Shloka 18

Śuka’s Nirveda: Vyāsa’s Admonition on Dharma, Impermanence, and ‘Imperishable Wealth’ (अक्षय-धन)

Devanagari script

विरिक्तस्य यथा सम्यग्‌ घृतं भवति भेषजम्‌ | तथा निर्ह्ठतदोषस्य प्रेत्य धर्म: सुखावह:,जैसे जिसने विरेचनके द्वारा अपने पेटको अच्छी तरह साफ कर लिया हो, वह मनुष्य यदि घी खाय तो वह उसके लिये दवाके समान लाभदायक होता है। उसी तरह जिसके सारे पाप-दोष दूर हो गये हैं, उसीके लिये धर्म परलोकमें सुख देनेवाला होता है

Transliteration

viriktasya yathā samyag ghṛtaṃ bhavati bheṣajam | tathā nirhṛtadoṣasya pretya dharmaḥ sukhāvahaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma disse: “Assim como a manteiga clarificada (ghṛta) se torna verdadeiramente medicinal para quem foi devidamente purificado pela purgação (virecana), do mesmo modo o dharma se torna fonte de felicidade no além apenas para aquele cujas faltas e pecados foram removidos. A prática religiosa só dá fruto doce quando as impurezas interiores que a distorcem foram expulsas.”

Word by Word

• {'viriktasya': 'of one who has been purged

• cleansed by purgation (medical cleansing)', 'yathā': 'just as

• in the manner that', 'samyak': 'properly

• correctly', 'ghṛtam': 'ghee

• clarified butter', 'bhavati': 'becomes

• proves to be', 'bheṣajam': 'medicine

• remedy', 'tathā': 'so

• in the same way', 'nirhṛta-doṣasya': 'of one whose दोष (faults/impurities) have been removed/expelled', 'doṣa': 'fault

• (also bodily ‘humor’ in Ayurveda)', 'pretya': 'after death

• in the hereafter', 'dharmaḥ': 'dharma

• moral/religious duty', 'sukhāvahaḥ': 'bringing happiness

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• ghee (ghṛta)
• medicine (bheṣaja)
• purgation/cleansing (virecana implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma yields happiness in the afterlife only when a person has first removed inner दोष—moral impurities such as sin, vice, and corrupt motives. Like food that becomes medicine only for a cleansed body, religious merit becomes truly beneficial only for a purified character.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira on ethical life. Here he uses an Ayurvedic-style analogy—purgation followed by ghee as a remedy—to explain that spiritual practice works properly only after one has expelled moral and psychological impurities.