Shloka 5
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
एतत् तु नापरे चक्कुरपरे जातु साधव: । साधूनां पुनराचारो गरीयान् धर्मलक्षण:
etat tu nāpare cakṣur apare jātu sādhavaḥ | sādhūnāṃ punar ācāro garīyān dharmalakṣaṇaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Les uns soutiennent que d’autres hommes vertueux n’ont pas agi ainsi ; d’autres disent que les vertueux ont, parfois, agi de la sorte. Ainsi, la conduite et la coutume (ācāra) des véritables hommes de bien est le signe le plus lourd et le plus autorisé par lequel on reconnaît le dharma.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When scriptural or theoretical claims conflict about what is permissible, the most reliable indicator of dharma is the established conduct (ācāra) of genuinely virtuous people; their lived practice carries decisive ethical authority.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he addresses disagreement about whether certain actions were ever performed by the righteous. He resolves the dispute by asserting that the behavior of true sādhus is the strongest criterion for identifying dharma.