Shloka 36
Chapter 81: Trust, Allies, and the Qualifications of the King’s Artha-Secretary (अर्थसचिव)
आत्मानमेव जानाति निकृतं बान्धवैरपि । तेषु सन्ति गुणाश्रैव नैर्गुण्यं चैव लक्ष्यते
ātmānam eva jānāti nikṛtaṃ bāndhavair api | teṣu santi guṇāś caiva nairguṇyaṃ caiva lakṣyate ||
Bhīṣma nói: “Một người tự biết nỗi nhục của mình, dẫu chính bà con thân thuộc gây ra. Trong hàng thân tộc, quả có đức hạnh, mà lỗi lầm cũng hiện rõ.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even within one’s own family, both virtue and vice are present; harm done by relatives is still harm, and dharma requires clear-eyed discernment rather than excusing wrongdoing because of kinship.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on righteous conduct and social ethics; here he remarks on the reality of family life—kinsmen can both support and injure, and their qualities and defects become visible in close relations.