Shloka 6
स भवान् धर्मभीरुत्वाद् ध्रुवमैष्यन्महत्तम: । नरकं घोररूपं च भ्रातुर्ज्येष्ठस्य वै वधात्,“अतः तुम धर्मभीरु होनेके कारण अपने ज्येष्ठ भाईके वधसे निश्चय ही घोर नरकरूप महान् अन्धकार (दुःख)-में डूब जाते
sa bhavān dharmabhīrutvād dhruvam aiṣyan mahattamaḥ | narakaṃ ghorarūpaṃ ca bhrātur jyeṣṭhasya vai vadhāt ||
Sañjaya nói: “Hỡi bậc trượng phu ưu tú, vì ngươi sợ phạm dharma, nếu giết người anh cả của mình thì chắc chắn ngươi sẽ sa vào địa ngục ghê rợn—rơi vào bóng tối mênh mông của khổ đau.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of killing one’s elder brother: even amid war, such an act is framed as a severe breach of dharma with dire karmic consequences (symbolized as falling into dreadful hell/darkness).
Sañjaya, narrating events and moral stakes, warns that the dharma-fearing listener would inevitably incur terrible spiritual consequence if he were to slay his eldest brother—highlighting the tension between battlefield duty and familial dharma.