Shloka 27
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 148: Vāsudeva’s Report—Mobilization and the Nīti Sequence
Sāma–Bheda–Daṇḍa
बाह्लीको मातुलकुल त्यक्त्वा राज्यं समाश्रित: | पितृश्रातृन् परित्यज्य प्राप्तवान् परमर्द्धिमत्,“बाह्लीक परम समृद्धिशाली राज्य तथा पिता और भाइयोंको छोड़कर मामाके घर चले गये
bāhlīko mātulakulaṃ tyaktvā rājyaṃ samāśritaḥ | pitṝn bhrātṝn parityajya prāptavān paramarddhimat ||
Vāyu sprach: „Bāhlīka, der seine mütterlichen Verwandten verließ, suchte Zuflucht in einem Königreich; und nachdem er Vater und Brüder aufgegeben hatte, gelangte er zu höchstem Wohlstand.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral tension: one may achieve great worldly prosperity by shifting loyalties and abandoning close familial duties, but such gain is ethically fraught in a dharmic framework where obligations to father and brothers are weighty.
Vāyu describes Bāhlīka’s life-choice: he leaves one set of kin-relations and, even after abandoning his father and brothers, aligns himself with royal power and thereby attains exceptional prosperity—presented as an illustrative example within the discourse.