Shloka 12

Devanagari script

यद्येष धर्मस्तत्र न विद्यते हि कि सर्वथा तालुविशोषणेन । अद्येह धर्म्याणि विधत्स्व सूत तथापि जीवन्न विमोक्ष्यसे हि

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

adyaiṣa dharmas tatra na vidyate hi kiṁ sarvathā tālu-viśoṣaṇena |

adyeha dharmyāṇi vidhatsva sūta tathāpi jīvan na vimokṣyase hi ||

Translation

Sañjaya berkata: “Jika pada kesempatan-kesempatan dahulu dharma langsung tidak hadir, maka apakah gunanya kini menyeru dharma dengan segala cara—sekadar mengeringkan lelangit dengan kata-kata kosong? Wahai Sūta, sekalipun engkau melakukan sebanyak mana pun perbuatan yang kononnya ‘benar’ pada hari ini, engkau tetap tidak akan terlepas selagi engkau masih hidup.”

Word by Word

• {'sañjaya uvāca': 'Sañjaya said', 'adya / adyeha': 'today / here today', 'eṣa dharmaḥ': 'this dharma

• this claim of righteousness', 'tatra': 'there

• in that situation/at that time', 'na vidyate': 'is not found

• does not exist', 'sarvathā': 'in every way

• entirely', 'kim': 'what (use)?

• why?', 'tālu-viśoṣaṇena': 'by drying the palate

• i.e., by mere talk/empty rhetoric', 'dharmyāṇi (karmāṇi)': 'righteous acts

• acts conforming to dharma', 'vidhatsva': 'do, perform, undertake (imperative)', 'sūta': 'O charioteer

• also a bard/narrator by caste-title (vocative)', 'tathāpi': 'even so

• nevertheless', 'jīvan': 'while living

• alive', 'na vimokṣyase': 'you will not be freed/released', 'hi': 'indeed

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Sūta

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse criticizes performative morality: invoking “dharma” after failing to uphold it earlier becomes mere rhetoric. Ethical credibility depends on consistent conduct, and some consequences cannot be undone by late, outwardly righteous acts.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the war context of the Karṇa Parva, Sañjaya reports a sharp rebuke addressed to a “Sūta,” dismissing appeals to dharma as empty talk and asserting that, despite any present attempts at righteous action, the addressee will not attain release in this life.