Shloka 5
एतत् तु नापरे चक्कुरपरे जातु साधव: । साधूनां पुनराचारो गरीयान् धर्मलक्षण:,कुछ लोगोंका कहना है कि दूसरे सत्पुरुषोंने ऐसा नहीं किया है और कुछ कहते हैं कि अन्य सत्पुरुषोंने भी कभी-कभी ऐसा किया है। अतः श्रेष्ठ पुरुषोंका आचार ही धर्मका सर्वश्रेष्ठ लक्षण है
etat tu nāpare cakṣur apare jātu sādhavaḥ | sādhūnāṃ punar ācāro garīyān dharmalakṣaṇaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “Some maintain that other virtuous men have not acted in this way; others say that virtuous men have, at times, acted so. Therefore, the conduct (ācāra) of the truly good is the weightiest and most authoritative mark by which dharma is recognized.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When scriptural or theoretical claims conflict about what is permissible, the most reliable indicator of dharma is the established conduct (ācāra) of genuinely virtuous people; their lived practice carries decisive ethical authority.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he addresses disagreement about whether certain actions were ever performed by the righteous. He resolves the dispute by asserting that the behavior of true sādhus is the strongest criterion for identifying dharma.