Shloka 28
राजधर्मः—प्रजापालनं दानयज्ञश्च
Royal Duty—Protection of Subjects, Generosity, and Sacrificial Discipline
नैकान्तविनिपातेन विचचारेह कश्षन । धर्मी गृही वा राजा वा ब्रह्मचारी यथा पुन:,कोई धर्मनिष्ठ हो, गृहस्थ हो, ब्रह्मचारी हो या राजा हो, पूर्णतया धर्मका आचरण नहीं कर सकता (कुछ-न-कुछ अधर्मका मिश्रण हो ही जाता है)
naikāntavinipātena vicacāreha kaścana | dharmī gṛhī vā rājā vā brahmacārī yathā punaḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「この世において、誰ひとりとして、絶対に一方に偏った道だけで生を歩む者はいない。正しい者であれ、家住の者であれ、王であれ、梵行を守る学生であれ、ダルマを完全に、混じりけなく実践することはできぬ。人の行いには、相反する衝動と過ちが必ず交じり起こるからだ。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that in lived reality dharma is rarely, if ever, practiced in a perfectly pure and exclusive form. Every role—righteous person, householder, king, or celibate student—faces constraints, competing duties, and human weaknesses, so conduct tends to contain some mixture that falls short of an ideal.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma is advising Yudhishthira by emphasizing the complexity of moral life. He cautions against expecting absolute moral purity from any social role and frames dharma as something navigated amid practical limitations rather than followed as an unmixed, flawless rule.