Shloka 10
ब्राह्मणार्थे समुत्पन्ने योडरिभि: सृत्य युध्यति । आत्मानं यूपमुत्सृज्य स यज्ञोडनन्तदक्षिण:,ब्राह्मणकी रक्षाका अवसर आनेपर जो आगे बढ़कर शत्रुओंके साथ युद्ध छेड़ देता है और अपने शरीरको यूपकी भाँति निछावर कर देता है, उसका वह त्याग अनन्त दक्षिणाओंसे युक्त यज्ञके ही तुल्य है
brāhmaṇārthe samutpanne yo 'ribhiḥ sṛtya yudhyati | ātmānaṃ yūpam utsṛjya sa yajño 'nantadakṣiṇaḥ ||
Dijo Bhishma: Cuando surge una crisis por la causa de proteger a un brahmán, el hombre que da un paso al frente y combate a los enemigos, ofreciendo su propio cuerpo como si fuera el poste sacrificial yūpa, realiza un sacrificio comparable a un rito provisto de dakṣiṇā sin fin, dones sacerdotales inagotables.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Defending a Brahmin in a righteous crisis—even at the cost of one’s own life—is treated as a supreme religious act: a living yajña whose ‘dakṣiṇā’ is limitless. The verse equates ethical self-offering for dharma with the highest sacrificial merit.
Bhishma is instructing on dharma in the Shanti Parva. He describes a scenario where enemies threaten a Brahmin; the protector who advances to fight and gives up his body is praised as performing a sacrifice, with the body likened to the yūpa (sacrificial post).