Shloka 14
Vyāghra–Gomāyu Saṃvāda (व्याघ्रगोमायु संवाद) — Testing Character Beneath Appearances
आश्रमे यो द्विजं हन्याद् गां वा दद्यादनाश्रमे । कि तु तत्पातकं न स्यात् तद्वा दत्तं वृथा भवेत्,“क्या यदि कोई आश्रममें रहकर ब्राह्मणकी हत्या करे तो उसे उसका पातक नहीं लगेगा और यदि कोई बिना आश्रमके स्थानमें गोदान करे तो क्या वह व्यर्थ हो जायेगा?
āśrame yo dvijaṃ hanyād gāṃ vā dadyād anāśrame | kiṃ tu tatpātakaṃ na syāt tad vā dattaṃ vṛthā bhavet ||
ビーシュマは言った。「もし人がアーシュラマに住みながらブラーフマナを殺したなら、その罪は彼に付かぬというのか。さらに、アーシュラマではない場所で牛を施したなら、その布施はむなしくなるというのか。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-question: external setting (being in an āśrama or not) cannot magically cancel the moral weight of an act. Grave wrongdoing like killing a brāhmaṇa remains sinful, and a good act like gifting a cow is not automatically rendered worthless merely by location; the ethical quality of the deed is primary.
In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Bhīṣma poses a probing doubt in the form of rhetorical questions, testing simplistic ideas that ‘place’ or ‘institution’ alone determines sin or merit. The line functions as a challenge that invites a more nuanced explanation of how dharma evaluates actions.