Shloka 7

Varṇāśrama-ācāra and Vikarma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry on Safe Dharmas (शिवधर्मप्रश्नः)

Devanagari script

चरितव्रद्वाचर्यस्य ब्राह्मणस्य विशाम्पते । भैक्षचर्यास्वधीकार: प्रशस्त इह मोक्षिण:,प्रजानाथ! जिसने ब्रह्मचर्यका पालन किया है, उस ब्रह्मचारी ब्राह्मणके मनमें यदि मोक्षकी अभिलाषा जाग उठे तो उसे ब्रह्मचर्य-आश्रमसे ही संन्यास ग्रहण करनेका उत्तम अधिकार प्राप्त हो जाता है

Transliteration

caritavratācāryasya brāhmaṇasya viśāmpate | bhaikṣacaryāsv adhikāraḥ praśasta iha mokṣiṇaḥ ||

Translation

भीष्म उवाच—विशाम्पते, चरितव्रताचार्यस्य ब्राह्मणस्य मोक्षिणः। भैक्षचर्यास्वधिकारः प्रशस्त इह जायते॥

Word by Word

चरितव्रतof one who has observed the vow (brahmacarya)

आचर्यस्यof the practitioner/observer (of conduct)

ब्राह्मणस्यof a Brahmin

विशाम्पतेO lord of the people

भैक्षचर्यासुin the mendicant practices (living on alms)

अधिकारःeligibility/right

प्रशस्तःis praised/commended

इहhere (in this context/world)

मोक्षिणःof the seeker of liberation

प्रजानाथO lord of creatures/subjects

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

Yudhishthira (addressed as viśāmpati/prajānātha)

Brahmin (brāhmaṇa)

Moksha-seeker (mokṣiṇ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A Brahmin who has faithfully maintained brahmacarya and disciplined vows is considered fully eligible, if motivated by liberation, to adopt the mendicant (bhaikṣa) life of renunciation—even directly from the brahmacarya stage—because such renunciation is praised as dharmically proper for a moksha-seeker.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma addresses the king (Yudhishthira) and explains norms of life-stages and renunciation, stating that a disciplined brahmacārin Brahmin who turns toward moksha may rightly take up the alms-dependent renunciant path.