Shloka 21
Jñāna-yoga and Karma-phala: Manu–Bṛhaspati on Akṣara and the Limits of Mantra
सायं प्रातश्न विप्राणां पूजनं च यथाविधि । पण्यानां शोभते पण्यं कृषीणां बाद्यते कृषि:
sāyaṃ prātaś ca viprāṇāṃ pūjanaṃ ca yathāvidhi | paṇyānāṃ śobhate paṇyaṃ kṛṣīṇāṃ bādhyate kṛṣiḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Le soir et de nouveau le matin, l’hommage dû aux brāhmaṇas doit être accompli selon la règle. Le négoce prospère par un négoce bien conduit, et l’agriculture se maintient par une culture assidue. Ainsi, le dharma de chacun s’accomplit lorsqu’il s’attache fidèlement aux devoirs légitimes de son rang et de son gagne-pain.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is upheld through regular, rule-based reverence to the learned (brāhmaṇas) and through conscientious performance of one’s own livelihood-duties: commerce flourishes by proper commerce, and farming endures by steady cultivation.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct after the war. Here he emphasizes daily discipline and social order: honoring brāhmaṇas at prescribed times and performing one’s occupational duties so society remains stable and prosperous.