Shloka 12
Mantri-Parīkṣā — Testing Ministers, Securing Counsel, and Ethical Criteria for Advisers (अध्याय ८४)
नैकमिच्छेद् गणं हित्वा स्वाच्चेदन्यतरग्रह: । यस्त्वेको बहुभि: श्रेयान् कामं॑ तेन गणं त्यजेत्
naikam icched gaṇaṁ hitvā svāc ced anyataragrahaḥ | yas tv eko bahubhiḥ śreyān kāmaṁ tena gaṇaṁ tyajet ||
Bhishma said: When one is forced to choose only one side, one should not abandon an entire group in order to take a single person. Yet if that one person is truly superior in worth to many, and the choice between the two cannot be avoided, then a man seeking the good should, for the sake of that one excellent person, relinquish the group.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
In ethical choice, do not lightly forsake the many for the sake of one; however, when one person’s excellence in virtue and benefit is decisively greater than that of the group, and a single choice is unavoidable, choosing that superior individual is justified.
Bhishma, in his Shanti Parva instruction on dharma and right conduct, offers a principle for weighing alternatives: ordinarily prefer the collective, but allow an exception when a uniquely superior person embodies greater good than the multitude.