Shloka 29
Satya–Anṛta Viveka (Discrimination between Truth and Falsehood) | सत्य–अनृत विवेकः
पापी मनुष्य अपने कर्मसे ही मरा हुआ है; अतः उसको जो मारता है, वह मरे हुएको ही मारता है। उसके मारनेका पाप नहीं लगता; अतः जो कोई भी मनुष्य इन हतबुद्धि पापियोंके वधका नियम ले सकता है ।। यथा काकाश्न गृध्राश्न॒ तथैवोपधिजीविन: । ऊर्ध्व॑ देहविमोक्षात् ते भवन्त्येतासु योनिषु,जैसे कौए और गीध होते हैं, वैसे ही कपटसे जीविका चलानेवाले लोग भी होते हैं। वे मरनेके बाद इन्हीं योनियोंमें जन्म लेते हैं
bhīṣma uvāca | pāpī manuṣyaḥ svaiḥ karmabhir eva mṛtaḥ; ataḥ yaḥ taṃ hanti sa mṛtam eva hanti | tasya hanane pāpaṃ na lipyate; ataḥ yaḥ kaścid manuṣyaḥ etān hatabuddhīn pāpinaḥ vadhaniyamaṃ kartuṃ śaknoti || yathā kākāś ca gṛdhrāś ca tathaivopadhijīvinaḥ | ūrdhvaṃ dehavimokṣāt te bhavanty etāsu yoniṣu ||
Bhīṣma said: “A sinful person is, by his own deeds, already as good as dead. Therefore, one who strikes him down is only striking one who is already dead. No sin adheres to the slaying of such a man; hence a person may even undertake a rule or duty of putting down these wicked, deluded offenders. Just as there are crows and vultures, so too there are people who live by deceit; after the body is cast off, they are born again in those very low wombs.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma frames severe wrongdoing as self-destructive: by their own karma the wicked are 'already dead' in a moral sense, so punishing them is presented as not accruing the same sin as ordinary killing; deceitful livelihoods lead to degraded rebirth.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and governance, Bhishma advises on how to view and deal with grievous offenders, justifying punitive violence and warning that fraudsters fall into low births like crows and vultures after death.