Shloka 4
Adhyāya 115: On Restraint Under Verbal Provocation in the Assembly (सभायां आक्रोश-सहिष्णुता)
टिट्टिभं तमुपेक्षेतर वाशमानमिवातुरम् । लोकविद्वेषमापन्नो निष्फलं प्रतिपद्यते
ṭiṭṭibhaṃ tam upekṣeta ra vāśamānam ivāturam | lokavidveṣam āpanno niṣphalaṃ pratipadyate ||
Bhīṣma disse: “Deve-se desconsiderar esse caluniador que vive a bradar—como uma abibe (lapwing) ou como um doente a gemer. Se, ao contrário, alguém se enreda nessa caça pública a defeitos, atrai o ódio das pessoas e suas boas ações ficam sem fruto.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not engage with a noisy slanderer; practice upekṣā (deliberate disregard). Responding or getting drawn into public fault-finding leads to social hostility (lokavidveṣa) and makes one’s merit and good works fruitless (niṣphala).
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira on how to deal with abusive or censorious speech: treat the slanderer like an irrelevant, wailing disturbance—like a lapwing’s cry or a sick man’s moaning—and move on without retaliation.