Shloka 23
Nīti-upadeśa to a Rājaputra: Self-restraint, Alliances, and Rival-Management (नीतिउपदेशः)
ततो गच्छसि सिद्धार्थ:पीड्यमानं महाजनम् | योगधर्मविदं पुण्यं कंचिदस्योपवर्णयेत्
tato gacchasi siddhārthaḥ pīḍyamānaṁ mahājanam | yogadharmavidaṁ puṇyaṁ kaṁcid asyopavarṇayet ||
Bhīṣma dijo: “Entonces partirás con tu propósito cumplido. Después, ante ese rey, debes describir la aflicción del pueblo oprimido y también ensalzar a algún varón virtuoso que conozca el dharma del yoga. Con tal pintura, el rey enemigo puede verse movido a renunciar a su reino. (Pero si permanece imperturbable y no nace en él el desapego, entonces—por medio de hombres designados por ti—debe emplearse un arte medicinal ya probado, capaz de destruir a todos los enemigos, para causar la muerte de los elefantes, caballos y soldados del adversario.)”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma frames a strategy of moral persuasion: first move a hostile ruler by showing the suffering of the people and by praising a virtuous exemplar of yoga-dharma, so that renunciation or restraint may arise. The passage also reflects the tension in raja-dharma between ethical suasion and harsher measures when persuasion fails.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on governance and policy, Bhishma advises how to influence an enemy king: narrate public suffering and highlight the greatness of a righteous, disciplined person to induce the enemy to abandon his claim. The accompanying prose context (as in the provided Hindi) continues with an escalation plan if the king remains unmoved.