न हाधर्मतयाधर्म दद्यात् काल: कथंचन । तस्माद् विशुद्धमात्मानं जानीयाद् धर्मचारिणम्
na hādharmatayā dharmaṁ dadyāt kālaḥ kathaṁcana | tasmād viśuddham ātmānaṁ jānīyād dharmacāriṇam ||
Bhishma dit : «Le Temps ne peut en aucune manière transformer le dharma en adharma ; il ne peut faire que la droiture devienne injustice. C’est pourquoi il faut reconnaître en celui qui pratique le dharma un être au soi purifié — que la souffrance et les revers du temps ne peuvent réellement souiller ni invalider dans l’ordre moral.»
भीष्म उवाच
Dharma is intrinsically pure and cannot be converted into adharma by the pressures of time or circumstance; therefore a true practitioner of dharma should be regarded as inwardly purified, even if they face hardship.
In Bhishma’s instruction (Anushasana Parva), he emphasizes to his listener that misfortune or delay caused by time does not invalidate righteousness; the righteous person’s moral status remains intact despite suffering.