Shloka 25
Chapter 78: Royal Responsibility for Wealth, Social Order, and the Protection of Dvijas
Kekaya Exemplum
दानेन विद्यामभिवान् छयामि सत्येनार्थ ब्राह्मणानां च गुप्त्या शुश्रूषया चापि गुरूनुपैमि न मे भयं विद्यते राक्षसेभ्य:
dānena vidyām abhivāñchayāmi satyenārthaṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ ca guptyā | śuśrūṣayā cāpi gurūn upaimi na me bhayaṃ vidyate rākṣasebhyaḥ ||
Bhishma dit : «Par le don, je cherche à acquérir le vrai savoir ; par la véracité et par la protection des brahmanes, je poursuis la fin désirée — le mérite et le juste accès aux mondes supérieurs. Et par le service et l’obéissance attentive, je m’approche de mes maîtres afin de les satisfaire. C’est pourquoi je ne crains pas les rākṣasas.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma links fearlessness to dharmic conduct: charity that supports learning, unwavering truthfulness, protection of Brahmins, and devoted service to one’s teachers. These virtues generate spiritual merit and inner strength, making one unshaken even by hostile forces symbolized by rākṣasas.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Bhishma speaks in the first person to illustrate a disciplined ethical program—giving, truth, safeguarding the worthy, and serving gurus—and concludes that such a life removes fear, even of dangerous beings like rākṣasas.