Shloka 24
राजधर्मः, दण्डनीतिः, कर्तृत्व-विचारः च
Royal Duty, Lawful Discipline, and the Question of Agency
राजन! भरतनन्दन! अपना धर्म दोषयुक्त हो तो भी उसमें स्थित रहनेवाले तुम-जैसे धर्मात्मा नरेशके लिये अपने शरीरका परित्याग करना शोभाकी बात नहीं है ।।
rājan bharatanandana, apnā dharma doṣa-yukta ho to bhī usmeṃ sthita rahane-vāle tum-jaiśe dharmātmā nareśa ke liye apane śarīra kā parityāga karnā śobhā kī bāt nahīṃ hai. vihitāni hi kaunteya prāyaścittāni karmaṇām; śarīravāṃs tāni kuryād aśarīraḥ parābhavet. kuntīnandana, yadi yuddha-ādi meṃ rāga-dveṣa ke kāraṇ nindya-karma ban gaye hoṃ to śāstroṃ meṃ un karmoṃ ke liye prāyaścitta kā bhī vidhān hai. jo apane śarīra ko surakṣit rakhtā hai, vah pāpa-nivāraṇ ke liye prāyaścitta kar saktā hai; parantu jis kā śarīra hī nahīṃ rahegā, use prāyaścitta na kar sakne ke kāraṇ un pāpa-karmoṃ ke phala-svarūp parābhava (duḥkha) hī prāpta hogā.
Vyāsa said: “O king, O joy of the Bharatas, even if one’s own dharma is blemished, for a righteous ruler like you who remains steadfast in it, abandoning the body is not becoming. For the scriptures prescribe expiations for wrongful deeds, O son of Kuntī. One who still has a body can perform those expiations; but one who is bodiless meets defeat—only the bitter consequence—because he can no longer atone. If, in war and the like, blameworthy acts have arisen from attachment and aversion, the śāstras still provide means of purification; therefore preserve the body and remove sin through prescribed penance rather than fleeing responsibility through self-destruction.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when one’s duty has been compromised, a righteous person should not abandon life to escape guilt; the embodied can perform prescribed prāyaścitta to purify wrongdoing, whereas death prevents atonement and leaves only the painful consequences.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Vyāsa addresses a Kuru king (styled ‘Bharatanandana’ and ‘Kaunteya’) and discourages self-abandonment, urging him to preserve his body and follow scriptural expiations for any blameworthy acts committed amid war through attachment and aversion.