Shloka 22
Chapter 78: Royal Responsibility for Wealth, Social Order, and the Protection of Dvijas
Kekaya Exemplum
मैं देवता, पितर तथा अतिथि आदिको उनका भाग अर्पण किये बिना कभी नहीं भोजन करता। परायी स्त्रीसे कभी सम्पर्क नहीं रखता तथा कभी स्वच्छन्द होकर क्रीडा नहीं करता तो भी तुमने मेरे शरीरमें कैसे प्रवेश किया? ।। नाब्रह्मचारी भिक्षावान्भिक्षु्वाउब्रह्मचर्यवान् । अनृत्विजा हुतं नास्ति मामकान्तरमाविश:
na brahmacārī bhikṣāvān bhikṣur vā u brahmacaryavān | anṛtvijā hutaṃ nāsti māmaka-antaram āviśaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “I never eat without first offering the due portions to the gods, the ancestors, and guests. I do not consort with another man’s wife, nor do I indulge in wanton sport. I am neither a begging student nor a mendicant living by alms, nor am I one who maintains the discipline of celibacy as such; nor is there any sacrifice offered without a priest. How, then, have you found entry into my very being?”
भीष्म उवाच