Shloka 27

Adhyāya 159 — Dāna–Dakṣiṇā, Āpaddharma Measures, and Prāyaścitta Classifications

Devanagari script

न ते चालयितुं शक्‍या धर्मव्यापारकारिण: । न तेषां भिद्यते वृत्तं यत्पुरा साधुभि: कृतम्‌,उन्हें सत्कर्मसे विचलित नहीं किया जा सकता। वे केवल धर्मके अनुष्ठानमें तत्पर रहते हैं। पहलेके श्रेष्ठ पुरुषोंने जिसका पालन किया है, उसी सदाचारका वे भी पालन करते हैं। उनका वह आचार कभी नष्ट नहीं होता

Transliteration

na te cālayituṁ śakyā dharmavyāpārakāriṇaḥ | na teṣāṁ bhidyate vṛttaṁ yat pūrā sādhubhiḥ kṛtam ||

Translation

ഭീഷ്മൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ധർമ്മാനുഷ്ഠാനത്തിൽ ഏർപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നവരെ സത്കർമ്മത്തിൽ നിന്ന് കുലുക്കാൻ കഴിയില്ല. അവരുടെ സ്ഥിരമായ വൃത്തം ഭേദിക്കപ്പെടുകയില്ല; പൂർവ്വകാല സാദുജനങ്ങൾ ആചരിച്ച സദാചാരത്തെയേ അവർ പിന്തുടരൂ; ആ മഹത്തായ ശാസനം അവരിൽ ഒരിക്കലും നശിക്കുകയില്ല.

Word by Word

• {'na': 'not', 'te': 'they

• those (people)', 'cālayitum': 'to move, shake, unsettle

• to cause to deviate', 'śakyāḥ': 'are able to be

• are possible (here: can be made to)', 'dharmavyāpāra-kāriṇaḥ': 'doers/performers of dharma-activity

• those devoted to religious and moral duties', 'teṣām': 'of them', 'bhidyate': 'is broken, is split, is disrupted', 'vṛttam': 'conduct, behavior, established way of life', 'yat': 'which

• that which', 'pūrā': 'formerly, in earlier times', 'sādhubhiḥ': 'by the good/virtuous people', 'kṛtam': 'done, practiced, established'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (speaker)
• sādhavaḥ (the virtuous/saints of former times)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True practitioners of dharma are not easily swayed by temptation, fear, or persuasion; their moral conduct remains stable because it is grounded in time-tested sadācāra established by earlier virtuous people.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Bhishma is describing the character of dharmic persons: they remain devoted to dharma-practice and preserve the inherited standards of noble conduct without letting them deteriorate.