Shloka 67
Chapter 2: Sudarśana Upākhyāna — Atithi-Dharma and the Conquest of Mṛtyu
Gṛhastha-Vrata
कूटमुद्गरहस्तस्तु मृत्युस्तं वै समन्वगात् । हीनप्रतिज्ञमत्रैनं वधिष्यामीति चिन्तयन्
kūṭamudgarahastastu mṛtyus taṃ vai samanvagāt | hīnapratijñam atrainaṃ vadhiṣyāmīti cintayan |
Bhīṣma dit : La Mort, tenant en main une lourde massue de fer, le suivait de tout près. Pensant : « À présent il a failli à son vœu ; je le frapperai donc ici même », la Mort se tint prête—guettant l’instant où la promesse rompue le rendrait vulnérable à la conséquence morale de sa propre défaillance.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of pratijñā (a vowed commitment): when one becomes hīna-pratijña (deficient in one’s vow), one becomes exposed to immediate moral and existential consequence—here dramatized as Death itself waiting to punish the lapse.
Bhīṣma narrates that Death, personified and armed with a heavy iron club, follows closely behind the person in question, poised to kill him the moment he breaks his vow—anticipating that the vow will fail and that this failure warrants instant retribution.