Shloka 34
कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira
सर्वस्वस्यापहारे तु वक्तव्यमनृतं भवेत् । तत्रानृतं भवेत् सत्यं सत्यं चाप्यनृतं भवेत्
sarvasvasyāpahāre tu vaktavyam anṛtaṃ bhavet | tatrānṛtaṃ bhavet satyaṃ satyaṃ cāpy anṛtaṃ bhavet ||
श्रीकृष्ण बोले—जब सर्वस्व का अपहरण हो रहा हो, तब असत्य कहना भी कर्तव्य हो सकता है। उस संकट में जो ‘असत्य’ है वही सत्य के समान हो जाता है, और जो ‘सत्य’ है वह भी मानो असत्य हो जाता है।
श्रीकृष्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Truthfulness is a major dharma, but it is not mechanically absolute: when total dispossession or grave harm is at stake, speech must be judged by its dharmic consequence. In extreme situations, a literal untruth may serve the higher truth of protecting life, justice, and rightful welfare; conversely, a literal truth that enables harm can become ethically ‘untrue’.
In Karṇa Parva, amid the moral pressures of war and strategy, Śrī Kṛṣṇa articulates a principle of contextual ethics: he explains how dharma can require flexible application of satya (truth-speaking) when circumstances involve severe threat such as the loss of one’s entire means or safety.