Shloka 88
Vyāghra–Gomāyu Saṃvāda (व्याघ्रगोमायु संवाद) — Testing Character Beneath Appearances
अकस्मात् प्रक्रिया नृगामकस्माच्चापकर्षणम् । शुभाशुभे महत्त्वं च प्रकार्तु बुद्धिलाघवम्
akasmāt prakriyā nṝṇām akasmāc cāpakarṣaṇam | śubhāśubhe mahattvaṃ ca prakartuṃ buddhilāghavam ||
毗湿摩说道：“人的兴盛与衰败，往往骤然而至。以恶报德，又将那恶意夸大以贬抑他人、使其坠落，此乃心智卑浅狭隘之征。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma warns that sudden reversals—especially repaying good with harm and then exaggerating that harm to disgrace someone—arise from a petty, shallow intellect. Dharma requires steadiness, gratitude, and fairness rather than impulsive or manipulative disparagement.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous conduct after the war. Here he comments on human rise and fall and condemns the unethical tendency to harm benefactors and to manufacture ‘importance’ around wrongdoing in order to bring others down.