Shloka 24
Chapter 2: Sudarśana Upākhyāna — Atithi-Dharma and the Conquest of Mṛtyu
Gṛhastha-Vrata
दुष्कृतं मम कि नु स्याद् भवतां वा द्विजर्षभा: । येन नाशं जगामाग्नि: कृतं कुपुरुषेष्विव
duṣkṛtaṁ mama ki nu syād bhavatāṁ vā dvijarṣabhāḥ | yena nāśaṁ jagāmāgniḥ kṛtaṁ kupuruṣeṣv iva ||
ビーシュマは言った。「おお、バラモンの中の最勝者よ。いかなる悪業が—我にか、あるいは汝らにか—あって、アグニが滅するがごとく姿を失ったのか。まるで悪人に施した善行が、むなしく失われる定めであるかのように。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights moral causality: when a sacred power like Agni is diminished, Bhishma interprets it as a sign of some ethical fault (duṣkṛta). It also warns that beneficence directed toward the wicked may become fruitless—good acts require discernment about recipients and context.
Bhishma addresses eminent Brahmins and wonders what fault—his or theirs—could have led to Agni’s decline. He frames Agni’s ‘ruin’ as analogous to a good deed wasted on bad people, expressing concern that some lapse in dharma has produced an ominous outcome.