Shloka 5
भीष्मरक्षण-प्रकरणम् / The Protective Screen around Bhīṣma and the Śalya–Yudhiṣṭhira Clash
घटमानं यथाशक्ति कुर्वाणं च तव प्रियम् । जुद्दानं समरे प्राणांस्तव वै प्रियकाम्यया,फिर आपके पुत्रको सान्त्वना देते हुए वे उससे इस प्रकार बोले--“बेटा दुर्योधन! तुम इस प्रकार वाग्बाणोंसे मुझे क्यों छेद रहे हो? मैं तो यथाशक्ति शत्रुओंपर विजय पानेकी चेष्टा करता हूँ और तुम्हारे प्रिय साधनमें लगा हुआ हूँ। इतना ही नहीं, तुम्हारा प्रिय करनेकी इच्छासे मैं समराग्निमें अपने प्राणोंको होम देनेके लिये भी तैयार हूँ
sañjaya uvāca | ghaṭamānaṃ yathāśakti kurvāṇaṃ ca tava priyam | yuddhānaṃ samare prāṇāṃs tava vai priyakāmyayā ||
Sanjaya said: “I am striving to the best of my ability, and I am acting for what is dear to you. Indeed, out of the desire to please you, I am ready even to stake—yes, to offer up—my very life in the battle.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethic of committed effort (yathāśakti) and loyalty to one’s chosen obligation, even to the point of risking life. It also implicitly raises a moral tension: devotion aimed at pleasing a person (priyakāmyayā) can be powerful, yet ethically ambiguous if the cause itself is unrighteous.
In the war setting, a speaker (as framed by Sanjaya’s narration) responds to reproach by asserting that he is already exerting himself fully for the listener’s benefit and is prepared to give his life in combat to fulfill that expectation.