Shloka 167
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
श्रुतं ते न श्रुतं मन्ये मृषा वापि श्रुतं श्रुतम् । अथवा श्रुतसंकाशं श्रुतमन्यच्छुतं त्वया
śrutaṁ te na śrutaṁ manye mṛṣā vāpi śrutaṁ śrutam | athavā śrutasaṅkāśaṁ śrutam anyac chrutaṁ tvayā ||
Bhīṣma said: “I think that what you have ‘heard’ has in truth not been heard at all; or else, though you did hear it, you have turned that hearing into falsehood. Or perhaps you have listened instead to some other teaching that only resembles true śruti—something that merely looks like the Veda.”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Mere exposure to scripture is not enough: one must truly comprehend and live it. Otherwise, ‘hearing’ becomes empty, distorted into falsehood, or replaced by teachings that only imitate Vedic authority.
Bhīṣma rebukes his interlocutor’s claim to learning, suggesting that the person either failed to grasp what was taught, deliberately twisted it, or followed a doctrine that only appears to be genuine śruti.