Shloka 23
चतुष्पात्पक्षिकीटानां प्राणिनां स्नेहसड्विनाम् । परलोकगतिस्थानां मुनियज्ञक्रिया इव
catuṣpāt-pakṣikīṭānāṁ prāṇināṁ sneha-saḍvinām | paraloka-gati-sthānāṁ muni-yajña-kriyā iva ||
ビーシュマは言った。「四足の獣、鳥、虫に至るまで、幼子への深い愛情を示すのを見よ。だがその愛に執着する彼らにとって、子を育て守ることさえ、来世においてそれに見合う報いをもたらさない。魂の行く末を見据えて修され、此の世を超えて果を結ぶ、牟尼たちの祭祀と戒律の行とは異なるのだ。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Natural affection for one’s offspring exists even among animals and insects, but mere attachment-driven care does not automatically generate spiritual merit for the afterlife; intentional dharmic discipline—exemplified by sages’ sacrificial and prescribed acts—bears fruit in the next world.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma is teaching Yudhiṣṭhira by contrasting instinctive, attachment-based parental behavior in creatures with the deliberate, merit-producing religious practices of sages aimed at the soul’s post-mortem destiny.