“In other words, before accepting anyone's suggestion or advice, is it not first necessary to establish Dharma within one's own heart?”
In the moment of decision we always take as our ground someone else's suggestion, information, counsel, or advice — and the foundation of our future rests upon the decision we make today. So then, is our future the fruit of another's advice, another's suggestion? Is our whole life the result of another's intellect?
Chapter 9 of 35 — a single teaching, 2 min in total.
The Mahabharata is less a story with a moral than a very long argument about how to act. Its characters are given impossible situations and are judged not on the outcome but on the quality of their reasoning and the honesty of their motives.
Krishna's role throughout is the counsellor who refuses easy answers. He does not remove the difficulty; he changes what the person is able to bring to it.