Shloka 5

Adhyāya 241: Guṇa-sṛṣṭi, Kṣetrajña-sākṣitva, and Śama through Ātma-jñāna (गुणसृष्टिः, क्षेत्रज्ञसाक्षित्वं, शमः)

Devanagari script

अस्ति धर्म इति प्रोक्त नास्तीत्यत्रैव यो वदेत्‌ । तस्य पक्षस्य सदृशमिदं मम भवेद्‌ व्यथा

Transliteration

asti dharma iti prokta nāstīty atraiva yo vadet | tasya pakṣasya sadṛśam idaṁ mama bhaved vyathā ||

Translation

Bhishma sprach: „Die Schriften lehren: ‚Dharma ist.‘ Doch wenn jemand hier und jetzt behauptete: ‚Dharma ist nicht‘, dann wäre der Schmerz, der im Herzen eines Gläubigen beim Hören dessen aufstiege—ein Schmerz, der der Seite des Gläubigen entspricht—ebenso wird mir diese Frage nach der Rangordnung von Handeln und Erkenntnis zur Qual.“

Word by Word

• {'asti': 'exists

• is', 'dharmaḥ': 'dharma

• righteous duty', 'iti': 'thus

• ‘so’ (quotative particle)', 'proktaḥ/proktam': 'declared

• stated (by authoritative teaching)', 'nāsti': 'does not exist

• is not', 'atraiva': 'right here

• in this very matter/context', 'yaḥ': 'who

• whoever', 'vadet': 'would say

• might assert', 'tasya': 'of that (person/claim)

• of him', 'pakṣasya': 'of the side/position

• of the standpoint', 'sadṛśam': 'similar

• corresponding', 'idam': 'this', 'mama': 'for me

• my', 'bhavet': 'would be

• may become', 'vyathā': 'pain

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma underscores that denying the existence of dharma contradicts authoritative teaching and causes deep moral-spiritual distress; he likens his own discomfort over debates on the hierarchy of action and knowledge to the pain a believer feels when dharma is negated.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instructional setting, Bhishma is responding to a philosophical query; before addressing the issue of the relative status of karma (action) and vidyā/jñāna (knowledge), he remarks that such disputation troubles him much like hearing an outright denial of dharma.