Shloka 3
अध्याय ५७ — राज्ञः नित्यप्रयत्नः, रक्षा-प्रधानता, तथा त्याग-नीतिः
Chapter 57: Constant Royal Vigilance, Primacy of Protection, and Principles of Dismissal
द्वाविमौ ग्रसते भूमि: सर्पो बिलशयानिव । राजानं चाविरोद्धारं ब्राह्मणं चाप्रवासिनम्
dvāv imau grasate bhūmiḥ sarpo bilaśayān iva | rājānaṃ cāviruddhāraṃ brāhmaṇaṃ cāpravāsinam ||
भीष्म म्हणाले— जसा सर्प बिळात राहणाऱ्या जीवांना गिळून टाकतो, तशीच पृथ्वी या दोघांना गिळते—आक्रमकांचा प्रतिकार न करणारा राजा आणि उच्च विद्याध्ययन व तपश्चर्येसाठी घराबाहेर न जाणारा ब्राह्मण. कर्तव्यात पुरुषार्थ न केल्याने ते साधनांशिवायच नष्ट होतात.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma warns that neglect of one’s svadharma leads to ruin: a king must actively restrain and oppose wrongdoing, and a Brahmin must pursue disciplined learning and spiritual practice, even if it requires leaving home. Without such purposeful effort, life is ‘swallowed by the earth’—ending without meaningful attainment.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma addresses Yudhishthira and uses a vivid simile: as a snake consumes burrow-dwelling creatures, so the earth consumes (i.e., time and mortality overtake) two negligent types—an unresisting king and a Brahmin who does not undertake the outward discipline of study and practice.