Parva 12

12.1.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When the sons of Pāṇḍu, together with Vidura and Dhṛtarāṣṭra and all the women of the Bharatas, had made the water-offerings for all their kinsmen,

12.1.2 those great-souled delights of the Kurus dwelt there for one full month outside the city, to complete the rites of purification.

12.1.3 And to the righteous-souled king Yudhiṣṭhira, who had performed the water-rite, there came great souls, perfected ones, the most excellent of brahmin-sages.

12.1.4 Dvaipāyana and Nārada and Devala that mighty seer, Devasthāna and Kaṇva, and the most excellent of their disciples;

12.1.5 and other twice-born ones, learned in the Vedas, of perfected wisdom, householders and graduates all alike, came to behold the best of the Kurus.

12.1.6 Having approached and been honored according to custom, those great-souled mighty seers took their places upon seats of great worth.

12.1.7 Then, having received the homage suited to that hour, they sat in attendance, encircling Yudhiṣṭhira as was fitting.

12.1.8 On the holy bank of the Bhāgīrathī the brahmins, in their hundreds of thousands, sought to console the king whose mind was distraught with grief.

12.1.9 And Nārada, in due time, having taken counsel with the sages, addressed the righteous-souled Yudhiṣṭhira in words befitting that hour:

12.1.10 "By the might of your arm, by the grace of Mādhava, and by righteousness, this whole earth has been won, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.1.11 By good fortune you have come safe through this battle that struck terror into the world. Devoted as you are to the duty of the warrior, do you now rejoice, O son of Pāṇḍu?

12.1.12 Having slain your foes, do you gladden your friends, O king? And having attained this sovereign fortune, does grief no longer torment you?"

12.1.13 Yudhiṣṭhira said: This whole earth has been conquered, resting upon the strength of Kṛṣṇa's arm, by the grace of the brahmins, and by the might of Bhīma and Arjuna.

12.1.14 Yet this great sorrow abides in my heart unceasingly: that I have wrought this vast destruction of my own kinsmen, all of it born of greed.

12.1.15 Having caused the deaths of Subhadrā's son and the sons of Draupadī, my dear children, this victory, O blessed one, appears to me to wear the face of defeat.

12.1.16 What will the Vṛṣṇi-maiden, my daughter-in-law, say to Madhusūdana — to Kṛṣṇa, to Hari, the dweller in Dvārakā — when he returns hence to her?

12.1.17 This Draupadī, her sons slain, her kinsmen slain, wretched, ever devoted to our love and welfare, torments me yet the more.

12.1.18 And there is this other thing, O blessed Nārada, of which I shall speak to you: by the keeping-secret of a counsel, I have been yoked to sorrow by Kuntī.

12.1.19 He who had the strength of ten thousand elephants, in this world a warrior without an equal in battle, who moved with the sporting gait of a lion, wise, compassionate, self-controlled, firm in his vows;

12.1.20 the refuge of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, proud, fierce in valor, impatient of insult, ever ardent for the fray, our reviler in battle after battle;

12.1.21 swift with his weapons, a varied fighter, accomplished, of wondrous prowess — he was Kuntī's son, born in secret, and our own brother, of the same womb.

12.1.22 He whom Kuntī, at the water-rite, declared to be the son of Sūrya — her own son, endowed with every virtue, cast away of old upon the waters.

12.1.23 He whom all this world deemed the charioteer's son and called Rādheya — he was Kuntī's eldest son, and our brother, born of the same mother.

12.1.24 By me, not knowing, greedy for the kingdom, he was brought to his death in battle. That burns my limbs as fire burns a heap of cotton.

12.1.25 For not even Pārtha of the white steeds knew him for his brother, nor I, nor Bhīma, nor the twins — yet he, true to his vows, knew us.

12.1.26 We have heard that Pṛthā went to him, desiring peace between us, and said, 'You too are my son.'

12.1.27 But Pṛthā's wish was not granted by that great-souled one; rather, at the very last, he said this to his mother, so we have heard:

12.1.28 'I cannot forsake King Duryodhana in battle; that would be ignoble in me, cruel, and an act of ingratitude.'

12.1.29 'If, by your will, I were to make peace with Yudhiṣṭhira, men would think me afraid of him of the white steeds in battle.'

12.1.30 'When I have conquered in the field Vijaya together with Keśava, then afterward I shall make peace with the son of Dharma' — so he said.

12.1.31 Then Pṛthā, it is said, spoke again to that broad-chested one: 'Grant safety to four of them; fight Phalguna if you will.'

12.1.32 And the wise one answered his mother, trembling, with folded hands: 'Even when I have them in my power and can withstand them, I will not slay those four sons of yours.

12.1.33 Five sons, O mother, shall surely remain to you in any case: either with Karṇa if Pārtha falls, or with Arjuna if I fall.'"

12.1.34 Then his mother, longing for her sons, spoke to her son once more: 'Do good to your brothers, you who wish to do them good.'

12.1.35 Having spoken thus to him, Pṛthā took her leave and went home; and that hero was slain by Arjuna — brother by brother, born of the same womb.

12.1.36 Neither Pṛthā's secret nor his own was ever disclosed, O sage; and so that valiant great archer was struck down by Pārtha.

12.1.37 Only afterward did I learn, O best of the twice-born, from Pṛthā's own words, O lord, that Karṇa was my elder brother, born of the same womb.

12.1.38 By this my heart is sorely pained, a slayer of my brother; for with Karṇa and Arjuna for my helpers I could have vanquished even Vāsava himself.

12.1.39 When I was being tormented in the assembly hall by the evil-souled sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the anger that suddenly rose in me would grow calm at the mere sight of Karṇa.

12.1.40 For even when I heard his harsh words, bitter in their import, spoken in the assembly at the gambling-match, he desiring Duryodhana's good —

12.1.41 even then my anger would vanish when I gazed upon his feet; for Karṇa's feet were like Kuntī's — such was my thought.

12.1.42 Seeking the cause of that likeness between him and Pṛthā, I could find no reason for it, however much I pondered.

12.1.43 How was it that in battle the earth swallowed his chariot-wheel? And how was my brother cursed? This you ought to tell me here.

12.1.44 I wish to hear from you, O blessed one, the whole of it exactly as it was; for you, all-knowing and learned, know in this world what has been done and what has not.

12.2.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed, the sage Nārada, best of speakers, related the whole of it — how that son of the charioteer had been cursed.

12.2.2 "It is even so, O mighty-armed Bhārata, as you say: for Karṇa and Arjuna there was nothing in battle that could not be borne or overcome.

12.2.3 But this is a secret of the gods, which I shall tell you, O king. Hear it then, O great king, as it came to pass of old.

12.2.4 'How may the warrior caste go to heaven, purified by the sword?' — with this purpose, O lord, one who would breed strife was fashioned, conceived in the womb of a maiden.

12.2.5 That child, endowed with splendor, came to the state of a charioteer's son, and learned the science of archery under your teacher, the best of the Āṅgirasas.

12.2.6 The strength of Bhīmasena, and the deftness of Phalguna, and your wisdom, O lord of kings, and the discipline of the twins —

12.2.7 and the friendship of the wielder of Gāṇḍīva with Vāsudeva from boyhood, and the affection of the people — brooding on all these, he was consumed inwardly.

12.2.8 In his boyhood he formed a friendship with King Duryodhana, ever at enmity with you — both by destiny and by his own nature.

12.2.9 Then, perceiving that Dhanaṃjaya surpassed him in learning in the science of arms, Karṇa came in secret to Droṇa and spoke these words:

12.2.10 'I wish to learn the brahma-weapon, together with its secret and its withdrawal; it is my desire to become Arjuna's equal in battle.

12.2.11 Surely your affection for your sons and your disciples is equal; by your grace, let not the discerning call me unaccomplished in arms.'

12.2.12 Droṇa, thus addressed by Karṇa, mindful of Phalguna and knowing too the evil bent of Karṇa, said to him:

12.2.13 'A brahmin who has duly fulfilled his vows may know the brahma-weapon, or a warrior who is an ascetic; no other may know it on any account.'

12.2.14 Thus addressed, he took leave of the best of the Āṅgirasas and, paying him reverence, went straightway to Rāma upon Mount Mahendra.

12.2.15 Approaching Rāma and bowing with his head, he came to him with reverence, saying, 'I am a brahmin of the Bhārgava line.'

12.2.16 Rāma received him, having asked him fully of his lineage and the rest, and said, 'Be welcome; dwell here.' And he was exceedingly pleased with him.

12.2.17 While Karṇa dwelt there upon Mahendra, the best of mountains, there was for him fellowship with gandharvas and rākṣasas, yakṣas and gods.

12.2.18 There he gained mastery over weapons, in due form, from the best of the Bhṛgus, and became exceedingly dear to the gods, the gandharvas, and the rākṣasas.

12.2.19 Once, wandering by the seashore near the hermitage, alone, with sword and bow in hand, the son of the charioteer roamed about.

12.2.20 And there, O Pārtha, unknowingly and by mere chance, he killed the sacrificial cow of a certain brahmin given to the fire-oblation, a knower of the Veda.

12.2.21 Reckoning the deed to have been done in ignorance, Karṇa confessed it to the brahmin, and seeking to appease him, spoke these words:

12.2.22 'Without intent, O blessed one, this cow of yours has been slain by me; in this, grant me your grace' — so he said again and again.

12.2.23 But that brahmin, enraged, said to him, reviling him as it were with his speech: 'You wretch of evil conduct, you deserve death; reap your fruit, you of evil mind!

12.2.24 With that very one whom you ceaselessly seek to rival, for whose sake you strive day and night — when you fight with him, O sinful one, the earth shall swallow your chariot-wheel.

12.2.25 And when your wheel is swallowed by the earth, your foe shall surge forward and strike off the head of you, bewildered. Go, basest of men!

12.2.26 As this cow of mine was slain by you in your heedlessness, O fool, even so shall another strike off your head when you are heedless.'

