Shloka 14
पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation
“पिताका अनादर उचित नहीं है, साथ ही माताकी रक्षा करना भी पुत्रका धर्म है। ये दोनों ही धर्म उचित और योग्य हैं। मैं किस प्रकार इनका उल्लंघन न करूँ? ।।
pitā kānādara ucito na hi, sārdhaṁ mātā-rakṣaṇaṁ api putrasya dharmaḥ | etau ubhau dharmau ucitau yogyau ca | kathaṁ aham etayoḥ ullanghanaṁ na kuryām? || pitā ātmānam ādhattē jāyāyāṁ jajñivān iti | śīla-cāritra-gotra-stha-dhāraṇārthaṁ kulasya ca ||
毗湿摩说道：“不敬父亲并不相宜；同样，护持母亲也是为人子之责。两种义务皆正且可贵——我又怎能避免触犯其中之一？因为父亲，如所言者，将自身寄于妻体之中，复生为子，使家族得以延续——其品性、行仪、血脉与族系皆得保存。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A son faces a genuine ethical tension: honoring the father and protecting the mother are both valid dharmas. The verse frames this as a conflict of duties and grounds filial obligation in the idea that the father continues himself through the son to preserve family character, conduct, and lineage.
Bhishma reflects on competing familial obligations—respect for the father versus safeguarding the mother—presenting it as a dilemma where either choice risks violating dharma, and then explains the traditional rationale for paternal authority and lineage-continuity through birth.