Shloka 34
कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira
सर्वस्वस्यापहारे तु वक्तव्यमनृतं भवेत् । तत्रानृतं भवेत् सत्यं सत्यं चाप्यनृतं भवेत्
sarvasvasyāpahāre tu vaktavyam anṛtaṃ bhavet | tatrānṛtaṃ bhavet satyaṃ satyaṃ cāpy anṛtaṃ bhavet ||
ശ്രീകൃഷ്ണൻ പറഞ്ഞു—സർവ്വസ്വം അപഹരിക്കപ്പെടുമ്പോൾ അസത്യം പറയുന്നതും കടമയായേക്കാം. ആ പ്രതിസന്ധിയിൽ ‘അസത്യം’ തന്നെ സത്യമായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കും; ‘സത്യം’ പോലും ഫലത്തിൽ അസത്യമായി മാറാം.
श्रीकृष्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Truthfulness is a major dharma, but it is not mechanically absolute: when total dispossession or grave harm is at stake, speech must be judged by its dharmic consequence. In extreme situations, a literal untruth may serve the higher truth of protecting life, justice, and rightful welfare; conversely, a literal truth that enables harm can become ethically ‘untrue’.
In Karṇa Parva, amid the moral pressures of war and strategy, Śrī Kṛṣṇa articulates a principle of contextual ethics: he explains how dharma can require flexible application of satya (truth-speaking) when circumstances involve severe threat such as the loss of one’s entire means or safety.