Shloka 58
क्षत्रधर्मे प्रशस्तां हि प्राप्तोडस्मि परमां गतिम् । नैष धर्मो महीपाला: शरतल्पगतस्य मे
kṣatradharme praśastāṃ hi prāpto ’smi paramāṃ gatim | naiṣa dharmo mahīpālāḥ śaratālpagatasya me ||
Sañjaya said: “By the praised duty of a kṣatriya I have attained the highest course. O kings, this is not the proper rule of conduct for me now, lying upon the bed of arrows.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts the glory of fulfilling kṣatriya-dharma—seen as leading to a ‘supreme destiny’—with the recognition that one’s appropriate conduct (dharma) changes with circumstance; a warrior’s active code is not the same when one is incapacitated and near death.
In the Bhīṣma Parva context, the speaker reports a reflection tied to the battlefield situation: the ideal of attaining the highest end through righteous warrior-duty is affirmed, yet it is also stated that such a code is not applicable for someone lying on a bed of arrows (a clear allusion to Bhīṣma’s condition).