Shloka 14
उपदेशदोषप्रसङ्गः (Upadeśa-doṣa-prasaṅgaḥ) — The Risk of Misapplied Counsel
भवत्प्रसादादिच्छामि धर्म वक्तुं द्विजर्षभ । तन्मां त्वं भगवन् वक्तुं प्रत्राजयितुमरहसि
bhavatprasādād icchāmi dharmaṁ vaktuṁ dvijarṣabha | tan māṁ tvaṁ bhagavan vaktuṁ pravrājayitum arhasi ||
Bhishma berkata: “Dengan rahmat tuan, wahai yang utama antara kaum dvija, aku ingin memahami dan menyampaikan dharma. Maka, wahai yang mulia, berkenanlah mengizinkan dan menganggap aku layak untuk menerima pravrajyā—inisiasi meninggalkan dunia (sannyāsa)—menurut tata yang benar.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma should be taught with humility, proper authorization, and inner discipline; Bhishma seeks the sanction of a revered Brahmin/teacher and asks for formal renunciant initiation so that his exposition of dharma is grounded in spiritual legitimacy rather than mere personal opinion.
In the Anushasana Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhishma addresses a revered twice-born authority, stating that by the latter’s grace he wishes to expound dharma, and requests to be formally admitted into the renunciant state (pravrajyā) as a fitting prelude to delivering religious-ethical instruction.