Shloka 7
अप्यनार्यो5कृतप्रज्ञ: पुरुषो5प्यतिदारुण: । सुमहत् प्राप्तुयात् पुण्यं बलाको5न्धवधादिव,जो नीच है, जिसकी बुद्धि शुद्ध नहीं है तथा जो अत्यन्त कठोर स्वभावका है, वह मनुष्य भी कभी अंधे पशुको मारनेवाले बलाक नामक व्याधकी भाँति महान पुण्य प्राप्त कर लेता है-
apy anāryo 'kṛtaprajñaḥ puruṣo 'py atidāruṇaḥ | sumahat prāpnuyāt puṇyaṃ balāko 'ndhavadhād iva ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Même un homme vil, d’intelligence grossière et d’un naturel extrêmement dur, peut pourtant acquérir un très grand mérite — ainsi le chasseur Balāka, par la mise à mort d’une créature aveugle.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that great merit (puṇya) can arise even in unexpected persons: nobility of birth or gentleness of temperament is not the sole measure of ethical outcome. Under certain conditions, an act associated with a morally unlikely agent may still become the cause of significant merit, illustrating the subtlety of dharma and karmic result.
In the course of Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma in Śānti Parva, he cites an illustrative example: the hunter named Balāka is said to have obtained great merit through the killing of a blind creature. The verse uses this as a comparison to show that even an ignoble and harsh person may, in some circumstance, attain great puṇya.