Shloka 4
Adhyāya 115: On Restraint Under Verbal Provocation in the Assembly (सभायां आक्रोश-सहिष्णुता)
टिट्टिभं तमुपेक्षेतर वाशमानमिवातुरम् । लोकविद्वेषमापन्नो निष्फलं प्रतिपद्यते,अच्छे पुरुषको चाहिये कि वह टिटिहरी या रोगीकी तरह टाँय-टाँय करते हुए उस निन्दाकारी पुरुषकी उपेक्षा कर दे। इससे वह सब लोगोंके द्वेषका पात्र बन जायगा और उसके सारे सत्कर्म निष्फल हो जायँगे
ṭiṭṭibhaṃ tam upekṣeta ra vāśamānam ivāturam | lokavidveṣam āpanno niṣphalaṃ pratipadyate ||
Sinabi ni Bhīṣma: “Dapat balewalain ang maninirang-puri na walang tigil sa pagsigaw—gaya ng ibong lapwing o gaya ng maysakit na humahagulhol. Kapag nakisangkot sa ganitong paglalantad ng kapintasan sa harap ng madla, aani siya ng poot ng mga tao at mawawalan ng bunga ang kanyang mabubuting gawa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not engage with a noisy slanderer; practice upekṣā (deliberate disregard). Responding or getting drawn into public fault-finding leads to social hostility (lokavidveṣa) and makes one’s merit and good works fruitless (niṣphala).
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira on how to deal with abusive or censorious speech: treat the slanderer like an irrelevant, wailing disturbance—like a lapwing’s cry or a sick man’s moaning—and move on without retaliation.