12.2.27 Then he sought again to appease that best of the twice-born with cows and wealth and jewels; but the brahmin spoke to him once more:

12.2.28 'Not even the whole world could make this utterance of mine false. Go or stay, or whatever you must do, do it.'

12.2.29 Thus told by the brahmin, Karṇa, his face cast down in misery, came to Rāma in fear, brooding upon that very curse in his heart.

12.3.1 Nārada said: By the might of Karṇa's arm, by his modesty and self-restraint, and by his service to his teacher, the tiger of the Bhṛgus was well pleased.

12.3.2 To him that ascetic, calmly and in full, taught the entire brahma-weapon, complete with its withdrawal, in due form — to that ardent striver.

12.3.3 Then Karṇa, accomplished in arms and taking his ease in the hermitage of the Bhṛgu, applied himself to the science of archery, he of wondrous prowess.

12.3.4 Then one day the wise Rāma, walking near the hermitage in Karṇa's company, worn thin by fasting,

12.3.5 the son of Jamadagni lay down to sleep — that teacher, weary of mind, his affection grown from trust — resting his head upon Karṇa's lap.

12.3.6 Then a worm, born of phlegm, a feeder upon flesh and blood, dreadful and dreadful to the touch, came near to Karṇa.

12.3.7 Reaching his thigh, that drinker of blood pierced it through; yet Karṇa could neither cast it off nor slay it, for fear of waking his teacher.

12.3.8 Though he was being gnawed in this way by that worm, O Bhārata, the son of the charioteer, fearing to wake his teacher, simply endured it.

12.3.9 But Karṇa, by his steadfastness, suppressed that unbearable pain, and without flinching, without showing distress, held the descendant of Bhṛgu upon his lap.

12.3.10 But when the bearer of the Bhṛgu line felt his body touched by the blood, the radiant one awoke, and, distressed, he spoke these words:

12.3.11 "Alas, I have been rendered impure! What is this that is being done to you? Set fear aside and tell me the truth of this matter."

12.3.12 Then Karṇa told him of the worm's devouring, and Rāma beheld that worm, which resembled a boar,

12.3.13 eight-footed, with sharp fangs, bristling as if covered with needles, its body all hedged with hairs, Alarka by name.

12.3.14 No sooner was that worm seen by Rāma than it gave up its life there, drenched in blood; and this seemed a marvel.

12.3.15 Then in the sky there appeared a rākṣasa of every form and terrible aspect, red of throat, dark of limb, borne upon a cloud.

12.3.16 With palms joined, his heart fulfilled, he addressed Rāma: "Blessings upon you, O tiger of the Bhṛgus! I shall now depart whence I came.

12.3.17 I have been delivered from hell by you, O best of sages. May good fortune be yours, and joy; you have done me a great kindness."

12.3.18 The mighty-armed and majestic son of Jamadagni said to him: "Who are you, and why did you fall into hell? Tell me that."

12.3.19 He replied: "In an earlier time I was a great asura named Gṛtsa, in the age of the gods, dear one—a contemporary, as it were, of Bhṛgu himself.

12.3.20 I carried off by force the beloved wife of Bhṛgu, and by the curse of the great sage I became a worm and fell to the earth.

12.3.21 Your forefather said to me in his wrath: 'Feeding on urine and phlegm, O wicked one, you shall pass into hell.'

12.3.22 'Let there be an end to the curse, O brahman,' I said to him then; and Bhṛgu answered me: 'It shall come when Rāma appears in the line of Bhṛgu.'

12.3.23 So I came to this state, ill-fated as it was; but by meeting with you, O virtuous one, I am freed from that sinful birth."

12.3.24 Having spoken thus and bowed to Rāma, the great asura departed; but Rāma in anger spoke these words to Karṇa:

12.3.25 "This pain was extreme, O fool; no brahman could ever endure it. Yours is the steadfastness of a kṣatriya. Speak the truth, by your desire."

12.3.26 Then Karṇa, afraid of a curse, said to him, seeking to appease him: "Know me, O descendant of Bhṛgu, to be born a sūta, between brahman and kṣatriya.

12.3.27 People on earth call me Karṇa, the son of Rādhā. Be gracious to me, O brahman, O descendant of Bhṛgu, who longed only for weapons.

12.3.28 A teacher who imparts the knowledge of the Veda is, beyond doubt, a father and a lord; therefore in your presence I claimed the Bhārgava lineage."

12.3.29 The best of the Bhṛgus, angry yet half-smiling, said to him as he lay fallen on the ground, wretched and trembling, with palms joined:

12.3.30 "Because out of greed for weapons you have deceived me here, therefore, O fool, this Brahmā-weapon shall not appear to you in your memory—

12.3.31 except at the hour of your death, when you face one who is your equal. For in one who is no brahman, the brahman power can never abide secure.

12.3.32 Go now! Here there is no place for falsehood. Yet no kṣatriya on earth shall ever be your equal in battle."

12.3.33 Thus addressed by Rāma, he duly departed; and coming to Duryodhana, he declared, "I am now accomplished in arms."

12.4.1 Nārada said: Having gained this weapon from the son of Bhṛgu, Karṇa, together with Duryodhana, rejoiced, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.4.2 Then once, O king, the kings gathered together at the bride-choosing of Citrāṅgada, the king in the Kaliṅga country.

12.4.3 There, O Bhārata, was a splendid city named Rājapura; thither the kings came by the hundreds, seeking the maiden's hand.

12.4.4 Hearing that all the princes were assembled there, Duryodhana went, accompanied by Karṇa, in a chariot adorned with gold.

12.4.5 Then, O best of kings, when that bride-choosing, a great festival, was under way, the rulers came together for the maiden's sake:

12.4.6 Śiśupāla, Jarāsaṃdha, Bhīṣmaka and Vakra, Kapotaroman and Nīla, and Rukmī of firm valor,

12.4.7 and Sṛgāla, O great king, and he who was lord of the women's realm, Aśoka and Śatadhanvan, and the hero called Bhoja by name,

12.4.8 these and many others who dwell in the southern quarter, and kings who were teachers of the mlecchas, and those of the east and north, O Bhārata.

12.4.9 All wore golden armlets, all bore wreaths of fine gold, all with shining bodies, fierce in their pride like tigers.

12.4.10 Then, O Bhārata, when those kings had taken their seats, the maiden entered the arena, attended by her nurse and her chamberlain.

12.4.11 Then, O Bhārata, as the names of the kings were being proclaimed, that maiden of lovely complexion passed by the son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.

12.4.12 But Duryodhana of the Kuru line did not brook being passed over; he stopped the maiden, slighting the assembled rulers.

12.4.13 Drunk with the pride of his strength, relying on Bhīṣma and Droṇa, he mounted the maiden upon his chariot and challenged the kings.

12.4.14 Behind him followed, O bull among men, the charioteer Karṇa, best of those who bear arms, sword in hand and fitted with leather guard and finger-thongs.

12.4.15 Then there arose a mighty tumult among the kings, O Yudhiṣṭhira, as they donned their armor and yoked their chariots.

12.4.16 Enraged, they rushed upon both Karṇa and Duryodhana, loosing showers of arrows like clouds upon two mountains.

12.4.17 As they charged, Karṇa with a single razor-arrow each struck down their bows, with their quivers, upon the ground.

12.4.18 Then some he left without bows, some with bows still upraised, and some still drawing their arrows, their lances and clubs and chariot-spears,

12.4.19 all thrown into disorder by his swiftness. Karṇa, foremost of warriors, vanquished most of those rulers, their charioteers slain.

12.4.20 Urging on their own horses, crying "Drive! Drive!", those kings, their spirits broken, abandoned the field and fled away.

12.4.21 Then Duryodhana, guarded by Karṇa, went on his way, and joyfully bore the maiden to the city named for the elephant.

12.5.1 Nārada said: Learning that Karṇa had revealed his might, the king of Magadha, the lord of earth Jarāsaṃdha, challenged him to single combat between chariots in battle.

12.5.2 A battle arose between the two, both versed in celestial weapons, as in combat they rained upon each other with weapons of every kind.

12.5.3 Their arrows spent, their bows undone, their swords broken, they came down to the earth, and both, endowed with strength, grappled with their arms.

12.5.4 Then, fighting with the thorn-like strokes of the arms, Karṇa rent apart the joint of his body which Jarā had once knit together.

12.5.5 Seeing the alteration of his own body, the king said to Karṇa, "I am pleased," and laid aside his enmity, O Bhārata.

12.5.6 Out of affection he then gave to Karṇa the city of Mālinī; and so, O tiger among men, that vanquisher of foes became king among the Aṅgas.

12.5.7 And Karṇa, crusher of enemy hosts, ruled over Campā with Duryodhana's consent, as is known to you as well.

12.5.8 Thus by the splendor of his arms he became renowned upon the earth; and for your benefit the lord of the gods begged of him his armor and his earrings.

12.5.9 Bewildered by the god's illusion, he gave away his celestial, inborn earrings, most cherished, and his inborn coat of mail as well.

12.5.10 Stripped of his two earrings and of his inborn armor, he was slain in battle by Vijaya, before the very eyes of Vāsudeva—

12.5.11 by the curse of a brahman and of the great-souled Rāma, by the boon Kuntī had granted, and by the wiles of him of a hundred sacrifices,

12.5.12 by Bhīṣma's slighting of him, who reckoned him but half a chariot-warrior in the count, by Śalya's draining of his spirit, and by the counsel of Vāsudeva,

12.5.13 and by the weapons of Rudra, of the king of the gods, of Yama and of Varuṇa, of Kubera and Droṇa, and of the great-souled Kṛpa—

12.5.14 taking up these celestial weapons, the wielder of Gāṇḍīva slew in battle Karṇa, son of Vikartana, radiant as the day-making sun.

12.5.15 Thus cursed was your brother, and deceived by many; yet that tiger among men is not to be mourned, for he met his death in battle.

