Shloka 13
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 123 — Bhīṣma–Droṇa–Vidura Upadeśa to Duryodhana
Keśava-vākya aftermath
अधर्मश्चानुबन्धो5त्र घोर: प्राणहरो महान् । अनिष्ट क्षानिमित्तक्ष न च शक्यश्ष भारत
adharmaścānubandho ’tra ghoraḥ prāṇaharo mahān | aniṣṭakṣānimittaś ca na ca śakyaḥ, bhārata ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Here, this course you are clinging to is bound up with adharma; it is dreadful, and it brings great destruction of life. It is driven by causes that lead only to harm and loss, and, O Bhārata, it cannot be made to succeed.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Obstinate insistence on an unrighteous course (adharma) carries dreadful consequences—harm, loss, and even destruction of life—and therefore should be abandoned, since such a path is neither ethically justified nor truly achievable in a wholesome way.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations, the narrator Vaiśampāyana reports a strong admonition addressed to “Bhārata,” warning that the addressee’s present resolve is tied to adharma, will cause ruin and death, and cannot be successfully carried through.