Shloka 32
प्रथमं ब्रह्मण: पुत्र धर्ममाहुर्मनीषिण: । धर्मिण: पर्युपासन्ते फलं पक्वमिवाशय:
prathamaṁ brahmaṇaḥ putraṁ dharmam āhur manīṣiṇaḥ | dharmiṇaḥ paryupāsante phalaṁ pakvam ivāśayāḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：“智者宣称，达摩是梵天的长子。正如人的食欲偏爱熟透的果实，坚守正义之人也唯独奉持达摩，追求那成熟、纯善、并在生命中真正结出果报之物。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is presented as primordial and foundational—so intrinsically valuable that the righteous naturally choose and cultivate it, just as one instinctively prefers ripe fruit over unripe. The verse emphasizes mature ethical discernment: devotion to Dharma is not mere rule-following but a preference for what yields the truest, ripest ‘fruit’ in life.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct and the principles that sustain society and the self. Here he elevates Dharma’s status by linking it to Brahmā’s first-born and uses a metaphor to explain why virtuous people naturally gravitate toward Dharma as their object of reverence and practice.