Shloka 55
Chapter 2: Sudarśana Upākhyāna — Atithi-Dharma and the Conquest of Mṛtyu
Gṛhastha-Vrata
स तया छन््द्यमानो<न्यैरीप्सितैर्नूपकन्यया । नान्यमात्मप्रदानात् स तस्या वत्रे वरं द्विज:
sa tayā chandyamāno 'nyair īpsitair nūpakanyayā | nānyam ātmapradānāt sa tasyā vavre varaṃ dvijaḥ ||
Бхишма сказал: Хотя дева снова и снова упрашивала гостя попросить иной желанный дар, брахман не просил у неё ничего, кроме дара её собственной личности.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a moral boundary-question: hospitality and boon-giving are dharmic duties, yet a request that demands a person’s very self raises ethical concerns about propriety, restraint, and the limits of what may be asked or offered.
A princess repeatedly invites the visiting brāhmaṇa to request some other boon, but he refuses all alternatives and asks only for her ‘self-gift’—her own person—making the encounter a test of dharma, desire, and social-ethical limits.