāro garīyān dharmalakṣaṇaḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Einige behaupten, andere tugendhafte Männer hätten nicht so gehandelt; andere sagen, tugendhafte Männer hätten zuweilen so gehandelt. Darum ist die Lebensführung und Überlieferung (ācāra) der wahrhaft Guten das gewichtigste und maßgeblichste Kennzeichen, an dem Dharma erkannt wird.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When scriptural or theoretical claims conflict about what is permissible, the most reliable indicator of dharma is the established conduct (ācāra) of genuinely virtuous people; their lived practice carries decisive ethical authority.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he addresses disagreement about whether certain actions were ever performed by the righteous. He resolves the dispute by asserting that the behavior of true sādhus is the strongest criterion for identifying dharma.