Shloka 27

Adhyāya 159 — Dāna–Dakṣiṇā, Āpaddharma Measures, and Prāyaścitta Classifications

Devanagari script

न ते चालयितुं शक्‍या धर्मव्यापारकारिण: । न तेषां भिद्यते वृत्तं यत्पुरा साधुभि: कृतम्‌

Transliteration

na te cālayituṁ śakyā dharmavyāpārakāriṇaḥ | na teṣāṁ bhidyate vṛttaṁ yat pūrā sādhubhiḥ kṛtam ||

Translation

بھیشم نے کہا—جو لوگ دھرم کے عمل میں مشغول رہتے ہیں، انہیں نیک عمل سے ہلایا نہیں جا سکتا۔ ان کا قائم شدہ چلن نہیں ٹوٹتا؛ پہلے زمانے کے صالحین نے جس سُدھ آچار (نیک روش) کی پیروی کی، وہی یہ بھی اختیار کرتے ہیں، اور ان میں وہ بلند نظم و ضبط کبھی فنا نہیں ہوتا۔

Word by Word

• {'na': 'not', 'te': 'they

• those (people)', 'cālayitum': 'to move, shake, unsettle

• to cause to deviate', 'śakyāḥ': 'are able to be

• are possible (here: can be made to)', 'dharmavyāpāra-kāriṇaḥ': 'doers/performers of dharma-activity

• those devoted to religious and moral duties', 'teṣām': 'of them', 'bhidyate': 'is broken, is split, is disrupted', 'vṛttam': 'conduct, behavior, established way of life', 'yat': 'which

• that which', 'pūrā': 'formerly, in earlier times', 'sādhubhiḥ': 'by the good/virtuous people', 'kṛtam': 'done, practiced, established'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (speaker)
• sādhavaḥ (the virtuous/saints of former times)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True practitioners of dharma are not easily swayed by temptation, fear, or persuasion; their moral conduct remains stable because it is grounded in time-tested sadācāra established by earlier virtuous people.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Bhishma is describing the character of dharmic persons: they remain devoted to dharma-practice and preserve the inherited standards of noble conduct without letting them deteriorate.