Shloka 14
पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation
“पिताका अनादर उचित नहीं है, साथ ही माताकी रक्षा करना भी पुत्रका धर्म है। ये दोनों ही धर्म उचित और योग्य हैं। मैं किस प्रकार इनका उल्लंघन न करूँ? ।। पिता हात्मानमाधत्ते जायायां जज्ञिवानिति । शीलचारित्रगोत्रस्थ धारणार्थ कुलस्य च,'पिता स्वयं अपने शील, सदाचार, कुल और गोत्रकी रक्षाके लिये स्त्रीके गर्भमें अपना ही आधान करता और पुत्ररूपमें उत्पन्न होता है
pitā kānādara ucito na hi, sārdhaṁ mātā-rakṣaṇaṁ api putrasya dharmaḥ | etau ubhau dharmau ucitau yogyau ca | kathaṁ aham etayoḥ ullanghanaṁ na kuryām? || pitā ātmānam ādhattē jāyāyāṁ jajñivān iti | śīla-cāritra-gotra-stha-dhāraṇārthaṁ kulasya ca ||
पितुरनादरो न युक्तो मातुश्च रक्षणं सुतधर्मः । उभौ धर्मौ युक्तौ योग्यौ कथं वा नातिवर्तयेयम् ॥ पिता ह्यात्मानमाधत्ते जायायां जज्ञिवानिति । शीलचारित्रगोत्रस्थधारणार्थं कुलस्य च ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A son faces a genuine ethical tension: honoring the father and protecting the mother are both valid dharmas. The verse frames this as a conflict of duties and grounds filial obligation in the idea that the father continues himself through the son to preserve family character, conduct, and lineage.
Bhishma reflects on competing familial obligations—respect for the father versus safeguarding the mother—presenting it as a dilemma where either choice risks violating dharma, and then explains the traditional rationale for paternal authority and lineage-continuity through birth.