Shloka 32
प्रथमं ब्रह्मण: पुत्र धर्ममाहुर्मनीषिण: । धर्मिण: पर्युपासन्ते फलं पक्वमिवाशय:
prathamaṁ brahmaṇaḥ putraṁ dharmam āhur manīṣiṇaḥ | dharmiṇaḥ paryupāsante phalaṁ pakvam ivāśayāḥ ||
ภีษมะกล่าวว่า “บัณฑิตทั้งหลายกล่าวว่าธรรมะเป็นบุตรคนแรกของพระพรหม ดังที่ความอยากย่อมเลือกผลไม้สุกงอม ฉันใด ผู้ตั้งมั่นในธรรมย่อมบูชาธรรมะอันสุกงอมและให้ผลแท้ ฉันนั้น”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is presented as primordial and foundational—so intrinsically valuable that the righteous naturally choose and cultivate it, just as one instinctively prefers ripe fruit over unripe. The verse emphasizes mature ethical discernment: devotion to Dharma is not mere rule-following but a preference for what yields the truest, ripest ‘fruit’ in life.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct and the principles that sustain society and the self. Here he elevates Dharma’s status by linking it to Brahmā’s first-born and uses a metaphor to explain why virtuous people naturally gravitate toward Dharma as their object of reverence and practice.