Shloka 6
उपवासविधि-प्रश्नः
Inquiry into the Discipline of Fasting
ज्येष्ठ: कुलं वर्धयति विनाशयति वा पुन: । हन्ति सर्वमपि ज्येष्ठ: कुलं यत्रावजायते,जेठा भाई अपनी अच्छी नीतिसे कुलको उन्नतिशील बनाता है; किंतु यदि वह कुनीतिका आश्रय लेता है तो उसे विनाशके गर्तमें डाल देता है! जहाँ बड़े भाईका विचार खोटा हुआ, वहाँ वह जिसमें उत्पन्न हुआ है, अपने उस समस्त कुलको ही चौपट कर देता है
Bhīṣma uvāca: jyeṣṭhaḥ kulaṃ vardhayati vināśayati vā punaḥ | hanti sarvam api jyeṣṭhaḥ kulaṃ yatrāvajāyate ||
Bhishma said: “The eldest can either make the family flourish or bring it to ruin. Indeed, when the eldest is born with a fallen or contemptible disposition, he can destroy the entire lineage into which he is born.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The moral weight of the eldest is decisive: by good conduct he becomes the pillar of the lineage, but by corrupt conduct he can become the cause of its collapse. Seniority is presented as a position of heightened dharmic accountability.
In the Anushasana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira on social and familial ethics. Here he stresses how the character and choices of the family’s eldest strongly shape the fate of the entire kula.