12.6.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having spoken thus far, the divine sage Nārada fell silent; but the royal sage Yudhiṣṭhira, drowned in grief, sank into brooding.

12.6.2 To that hero, downcast in spirit, his face bowed low, anguished, sighing like a serpent, his eyes brimming with tears—

12.6.3 to him Kuntī, her body wrung with grief, her mind stricken with sorrow, sweet of speech, spoke in season these words full of meaning:

12.6.4 "Yudhiṣṭhira, mighty-armed one, you should not grieve for him. Cast off your sorrow, O most wise, and hear these words of mine.

12.6.5 Long ago I strove to make known to him his brotherhood with you, O best of the upholders of dharma, and so did the god Bhāskara, his father.

12.6.6 All that a friend desiring his welfare and wishing him prosperity might say—so was he told by the day-maker at the close of a dream, and in my presence as well.

12.6.7 Yet neither could the Sun, nor I, by any motives of affection, win him over of old, nor bring him to union with you.

12.6.8 Then, overtaken by fate, bent on kindling the fire of enmity, set on working against you—so I let him be.

12.6.9 Thus addressed by his mother, the Dharma-king, his eyes clouded with tears, the righteous one, his mind distraught with grief, spoke these words:

12.6.10 "Because of your keeping the secret hidden, I am stricken," he said to her; and that one of great splendor, overcome with deep sorrow, laid a curse: that throughout all the worlds women should hold no secret concealed.

12.6.11 That king, remembering his sons and grandsons, his kinsmen and his friends, became troubled at heart and sick in mind.

12.6.12 Then, his soul wrapped in grief like a fire wrapped in smoke, the wise king, tormented by anguish, gave himself over to despair.

12.7.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: But Yudhiṣṭhira, righteous of soul, his mind distraught with grief, mourned, burning with sorrow, as he remembered Karṇa, the great chariot-warrior.

12.7.2 Possessed by pain and grief, sighing again and again, looking upon Arjuna, worn down by sorrow he spoke these words:

12.7.3 "Had we lived by begging in the city of the Vṛṣṇis and Andhakas, rather than leaving our kinsmen bereft of their men, we would not have come to this misery.

12.7.4 Our enemies, the Kurus, had their wealth and their ends fulfilled, it seems; but having slain ourselves by our own hands, what fruit of dharma do we gain?

12.7.5 A curse upon the kṣatriya way of life! A curse upon strength of breast! A curse upon the wrath by which we have been brought to this calamity!

12.7.6 Good are forbearance, self-restraint, purity, freedom from enmity, freedom from envy, non-injury, and truthful speech—these are the constant virtues of those who dwell in the forest."

12.7.7 But we, out of greed and delusion, clinging to arrogance and pride, have fallen into this plight from craving for a mere shred of kingship.

12.7.8 Not with the sovereignty of all three worlds could anyone gladden us, who have looked upon our kinsmen slain upon the earth—we who hungered after spoils.

12.7.9 For the sake of the earth we forsook men who ought never to have been killed, men equal to the earth itself, and now we live on, bereft of purpose, our kinsmen slain.

12.7.10 We greedy for the flesh, like dogs—nay, not even dogs—both the flesh is lost to us, and lost too are those who would have eaten it.

12.7.11 Not for the whole earth, not for heaps of gold, not for all the cattle and horses, ought those to have been given up who now lie slain.

12.7.12 Yoked to desire and wrath, filled with anger and intolerance, they mounted the chariot of death and went to the abode of Vaivasvata.

12.7.13 Wishing much good fortune, fathers strive for sons through austerity, through chastity, through worship, and through forbearance.

12.7.14 Through fasts and through offerings, through vows and auspicious rites, mothers conceive their children and bear them for ten months.

12.7.15 "If only they be born in safety; if only, once born, they live; if only, grown strong and esteemed, they grant us happiness here and hereafter"—so the wretched ones hope, intent upon their fruit.

12.7.16 For those mothers this whole endeavour has come to nothing, utterly fruitless, in that their sons—young men with polished earrings—have been slain.

12.7.17 Without having tasted a king's enjoyments, without having discharged their debts to the ancestors and the gods, they have gone to the abode of Vaivasvata.

12.7.18 When, dear friend, the parents of these princes were as if made of love for them, in their very prime of strength and beauty those kings were struck down.

12.7.19 Yoked to desire and wrath, unsteadied by anger and elation, never at any time will they taste the least fruit of their birth.

12.7.20 Of the Pāñcālas and the Kurus, even those who are unslain are as good as slain; while we, by our own deeds, must come to the lowest worlds.

12.7.21 We ourselves are accounted the cause of the destruction of this world; through the treachery of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son we were brought to this pass.

12.7.22 Ever skilled in deceit, a hater, living by guile, he behaved falsely toward us at all times, though we had done him no wrong.

12.7.23 We desired our share, and so did they; yet neither did we win, nor did they: by them this earth was not enjoyed, nor its women, nor its song and music.

12.7.24 Neither counsel in the assembly of ministers, nor the learning of the learned, nor jewels beyond price, nor land, nor any gaining of wealth.

12.7.25 Seeing that prosperity of ours, he grew pale, sallow, and gaunt; and so he was reported by the son of Subala to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra.

12.7.26 His father, out of fondness for his son, consented to him though he stood in unrighteousness, without ever heeding the patriarch, the son of Gaṅgā, or Vidura. Without a doubt Dhṛtarāṣṭra has come to the same pass as I.

12.7.27 By failing to restrain his impure, greedy son, who followed the bidding of his lusts, he has fallen from his blazing fame, and has caused brothers to slay one another.

12.7.28 And that Suyodhana, ever bent on hatred of us, ever evil-minded, has cast these two aged ones into the fire of grief.

12.7.29 What kinsman of noble birth would speak to those who wish him well as that base man, eager for war, spoke in the presence of the Vṛṣṇis?

12.7.30 For through our own fault we are ruined for endless years, we who once burned across all the quarters with our splendour, like suns.

12.7.31 That man of enmity toward us came under the sway of evil counsellors; for Duryodhana's sake this whole lineage of ours has been brought down. Having slain those who should never have been slain, we have earned the world's reproach.

12.7.32 Having made that wicked-minded, evil-doing destroyer of this lineage the lord of the realm, King Dhṛtarāṣṭra now grieves.

12.7.33 The heroes are slain, the sin is done, our own domain laid waste; having killed, our wrath has departed, and this grief now hems me in.

12.7.34 Dhanaṃjaya, sin once committed is undone by righteous deeds; and the man given to renunciation, the scripture says, has no power to commit sin again.

12.7.35 Since the scripture holds that the man of renunciation incurs neither birth nor death, then, having found the path and settled his mind, he attains to Brahman.

12.7.36 And so, Dhanaṃjaya, free of the pairs of opposites, a sage endowed with knowledge, I shall take leave of you all and go to the forest, O scorcher of foes.

12.7.37 For the scripture declares that the most perfect dharma cannot be attained by one who holds possessions; this, O slayer of foes, is plain to my own sight.

12.7.38 By me, who craved possessions, sin was set loose; and the scripture says that what causes the ending of birth can indeed be attained.

12.7.39 So, casting off possessions and the whole kingdom as well, I shall go forth wholly released, freed of sorrow, freed of fever.

12.7.40 Do you rule this earth, made secure, its thorns cut away; I have no need of kingship nor of enjoyments, O foremost of the Kurus.

12.7.41 Having spoken these words, the Dharma King Yudhiṣṭhira fell silent; and then the younger son of Pṛthā made answer.

12.8.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then Arjuna spoke, as if stung past endurance, in measured and well-composed words, firm in argument and bold in speech.

12.8.2 Showing himself fierce, the son of Indra, fierce in his prowess, that man of great splendour smiled and again and again licked the corners of his mouth.

12.8.3 Alas, what sorrow, what distress, what utmost faintness of heart, that after performing superhuman deeds you would forsake the highest fortune!

12.8.4 Having slain your foes and won the earth, gained by your own proper duty, your enemies destroyed—how could you give it all up out of a lightness of mind?

12.8.5 For whence should kingship come to a coward, or again to a dawdler? And why then did you slay those guardians of the earth, blind with wrath?

12.8.6 He who would choose to live by begging, attempting no undertaking by any work at all, stripped of well-being and owning nothing, becomes notorious in all the worlds, joined neither to sons nor to cattle.

12.8.7 O king, if you abandon your prosperous kingdom and take up the most wretched way of life of a skull-bearing mendicant, what will this world say of you?

12.8.8 Renouncing all undertakings, stripped of well-being and owning nothing—why, my lord, do you long to go about begging like a common man?

12.8.9 Born in this royal house, having conquered the whole earth, you would forsake dharma and artha entire and set out for the forest in your folly!

12.8.10 If the wicked should make havoc here of these oblations, abandoned by you, then upon you alone the sin will fall.

12.8.11 "Possessing nothing is not to be wished for," thus did Nahuṣa declare; for in poverty deeds turn cruel. Fie upon poverty in this world!

12.8.12 The life of the seers that takes no thought for the morrow exists indeed—this you know; but that which men call dharma proceeds from wealth.

12.8.13 Whoever steals a man's wealth steals his dharma along with it; and when our wealth is borne away, O king, to whom shall we show forbearance?

12.8.14 Men look upon the poor man standing at their side as though he were a condemned criminal; poverty is a grievous fault in the world—who could ever praise it?

12.8.15 The fallen man is pitied, O king, and the man without wealth is pitied too; I find no difference between the outcast and the destitute.

12.8.16 From riches grown abundant, gathered from this source and that, all undertakings spring forth, as rivers spring from the mountains.

12.8.17 From wealth come dharma and pleasure and heaven too, O lord of men; for the very sustenance of life in the world is not secured without wealth.

12.8.18 For the man bereft of wealth and of little wit, all undertakings dry up, as the little streams in the summer's heat.

