Shloka 21
Adhyāya 118: Saciva-parīkṣā
Testing and Appointment of Ministers/Servants
व्याप्रान्नागो मदपटुर्नाग: सिंहत्वमागतः । सिंहस्त्वं बलमापन्नो भूय: शरभतां गत:
vyāprān nāgo madapaṭur nāgaḥ siṁhatvam āgataḥ | siṁhas tvaṁ balam āpanno bhūyaḥ śarabhātāṁ gataḥ ||
毘湿摩は言った。「汝は、落ち着きなく発情の猛りに長けた象より獅子となった。そして獅子となり大いなる力を得た汝は、さらにまた進んでシャラバの境地へと移ったのだ。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the progression into increasingly powerful forms (elephant → lion → śarabha) to imply that the pursuit of sheer strength and dominance can keep intensifying, yet without inner restraint it does not culminate in righteousness. True dharma requires self-mastery, not merely greater power.
Bhishma addresses someone (implicitly a being/person under discussion) by describing a chain of transformations into stronger creatures—first an elephant in rut, then a lion, and then the even mightier śarabha—using this as a moral illustration about the dynamics of power and the dangers of unchecked pride.