Shloka 27

Adhyāya 159 — Dāna–Dakṣiṇā, Āpaddharma Measures, and Prāyaścitta Classifications

Devanagari script

न ते चालयितुं शक्‍या धर्मव्यापारकारिण: । न तेषां भिद्यते वृत्तं यत्पुरा साधुभि: कृतम्‌

Transliteration

na te cālayituṁ śakyā dharmavyāpārakāriṇaḥ | na teṣāṁ bhidyate vṛttaṁ yat pūrā sādhubhiḥ kṛtam ||

Translation

Bhishma said: Those who are engaged in the practice of dharma cannot be shaken from righteous action. Their established conduct does not break; they continue to follow the very code of good behavior that the virtuous of earlier times observed, and that noble discipline in them does not perish.

Word by Word

• {'na': 'not', 'te': 'they

• those (people)', 'cālayitum': 'to move, shake, unsettle

• to cause to deviate', 'śakyāḥ': 'are able to be

• are possible (here: can be made to)', 'dharmavyāpāra-kāriṇaḥ': 'doers/performers of dharma-activity

• those devoted to religious and moral duties', 'teṣām': 'of them', 'bhidyate': 'is broken, is split, is disrupted', 'vṛttam': 'conduct, behavior, established way of life', 'yat': 'which

• that which', 'pūrā': 'formerly, in earlier times', 'sādhubhiḥ': 'by the good/virtuous people', 'kṛtam': 'done, practiced, established'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (speaker)
• sādhavaḥ (the virtuous/saints of former times)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True practitioners of dharma are not easily swayed by temptation, fear, or persuasion; their moral conduct remains stable because it is grounded in time-tested sadācāra established by earlier virtuous people.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Bhishma is describing the character of dharmic persons: they remain devoted to dharma-practice and preserve the inherited standards of noble conduct without letting them deteriorate.