12.8.19 He who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has kinsmen; he who has wealth is a man in the world, and he who has wealth is also accounted learned.

12.8.20 By a poor man, however much he desires wealth and seeks to gain it, wealth cannot be won; wealth is bound fast by wealth, as great elephants are caught by elephants.

12.8.21 Dharma and pleasure and heaven, joy, anger, learning, and self-control—all these proceed from wealth, O lord of men.

12.8.22 From wealth lineage arises, from wealth dharma proceeds; for the man without wealth there is neither this world nor the next, O best of men.

12.8.23 The man without wealth cannot duly perform the works of dharma; for dharma flows forth from wealth as a mountain stream from the rock.

12.8.24 He whose horses are lean, whose cattle are lean, whose servants and guests are lean—he, O king, is the truly lean man; not he who is lean of body.

12.8.25 Reflect as is right; consider how it was between gods and asuras. O king, by what else than the slaughter of their kinsmen do the very gods prosper?

12.8.26 If another's property were not to be seized, how could one undertake that as dharma? This very conclusion has been fixed by the sages in the Vedas.

12.8.27 The threefold knowledge is to be studied, and one must become wise; by every means wealth is to be acquired, and sacrifice performed with diligence.

12.8.28 By hostility the gods won their stations in heaven on every side—so the gods determined, and so run the eternal pronouncements of the Veda.

12.8.29 They study, they perform austerities, they sacrifice and make others sacrifice; and all that is the highest good—even what they take from another.

12.8.30 Nowhere do we see any wealth that has not been taken by force from some other; and even thus do kings conquer this earth.

12.8.31 Having conquered, they claim ownership, like sons over a father's wealth; the royal sages who have won heaven—theirs, it is declared, is dharma.

12.8.32 Just as the waters flow from the full ocean to the ten directions, even so does wealth go forth from the royal house and establish itself over the earth.

12.8.33 This earth was Dilīpa's, and Nṛga's, and Nahuṣa's, and Ambarīṣa's, and Māndhātṛ's; that same earth now rests in you.

12.8.34 A sacrifice rich in goods, with all its sacrificial fees, has come to you; if you do not offer it, O king, you incur sin against the gods.

12.8.35 Those for whom a king offers the horse-sacrifice, attended with its fees—drawing near to its concluding ablution, they all become purified.

12.8.36 The great god of universal form, in the great rite of the all-sacrifice, offered up all beings, and himself as well, by his own self.

12.8.37 Eternal is this path of prosperity; we have never heard of its end. Great is the road that the son of Daśaratha trod: do not, O king, go by a crooked path.

12.9.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For but a moment, holding mind and hearing steady within your inmost self, listen; and then let my words find favour with you.

12.9.2 Never again, for your sake, would I tread the road travelled by the common throng; that road I shall now go, forsaking the pleasures of the village.

12.9.3 Ask of me, "What safe road is there to be walked alone?" Or, if you do not wish to ask, then hear me even unasked.

12.9.4 Forsaking the ways and comforts of the village, performing great austerity, eating fruits and roots, I shall wander in the forest among the deer.

12.9.5 Offering into the fire at its due season, touching water at both the twilights, lean, of measured fare, clad in deerskin and bark and wearing matted locks.

12.9.6 Bearing cold and wind and heat, enduring hunger and thirst and weariness, drying up this body by austerity such as the ordinances prescribe.

12.9.7 Ever hearing the cries, high and low, that delight the mind and ear, of the joyful beasts and birds that dwell in the woodlands.

12.9.8 Breathing in the delicate fragrances of the blossoming trees and creepers, beholding in the forest the lovely woodland dwellers of every form.

12.9.9 Even toward the forest-dwelling hermit who keeps to his lineage I shall do no unkindness when he comes into my sight; how much less, then, toward those who dwell in villages.

12.9.10 Devoted to solitude and given to reflection, I shall sustain myself on what is ripe or unripe, and gratify the ancestors and the gods with the produce of the wild, with sacred words, and with water.

12.9.11 Thus observing the severe—nay, the ever more severe—ordinance of the forest scriptures, I shall await the ending of this body.

12.9.12 Or else, alone and for a single day at the foot of each several tree, a shaven sage going about for alms, I shall wear away this frame.

12.9.13 Covered over with dust, taking shelter in an empty house, or making my dwelling at the root of a tree, having renounced all that is dear and all that is hateful;

12.9.14 neither grieving nor rejoicing, holding blame and self-praise alike, having become free of longing, free of possessiveness, beyond the pairs of opposites, and owning nothing;

12.9.15 taking delight in the Self, serene of spirit, in semblance like one dull, blind, and deaf, never forming any compact with another, with anyone at all;

12.9.16 doing no harm to any of the four kinds of beings, moving and unmoving, but even-minded toward all creatures, who abide each in its own nature, toward every bearer of life;

12.9.17 mocking no one, never knitting the brow in anger anywhere, ever serene of countenance, with all the senses well restrained;

12.9.18 asking no one the way, walking by whatever path it may be, desiring to go to no particular region and to no particular quarter;

12.9.19 indifferent as to my going, and never looking back behind me, walking straight onward with collected mind, sparing both the moving and the unmoving;

12.9.20 my own nature leading the way before me, my morsels of food springing up of themselves—giving no thought to all those contraries and opposing pairs;

12.9.21 food little or savorless, or, when a first round has yielded nothing, going on to other houses too for a gift; and failing of a gift, completing seven such rounds.

12.9.22 When the smoke has died, the pestle is laid by, the embers are cold, and the household has eaten, when the passing round of the begging-bowls is over and the hour of mendicants is gone;

12.9.23 going for alms but once a day, to two houses, or to five, freed of the snares of craving, I shall wander over this earth.

12.9.24 Acting in no way as one who longs to live, nor as one who longs to die, neither welcoming life and death nor loathing them;

12.9.25 toward the one who hews my arm with an adze and the one who anoints the other arm with sandal-paste, thinking neither ill nor good of either of the two;

12.9.26 having wholly abandoned all those acts of worldly advancement that a living man may perform, abiding within the span of a single instant and the like;

12.9.27 ever unattached to those acts, having forsaken all the workings of the senses, having well renounced all design, having cleansed away the defilement of the self;

12.9.28 released from every clinging, gone beyond all snares, standing in no one's power, sharing the nature of the wind that moves through the sky.

12.9.29 Wandering thus, free of passion, I shall attain to lasting contentment; for it is by craving, out of ignorance, that I have been made to commit great sin.

12.9.30 Having done deeds both good and evil, certain men maintain what they call their own kindred, bound together as effect with cause.

12.9.31 At life's end, when he casts off this all-but-wasted body, that sin lays hold of its doer; for it is the fruit of the deed that belongs to him who did it.

12.9.32 Thus, in this wheel of transmigration whirling round like a chariot-wheel, this throng of beings, driven by its tasks, comes together with another throng of beings.

12.9.33 For him who forsakes this round of rebirth—pithless and ill-ending, beset by birth, death, old age, sickness, and pain—there is happiness.

12.9.34 When even gods fall from heaven and great seers from their stations, who indeed that knows the truth of causes would still be a seeker after worldly existence?

12.9.35 For having done manifold deeds, each marked by its own diverse character, a king is bound fast by other princes upon the slenderest of pretexts.

12.9.36 Therefore, this nectar of wisdom has at long last come to me; and having gained it, I seek that state which is imperishable, eternal, and fixed.

12.9.37 Wandering ever by this manner of life, in this very fashion, I shall sustain my body, having set foot upon the path that is free of fear.

12.10.1 Bhīma said: Like that of some dull, unlettered reciter of scripture, O king, your understanding is deadened by recitations and does not perceive the true meaning of things.

12.10.2 You who have set your heart upon idleness and who spurn the duty of kings—in the destruction of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's sons, what fruit will there be, O bull of the Bhāratas?

12.10.3 For one who treads the warrior's path, no forbearance, pity, compassion, or gentleness toward a kinsman has any place in the moment between you and him.

12.10.4 Had we known this mind of yours to be of such a sort, we would never have taken up the weapon, nor would we have slain any man at all.

12.10.5 We would have gone about for alms until the release of the body, and this terrible war of the kings of the earth would never have come to be.

12.10.6 All this is the food of life—so the wise have known; the unmoving and the moving alike, all of it is the nourishment of the breath of life.

12.10.7 Whoever stand in the way of one who is taking a kingdom—those, the wise who know the duty of warriors have declared, must be slain.

12.10.8 Those guilty men, the obstructers of your kingdom, have been slain by us; having slain them, enjoy this earth in righteousness, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.10.9 As a man, having dug a well but reached no water, should turn back smeared with mud—just like that is this work of ours.

12.10.10 As one, having climbed a great tree and taken the honey from it, should go to his death without tasting it—just like that is this work of ours.

12.10.11 As a man, falling along a long road in hope, should turn back hopeless—just like that is this work of ours.

12.10.12 As a man, O best of the Kurus, having had his enemies slain, should afterward destroy himself—of just such a kind is this work of ours.

12.10.13 As a hungry man, having got food, should by some whim not eat it, or a lover, having won the woman he desires, should let her go—of just such a kind is this work of ours.

12.10.14 We ourselves are the ones to be blamed in this, we who are dull of wit and who follow you, O king, merely because you are the eldest, O Bhārata.

12.10.15 For we, mighty of arm, accomplished in learning, and high of spirit, stand obedient to the word of a weakling, as though we were powerless ourselves.

12.10.16 Bereft of all recourse, our purpose ruined just when our aim was to be fulfilled—how should men not look upon us as such men are looked upon?

12.10.17 It is taught that renunciation is to be undertaken in a time of calamity—by one overtaken by old age, or one outwitted and undone by his foes.

12.10.18 Therefore those of ripened wisdom do not commend renunciation here and now; the keen-sighted hold this very thing to be a transgression of dharma.

12.10.19 How should one who is sprung from it, founded upon it, and sheltered by it, sit there reviling that very thing? Or is one's trust to be placed elsewhere?

