Shloka 24
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
तेषां पुत्राभिरामाणामिहलोके परत्र च । न गुणो दृश्यते कश्रनित् प्रजा: संधारयन्ति च,"क्योंकि उनके पुत्रोंमें स्नेह रखनेवाले पशु आदि के लिये इहलोक और परलोकमें संतानोंके लालन-पालनसे कोई लाभ नहीं दिखायी देता तो भी वे अपने-अपने बच्चोंकी रक्षा करते रहते हैं
teṣāṃ putrābhirāmāṇām iha-loke paratra ca | na guṇo dṛśyate kaścid prajāḥ saṃdhārayanti ca ||
Bhishma sprach: „Für jene, die an ihren Kindern Gefallen finden, ist weder in dieser Welt noch in der jenseitigen irgendein Gewinn aus dem Aufziehen von Nachkommen zu erkennen; und dennoch erhalten und beschützen sie ihre Jungen.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma highlights that the impulse to protect and nurture one’s offspring operates even where no calculable worldly or otherworldly ‘profit’ is evident. This underscores parental care as a natural, duty-like force—grounded in affection and the sustaining of life rather than in transactional expectation.
In the instruction-filled Shanti Parva, Bhishma is explaining principles of conduct and motivation. Here he uses the example of animals devoted to their young to show that beings maintain and safeguard their offspring even without perceiving any explicit benefit in either this life or the next.