Shloka 4
Tapas, Tīrtha, and Moral Rehabilitation (Śānti-parva 148)
शुभं कर्म परित्यज्य सो5हं शकुनिलुब्धक: । नृशंसस्य ममाद्यायं प्रत्यादेशो न संशय:
śubhaṃ karma parityajya so'haṃ śakunilubdhakaḥ | nṛśaṃsasya mamādyāyaṃ pratyādeśo na saṃśayaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Having abandoned righteous conduct, I have become like a gambler and a bird-hunter. For one as cruel as I am, there is no doubt that today brings a fitting requital—an answering return for my own deeds.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
That abandoning virtuous action leads to moral downfall, and that suffering can be understood as the fitting return (pratyādeśa) of one’s own cruel deeds—an affirmation of ethical causality and accountability.
Bhīṣma, speaking in the Śānti Parva, reflects on his own conduct with harsh self-judgment, likening himself to a gambler and a hunter, and interprets his present condition as deserved recompense for cruelty.