12.10.20 It is set going by men bereft of fortune, by the poor, by unbelievers—this doctrine that decries the teaching of the Veda, falsehood wearing the semblance of truth.

12.10.21 One may, by taking to a shaven head and maintaining oneself by oneself, putting on dharma as a disguise, manage to subsist—but not truly to live.

12.10.22 And again, one may live easily and alone in the forests, supporting neither sons nor grandsons, neither the divine seers, nor guests, nor the ancestors.

12.10.23 These deer are not winners of heaven, nor the boars, nor the birds; yet if it were by this manner of life, men would have declared them holy—and they do not.

12.10.24 If, O king, anyone could win perfection by mere renunciation, then the mountains and the trees would swiftly attain to perfection.

12.10.25 For these are seen to be ever in renunciation, free of all affliction, owning nothing, and forever moving by their own nature alone.

12.10.26 But if a man attains perfection by his own destiny and not by that of others, then it is action alone that must be performed; there is no perfection for the man without action.

12.10.27 Then creatures of the water and the rest of created things would attain perfection—they who have only themselves to maintain and no other being whatever.

12.10.28 Behold how the world is busied, each thing with its own several deeds; therefore it is action alone that must be performed; there is no perfection for the man without action.

12.11.1 Arjuna said: On this very matter they tell this ancient tale, the colloquy of Śakra with certain ascetics, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.11.2 Certain brāhmaṇas, forsaking their homes, went away to the forest—dull-witted, their beards not yet grown, born of good family, they took to the wandering life.

12.11.3 Deeming this to be dharma, they took their stand in chastity, having abandoned their homes and their fathers; and Indra took pity upon them.

12.11.4 The Lord, becoming a bird of gold, addressed them: "A thing most hard to do is this that men have done, men who eat the leavings of others' meals.

12.11.5 Holy, indeed, is the deed of these, and praiseworthy their manner of life; perfected, devoted to dharma, they have reached the foremost goal."

12.11.6 The seers said: "Ah! this bird praises the eaters of leavings! Surely he is instructing us—for we too are eaters of leavings."

12.11.7 The bird said: "I do not praise you, smeared with mud, soiled with dust, eaters of refuse, dull of wit; quite other are the true eaters of leavings.

12.11.8 The seers said: "This we have honored as the supreme good. O bird, tell us what is the higher good; truly we put great faith in you."

12.11.9 The bird said: "If you do not mistrust me, having tested your own selves by your own selves, then I shall declare to you a word salutary and according to the truth.

12.11.10 The seers said: "We hearken to your word, dear one; well known to us are your ways. We wish to stand by your command, O righteous one; instruct us."

12.11.11 The bird said: "Among four-footed creatures the cow is foremost; among metals gold is best; among sounds the sacred mantra is foremost; and the brāhmaṇa is the best of two-footed beings.

12.11.12 This mantra, the rite of birth and the rest, is ordained for the brāhmaṇa, for him who lives—each in its due season—until his laying to rest in the burning-ground.

12.11.13 His are the Vedic rites; the path to heaven is the unsurpassed one; and they declare that all rites are made effectual by the mantra.

12.11.14 Those founded firmly upon the sacred tradition—so is fulfillment held to be attained herein. Months and half-months and seasons, the sun, the moon, and the stars,

12.11.15 and all beings strive on—that is the cosmic order for those bound to action. This is the holy field of fulfillment; this very order is the great stage of life.

12.11.16 But those men who, decrying action, have gone upon the wrong road—of those deluded ones, bereft of all good, there is found only sin.

12.11.17 Forsaking the lineages of the gods, the lineages of the ancestors, and the eternal lineages of brahman, the deluded carry on, and thereby pass onto a path not sanctioned by the scriptures.

12.11.18 Let this be your fitting austerity—the giving prompted by the seer's word, 'I bestow.' Therefore, for one who is intent upon it, the austerity of the austere man is so named.

12.11.19 Apportioning their due to the lineages of the gods, the lineages of the ancestors, and the eternal lineages of brahman, and serving one's teacher—that, truly, is called the hard thing to do.

12.11.20 The very gods, by doing the hard thing, attained to supreme dominion; therefore I declare to you that to bear up the householder's life is hard to do.

12.11.21 This is the highest austerity, and the root of all creatures—of that there is no doubt—this ordinance of the household, wherein all things have their ground.

12.11.22 This the brāhmaṇas, gone beyond the pairs of opposites and free of envy, have known as austerity; and so the forest life is reckoned only a middling austerity among the worlds.

12.11.23 And to the unassailable state go the true eaters of leavings, who at evening and at morning apportion the food within their own household according to the ordinance."

12.11.24 Those who eat what remains after they have first given to guests, to the gods, to the ancestors, and to their own kin—these are called the eaters of the leavings, the vighasāśins.

12.11.25 Therefore, abiding in their own duty, firm in their vows and truthful in speech, having become the teachers of the world, they remain unblemished and undefiled.

12.11.26 Reaching the third heaven, the celestial realm of Śakra, free from all envy, those who perform deeds hard to perform dwell there for everlasting years.

12.11.27 Then, having heard his words fraught with righteousness and worldly gain, they abandoned the path of the unbelievers and took refuge in the duty of the householder's life.

12.11.28 Therefore you too, O unassailable one, taking hold of an unwavering steadiness, govern the whole earth now that her enemies are slain, O best of men.

12.12.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard the words of Arjuna, Nakula spoke, gazing upon the king, that foremost of all upholders of duty.

12.12.2 Deferring to his brother's mind, that subduer of foes, deeply wise, broad-chested and mighty-armed, his face coppery and his speech measured, spoke thus.

12.12.3 At the sacrificial post of Viśākhayūpa the fires of all the gods were kindled; know therefore, O great king, that the gods themselves abide on the path of ritual action.

12.12.4 The ancestors, the givers of life to the faithful, are themselves no unbelievers; they too perform action alone—behold this ordinance, O lord of the earth. But those who reject the teachings of the Veda, know them to be unbelievers in the extreme.

12.12.5 For the brāhmaṇa who casts aside what the Veda has declared in all his works does not attain the summit of heaven by the path of the gods, O descendant of Bharata.

12.12.6 There are those who transcend all the orders of life, so say the brāhmaṇas learned in scripture and certain in their grasp of the Veda; mark them well, O ruler of men.

12.12.7 He who pours forth his wealth righteously gained upon the foremost of sacrifices and upon men of disciplined soul—that man, O great king, is remembered as a true renouncer.

12.12.8 But he who, heedless of his own well-being and grounded only in what lies beyond, casts away his very self—that self-renouncer, O great king, is a renouncer steeped in dark inertia, O lord.

12.12.9 The sage who is homeless and wandering, taking shelter at the roots of trees, kindling no cooking fire, ever absorbed in yoga—that mendicant, O Pārtha, is a renouncer.

12.12.10 The brāhmaṇa who, disregarding anger and elation and slander alike, O lord of peoples, studies the Vedas and honours his teacher—he is a renouncer.

12.12.11 The wise declare that all the orders of life are held even upon a balance: on one side, O king, stand the three orders together, and on the other the household life alone.

12.12.12 He who keeps in view worldly gain, desire, and heaven alike, O descendant of Bharata—this is the path of the great sages, this the course of those who know the worlds.

12.12.13 He who shapes his disposition thus is the true renouncer, O bull of the Bhāratas—not he who abandons his home and goes to the forest like one bewildered.

12.12.14 When the crooked man who hunts the snare of righteousness merely to gratify his desires looks upon those desires, then the king of death binds him by the throat with the noose of death.

12.12.15 Action done out of pride is said to bear no fruit; but joined with renunciation, O great king, every deed yields a mighty fruit.

12.12.16 Tranquillity, restraint, austerity, giving, truth, purity, and uprightness, sacrifice, fortitude, and righteousness—this is remembered as the eternal ordinance of the sages.

12.12.17 Herein the undertaking made for the sake of the ancestors, the gods, and guests is praised; for here alone, O great king, the threefold aim of life is the entire fruit.

12.12.18 For the renouncer who treads this ordinance practised by the brāhmaṇas, who goes forward upon it, there is found no ruin anywhere at all.

12.12.19 For Prajāpati, the stainless one of tranquil soul, brought forth creatures, O king, thinking, 'They shall worship me with sacrifices of manifold gifts.'

12.12.20 And the creepers and the trees, and likewise the healing herbs for the sake of sacrifice, and the beasts fit for offering, and the oblations meant for sacrifice.

12.12.21 And the work of sacrifice falls hard upon the one who dwells in the householder's order; therefore the household life here is difficult to perform and difficult to attain.

12.12.22 Those householders who, having gained that state and being well supplied with cattle and grain, yet do not sacrifice—upon them, O great king, rests an everlasting guilt.

12.12.23 Some sages make their sacrifice of sacred study, others their sacrifice of knowledge, and yet others perform the great sacrifices by the mind alone.

12.12.24 For the twice-born one who thus treads the path of giving and inward composure, who has become one with Brahman, O king, even the dwellers in heaven yearn.

12.12.25 Without bestowing in sacrifices the varied jewels gathered from here and there, you prattle of unbelief; in one who clings to his household I see no renunciation, O ruler of men.

12.12.26 With the Rājasūya and the Aśvamedha, or again with the Sarvamedha and whatever other rites are honoured by the brāhmaṇas, my dear—worship with these, O great king, as Śakra the lord of the gods once did.

12.12.27 That king who, through the fault of his own negligence, offers no refuge to his subjects while they are plundered by brigands—he is called a very embodiment of strife, a Kali among kings.

12.12.28 Horses and cattle and serving-women, and richly adorned she-elephants, and villages and provinces, and fields and houses—

12.12.29 if we do not bestow these upon the twice-born, our minds possessed by selfish envy, we shall become the very dregs and strife of kings, O lord of peoples.

