Shloka 6
न हाधर्मतयाधर्म दद्यात् काल: कथंचन । तस्माद् विशुद्धमात्मानं जानीयाद् धर्मचारिणम्
na hādharmatayā dharmaṁ dadyāt kālaḥ kathaṁcana | tasmād viśuddham ātmānaṁ jānīyād dharmacāriṇam ||
Bhishma said: Time can never turn dharma into adharma in any way; it cannot make righteousness itself become unrighteous. Therefore, one should recognize the practitioner of dharma as possessing a purified self—one whom suffering and adverse turns of time cannot truly stain or invalidate in the moral order.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is intrinsically pure and cannot be converted into adharma by the pressures of time or circumstance; therefore a true practitioner of dharma should be regarded as inwardly purified, even if they face hardship.
In Bhishma’s instruction (Anushasana Parva), he emphasizes to his listener that misfortune or delay caused by time does not invalidate righteousness; the righteous person’s moral status remains intact despite suffering.