Shloka 5

Devanagari script

अस्ति धर्म इति प्रोक्त नास्तीत्यत्रैव यो वदेत्‌ । तस्य पक्षस्य सदृशमिदं मम भवेद्‌ व्यथा,“धर्म है, ऐसा शास्त्रका उपदेश है, इसके विपरीत यदि कोई कहे कि धर्म नहीं है तो उसे सुनकर एक आस्तिकको जितना कष्ट होता है, उसके पक्षके ही समान यह कर्म और विद्याका तारतम्यविषयक प्रश्न मेरे लिये क्लेशदायक है

Transliteration

asti dharma iti prokta nāstīty atraiva yo vadet | tasya pakṣasya sadṛśam idaṁ mama bhaved vyathā ||

Translation

శాస్త్రం చెబుతుంది—“ధర్మం ఉంది”; కానీ ఎవడైనా ఇక్కడే—“ధర్మం లేదు” అని చెప్పితే, అది విని ఆస్తికునికి ఎంత వేదన కలుగుతుందో, అంతే వేదన నాకు కర్మ-జ్ఞానాల తారతమ్యంపై ఈ ప్రశ్న వల్ల కలుగుతోంది.

Word by Word

{'asti''exists

is', 'dharmaḥ''dharma

righteous duty', 'iti''thus

‘so’ (quotative particle)', 'proktaḥ/proktam''declared

stated (by authoritative teaching)', 'nāsti''does not exist

is not', 'atraiva''right here

in this very matter/context', 'yaḥ''who

whoever', 'vadet''would say

might assert', 'tasya''of that (person/claim)

of him', 'pakṣasya''of the side/position

of the standpoint', 'sadṛśam''similar

corresponding', 'idam''this', 'mama': 'for me

my', 'bhavet''would be

may become', 'vyathā''pain

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma underscores that denying the existence of dharma contradicts authoritative teaching and causes deep moral-spiritual distress; he likens his own discomfort over debates on the hierarchy of action and knowledge to the pain a believer feels when dharma is negated.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instructional setting, Bhishma is responding to a philosophical query; before addressing the issue of the relative status of karma (action) and vidyā/jñāna (knowledge), he remarks that such disputation troubles him much like hearing an outright denial of dharma.