12.12.30 Those who give nothing and afford no refuge, who partake of the guilt that stains kings, are the enjoyers of sorrows alone and never of joys.

12.12.31 If, without having worshipped with the great sacrifices, without having offered the libation to the ancestors, and without having bestowed gifts at the holy fords, you shall then go forth as a wanderer—

12.12.32 you will go to your dissolution like a sundered cloud driven by the wind, fallen from both worlds and left suspended in the void between them.

12.12.33 Whatever, within or without, breeds attachment in the mind—by relinquishing that does one become a renouncer, not by merely forsaking his place and going elsewhere.

12.12.34 For the brāhmaṇa who treads this ordinance practised by the wise, O great king, there is found no ruin anywhere at all.

12.12.35 Having swiftly struck down his flourishing foes, as Śakra struck the hosts of the Daityas in battle—who, O Pārtha, devoted to his own duty, should grieve over a path remembered by the ancients and cherished by the virtuous, O lord of the earth?

12.12.36 Having conquered the earth by the kṣatriya's law and by your valour, and bestowed it upon those who know the sacred verses, you shall go to the summit of heaven, O lord of men; there is nothing for you to grieve over this day, O Pārtha.

12.13.1 Sahadeva said: Perfection does not come by casting away outward possessions, O descendant of Bharata; by casting away the possession that is the body, perfection may come, or it may not.

12.13.2 Whatever merit or whatever happiness belongs to one who is free of outward possessions yet still craves the things of the body—let that fall to the lot of those who hate us.

12.13.3 Whatever merit or whatever happiness belongs to one who casts away even the possession that is the body while he governs the earth—let that fall to the lot of our friends.

12.13.4 Of two syllables is Death, mṛtyu; of three syllables is the eternal Brahman, śāśvatam. 'Mine' is Death; 'not mine' is the eternal.

12.13.5 Both Brahman and Death, O king, abide together within the self alone; unseen, they wage war over all beings—of this there is no doubt.

12.13.6 If the indestructibility of this living essence is a fixed truth, O descendant of Bharata, then in cleaving the bodies of beings no real injury is incurred.

12.13.7 But if, on the other hand, the essence arises together with the body and so too dissolves with it, then when the body perishes it would perish as well, and the whole path of ritual action would be in vain.

12.13.8 Therefore, casting aside this extreme view, the path that was followed by the ancients and by those still earlier, by the good—that path should be followed by the one who truly knows.

12.13.9 The king who, even having won the whole earth with all that stands still and all that moves, does not rightly enjoy it—his life is fruitless.

12.13.10 And on the other hand, O king, of one who dwells in the forest and lives upon its wild fare, if he still feels the sense of 'mine' toward possessions, he abides within the very jaws of death.

12.13.11 Behold the true nature of things both outward and inward, O descendant of Bharata; those who perceive that nature are released from the great fear.

12.13.12 You are my father, you my mother, you my brother, you my teacher; therefore you should forgive me, a man in distress, the grief-stricken lamentations I have uttered.

12.13.13 Whether what I have here spoken be true or untrue, know it to be spoken out of devotion, O protector of the earth, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.14.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: While Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Kuntī, the king of righteousness, kept silent, and his brothers were declaring their various certainties drawn from the Veda—

12.14.2 Draupadī, sprung from a great lineage, radiant and large-eyed, the foremost of women, addressed that lord of kings.

12.14.3 He sat there, a bull among kings, encircled by his brothers who were like lions and tigers—even as the leader of a herd is encircled by elephants.

12.14.4 Ever proud, and most of all toward Yudhiṣṭhira, forever cherished by the king, she who knew righteousness and beheld righteousness—

12.14.5 the broad-hipped one, addressing her lord with words exceedingly gentle and conciliatory, and gazing upon him, then spoke.

12.14.6 These brothers of yours, O Pārtha, stand here parched like the cātaka birds, crying out again and again, yet you give them no answering gladness.

12.14.7 Gladden them, O great king, who like great rutting elephants have long been partakers of sorrow, with words that befit the occasion.

12.14.8 How is it, O king, that in the Dvaita forest you once spoke such words to these your brothers, gathered together and tormented by cold, wind, and heat—

12.14.9 'Having slain Duryodhana in battle, we shall enjoy the earth, full of all that the heart desires'—we who longed for victory in the fray?

12.14.10 'Having unhorsed the chariot-warriors and slain the great elephants, and strewn the earth with chariots and their riders, O subduers of foes—'

12.14.11 'We shall worship with manifold sacrifices, abundant and supplied with fitting gifts; and the sorrow wrought by our forest-dwelling shall turn to our joy.'

12.14.12 Having yourself spoken to them in this very wise, O foremost of the upholders of duty, how is it, O hero, that today you crush their spirits again?

12.14.13 No weakling enjoys the earth, no weakling partakes of wealth; in the weakling's house no sons abide—they perish like fish in the mud.

12.14.14 The kṣatriya who wields no rod of chastisement does not shine; without the rod he gains no prosperity; without the rod of the king, his subjects do not thrive in happiness, O descendant of Bharata.

12.14.15 Friendliness toward all beings, giving, sacred study, and austerity—this would be the duty of the brāhmaṇa, not of the king, O best of kings.

12.14.16 The restraint of the wicked and the protection of the good—this is the supreme duty of kings, and not to flee in battle.

12.14.17 He in whom dwell forbearance and anger, giving and withholding, fear and fearlessness, and both punishment and grace—he indeed is called one who knows what is right.

12.14.18 Not by learning, nor by giving, nor by conciliation, nor by sacrifice, nor yet by bribery was this earth won by you.

12.14.19 That mighty host of your enemies, raised up by heroes, abounding in elephants, horses, and chariots, the greater for its three divisions—

12.14.20 guarded by Droṇa and Karṇa, by Aśvatthāman and Kṛpa—that host you struck down, O hero; therefore enjoy the earth.

12.14.21 Jambūdvīpa, O great king, thronged with its many provinces, was crushed by you, O tiger among men, by the rod of chastisement, O lord.

12.14.22 Krauñcadvīpa, the equal of Jambūdvīpa, O ruler of men, lying to the west of the great Meru, was crushed by you with the rod.

12.14.23 Śākadvīpa, the equal of Krauñcadvīpa, O ruler of men, lying to the east of the great Meru, was crushed by you with the rod.

12.14.24 Bhadrāśva, equal in measure to Śākadvīpa and lying to the north of the great Meru, O tiger among men, was crushed by you with the rod.

12.14.25 And the continents together with their lesser islands, the dwelling-places of many peoples—plunging across the ocean, O hero, you crushed them with the rod.

12.14.26 Having wrought these matchless deeds, O descendant of Bharata, you take no joy, O great king, though you are honoured by the twice-born.

12.14.27 So you, O Bhārata, looking upon these your brothers, greet them with gladness—like bulls in their prime, like mighty lordly elephants in rut.

12.14.28 All of them are the equals of the immortals, able to withstand any foe, scorchers of their enemies; and even one of them, I think, would suffice to bring you happiness.

12.14.29 How much more, then, these tigers among men, my husbands, bulls among men—who are to you as all the senses together are to the body in its every action.

12.14.30 My mother-in-law, who knew all and saw all, told me no falsehood when she said: 'O Pāñcālī, Yudhiṣṭhira shall establish you in happiness beyond compare.'

12.14.31 You of swift valour, having slain many thousands of kings—yet all of that I now see made vain through your bewilderment, O lord of men.

12.14.32 Those whose eldest is crazed all follow in his train; and so, O lord of kings, through your madness all the Pāṇḍavas are stricken with madness too.

12.14.33 For if your brothers were not maddened, O lord of men, they would bind you and, together with the unbelievers, would themselves rule the earth.

12.14.34 For he who acts thus foolishly and does not attain his good is to be treated with fumigations, salves, nasal remedies, and drugs—he who walks upon a wayward path is one to be healed.

12.14.35 And so I, O best of the Bhāratas, am the basest of all women in the world—I who, though our foes have been brought low, still wish to go on living.

12.14.36 To these men who strive, prosperity comes of its own accord; but you, having won the whole earth, fashion calamity for yourself.

12.14.37 As Māndhātṛ and Ambarīṣa, those best of kings, were honoured of kings upon the earth—so, O king, do you shine forth.

12.14.38 Rule the goddess Earth with her mountains, forests, and islands, guarding your subjects according to dharma; do not, O king, be downcast in spirit.

12.14.39 Offer sacrifice with manifold rites, pouring oblations into the fires; and bestow cities, enjoyments, and garments upon the twice-born, O foremost of kings.

12.15.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard the words of Yājñasenī, Arjuna again spoke, after paying due deference to his mighty-armed eldest brother, his lord.

12.15.2 The Rod of governance chastises all subjects; the Rod alone protects them; the Rod keeps watch while they sleep—the wise know the Rod to be dharma itself.

12.15.3 The Rod safeguards dharma, and likewise wealth, O lord of men; the Rod safeguards desire as well—the Rod is said to be the threefold aim of life.

12.15.4 By the Rod is grain protected, by the Rod is wealth protected; grasp this, O learned one, and behold the very nature of the world.

12.15.5 Through fear of the king's Rod some evildoers commit no evil; some refrain through fear of Yama's rod, and some through fear of the world to come.

12.15.6 Through fear of one another some evildoers commit no evil; thus, in this established world, all things rest upon the Rod.

12.15.7 Through fear of the Rod alone some do not devour one another; men would sink into blind darkness were the Rod not to protect them.

12.15.8 Because it subdues the unsubdued and punishes the untaught—through this subduing and this punishing the wise call it the Rod, daṇḍa.

12.15.9 For the brāhmaṇas the rod lies in speech, for the kṣatriyas in the strength of the arm; the vaiśya's rod is reckoned to be giving, while the śūdra is said to wield no rod at all.

12.15.10 That mortals might not be confounded, and that their wealth might be preserved, the bound called the Rod was established in the world, O lord of the people.

