Shloka 23
Haṃsa–Sādhya Saṃvāda: Satya, Dama, Kṣamā and the Discipline of Speech
जीवन्तमपि चैवैनं भरणे रक्षणे तथा । असमाप्ते परित्यज्य पश्चादपि मरिष्यसि
jīvantam api caivainaṃ bharaṇe rakṣaṇe tathā | asamāpte parityajya paścād api mariṣyasi, mṛte vā tvayi jīve vā yadā bhokṣyati vai janaḥ | svakṛtaṃ nanu buddhvaivaṃ kartavyaṃ hitam ātmanaḥ ||
毗湿摩说：“纵使你供养护持，使他得以存活；若在其寿数未尽之前你便离弃，随后你自己也终将赴死。你生也好，死也罢，众生终究各自受用其所作之业果。既知此业理，当勤修于真正有益于自身最高安稳之道。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma emphasizes karma and personal responsibility: each person must inevitably experience the results of their own actions, so one should not be paralyzed by anxiety over others’ fates but instead pursue what truly leads to one’s own welfare and spiritual good.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhishma counsels the listener on the inevitability of death and the inescapability of one’s own karmic results, urging a turn from anxious attachment toward purposeful effort for one’s own highest benefit.