Shloka 14
Vyāghra–Gomāyu Saṃvāda (व्याघ्रगोमायु संवाद) — Testing Character Beneath Appearances
आश्रमे यो द्विजं हन्याद् गां वा दद्यादनाश्रमे । कि तु तत्पातकं न स्यात् तद्वा दत्तं वृथा भवेत्
āśrame yo dvijaṃ hanyād gāṃ vā dadyād anāśrame | kiṃ tu tatpātakaṃ na syāt tad vā dattaṃ vṛthā bhavet ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Si un homme, tout en vivant dans un āśrama, venait à tuer un brāhmaṇa, ce péché ne s’attacherait-il donc pas à lui ? Et si quelqu’un donnait une vache en aumône dans un lieu qui n’est pas un āśrama, ce don deviendrait-il vain ?»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-question: external setting (being in an āśrama or not) cannot magically cancel the moral weight of an act. Grave wrongdoing like killing a brāhmaṇa remains sinful, and a good act like gifting a cow is not automatically rendered worthless merely by location; the ethical quality of the deed is primary.
In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Bhīṣma poses a probing doubt in the form of rhetorical questions, testing simplistic ideas that ‘place’ or ‘institution’ alone determines sin or merit. The line functions as a challenge that invites a more nuanced explanation of how dharma evaluates actions.