12.15.11 Where the dark, red-eyed Rod moves abroad in truth and justice, there the subjects are not led astray—provided the ruler sees rightly.

12.15.12 The student, the householder, the forest-dweller, and the mendicant—all these men keep to their proper path through fear of the Rod alone.

12.15.13 No man without fear offers sacrifice, O king; no fearless man wishes to give; nor does any fearless man wish to keep to his covenant.

12.15.14 Without cutting into the foe's vital points, without doing terrible deeds, without slaying like a fisherman killing fish, no man wins great fortune.

12.15.15 For one who does not slay there is here no glory, no wealth, nor again any subjects; it was by the killing of Vṛtra alone that Indra became the great Indra.

12.15.16 Those very gods who are slayers the world worships most ardently: the slayer Rudra, and Skanda, Śakra, Agni, Varuṇa, and Yama;

12.15.17 the slayer Kāla, and Vāyu, Mṛtyu, Vaiśravaṇa, and the Sun; the Vasus, the Maruts, the Sādhyas, and the Viśvedevas, O Bhārata.

12.15.18 To these gods the people bow, bent low before their fierce power; but to Brahmā, to Dhātṛ, to Pūṣan, never in any wise.

12.15.19 Only a few men, themselves tranquil in all their works, worship those gods who are indifferent toward all beings, self-restrained, and devoted to peace.

12.15.20 For I see no creature in the world that lives by non-injury; living beings live upon living beings, the stronger upon the weaker.

12.15.21 The mongoose eats mice, and the cat eats the mongoose; the dog devours the cat, O king, and the beast of prey the dog.

12.15.22 And man eats all of these—behold how dharma has come to be! All this, both moving and unmoving, is food for the breath of life.

12.15.23 In this ordinance, decreed by the gods, the wise man is not bewildered; as you were created, O lord of kings, so must you consent to be.

12.15.24 For even those dull souls who, having quelled their anger and joy, have withdrawn to the forest—those ascetics cannot sustain their lives without some killing.

12.15.25 In water are many living things, and in the earth, and in fruits; and there is no one who does not kill them—what else is this but the mere sustaining of life?

12.15.26 There are beings born of subtle wombs, some apprehensible only by inference, whose mass of life might be undone by the mere falling of an eyelash.

12.15.27 Sages who have gone forth from the villages, free of anger and envy, are yet seen in the forest, deluded, keeping up the duties of a household.

12.15.28 Breaking the earth, cutting down herbs, trees, and the like, slaying egg-born creatures and beasts, men carry out their sacrifices—and so attain heaven.

12.15.29 When the science of governance is rightly applied, all undertakings of every being prosper, O son of Kuntī; of this I have no doubt.

12.15.30 Were there no Rod in the world, these subjects would perish; the stronger would roast the weaker as fish upon a spit.

12.15.31 And this is the truth that Brahmā spoke of old: the Rod, rightly wielded, protects the subjects. Behold—the fires die down when unafraid, but when goaded by fear of the Rod they blaze up.

12.15.32 All this would be as blind darkness, and nothing could be discerned, were there no Rod in the world to divide the good from the wicked.

12.15.33 Even those who have broken every bound, the unbelievers and revilers of the Vedas, are rendered fit for enjoyment when hard pressed by the Rod.

12.15.34 The whole world is governed by the Rod, for a pure man is hard to find; it is through dread, in fear of the Rod, that a man here is made fit for enjoyment.

12.15.35 That the four orders might not fall into confusion, and that they might be led by sound policy, the Rod was ordained by the Creator to safeguard dharma and wealth.

12.15.36 If birds and beasts of prey did not fear the Rod, they would devour the cattle and men, and the oblations meant for sacrifice.

12.15.37 No student would study, no fair cow would be milked, no maiden would be led to marriage, were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.38 Universal ruin would set in, all moral boundaries would be shattered, and men would know no sense of "mine," were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.39 The year-long sacrificial sessions, fearless and richly endowed with proper sacrificial fees, could not be sustained, were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.40 Men would not follow the duty of their station as prescribed, keeping to the rule, nor would anyone attain learning, were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.41 Neither camels nor oxen, nor horses, mules, and asses would, when yoked, draw the carriages, were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.42 Servants would not obey command, nor would a child ever abide by the duty prescribed by his father, were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.43 Upon the Rod all subjects stand; the wise know the Rod to be fear itself; upon the Rod rest both the heaven of men and this very world.

12.15.44 There no deceit, no evil, nor any fraud is seen, where the Rod, well-ordained and destroyer of foes, walks abroad.

12.15.45 The dog would boldly lap up the oblation were the Rod not held aloft; the crow would carry off the sacrificial cake, were the Rod not to protect us.

12.15.46 Whether this kingship has been ordained righteously or unrighteously, no grief should be felt over it; enjoy your pleasures and offer sacrifice.

12.15.47 The prosperous, clad in clean raiment, dwelling with their beloved wives and eating the finest food, practise dharma in ease.

12.15.48 Upon wealth all undertakings depend, without doubt; and wealth itself depends upon the Rod—behold the greatness of the Rod!

12.15.49 It is for the sake of the world's course that the teaching of dharma was made here. "Non-injury" and "the slaying of the wicked is righteous slaying"—of these, the wider embrace of dharma is the better.

12.15.50 No one is wholly endowed with virtue, nor is anyone wholly devoid of it; in all actions both are seen—the good and the bad alike.

12.15.51 Men geld the cattle and then pierce their nostrils; many drag heavy loads, and they bind the beasts and break them in.

12.15.52 In a world thus thrown into turmoil, gone astray and worn to tatters, practise the ancient dharma, O great king, by those very rules of conduct.

12.15.53 Sacrifice, give, protect your subjects, and uphold dharma; slay your enemies, O son of Kuntī, and cherish your friends.

12.15.54 And let there be no anguish in you when you slay your foes, O Bhārata; in that there is no sin at all for the doer, O Bhārata.

12.15.55 For he who slays an oncoming assailant bent on murder does not by that become a slayer of the unborn; rather, the assailant's own fury recoils upon his fury.

12.15.56 The inmost Self of all beings cannot be slain—of this there is no doubt; and if the Self cannot be slain, how can anyone be slain by any means?

12.15.57 For just as a man might enter again into a new house, so does the living soul pass into one body after another.

12.15.58 Casting off its old bodies, it takes on new ones; thus do those men who perceive the truth speak of the gateway of death.

12.16.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard the words of Arjuna, Bhīmasena, hard to provoke yet now stirred, the resplendent one, summoning his firmness, spoke to his eldest brother.

12.16.2 O king, you know what dharma is; there is nothing upon earth unknown to you. We ever strive to learn your conduct, yet we are not able to.

12.16.3 "I will not speak, I will not speak"—thus it was fixed in my mind; yet out of overwhelming grief I shall speak. Hear it then, O lord of men.

12.16.4 By your bewilderment all has been thrown into doubt; faintness of heart has come upon us, and weakness as well.

12.16.5 How is it that a king of the world, skilled in all the treatises, falls into delusion out of dejection, like some base man?

12.16.6 The coming and going of the world are known to you; in things to come and in the present moment alike, there is nothing unknown to you, O lord.

12.16.7 This being so, O great king, lord of men, concerning the kingdom I shall now declare the reason; hear it here with single-minded attention.

12.16.8 Disease arises of two kinds, the bodily and the mental; their origins are bound to each other, and neither is found to arise free of the other.

12.16.9 From the bodily arises the mental disease—of this there is no doubt; and from the mental arises the bodily: such is the settled conclusion.

12.16.10 He who grieves over bodily or mental pain that is already past gains only more pain by his pain, and so meets with two misfortunes together.

12.16.11 Cold, heat, and wind—these are the three humours born of the body; the balance of these humours is called the mark of health.

12.16.12 When any one of them grows excessive, a remedy is prescribed: cold is countered by heat, and heat is driven off by cold.

12.16.13 Goodness (sattva), passion (rajas), and darkness (tamas)—these are the three qualities of the mind; sorrow is countered by joy, and joy is countered by sorrow.

12.16.14 One man, dwelling in happiness, wishes to recall his sorrow; another, dwelling in sorrow, wishes to recall his happiness.

12.16.15 But you—you are neither one who sorrows over sorrow nor one who rejoices over joy; you are not pained by what springs from joy, nor gladdened by what springs from pain.

12.16.16 You ought to remember, O Kaurava, that fate is the stronger force; or else it is this nature of your own, O king, by which you are dragged about.

12.16.17 You ought not to recall the day when Kṛṣṇā was dragged into the assembly, clad in a single garment and in her courses, before the very eyes of the sons of Pāṇḍu.

12.16.18 You ought not to recall our banishment from the city, our dwelling clothed in deerskins, and our long sojourn in the great forest.

12.16.19 The torment we suffered from Jaṭāsura, the battle with Citrasena, the affliction at the hands of the lord of the Sindhus, and again, during the year of concealment, the murderous kick of Kīcaka—how have you forgotten these?

12.16.20 The war you waged against Droṇa and Bhīṣma, O subduer of foes, is past; but now this dreadful war with your own mind alone has come upon you.

12.16.21 A war in which there is no use for arrows, nor for friends, nor for kinsmen—a war to be fought by oneself alone—that is the war now set before you.

12.16.22 If you give up your life in this war while it is yet unconquered, then, taking up another body, you will have to fight that very same battle once again.

12.16.23 Therefore this very day you must press to the end of that war, O bull of the Bhāratas; for having won it, great king, you will have accomplished all that is to be done.

12.16.24 Having grasped with sure resolve this knowledge of the coming and going of all creatures, govern the kingdom as is fitting, in the way of your fathers and forefathers.

12.16.25 By good fortune the wicked Duryodhana, with all his followers, has been slain in battle; by good fortune you have avenged the seizing of Draupadī's hair.

12.16.26 Offer the horse-sacrifice according to the rite, with its rich gifts to the priests; we are your servants, O Pārtha, and so too is the mighty Vāsudeva.

