Shloka 47
मृत्यु-काल-प्रबोधनम् (Instruction on Mortality, Time, and Truth) — Mahābhārata, Śānti-parva 169
पूर्वान् समर द्विज ज्ञातीन् प्रख्यातान् वेदपारगान् । तेषां वंशेडभिजातस्त्वमीदृश: कुलपांसन:
pūrvān samara dvija jñātīn prakhyātān vedapāragān | teṣāṁ vaṁśe 'bhijātas tvam īdṛśaḥ kulapāṁsanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma disse: “Ó brâmane, lembra-te de teus antepassados—teus parentes ilustres, versados nos Vedas. Nascido em sua linhagem, tornaste-te assim: uma desonra que macula a honra da família.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should uphold the standards of dharma and learning associated with one’s lineage; forgetting ancestral exemplars and acting ignobly brings moral shame and social dishonor.
Bhīṣma rebukes a brāhmaṇa, urging him to remember his celebrated, Veda-master ancestors and condemning him as a ‘family-disgrace’ for behaving contrary to that inherited ideal.