Shloka 23
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
चतुष्पात्पक्षिकीटानां प्राणिनां स्नेहसड्विनाम् । परलोकगतिस्थानां मुनियज्ञक्रिया इव
catuṣpāt-pakṣikīṭānāṁ prāṇināṁ sneha-saḍvinām | paraloka-gati-sthānāṁ muni-yajña-kriyā iva ||
Bhīṣma said: “Observe how even four-footed animals, birds, and insects show deep affection for their young. Yet for those creatures, attached to such affection, even the act of rearing and protecting their offspring does not yield a corresponding reward in the next world—unlike the sacrificial and disciplined rites of sages, which are performed with an eye on the soul’s onward course and bear fruit beyond this life.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Natural affection for one’s offspring exists even among animals and insects, but mere attachment-driven care does not automatically generate spiritual merit for the afterlife; intentional dharmic discipline—exemplified by sages’ sacrificial and prescribed acts—bears fruit in the next world.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma is teaching Yudhiṣṭhira by contrasting instinctive, attachment-based parental behavior in creatures with the deliberate, merit-producing religious practices of sages aimed at the soul’s post-mortem destiny.