Shloka 22
अध्याय ८७: कृष्णस्य हस्तिनापुरप्रवेशः
Krishna’s Entry into Hastināpura and Court Reception
पापस्यास्य नृशंसस्य त्यक्तथधर्मस्य दुर्मते: । नोत्सहेडनर्थसंयुक्ता: श्रोतुं वाच: कथंचन,इसने धर्मका सर्वथा त्याग कर दिया है। अब मैं इस दुर्बुद्धि, पापी एवं क्रूर दुर्योधनकी अनर्थभरी बातें किसी प्रकार भी नहीं सुनना चाहता
pāpasya asya nṛśaṃsasya tyaktadharmasya durmateḥ | notsahe 'narthasaṃyuktāḥ śrotuṃ vācaḥ kathaṃcana ||
Bhīṣma said: “I cannot, in any way, bring myself to listen to the words of this sinful, cruel man of perverted judgment—one who has utterly abandoned dharma—since his speech is bound up with ruin and mischief.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Speech and counsel that abandon dharma become instruments of anartha (ruin). The verse frames ethical discernment as a duty: one should refuse to endorse or even entertain counsel rooted in cruelty, sin, and moral abandonment.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations, Bhīṣma reacts to Duryodhana’s stance and rhetoric. Seeing him as having forsaken dharma and speaking in ways that lead to disaster, Bhīṣma declares he will not listen to such ruinous words.