Shloka 5
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
एतत् तु नापरे चक्कुरपरे जातु साधव: । साधूनां पुनराचारो गरीयान् धर्मलक्षण:
etat tu nāpare cakṣur apare jātu sādhavaḥ | sādhūnāṃ punar ācāro garīyān dharmalakṣaṇaḥ ||
Bhishma berkata: “Ada yang berpendapat bahawa orang-orang berbudi yang lain tidak bertindak demikian; yang lain pula berkata bahawa orang-orang berbudi kadang-kadang bertindak demikian. Maka, amalan dan teladan (ācāra) orang yang benar-benar baik adalah tanda yang paling berat dan berwibawa untuk mengenali dharma.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When scriptural or theoretical claims conflict about what is permissible, the most reliable indicator of dharma is the established conduct (ācāra) of genuinely virtuous people; their lived practice carries decisive ethical authority.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he addresses disagreement about whether certain actions were ever performed by the righteous. He resolves the dispute by asserting that the behavior of true sādhus is the strongest criterion for identifying dharma.