Shloka 8
Virūpākṣa’s Dāna and Gautama’s Burden — the approach of Rājadharma
धर्मशीलं गुणोपेतं पापमित्यवगच्छति । आत्मशीलप्रमाणेन न विश्वसिति कस्यचित्,वह धर्मात्मा और गुणवान् पुरुषको ही पापी मानता है और अपने स्वभावको आदर्श मानकर किसीपर विश्वास नहीं करता है
dharmaśīlaṁ guṇopetaṁ pāpam ity avagacchati | ātmaśīla-pramāṇena na viśvasiti kasyacit ||
Bhishma sagt: „Ein solcher Mensch hält schließlich sogar den, der in seinem Wandel dharmisch und mit guten Eigenschaften begabt ist, für ‘sündig’. Indem er sein eigenes Temperament zum einzigen Maßstab macht, vertraut er niemandem.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When a person treats his own temperament as the only valid standard, he becomes incapable of fair appraisal and ends up distrusting everyone—so much so that even the virtuous appear ‘sinful’ to him. The verse warns against ego-based criteria and urges impartial discernment.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on conduct and moral psychology, Bhishma describes a flawed disposition: a suspicious person who measures others by his own nature and therefore mislabels good people as bad and refuses to trust anyone.