Shloka 14
Vyāghra–Gomāyu Saṃvāda (व्याघ्रगोमायु संवाद) — Testing Character Beneath Appearances
आश्रमे यो द्विजं हन्याद् गां वा दद्यादनाश्रमे । कि तु तत्पातकं न स्यात् तद्वा दत्तं वृथा भवेत्
āśrame yo dvijaṃ hanyād gāṃ vā dadyād anāśrame | kiṃ tu tatpātakaṃ na syāt tad vā dattaṃ vṛthā bhavet ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Kung ang isang tao, habang naninirahan sa isang āśrama, ay pumatay ng isang brāhmaṇa, hindi ba kakapit sa kaniya ang kasalanang iyon? At kung may magbigay ng baka bilang kawanggawa sa lugar na hindi āśrama, magiging walang saysay ba ang handog na iyon?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-question: external setting (being in an āśrama or not) cannot magically cancel the moral weight of an act. Grave wrongdoing like killing a brāhmaṇa remains sinful, and a good act like gifting a cow is not automatically rendered worthless merely by location; the ethical quality of the deed is primary.
In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Bhīṣma poses a probing doubt in the form of rhetorical questions, testing simplistic ideas that ‘place’ or ‘institution’ alone determines sin or merit. The line functions as a challenge that invites a more nuanced explanation of how dharma evaluates actions.