Shloka 16
Kośa-saṃjanana and Subtle Dharma
Treasury Formation and Fine-Grained Ethics
अयुद्धयमानस्य वधो दारामर्ष: कृतघ्नता | ब्रह्मवित्तस्य चादानं नि:शेषकरणं तथा
ayuddhayamānasya vadho dārāmarṣaḥ kṛtaghnatā | brahmavittasya cādānaṃ niḥśeṣakaraṇaṃ tathā ||
ਜੋ ਲੜ ਨਹੀਂ ਰਿਹਾ ਉਸ ਦਾ ਵਧ ਕਰਨਾ, ਪਰਾਈ ਇਸਤਰੀ ਦਾ ਅਪਮਾਨ ਕਰਨਾ, ਕ੍ਰਿਤਘਨਤਾ, ਬ੍ਰਹਮਵਿੱਤ (ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ) ਦੇ ਧਨ ਨੂੰ ਹੜਪਣਾ, ਅਤੇ ਕਿਸੇ ਦਾ ਸਰਬਸਵ ਛੀਨ ਲੈਣਾ—ਇਹ ਕਰਮ ਡਾਕੂਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੀ ਨਿੰਦਤ ਮੰਨੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma lists certain acts—killing a non-combatant, violating another’s wife, ingratitude, seizing a holy/learned person’s wealth, and stripping someone of all possessions—as gravely adharmic, so blameworthy that even criminals condemn them; the teaching is to renounce such conduct as fundamentally unrighteous.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Bhīṣma advises Yudhiṣṭhira by enumerating behaviors that must be avoided; here he emphasizes moral limits that apply even in contexts of conflict and power.