Shloka 10
Prabhāsa-tīrthe Vṛṣṇi–Pāṇḍava-saṅgamaḥ; Halī Rāmasya dharma-vimarśaḥ
Meeting at Prabhāsa and Balarāma’s Reflection on Dharma
कि नाम वक्ष्यत्यवनिप्रधान: पितृन् समागम्य परत्र पाप: । पुत्रेषु सम्यक् चरितं मयेति पुत्रानपापान् व्यपरोप्य राज्यात्,पापी राजा धृतराष्ट्र परलोकमें पितरोंसे मिलनेपर उनके सामने कैसे यह कह सकेगा कि “मैंने अपने और भाई पाण्डुके पुत्रोंके साथ न्याययुक्त बर्ताव किया है।” जबकि उसने इन निर्दोष पुत्रोंको राज्यसे वज्चित कर दिया है
kiṁ nāma vakṣyaty avanipradhānaḥ pitṝn samāgamya paratra pāpaḥ | putreṣu samyak caritaṁ mayeti putrān apāpān vyaparopya rājyāt ||
Balarāma said: “When that sinful king meets the Fathers in the world beyond, what will he possibly say before them? How can he claim, ‘I acted rightly toward the sons,’ when he has stripped those blameless sons of their rightful kingdom?”
बलदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler cannot hide behind self-serving claims of fairness: unjust deprivation of the innocent violates dharma and becomes a moral burden that follows one even beyond death, where one is answerable before the ancestors.
Baladeva condemns Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s conduct toward Pāṇḍu’s sons, arguing that having denied them their rightful kingdom, he will be unable to face the Pitṛs in the hereafter and credibly claim he acted justly.