Shloka 5
Adhyāya 159 — Dāna–Dakṣiṇā, Āpaddharma Measures, and Prāyaścitta Classifications
अक्षमा ह्वीपरित्याग: श्रीनाशो धर्मसंक्षय: । अभिध्याप्रख्यता चैव सर्व लोभात् प्रवर्तते,असहनशीलता, निर्लज्जता, सम्पत्तिनाश, धर्मक्षय, चिन्ता और अपयश-ये सब लोभसे ही सम्भव होते हैं
akṣamā hrī-parityāgaḥ śrī-nāśo dharma-saṅkṣayaḥ | abhidhyā-prakhyātā caiva sarvaṁ lobhāt pravartate ||
Bhīṣma said: “Intolerance, the abandonment of modesty, the ruin of prosperity, and the decline of dharma—along with covetous brooding and the spread of ill-fame—indeed all these arise from greed. Greed becomes the root from which inner agitation and outward disgrace grow, undermining both character and righteous conduct.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Greed (lobha) is presented as a root vice that generates multiple moral and social harms—loss of forbearance, loss of modest restraint, decline of prosperity, weakening of dharma, covetous fixation, and public disgrace.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira by diagnosing greed as the underlying cause behind several destructive traits and outcomes that corrode both personal character and social order.