Shloka 26
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
इदं दुःखं महत् कष्ट पापीय इति निष्टनन् । प्रतिध्वस्तमुख: पूतिरमात्याननुशोचयन्
idaṃ duḥkhaṃ mahat kaṣṭa pāpīya iti niṣṭanan | pratidhvastamukhaḥ pūtir amātyān anuśocayan |
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Ang umangal nang malakas: ‘Ito’y malaking dalamhati, mabigat na pahirap—tiyak na palatandaan ito ng mas mabigat na kasalanan’; ang mukha’y baluktot at nakayuko, ang katawan ay mabaho; walang tigil na nagluluksa sa harap ng mga ministro at mga tagapaglingkod; nananabik na maibalik ang kalagayan ng malusog; at sa kasalukuyang karamdaman ay paulit-ulit na naghahangad ng kamatayan—ang ganitong paraan ng pagpanaw ay hindi nararapat sa bayaning may dangal.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that a noble person—especially a self-respecting warrior—should meet suffering and death with steadiness, not with self-pitying lamentation, obsessive fear, or repeated wishing for death; dignity, restraint, and courage are ethical ideals even in illness.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma describes an undignified response to sickness and impending death—wailing, becoming disfigured in expression, neglecting oneself, and grieving for one’s ministers—then condemns such a death as unworthy of a proud hero.