Shloka 18

Śuka’s Nirveda: Vyāsa’s Admonition on Dharma, Impermanence, and ‘Imperishable Wealth’ (अक्षय-धन)

Devanagari script

विरिक्तस्य यथा सम्यग्‌ घृतं भवति भेषजम्‌ | तथा निर्ह्ठतदोषस्य प्रेत्य धर्म: सुखावह:

Transliteration

viriktasya yathā samyag ghṛtaṃ bhavati bheṣajam | tathā nirhṛtadoṣasya pretya dharmaḥ sukhāvahaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma berkata: “Seperti ghee (ghṛta) benar-benar menjadi ubat bagi orang yang tubuhnya telah dibersihkan dengan sempurna melalui purgasi (virecana), demikian juga dharma menjadi sumber kebahagiaan di alam selepas mati hanya bagi mereka yang telah menyingkirkan segala cela dan dosa. Amalan keagamaan hanya berbuah manis apabila kekotoran batin yang memesongkannya telah diusir.”

Word by Word

• {'viriktasya': 'of one who has been purged

• cleansed by purgation (medical cleansing)', 'yathā': 'just as

• in the manner that', 'samyak': 'properly

• correctly', 'ghṛtam': 'ghee

• clarified butter', 'bhavati': 'becomes

• proves to be', 'bheṣajam': 'medicine

• remedy', 'tathā': 'so

• in the same way', 'nirhṛta-doṣasya': 'of one whose दोष (faults/impurities) have been removed/expelled', 'doṣa': 'fault

• (also bodily ‘humor’ in Ayurveda)', 'pretya': 'after death

• in the hereafter', 'dharmaḥ': 'dharma

• moral/religious duty', 'sukhāvahaḥ': 'bringing happiness

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• ghee (ghṛta)
• medicine (bheṣaja)
• purgation/cleansing (virecana implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma yields happiness in the afterlife only when a person has first removed inner दोष—moral impurities such as sin, vice, and corrupt motives. Like food that becomes medicine only for a cleansed body, religious merit becomes truly beneficial only for a purified character.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira on ethical life. Here he uses an Ayurvedic-style analogy—purgation followed by ghee as a remedy—to explain that spiritual practice works properly only after one has expelled moral and psychological impurities.