Shloka 9
Adhyāya 55 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Hesitation and Bhīṣma’s Authorization of Inquiry
Rājadharma Prelude
सत्यनित्य: क्षमानित्यो ज्ञाननित्योडतिथिप्रिय: । यो ददाति सतां नित्यं स मां पृच्छतु पाण्डव:,“जिनमें सदा ही सत्य, सदा ही क्षमा और सदा ही ज्ञानकी स्थिति है, जो निरन्तर अतिथिसत्कारके प्रेमी हैं और सत्पुरुषोंको सदा दान देते रहते हैं, वे पाण्डुपुत्र युधिष्ठिर मुझसे प्रश्न करें
vaiśampāyana uvāca | satya-nityaḥ kṣamā-nityo jñāna-nityo ’tithi-priyaḥ | yo dadāti satāṃ nityaṃ sa māṃ pṛcchatu pāṇḍavaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Let that Pāṇḍava question me—he in whom truth is ever present, in whom forgiveness is constant, in whom knowledge is steady; who delights in honoring guests, and who continually gives gifts to the virtuous.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse sets ethical qualifications for a worthy inquirer: steadfast truthfulness, habitual forgiveness, stable knowledge/discernment, love of honoring guests, and continual generosity toward the virtuous. Such virtues indicate dharmic maturity and fitness to receive and ask about higher teachings.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction setting, Vaiśampāyana frames who should pose questions: the Pāṇḍava—implicitly Yudhiṣṭhira—characterized by truth, patience, wisdom, hospitality, and charity. It functions as a respectful invitation and a moral portrait of the listener before further discourse.