Shloka 14

Gautama’s Flight, the Enchanted Grove, and the Arrival of Rājadharma

Nāḍījaṅgha

Devanagari script

अक्षमाया: क्षमायाश्ष प्रियाणीहाप्रियाणि च । क्षमते सम्मतः साधु: साध्वाप्रोति च सत्यवाक्‌

Transliteration

akṣamāyāḥ kṣamāyāś ca priyāṇīhāpriyāṇi ca | kṣamate sammataḥ sādhuḥ sādhv āpnoti ca satyavāk ||

Translation

ビーシュマは言った。「忍ぶべき振る舞いも忍びがたい振る舞いも、また好ましい言葉も好ましくない言葉も、等しく耐え忍ぶ者こそ、万人に認められる真の善人である。赦しの徳の卓越は、言において真実を守る者（真実語の人）によってこそ正しく得られる。」

Word by Word

• {'akṣamā': 'intolerance

• impatience', 'kṣamā': 'forbearance

• patient endurance', 'priyāṇi': 'pleasant things

• agreeable words/acts', 'apriyāṇi': 'unpleasant things

• disagreeable words/acts', 'iha': 'here (in this world/this context)', 'ca': 'and', 'kṣamate': 'endures

• bears patiently', 'sammataḥ': 'approved

• esteemed (by all)', 'sādhuḥ': 'good person

• virtuous one', 'sādhv': 'properly

• well', 'āpnoti': 'attains

• obtains', 'satyavāk': 'truth-speaker

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True virtue is shown by equal endurance of pleasant and unpleasant treatment; forgiveness (kṣamā) becomes stable and exemplary when grounded in truthfulness (satya) and disciplined speech.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma continues advising on moral conduct, defining the universally respected ‘sādhu’ as one who practices forbearance toward both agreeable and disagreeable words and behaviors, and linking this capacity to being a truthful speaker.