Shloka 32
धर्म चरत माधर्ममिति तस्य वच: किल । पक्षिण: शुश्रुवुर्भीष्म सततं सत्यवादिन:,पूर्वकालकी बात है, समुद्रके निकट कोई बूढ़ा हंस रहता था। वह धर्मकी बातें करता; परंतु उसका आचरण ठीक उसके विपरीत होता था। वह पक्षियोंको सदा यह उपदेश किया करता कि धर्म करो, अधर्मसे दूर रहो। सदा सत्य बोलनेवाले उस हंसके मुखसे दूसरे-दूसरे पक्षी यही उपदेश सुना करते थे
dharmaṁ carata mādharmam iti tasya vacaḥ kila | pakṣiṇaḥ śuśruvur bhīṣma satataṁ satyavādinaḥ ||
“‘Practice dharma; do not practice adharma’—so ran his saying, it is told. O Bhīṣma, the birds repeatedly heard this counsel from him, a constant speaker of truth. Yet the point of the tale is that his conduct stood in contradiction to his preaching: he instructed others in righteousness while himself living otherwise.”
शिशुपाल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension between preaching and practice: exhortations to dharma are hollow if one’s own conduct contradicts them. It implicitly critiques moral hypocrisy—being a ‘truth-speaker’ in words is not the same as being righteous in action.
Śiśupāla addresses Bhīṣma and introduces a proverbial account: a figure repeatedly tells others (here, birds) to follow dharma and avoid adharma. The surrounding story context (as commonly explained in the tradition) underscores that the speaker’s behavior does not match his advice, setting up a moral comparison or rebuke.