Shloka 57
Adhyāya 152 — Bhīṣma’s Authorization for Yudhiṣṭhira’s Return to the Capital (नगरप्रवेशानुज्ञा)
यद्यकार्यमधर्म वा यदि वा प्राणनाशनम् । पतिर्ब्रूयाद् दरिद्रो वा व्याधितो वा कथंचन,पति दरिद्र हो जाय, किसी रोगसे घिर जाय, आपत्तिमें फँस जाय, शत्रुओंके बीचमें पड़ जाय अथवा ब्राह्मणके शापसे कष्ट पा रहा हो, उस अवस्थामें वह न करनेयोग्य कार्य, अधर्म अथवा प्राणत्यागकी भी आज्ञा दे दे, तो उसे आपत्तिकालका धर्म समझकर नि:शंकभावसे तुरंत पूरा करना चाहिये
yady akāryam adharmaṁ vā yadi vā prāṇanāśanam | patir brūyād daridro vā vyādhito vā kathaṁcana ||
Mahādeva said: “Even if the husband—whether brought low by poverty or afflicted by some illness—should command what ought not be done, what is adharma, or even what leads to the loss of life, then, taking it as the duty for a time of calamity (āpaddharma), it should be carried out at once without hesitation.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an extreme principle of āpaddharma: in a crisis, a wife is urged to follow the husband’s command without doubt, even when it appears improper or unrighteous, treating it as a special duty applicable to calamity.
Śrī Maheśvara is instructing on household and crisis-ethics, describing situations like poverty or illness and stating how one should respond to a husband’s directive under such distressing conditions.