Shloka 3
Śvetadvīpa-varṇana and Śāstra-pravartana (Śānti Parva 322)
दुर्भिक्षादेव दुर्भिक्षं क्लेशात् क्लेशं भयाद् भयम् । मृतेभ्य: प्रमृता यान्ति दरिद्रा: पापकर्मिण:,पापकर्म करनेवाले दरिद्र मानव दुर्भिक्षसे दुर्भिक्षको, क्लेशसे क्लेशको तथा भयसे भयको पाते हुए मरे हुओंसे भी अधिक मृतकतुल्य हो जाते हैं
durbhikṣād eva durbhikṣaṃ kleśāt kleśaṃ bhayād bhayam | mṛtebhyaḥ pramṛtā yānti daridrāḥ pāpakarmiṇaḥ ||
भीष्म उवाच—दुर्भिक्षादेव दुर्भिक्षं क्लेशात् क्लेशं भयाद् भयम् । मृतेभ्यः प्रमृताः यान्ति दरिद्राः पापकर्मिणः ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that unethical action (pāpa) compounds suffering: scarcity, distress, and fear reinforce one another, and the sinful poor can fall into a condition like a living death. The verse warns that adharma does not relieve hardship; it deepens it through karmic and social consequences.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and governance. Here he describes the cascading nature of misery—famine leading to more famine, hardship to more hardship, fear to more fear—especially when people act wrongly, highlighting the need for righteous conduct and protective social policy.