Shloka 7
मृत्यु-काल-प्रबोधनम् (Instruction on Mortality, Time, and Truth) — Mahābhārata, Śānti-parva 169
दीर्घसूत्रो5नृजु: क्रुष्टो गुरुदारप्रधर्षक: । व्यसने यः परित्यागी दुरात्मा निरपत्रप:
bhīṣma uvāca | dīrghasūtro'nṛjuḥ krūro gurudārapradhārṣakaḥ | vyasane yaḥ parityāgī durātmā nirapatrapaḥ ||
Bhishma disse: “Quem é moroso e dado à procrastinação, tortuoso e nada reto, de natureza áspera, e quem viola a santidade da esposa do mestre; quem abandona os outros no tempo da calamidade; quem é perverso e sem pudor—tal homem é impróprio para aliança.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches discernment in forming alliances: avoid pacts with people whose conduct shows deceit, cruelty, shamelessness, and betrayal—especially those who abandon others in crisis or commit grave transgressions like violating the guru’s household—because such ties erode trust and damage dharma.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on conduct and policy, Bhishma is listing character-types who are not fit for friendship or treaty. This verse begins that catalogue by naming the procrastinating, crooked, cruel person who violates the guru’s wife and deserts companions in misfortune, branding him wicked and shameless.