Shloka 41

Devanagari script

प्रध्वस्ता न निवर्तन्ते प्रवृत्तिनोपलभ्यते । एवमेके व्यवस्यन्ति निवृत्तिरिति चापरे,वे गुण नष्ट होनेपर पुनः: वापस नहीं आते; क्योंकि फिर उनकी प्रवृत्ति उपलब्ध नहीं होती। एक श्रेणीके विद्वानोंका ऐसा ही निश्चय है। दूसरी श्रेणीके लोग उन नष्ट हुए गुणोंकी पुनरावृत्ति भी मानते हैं

Transliteration

pradhvastā na nivartante pravṛttir nopalabhyate | evam eke vyavasyanti nivṛttir iti cāpare ||

Translation

गुण नष्ट झाले की ते पुन्हा परत येत नाहीत, कारण मग त्यांची प्रवृत्ती उपलब्ध होत नाही—असा काही विद्वानांचा निश्चय आहे. परंतु दुसरे म्हणतात की नष्ट गुणांची निवृत्ती झाल्यावरही त्यांची पुनरावृत्ती होऊ शकते.

Word by Word

प्रध्वस्ताःdestroyed, perished

नnot

निवर्तन्तेreturn, come back

प्रवृत्तिःactivity, functioning, manifestation

नnot

उपलभ्यतेis obtained, is found

एवम्thus

एकेsome (people)

व्यवस्यन्तिdecide, conclude

निवृत्तिःcessation, withdrawal

इतिthus (quotative)

चand

अपरेothers

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents a philosophical dispute about moral psychology: one view holds that once virtues/qualities are destroyed they do not reappear because the inner impulse (pravṛtti) that sustains them is absent; another view argues that even lost qualities can recur. Ethically, it highlights the stakes of preserving good dispositions and the question of whether moral recovery is possible.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and reflective ethics. Here he reports differing scholarly conclusions about the permanence or reversibility of destroyed qualities, framing a doctrinal debate rather than describing an external event.