न तेषां भिद्यते वृत्तं यज्ञा: स्वाध्यायकर्म च । आचार: कारणं चैव धर्मश्वैकस्त्रयं पुन:
na teṣāṁ bhidyate vṛttaṁ yajñāḥ svādhyāya-karma ca | ācāraḥ kāraṇaṁ caiva dharmaś caikaḥ trayaṁ punaḥ ||
अशा संतांची ठरलेली जीवनपद्धती कधी ढळत नाही; त्यांच्या यज्ञ, स्वाध्याय आणि अन्य पवित्र कर्मांतही अडथळा येत नाही. त्यांच्यात आचार, तो सांगणारे वेद-शास्त्र आणि धर्म—ही तिन्ही परस्परविरोधी नसून एकाच सुसंवादात एकरूप असतात.
भीष्म उवाच
True saints maintain an unbroken moral discipline: their conduct, their Vedic study, and their sacrificial duties remain steady, and their lived practice (ācāra), scriptural authority (Veda-śāstra), and dharma mutually confirm one another as a single coherent whole.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma (Anuśāsana Parva), he describes the hallmark of the righteous: their daily life and religious observances do not falter, and their behavior aligns naturally with scriptural teaching and the principles of dharma.