Shloka 57
संजय उवाच धर्मार्थसहितं वाक््यं श्रुत्वा हितमनामयम् | नारोचयत पुत्रस्ते मुमूर्षरिव भेषजम्,संजय कहते हैं--राजन्! जैसे मरणासन्न पुरुषको कोई दवा अच्छी नहीं लगती है, उसी प्रकार महात्मा भीष्मका वह धर्म और अर्थसे युक्त परम हितकर और निर्दोष वचन भी आपके पुत्रको पसंद नहीं आया
sañjaya uvāca dharmārthasahitaṃ vākyaṃ śrutvā hitamanāmayam | nārocayat putras te mumūrṣur iva bheṣajam ||
Sanjaya said: O King, after hearing that statement of Bhishma—grounded in dharma and practical good, wholly beneficial and free from fault—your son did not approve of it, just as a man on the verge of death finds no medicine agreeable. The verse underscores how moral counsel, though sound and well-intended, can be rejected when one is seized by obstinacy and ruinous desire.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even flawless, welfare-oriented counsel rooted in dharma and sound policy can be rejected by a person dominated by stubbornness and impending self-destruction; moral truth does not automatically persuade a mind unwilling to be healed.
Sanjaya reports to King Dhritarashtra that Bhishma offered a blameless and beneficial admonition, but Dhritarashtra’s son (Duryodhana) disliked it—likened to a dying man who cannot accept medicine—signaling Duryodhana’s resistance to corrective guidance as war approaches.