Shloka 2
Tapas, Tīrtha, and Moral Rehabilitation (Śānti-parva 148)
भीष्मजी कहते हैं--राजन्! भूखसे व्याकुल होनेपर भी बहेलियेने जब देखा कि कबूतर आगमें कूद पड़ा, तब वह दुखी होकर इस प्रकार कहने लगा-- ।।
bhīṣma uvāca—rājan! bhūkṣayā vyākulaḥ san api bahelīyena yadā dṛṣṭaṃ yac ca kapotaḥ agnau kūditaḥ, tadā sa duḥkhī bhūtvā evam uvāca—kim īdṛśaṃ nṛśaṃsena mayā kṛtam abuddhinā? bhaviṣyati hi me nityaṃ pātakaṃ kṛtajīvinaḥ.
Bhishma said: “O King! Even though tormented by hunger, when the hunter saw the dove leap into the fire, he was struck with grief and cried out: ‘Alas! What kind of deed has been done by me—cruel and senseless as I am? For one who has made his very livelihood by killing, sin will surely keep arising for me again and again.’”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights moral awakening: even a person driven by hunger can recognize the cruelty of harming the innocent, and it warns that making one’s livelihood through violence tends to generate recurring sin and inner suffering.
A hunter, seeking food, witnesses a dove leap into a fire (in the larger tale, an act of self-sacrifice). Shocked by this, he is overcome with remorse and laments that his cruel way of life ensures continual wrongdoing.