Shloka 23
राजधर्मः—प्रजापालनं दानयज्ञश्च
Royal Duty—Protection of Subjects, Generosity, and Sacrificial Discipline
तात! तुम अपनी बुद्धि और विचारसे जैसा आचरण करते हो, तुम्हारे विषयमें ऐसी आशा न तो पाण्डुने की थी और न कुन्तीने ही ऐसी आशा की थी ।।
tāta! tvaṃ svabuddhyā vicāreṇa ca yathācarasi, tava viṣaye tādṛśī āśā na pāṇḍunā kṛtā nāpi kuntyā. śauryaṃ balaṃ ca satyaṃ ca pitā tava sadābravīt; māhātmyaṃ ca mahauḍāryaṃ bhavataḥ kuntyayācata.
Bhīṣma said: “Dear child, the way you are acting—guided by your own judgment and deliberation—was never the kind of outcome your father Pāṇḍu hoped for, nor did your mother Kuntī ever wish for it. Your father used to say again and again that in you should grow valor, strength, and truthfulness; and your mother prayed that your greatness of soul and noble generosity would increase.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma reminds the listener that noble birth and parental guidance impose ethical expectations: cultivate valor and strength in the service of dharma, but anchor them in truthfulness, magnanimity, and generosity. Conduct that departs from these virtues is a moral falling-away from one’s intended character.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to the grieving king, Bhishma addresses him affectionately and rebukes his present conduct as contrary to what Pandu and Kunti desired for him, then enumerates the virtues they wished to see flourish in him.