Shloka 19
भीष्म उवाच धर्मस्य द्वियमाणस्य बलवद्/िद्दुरात्मभि: । यद्येवं मन्यसे राजंस्त्रिधा धर्मविचारणा
bhīṣma uvāca | dharmasya dvyamāṇasya balavad durātmabhiḥ | yady evaṃ manyase rājan tridhā dharmavicāraṇā ||
भीष्म म्हणाला—राजन्! प्रबळ दुरात्म्यांच्या आघाताने धर्म दोन भागांत विभागला जातो आणि म्हणून धर्मविचार तिन्ही प्रकारचा होतो, असे तू मानत असशील तर ते योग्य नाही. खरे तर धर्म एकच आहे; त्याचा विचार तीन प्रकारे केला जातो—वेद, प्रत्यक्ष आणि शिष्टाचार—या तीन प्रमाणांनी त्याची परीक्षा होते.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma insists that dharma is fundamentally one, even when it appears harmed or confused by the actions of powerful wrongdoers; the ‘threefold’ aspect belongs to the methods of examining dharma, not to dharma itself being three different things.
In his instruction to the king (Yudhiṣṭhira), Bhishma corrects a misunderstanding: the king seems to treat dharma as split or multiple due to conflicting situations, and Bhishma clarifies that only the inquiry is threefold—dharma itself remains a single principle.