Shloka 46
Treasury Security, Protection of Informants, and the Kalakavṛkṣīya Exemplum (Śānti Parva 83)
मधुप्रपातो हि भवान् भोजनं विषसंयुतम् । असतामिव ते भावो वर्तते न सतामिव
madhuprapāto hi bhavān bhojanaṃ viṣasaṃyutam | asatām iva te bhāvo vartate na satām iva ||
Bhishma said: “You are like a honeycomb perched high on a tree-branch—seemingly sweet, yet bringing only the fear of a fall. You are like food mixed with poison: outwardly acceptable, inwardly destructive. Your disposition moves in the manner of the wicked, not in the manner of the virtuous.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma warns that outward sweetness or attractiveness can conceal inner harm. True virtue is measured by one’s inner disposition (bhāva) and ethical conduct, not by pleasing appearances or words.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction-focused setting, Bhishma delivers a sharp ethical appraisal of the addressee, using two metaphors—honey at a dangerous height and food mixed with poison—to condemn a character whose intentions and behavior align with the wicked rather than the virtuous.