Shloka 5
भीष्मरक्षण-प्रकरणम् / The Protective Screen around Bhīṣma and the Śalya–Yudhiṣṭhira Clash
घटमानं यथाशक्ति कुर्वाणं च तव प्रियम् । जुद्दानं समरे प्राणांस्तव वै प्रियकाम्यया
sañjaya uvāca | ghaṭamānaṃ yathāśakti kurvāṇaṃ ca tava priyam | yuddhānaṃ samare prāṇāṃs tava vai priyakāmyayā ||
Sinabi ni Sanjaya: “Ako’y nagsisikap ayon sa aking makakaya, at kumikilos para sa bagay na mahalaga sa iyo. Tunay, dahil sa pagnanais na ikalugod mo, handa akong isugal—oo, ialay—ang aking sariling buhay sa digmaan.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethic of committed effort (yathāśakti) and loyalty to one’s chosen obligation, even to the point of risking life. It also implicitly raises a moral tension: devotion aimed at pleasing a person (priyakāmyayā) can be powerful, yet ethically ambiguous if the cause itself is unrighteous.
In the war setting, a speaker (as framed by Sanjaya’s narration) responds to reproach by asserting that he is already exerting himself fully for the listener’s benefit and is prepared to give his life in combat to fulfill that expectation.