Shloka 22

Devanagari script

प्लवन्ते धर्मलघवो लोके5म्भसि यथा प्लवा: | मज्जन्ति पापगुरव: शस्त्र स्कन्नमिवोदके,संसारमें धर्माचरण करके जो अपनेको हलके रखते हैं (अपने ऊपर पापका भारी बोझ नहीं लादते हैं), वे पानीके ऊपर चलनेवाली नौकाके समान भवसागरसे पार हो जाते हैं; परंतु जो पापके बोझसे अपनेको बोझिल बना लेते हैं, वे जलमें फेंके हुए हथियारकी भाँति नरक-समुद्रमें डूब जाते हैं

Transliteration

plavante dharma-laghavo loke 'mbhasi yathā plavāḥ | majjanti pāpa-guravaḥ śastra-skannam ivodake ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “In this world, those who keep themselves light through dharma—by not loading themselves with the heavy burden of sin—float across the ocean of worldly existence like boats upon water. But those made heavy by sin sink, like a weapon cast into water, plunging into the hellish sea.”

Word by Word

प्लवन्तेfloat / stay afloat

धर्म-लघवःthose made light by dharma (the righteous/light ones)

लोकेin the world

अम्भसिin water

यथाas / just as

प्लवाःboats / rafts

मज्जन्तिsink

पाप-गुरवःthose made heavy by sin (sin-laden ones)

शस्त्र-स्कन्नम्a weapon that has fallen/been cast (in)

इवlike / as if

उदकेin water

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

boats/rafts (plavāḥ)

weapon (śastra)

water (ambhas/udaka)

world (loka)

saṃsāra (implied: ocean of worldly existence)

naraka (implied: hellish realm/sea)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma functions like buoyancy: ethical living keeps a person ‘light’ and able to cross saṃsāra, while sin becomes a heavy load that causes one to sink into suffering (symbolized as a hellish sea).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the opening of the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct. Here he uses a vivid simile—boats floating and weapons sinking—to impress the moral consequence of dharma versus pāpa.