Shloka 21
Haṃsa–Sādhya Saṃvāda: Satya, Dama, Kṣamā and the Discipline of Speech
“यदि वे स्वजन जीवित रह जायाँ तो भी इनके भरण-पोषण और संरक्षणका कार्य समाप्त होनेसे पहले ही तुम इन्हें छोड़कर पीछे स्वयं भी तो मर जाओगे”
yadi te svajanā jīvitaṃ rahiṣyanti, tathāpi eṣāṃ bharaṇa-poṣaṇa-rakṣaṇasya kāryaṃ samāptam bhavitum pūrvam eva tvaṃ etān tyaktvā paścāt svayam api hi mariṣyasi.
毗湿摩说：“纵然你的亲族得以存活，你自己终将先死——把他们留在身后——在供养与护持之事尚未真正了结之前。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Family maintenance and protection are ongoing and never fully ‘finished,’ but life can end at any time. Therefore, one should not delay dharmic or spiritually necessary action by claiming that worldly responsibilities must first be completed.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction, Bhishma addresses the listener with a sobering reminder: even if one’s relatives remain alive, the speaker will die before the endless work of supporting and protecting them is completed—urging timely commitment to dharma rather than postponement.