Shloka 26
अध्याय १५२: लोभः पापस्य मूलम् — Greed as the Root of Wrongdoing
स्वकर्माण्यभिसंधाय नाभिनन्दति मे मन: । “यह सारा पाप मुझमें मौजूद है; अतः मैं चिन्तासे उसी प्रकार जल रहा हूँ, मानो किसीने मुझे आगके भीतर रख दिया हो। अपने कुकर्मोंको याद करके मेरा मन स्वतः प्रसन्न नहीं हो रहा है
svakarmāṇy abhisandhāya nābhinandati me manaḥ |
Bhīṣma sprach: „Wenn ich über meine eigenen Taten nachsinne, findet mein Geist keine Freude. Die ganze Last der Sünde scheint in mir zu wohnen; darum werde ich von Sorge versengt, als hätte mich jemand mitten ins Feuer gestellt. Wenn ich meiner verwerflichen Handlungen gedenke, kann mein Herz aus sich selbst heraus keinen Frieden finden.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral clarity begins with honest self-examination: when one measures oneself against dharma, the mind may refuse self-congratulation. Remorse and inner burning arise from awareness of adharma, and this recognition becomes the ground for ethical correction and expiation.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma after the war. Here he turns inward, confessing that recollection of his own deeds brings no satisfaction; he feels consumed by anxiety and guilt, as if burning in fire, indicating the psychological cost of past wrongdoing even in a revered elder.