Shloka 25
Gautama’s Flight, the Enchanted Grove, and the Arrival of Rājadharma
Nāḍījaṅgha
उपैति सत्याद् दान॑ हि तथा यज्ञा: सदक्षिणा: । त्रेताग्निहोत्रं वेदाश्न ये चानन््ये धर्मनिश्चया:
upaiti satyād dānaṁ hi tathā yajñāḥ sadakṣiṇāḥ | tretāgnihotraṁ vedāś ca ye cānanye dharmaniścayāḥ ||
सत्य से ही मनुष्य दान का, दक्षिणासहित यज्ञों का, त्रेताग्नि-होत्र का, वेद-स्वाध्याय का, तथा धर्म का निर्णय करने वाले अन्य शास्त्रों के अध्ययन का फल प्राप्त कर लेता है।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Truthfulness (satya) is taught as a comprehensive virtue whose spiritual fruit equals that of major religious disciplines—charity, properly endowed sacrifices, maintaining the three fires with agnihotra, and study of the Vedas and other dharma-authoritative texts.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira by ranking and synthesizing virtues: he emphasizes that inner moral integrity—truth—can yield the same merit people seek through elaborate rituals and extensive scriptural learning.