Shloka 16
भीष्मस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति कुलहितोपदेशः | Bhīṣma’s Counsel to Duryodhana on Dynastic Welfare
कृतार्था: सुभृता ये लक व वस्थिता कृत्यकाले हाुपस्थिते । अनवेक्ष्य कृतं पापा न्त्यनवस्थिता:
kṛtārthāḥ subhṛtā ye lakṣaṇavāsthitā kṛtyakāle hy upasthite | anavekṣya kṛtaṃ pāpā nty anavasthitāḥ ||
Karna said: “Those who are accomplished and well-supported—who stand firm in proper conduct—when the time for action has arrived, do not waver. But the sinful, unstable-minded act without regard for what has been done or what is right; lacking steadiness, they fall into rashness.”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Steadiness and discernment are marks of the accomplished when decisive duty arrives; moral failure is linked with instability and heedless action that ignores what is right or already established.
Karna is speaking in the Udyoga Parva context of impending war and decision-making, contrasting the firm resolve of capable, properly grounded persons with the rash, unstable conduct of the morally compromised.