Dvaipāyana–Kīṭa Saṃvāda: Karmic Memory, Fear of Death, and Embodied Pleasure
भेरीमृदंगशब्दांश्व तन्त्रीशब्दांश्ष पुष्कलान् | निषेविष्यन्ति वै मन्दा मांसभक्षा: कथं नरा:
bherīmṛdaṅgaśabdāṁś ca tantrīśabdāṁś ca puṣkalān | niṣevīṣyanti vai mandā māṁsabhakṣāḥ kathaṁ narāḥ ||
بھیشم نے کہا—جو لوگ کند ذہن اور گوشت خور ہیں، وہ بھیر ی اور مریدنگ کے نغموں، اور تار والے سازوں کی بھرپور دھنوں سے بھلا کیسے حقیقی لطف اٹھا سکیں گے؟
भीष्म उवाच
Bhīṣma links ethical and dietary discipline with inner refinement: coarse habits (here, meat-eating and dullness) are portrayed as incompatible with genuine appreciation of elevated, cultured arts like refined music.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on conduct, he uses a rhetorical question to criticize certain dispositions and habits, suggesting that people of coarse taste are unlikely to truly relish or uphold refined cultural and moral practices.