Shloka 12
Adhyāya 270 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s inquiry on saṃnyāsa; Bhīṣma on calculable time, tamas, and karma
Vṛtra–Uśanā exemplum begins
आशायास्तनयो<धर्म: क्रोधो5सूयासुत: स्मृत: । लोभ: पुत्रो निकृत्यास्तु कृतघ्नो नाहति प्रजाम्
āśāyās tanayo 'dharmaḥ krodho 'sūyāsutaḥ smṛtaḥ | lobhaḥ putro nikṛtyās tu kṛtaghno nāhati prajām ||
Bhīṣma said: “From hope is born unrighteousness; anger is said to be the son of envy; and greed is the offspring of deceit. But the ungrateful person does not beget—or does not deserve to beget—progeny.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma presents a moral chain: unchecked expectation (āśā) breeds adharma; envy (asūyā) gives rise to anger; deceit (nikṛti) produces greed. He then singles out ingratitude (kṛtaghnatā) as especially destructive—so blameworthy that such a person is deemed unfit to sustain lineage or social trust.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous living after the war, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira through compact ethical aphorisms. Here he uses ‘parentage’ metaphors to explain how inner dispositions generate further faults and to warn against the social and spiritual consequences of ingratitude.