यां त्वयापहृतां भीष्म कन्यां नैषितवान् नृपः ॥
भ्राता विचित्रवीर्यस् ते सतां वृत्तम् अनुष्ठितः ॥
दारयोर् यस्य चान्येन मिषतः प्राज्ञमानिनः ॥
तव जातान्य् अपत्यानि सज्जनाचरिते पथि ॥
न हि धर्मो ऽस्ति ते भीष्म ब्रह्मचर्यम् इदं वृथा ॥
यद् धारयसि मोहाद् वा क्लीबत्वाद् वा न संशयः ॥
yāṃ tvayāpahṛtāṃ bhīṣma kanyāṃ naiṣitavān nṛpaḥ ||
bhrātā vicitravīryas te satāṃ vṛttam anuṣṭhitaḥ ||
dārayor yasya cānyena miṣataḥ prājñamāninaḥ ||
tava jātāny apatyāni sajjanācarite pathi ||
na hi dharmo 'sti te bhīṣma brahmacaryam idaṃ vṛthā ||
yad dhārayasi mohād vā klībatvād vā na saṃśayaḥ ||
"The maiden carried off by you, O Bhishma, was not desired by [your] brother, King Vichitravirya, who held to the conduct of the good; and by his wives, by another [Vyasa], before your very eyes, you who consider yourself wise, offspring were born [as it were] yours — and this, [by your account,] upon the 'path of the good.' You have no dharma, O Bhishma; vain is this brahmacharya of yours, which you maintain — whether from delusion or from impotence, there is no doubt."
f2b1244c03e7 · प्रकाशित 16 जुल॰ 2026, 3:40:28 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The height of slander is to declare Bhishma's great vow the fruit of "delusion or impotence." Telling is the fact that for a carnal mind abstinence is inexplicable except as infirmity: unable to encompass the greatness of voluntary renunciation, it reduces it to a defect. But Bhishma's vow, given for his father's sake and kept his whole life, is one of the greatest feats of the spirit, not a bodily flaw. The verse teaches that the worldly eye is blind to the feat of chastity: where there is free self-mastery for the sake of something higher, the envious see only incapacity. And slander against purity exposes the impurity of the slanderer — one who does not himself know mastery over passion does not believe in it in another either.