Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 5
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
अश्रद्दधानो मानी च ब्रह्महा गुरुतल्पग: । असम्भाष्या हि चत्वारो नैषां धर्म: प्रकाशयेत्
aśraddadhāno mānī ca brahmahā gurutalpagaḥ | asambhāṣyā hi catvāro naiṣāṃ dharmaḥ prakāśayet ||
Wika ni Bhishma: “Ang walang pananampalataya, ang mapagmataas, ang pumatay ng isang brāhmaṇa, at ang lumapastangan sa higaan ng guro (ibig sabihin, nangalunya sa asawa ng guru)—ang apat na ito’y hindi karapat-dapat kahit kausapin. Sa harap nila, huwag ilantad ang mga simulain at panloob na diwa ng dharma.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma-instruction requires receptivity and moral eligibility. Bhīṣma lists four types—faithless, arrogant, brahmaṇa-slayer, and violator of the guru’s wife—as unfit recipients; one should neither engage them in intimate discourse nor disclose dharma’s deeper counsel to them.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s didactic setting, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct. Here he gives a rule of discernment about audience: certain gravely compromised persons should be avoided in conversation and excluded from confidential dharma-teaching.