Shloka 20
धर्म्यविजय-नियमाः
Rules for Dharmic Victory in Kṣatriya Engagement
अश्रद्दधानश्न भवेद् विनाशमुपगच्छति । सम्बद्धो वारुणै: पाशैरमर्त्य इव मन्यते
aśraddadhānaś ca bhaved vināśam upagacchati | sambaddho vāruṇaiḥ pāśair amartya iva manyate ||
Bhīṣma said: A man who has lost faith in dharma goes on to ruin. Bound by Varuṇa’s nooses, he still imagines himself deathless. The sinner, gaining wealth through sinful deeds, exults; he grows by theft, becomes attached to wrongdoing, denies that dharma exists, and mocks the pure-hearted. With no trace of reverence for righteousness left, he is driven by sin itself into destruction—thinking himself like the gods, ageless and immortal, yet inevitably caught in Varuṇa’s bonds.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Loss of faith in dharma leads to moral blindness and eventual ruin; even if a sinner feels invincible, the consequences of wrongdoing (symbolized by Varuṇa’s noose) inevitably bind and bring downfall.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct. Here he describes the psychological arc of a sinner—gaining illicit wealth, mocking the virtuous, denying dharma—and warns that such a person, though imagining immortality, is ultimately caught by the inescapable bonds of moral law.