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 ||
Śrī Kṛṣṇa bersabda: “Ketika seluruh harta dirampas, mengucapkan yang tidak benar pun dapat menjadi kewajiban. Dalam krisis itu, yang ‘tidak benar’ dapat berfungsi sebagai kebenaran, dan yang ‘benar’ pun, dalam akibatnya, dapat menjadi seakan-akan tidak benar.”
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.