Shloka 31
न धर्म: सत्कृत: वक्षिन्नित्यं युद्धमभीप्सता । अल्पबुद्धिरहंकारी नित्यं युद्धमिति ब्रुवन् । क्रूरो दुर्मर्षणो नित्यमसंतुष्टश्ष वीर्यवान्
na dharmaḥ satkṛtaḥ vakṣi nityaṃ yuddham abhīpsatā | alpabuddhir ahaṅkārī nityaṃ yuddham iti bruvan | krūro durmarṣaṇo nityam asantuṣṭaś ca vīryavān |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “One who is ever intent on war does not honor dharma, yet he speaks as though he will expound it. Of little understanding and full of pride, he keeps declaring, ‘War, always war!’—cruel, hard to endure, perpetually dissatisfied, and yet powerful.”
वैशमग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A person obsessed with perpetual war cannot truly uphold or honor dharma; loud claims about righteousness are undermined by ego, cruelty, intolerance, and chronic dissatisfaction.
Vaiśaṃpāyana characterizes a war-seeking figure as someone who talks of dharma while continually urging battle, highlighting the moral contradiction between professed righteousness and a temperament driven by pride and violence.