Shloka 27
Satya–Anṛta Viveka (Discrimination between Truth and Falsehood) | सत्य–अनृत विवेकः
न कक्षिदस्ति पापानां धर्म इत्येष निश्चय: । तथागतं च यो हन्यान्नासौ पापेन लिप्यते,पापियोंका तो यही निश्चय होता है कि धर्म कोई वस्तु नहीं है; ऐसे लोगोंको जो मार डाले, उसे पाप नहीं लगता
na kaścid asti pāpānāṃ dharma ity eṣa niścayaḥ | tathāgataṃ ca yo hanyān nāsau pāpena lipyate ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «Para los pecadores, ésta es la convicción asentada: “No existe tal cosa como el dharma”. Y si alguien así llegara a matar incluso a uno que ha “ido así” —un ser consumado, de conducta recta—, no se siente manchado por el pecado. Tal es la ceguera de quienes han abandonado el discernimiento moral.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma highlights a hallmark of moral collapse: the wicked deny the very reality of dharma and therefore do not experience inner restraint or remorse. When conscience is deadened, even grave harm—symbolically, killing a truly virtuous person—fails to register as sin in their own mind.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteousness and conduct, Bhīṣma is teaching Yudhiṣṭhira about the psychology of adharma: how sinners rationalize wrongdoing by rejecting dharma itself, and how that denial leads to shameless violence and a sense of being ‘unstained’ despite culpable acts.