Shloka 50
Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris
Udyoga-parva 94
न चास्य शल्यं कृन्तन्ति विद्धास्तत्र सभासद: । धर्म एतानारुजति यथा नद्यनुकूलजान्
na cāsya śalyaṃ kṛntanti viddhās tatra sabhāsadaḥ | dharma etān ārujati yathā nady-anukūlajān ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana sprach: „In jener Versammlung schneiden die Mitglieder den Dorn (das verwundende Unrecht), der sie durchbohrt hat, nicht heraus. Dann durchbohrt Dharma selbst eben diese Versammelten — wie ein Fluss mit seiner Strömung die Bäume an seinen Ufern entwurzelt und vernichtet. Ebenso wird, wenn das Unrecht nicht entfernt wird, die Gegenwart des Dharma, der eine bereits von Adharma verwundete Halle betritt, zur Ursache des Untergangs derer, die es dulden.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
If an assembly tolerates wrongdoing and fails to remove it, the guilt and consequences fall upon the very members who remain silent. Dharma does not merely ‘exist’ as an ideal; when ignored amid adharma, it becomes a force that exposes and destroys the complicit.
Vaiśaṃpāyana describes a court/assembly where adharma has ‘pierced’ the institution like a thorn. Because the courtiers do not cut out that thorn, Dharma itself turns against them—illustrated by the simile of a river that uproots trees along its banks.