Shloka 14
Vipula’s Yogic Protection of the Guru’s Household (विपुलस्य योगरक्षा / Vipulasya Yogarakṣā)
असद्धर्मस्त्वयं स्त्रीणामस्माकं भवति प्रभो । पापीयसो नरान् यद् वै लज्जां त्यक्त्वा भजामहे,प्रभो! हम स्त्रियोंमें यह सबसे बड़ा पातक है कि हम पापीसे पापी पुरुषोंको भी लाज छोड़कर स्वीकार कर लेती हैं
asaddharmas tv ayaṁ strīṇām asmākaṁ bhavati prabho | pāpīyaso narān yad vai lajjāṁ tyaktvā bhajāmahe ||
Bhīṣma dit : « Ô seigneur, voici une grave transgression du dharma que l’on trouve en nous, les femmes : rejetant la pudeur, nous acceptons et nous attachons même à des hommes plus pécheurs que les pécheurs. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral critique: abandoning lajjā (a sense of modest restraint and ethical self-guarding) and consenting to association with morally degraded men is presented as a serious lapse (asaddharma). It emphasizes discernment in relationships and the ethical cost of normalizing wrongdoing through acceptance.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing on dharma and conduct. Here he voices a reflective, admonitory observation about women’s social-ethical vulnerability: that social pressures or attachment can lead to accepting even very sinful men, which he labels as a grave impropriety.