Shloka 5
“उनका सारांश इस प्रकार है--कौरव! अपने साथ कोमलताका बर्ताव करनेवालेके लिये क्रूर मनुष्य भी कोमल बन जाता है। क्रूरतापूर्ण बर्ताव तो वह क्रूर मनुष्योंके प्रति ही करता है, परंतु साधु पुरुष दुष्टोंके प्रति भी साधुताका ही बर्ताव करता है। फिर वह साधु पुरुषोंके साथ साधुताका बर्ताव कैसे नहीं अपनायेगा? ।। कृतं शतगुणं कुर्या- न्नास्ति देवेषु निर्णय: । आऔशीनर: साधुशीलो भवतो वै महीपति:,“मनुष्य भी चाहे तो वह अपने ऊपर किये हुए उपकारका बदला सौगुना करके चुका सकता है। देवताओंमें ही यह प्रत्युपकारका भाव होता है, ऐसा कोई नियम नहीं है। सुहोत्र! उशीनरपुत्र शिबिका शील-स्वभाव तुमसे कहीं अच्छा है
vaiśampāyana uvāca | kṛtaṃ śataguṇaṃ kuryān nāsti deveṣu nirṇayaḥ | auśīnaraḥ sādhuśīlo bhavato vai mahīpatiḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “One should repay a good deed a hundredfold; there is no fixed rule that the impulse to reciprocate belongs only to the gods. O king, Śibi, the son of Uśīnara, is renowned for his gentle and virtuous conduct—indeed, his disposition is nobler than yours. Even a harsh person softens toward one who treats him with kindness; cruelty is shown chiefly toward the cruel. But a truly good person maintains goodness even toward the wicked—how much more, then, will he act with goodness toward the good.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that gratitude and reciprocation are human duties: one should strive to repay a benefit many times over. Moral excellence is shown by responding with gentleness even when faced with harshness, and by maintaining goodness toward the wicked—therefore goodness toward the good is all the more obligatory.
Vaiśampāyana, in the course of Vana Parva’s ethical narration, cites the maxim about repaying kindness and invokes King Śibi (son of Uśīnara) as an exemplar of noble conduct, implicitly contrasting such ideal kingship and virtue with the conduct of the person being addressed.