Shloka 16
Kośa-saṃjanana and Subtle Dharma
Treasury Formation and Fine-Grained Ethics
अयुद्धयमानस्य वधो दारामर्ष: कृतघ्नता | ब्रह्मवित्तस्य चादानं नि:शेषकरणं तथा
ayuddhayamānasya vadho dārāmarṣaḥ kṛtaghnatā | brahmavittasya cādānaṃ niḥśeṣakaraṇaṃ tathā ||
Sinabi ni Bhīṣma: “Ang pagpatay sa hindi lumalaban, ang paglapastangan sa asawa ng iba, ang kawalang-utang-na-loob, ang pag-agaw sa yaman ng isang nakakabatid sa Brahman (isang kagalang-galang na brāhmaṇa), at ang paghubad sa isang tao ng lahat niyang ari-arian—mga gawaing ito’y hinahatulan kahit sa hanay ng mga tulisan.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma lists certain acts—killing a non-combatant, violating another’s wife, ingratitude, seizing a holy/learned person’s wealth, and stripping someone of all possessions—as gravely adharmic, so blameworthy that even criminals condemn them; the teaching is to renounce such conduct as fundamentally unrighteous.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Bhīṣma advises Yudhiṣṭhira by enumerating behaviors that must be avoided; here he emphasizes moral limits that apply even in contexts of conflict and power.