Shloka 27
Daṇḍotpatti-kathana (Origin and Function of Daṇḍa) — वसुहोम–मान्धातृ संवाद
दैवं पुरुषकारश्न मोक्षामोक्षौ भयाभये । हिंसाहिंसे तपो यज्ञ: संयमो5थ विषाविषम्
bhīṣma uvāca | daivaṃ puruṣakāraś ca mokṣāmokṣau bhayābhaye | hiṃsāhiṃse tapo yajñaḥ saṃyamo 'tha viṣāviṣam |
दैवं पुरुषकारश्च मोक्षामोक्षौ भयाभये। हिंसाहिंसे तपो यज्ञः संयमोऽथ विषाविषम्॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that the world’s moral and experiential opposites—fate/effort, bondage/liberation, fear/fearlessness, violence/non-violence, austerity/sacrifice, restraint, poison/antidote—are expressions of daṇḍa: the regulating force that disciplines beings and sustains order. Ethical life and political order both depend on recognizing and aligning with this principle of restraint.
In the Śānti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and statecraft after the war. Here he frames a wide range of human conditions and moral choices as manifestations of daṇḍa (governing discipline), emphasizing how order in society and in the individual is maintained through regulation and consequence.