Shloka 14
Kośa-saṃjanana and Subtle Dharma
Treasury Formation and Fine-Grained Ethics
नायं लोको<$स्ति न पर इति व्यवसितो जन: । नालं गन्तुं हि विश्वासं नास्तिके भयशड्किते
nāyaṃ loko 'sti na para iti vyavasito janaḥ | nālaṃ gantuṃ hi viśvāsaṃ nāstike bhayaśaṅkite ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «En este mundo hay quienes se han aferrado a la convicción: “Ni este mundo ni el otro existen”. Tal incrédulo, entregado al vacío, se vuelve fuente de temor y sospecha; jamás debe depositarse confianza en él.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma warns that denying both this world’s moral order and the next world’s consequences undermines accountability; therefore, a person fixed in such denial is not a reliable object of trust.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and conduct, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira about whom to trust, cautioning against those who reject the existence of loka and paraloka and thus become socially and ethically unpredictable.