Shloka 27
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
अरोगाणां स्पृहयते मुहुर्मुत्युमपीच्छति । वीरो दृप्तोडभिमानी च नेदृशं मृत्युमहीति
arogāṇāṁ spṛhayate muhur mṛtyum apīcchati | vīro dṛpto 'bhimānī ca nedṛśaṁ mṛtyum arhati ||
Bhīṣma said: “The sick man longs for the condition of the healthy and, again and again, even wishes for death. But a warrior—proud and self-respecting—does not deserve such a death: lamenting in agony, his face distorted, grieving continually before his attendants, craving the state of the healthy, and repeatedly desiring death while still in illness. Such an end is unworthy of one who lives by honor.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that repeated lamentation and a death sought out of despair during illness is contrary to the dignity expected of a self-respecting warrior; one should endure suffering with steadiness and uphold honor rather than collapse into continual wailing and death-wishing.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and right conduct. Here he criticizes a pattern of behavior in sickness—constant grieving, craving the state of the healthy, and repeatedly wishing for death—saying such an end is not fitting for a proud, honorable hero.