Shloka 9
Adhyāya 55 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Hesitation and Bhīṣma’s Authorization of Inquiry
Rājadharma Prelude
सत्यनित्य: क्षमानित्यो ज्ञाननित्योडतिथिप्रिय: । यो ददाति सतां नित्यं स मां पृच्छतु पाण्डव:
vaiśampāyana uvāca | satya-nityaḥ kṣamā-nityo jñāna-nityo ’tithi-priyaḥ | yo dadāti satāṃ nityaṃ sa māṃ pṛcchatu pāṇḍavaḥ ||
Wika ni Vaiśampāyana: “Hayaan ninyong ang Pāṇḍava na yaon ang magtanong sa akin—yaong laging may katotohanan, laging may pagpapatawad, laging may kaalaman; yaong nagagalak sa paggalang sa mga panauhin, at patuloy na nagbibigay ng kaloob sa mga banal at mabubuti.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse sets ethical qualifications for a worthy inquirer: steadfast truthfulness, habitual forgiveness, stable knowledge/discernment, love of honoring guests, and continual generosity toward the virtuous. Such virtues indicate dharmic maturity and fitness to receive and ask about higher teachings.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction setting, Vaiśampāyana frames who should pose questions: the Pāṇḍava—implicitly Yudhiṣṭhira—characterized by truth, patience, wisdom, hospitality, and charity. It functions as a respectful invitation and a moral portrait of the listener before further discourse.