Shloka 25
Gautama’s Flight, the Enchanted Grove, and the Arrival of Rājadharma
Nāḍījaṅgha
उपैति सत्याद् दान॑ हि तथा यज्ञा: सदक्षिणा: । त्रेताग्निहोत्रं वेदाश्न ये चानन््ये धर्मनिश्चया:
upaiti satyād dānaṁ hi tathā yajñāḥ sadakṣiṇāḥ | tretāgnihotraṁ vedāś ca ye cānanye dharmaniścayāḥ ||
Disse Bhīṣma: Da veracidade apenas, uma pessoa alcança o mesmo mérito que o da caridade, que o dos sacrifícios realizados com a devida dakṣiṇā, que o da manutenção dos três fogos sagrados com oferendas diárias, que o do estudo dos Vedas, e até que o do estudo de outros tratados autorizados que determinam o dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Truthfulness (satya) is taught as a comprehensive virtue whose spiritual fruit equals that of major religious disciplines—charity, properly endowed sacrifices, maintaining the three fires with agnihotra, and study of the Vedas and other dharma-authoritative texts.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira by ranking and synthesizing virtues: he emphasizes that inner moral integrity—truth—can yield the same merit people seek through elaborate rituals and extensive scriptural learning.