Shloka 16
आपद्धर्मे कोशबलन्यायः | Treasury, Force, and Crisis-Ethics for the King
दुर्लभ: स मया द्र॒ष्ट नूनं परमधार्मिक: । एक: पुत्रो महारण्ये नष्ट इत्यसकृत् तदा
durlabhaḥ sa mayā draṣṭuṃ nūnaṃ paramadhārmikaḥ | ekaḥ putro mahāraṇye naṣṭa iti asakṛt tadā ||
Bhīṣma dit : « Assurément, il me sera désormais difficile de revoir cet homme d’une droiture suprême. “Je n’avais qu’un seul fils, et il s’est perdu dans cette vaste forêt” — ces mots mêmes, il les répétait sans cesse. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how even a highly dharmic person can be overwhelmed by grief and attachment; repeated lamentation shows the human side of righteousness and invites compassion rather than judgment.
Bhīṣma recounts a scene where a very righteous man repeatedly laments that his only son has gone missing in a vast forest, implying separation and the difficulty of meeting him again.