Shloka 34
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
तप: कुरुत वै तीव्र मुच्यध्वं येन किल्बिषात् । तपसा लकभ्यते सर्व विलाप: कि करिष्यति
tapaḥ kuruta vai tīvraṁ mucyadhvaṁ yena kilbiṣāt | tapasā labhyate sarvaṁ vilāpaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati ||
Bhishma said: “Undertake intense austerity; by it you will be freed from sin. Through austerity everything can be attained—what, then, will mere lamentation accomplish?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that moral purification and real change come through disciplined practice (tapas)—austerity, restraint, and sustained effort—rather than through passive grief. Tapas is presented as a means to remove sin (kilbiṣa) and to attain one’s rightful aims.
In the instruction-heavy setting of the Shanti Parva, Bhishma addresses listeners who are overwhelmed by sorrow or remorse. He redirects them from lamentation to a constructive path of expiation and inner reform through intense austerity.