Shloka 26
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
इदं दुःखं महत् कष्ट पापीय इति निष्टनन् । प्रतिध्वस्तमुख: पूतिरमात्याननुशोचयन्
idaṃ duḥkhaṃ mahat kaṣṭa pāpīya iti niṣṭanan | pratidhvastamukhaḥ pūtir amātyān anuśocayan |
भीष्म बोले—“यह बड़ा दुःख है, बड़ी पीड़ा है; निश्चय ही यह किसी भारी पाप का संकेत है”—ऐसा करुण विलाप करना; मुख विकृत और झुका लेना; शरीर से दुर्गन्धित होकर अपने अमात्यों के लिए निरन्तर शोक करना—ऐसी दशा में मरना स्वाभिमानी वीर के योग्य नहीं।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that a noble person—especially a self-respecting warrior—should meet suffering and death with steadiness, not with self-pitying lamentation, obsessive fear, or repeated wishing for death; dignity, restraint, and courage are ethical ideals even in illness.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma describes an undignified response to sickness and impending death—wailing, becoming disfigured in expression, neglecting oneself, and grieving for one’s ministers—then condemns such a death as unworthy of a proud hero.