Shloka 75
यथैषा नानृता वाणी मयाद्य समुदीरिता । तेन सत्येन मां देवा: पालयन्तु दहन्तु वा,“आज मेरी कही हुई यह वाणी यदि मिथ्या नहीं है तो इस सत्यके प्रभावसे देवता मेरी रक्षा करें, अथवा मिथ्या होनेपर मुझे जलाकर भस्म कर डालें”
yathaiṣā nānṛtā vāṇī mayādya samudīritā | tena satyena māṃ devāḥ pālayantu dahantu vā ||
Bhīṣma said: “If the words I have spoken today are not false, then by the power of that truth may the gods protect me; but if they are false, let them burn me to ashes.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Truthful speech is treated as a potent moral force: if one speaks truth, it becomes a protection; if one lies, the same appeal to truth invites punishment. The verse highlights accountability in speech and the idea of divine witness to one’s words.
Bhīṣma makes a conditional invocation: he stakes his own safety on the truthfulness of what he has just declared, asking the gods to protect him if it is true, or to burn him if it is false—an emphatic way to certify sincerity and moral certainty.