Shloka 43
Treasury Security, Protection of Informants, and the Kalakavṛkṣīya Exemplum (Śānti Parva 83)
अतो नायं शूभो वासस्तुल्ये सदसती इह । वधो होवात्र सुकृते दुष्कृते न च संशय:
ato nāyaṁ śubho vāsaḥ tulye sadasatīha | vadho hovātra sukṛte duṣkṛte na ca saṁśayaḥ ||
Therefore, living here brings no true welfare. In this place, the good and the bad are treated alike. Here, even one who has done merit, as well as one who has done sin, may be put to death—of this there is no doubt.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma warns that a polity where virtue and vice receive the same outcome is ethically ruinous: when punishment becomes arbitrary, residence there cannot be called auspicious, because dharma no longer protects the righteous.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on governance and dharma, Bhīṣma speaks about the conditions of a realm and the consequences of misrule, emphasizing that in such a place even the meritorious may be slain, just like the wicked.