Shloka 50
Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris
Udyoga-parva 94
न चास्य शल्यं कृन्तन्ति विद्धास्तत्र सभासद: । धर्म एतानारुजति यथा नद्यनुकूलजान्
na cāsya śalyaṃ kṛntanti viddhās tatra sabhāsadaḥ | dharma etān ārujati yathā nady-anukūlajān ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: In that assembly, the members do not cut out the thorn (the wound-causing wrong) by which it has been pierced. Then Dharma itself pierces those very assemblymen—just as a river, by its current, uproots and destroys the trees that have grown along its banks. In the same way, when wrongdoing is allowed to remain unremoved, the very presence of Dharma, entering a hall already wounded by adharma, becomes the cause of the ruin of those who tolerate it.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
If an assembly tolerates wrongdoing and fails to remove it, the guilt and consequences fall upon the very members who remain silent. Dharma does not merely ‘exist’ as an ideal; when ignored amid adharma, it becomes a force that exposes and destroys the complicit.
Vaiśaṃpāyana describes a court/assembly where adharma has ‘pierced’ the institution like a thorn. Because the courtiers do not cut out that thorn, Dharma itself turns against them—illustrated by the simile of a river that uproots trees along its banks.