12.17.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Discontent, heedlessness, intoxication, passion, restlessness, force, delusion, conceit, and agitation of every kind—

12.17.2 possessed by these vices, you long for sovereignty. Be rid of the lure of the flesh, set free, made calm—and so be truly happy.

12.17.3 A single sovereign who should rule this whole earth—even he has but one belly to fill; why then do you prize this kingship so?

12.17.4 Desire cannot be filled in a day, O bull among men, nor in a month; striving to fill the unfillable, a man could not fill it though he spent his whole life.

12.17.5 As a fire blazes up when fed and dies down when it is not fed, so by taking little food quell the fire of appetite that has arisen; to conquer the belly is a better conquest than conquering the earth.

12.17.6 You praise the pleasures of human desire and lordly power; yet it is those without enjoyments, those without might, who attain the highest station.

12.17.7 The welfare and security of the realm, its right and its wrong, all rest upon you; free yourself of this great burden, and take refuge in renunciation alone.

12.17.8 For the sake of one belly the tiger makes a large kill; yet upon its leavings other slow-moving beasts also live.

12.17.9 The ascetic, withdrawing from the objects of sense, practises renunciation; but kings are never satisfied—see how the two ways of mind differ.

12.17.10 By those who feed on leaves, who grind their food on stones, who use their teeth for a mortar, who live on water or on air alone—by such men has this hell been conquered.

12.17.11 Of the king who should rule this whole earth entire, and the man to whom a stone and gold are alike—it is the latter, not the monarch, who has attained his end.

12.17.12 In your designs be free of undertakings, free of craving, free of the sense of "mine"; take your stand in that state which is without sorrow, imperishable here and hereafter.

12.17.13 Those free of the bait of the flesh do not grieve; for what worldly lure do you grieve? Renouncing all such lure, you will be set free even from falsehood.

12.17.14 Two paths are famed: the way of the fathers and the way of the gods; those who sacrifice go by the way of the fathers, but those who seek release go by the way of the gods.

12.17.15 Purified by austerity, by chastity, and by study of the sacred texts, they cast off their bodies and shine forth, having passed beyond the reach of death.

12.17.16 The lure of the world is one bond, and worldly action is called another such lure; freed from both these snares, a man attains that supreme station.

12.17.17 Indeed, men recite this verse that was sung by Janaka—a king beyond the pairs of opposites, liberated, and looking clearly upon release:

12.17.18 "Boundless, indeed, is my wealth, I who own nothing at all; though Mithilā be ablaze, nothing of mine is burned."

12.17.19 Mounting the tower of wisdom, he looks down upon dull-witted men who grieve over things not to be grieved for, as one standing on a mountain looks down upon those below on the earth.

12.17.20 He who, while seeing, truly sees what is to be seen—he has eyes, he has understanding; and from the discerning of things not yet known, from awakening, is true intelligence said to arise.

12.17.21 He who rightly understands the word would surely come to high honour among the learned, whose souls are perfected and who are born of the state of Brahman.

12.17.22 When a man perceives the manifold being of all creatures as resting in one, and their unfolding as proceeding from that very oneness, then he attains to Brahman.

12.17.23 Such men reach that goal—not the ignorant, not the feeble of mind, not the witless, not those without austerity; for everything is established upon understanding.

12.18.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: But to the king, who had fallen silent, Arjuna spoke once more—himself scorched by grief and sorrow, pierced by the barbed words of the king.

12.18.2 Men tell this ancient tale of long ago, O Bhārata—the dialogue of the king of Videha with his wife.

12.18.3 When the lord of men, the king of Videha, had cast off his kingdom and resolved upon a life of begging, his queen, sorrowing, addressed him thus.

12.18.4 Forsaking riches, offspring, friends, jewels of every kind, and the hallowing path of duty, Janaka had taken to the shaven head of the mendicant.

12.18.5 His beloved wife beheld him living by alms, owning nothing, seated with a mere fistful of grain, without effort and without envy.

12.18.6 Coming up to her lord, who now feared nothing from any quarter, the high-spirited wife, in her anger, spoke to him in private these reasoned words:

12.18.7 "How is it that, having abandoned your own kingdom, heaped with wealth and grain, you take up the life of a beggar with his bowl and roam the forest with a fistful of grain?

12.18.8 Your vow, O king, is one thing, and your conduct quite another, in that you forsake a great kingdom and content yourself with a trifle, O lord of the earth.

12.18.9 With this, O king, you can today maintain neither guests, nor the gods, the sages, and the ancestors; this toil of yours is fruitless.

12.18.10 Forsaken by all of these—by the gods, by guests, and by the ancestors, O king—you wander forth, doing nothing.

12.18.11 You who were once the sustainer of thousands of aged brāhmaṇas learned in the three Vedas, and of all the world—do you now seek your living from others?

12.18.12 Casting off your blazing royal splendour, you are now looked upon like a dog; this day your mother is made sonless, and Kausalyā is made husbandless by you.

12.18.13 Eighty kṣatriyas, longing for righteousness, wait upon you, craving your favour—wretched men, intent upon reward.

12.18.14 By rendering their hopes fruitless, to what worlds will you go, O king, when release is uncertain and all embodied beings are bound to dependence?

12.18.15 For you there is no higher world, nor any other—you sinner in deed—who, forsaking a lawful wife, wish to go on living thus.

12.18.16 Garlands, perfumes, ornaments, and garments of every kind—for what purpose have you cast all these away to wander forth, doing nothing?

12.18.17 Having been a great and hallowing watering-place for all creatures, a richly laden forest-tree, do you now wait upon others?

12.18.18 When an elephant is laid out dead, many flesh-eating beasts devour it, and many worms as well; how much more, then, would they make away with one as useless as you?

12.18.19 If someone should break this water-pot of yours, carry off your three-staved support, and take away your garment—how then would your mind be set toward him?

12.18.20 He who has cast off everything yet still clings to a fistful of grain—if a fistful of grain is one with the whole of his wealth, then why is even this given to me? And if a fistful of grain is here your object, then your vow is undone.

12.18.21 What, then, am I to you, and what are you to me? What favour have you now toward me? Rule the earth, O king, in which your grace might find its place—palace, couch, chariot, garments, and ornaments.

12.18.22 That you should cast away wealth gathered for the sake of comfort—by men hopeless of fortune, destitute, forsaken by friends, owning nothing—what, then, is the meaning of this?

12.18.23 He who would forever be taking, and he who would forever be giving—know the difference between these two, and tell which of them is called the better.

12.18.24 A gift bestowed upon such men—worthy and free of pretence, yet forever begging—is like an offering ill-poured into a forest fire.

12.18.25 As the fire, O king, dies down only after it has burnt all to ashes, so the brāhmaṇa who is forever begging never finds his fill.

12.18.26 The Vedas and food of the virtuous are the fixed order of things in this world; if there were no giver to give, whence would there arise those who seek release?

12.18.27 From food come householders in this world, and from them, in turn, the mendicants; from food springs life itself, so the giver of food is the giver of life.

12.18.28 Risen from householders, and depending upon householders still, these self-restrained men sit reviling the very source and ground of their being.

12.18.29 One should not know the true mendicant by renunciation alone, nor by the shaven head, nor by begging; but he who, with an honest heart, gives up wealth—know him for the mendicant who is truly at ease.

12.18.30 Unattached, yet moving among men as though attached; free of clinging, his bonds undone; the same toward foe and friend—he, O lord of the earth, is truly the liberated one.

12.18.31 Shaven-headed and clad in ochre robes, they wander forth for the sake of alms, bound by snares of many kinds, gathering up the empty bait of the world.

12.18.32 Those witless men who, forsaking the threefold Veda and their livelihood, abandon even their sons, yet still accept the three-staved support and a garment—

12.18.33 know that the ochre robe upon one not purged of passion is but a means to getting; the shaven heads of these flaunters of piety, I hold, serve only to win them a living.

12.18.34 Sustaining holy men—the naked, the shaven, and the matted-haired—with ochre robes, deerskins, and bark garments, O great king, master your senses and win the worlds.

12.18.35 He who day after day, as of old, establishes the sacred fires, serves the needs of his elders, and offers sacrifices with their gifts of cattle—who, then, is more righteous than he?

12.18.36 King Janaka is sung of in this world as one who knows the truth of things; yet even he was once overcome by delusion—do not you fall under the sway of delusion.

12.18.37 Thus is the duty followed by men ever devoted to giving, endowed with the virtue of compassion, and free of desire and wrath—

12.18.38 "protecting our subjects and holding fast to the highest giving, devoted to the brāhmaṇas and speakers of truth, we shall attain the worlds we long for."

12.19.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I know the scriptures, my dear brother, both the lower and the higher; I know too the twofold word of the Veda—"perform action" and "renounce action."

12.19.2 The scriptures are tangled and embroidered over with conflicting reasons; and the sure conclusion, of whatever measure it be, I know in due form.

12.19.3 But you are versed in weapons alone, faithful to the vow of a warrior; you are in no way able to penetrate the meaning of the scriptures to its very truth.

12.19.4 Even by one who discerns the subtle meaning of scripture and is skilled in the settled truths of dharma, I should not be addressed thus—if indeed you truly perceive dharma.

12.19.5 Yet the words you have spoken, resting on a brother's affection, are reasonable and fitting, O son of Kuntī; for that I am pleased with you, Arjuna.

12.19.6 In all the duties of war and in every skill of action, no one your equal is to be found in the three worlds.

12.19.7 But where the subtle teaching of dharma is concerned, that ground is hard for you to cross over, Dhanaṃjaya; you ought not to call my understanding into doubt.

12.19.8 You know only the science of war; you have not waited upon the elders, and you do not grasp the considered conclusions of those who know matters both in brief and at length.

12.19.9 Austerity, renunciation, and right observance—such is the settled view of the wise, dear one; each of these is higher and more excellent than the last, and this is the path that leads to the supreme good.

12.19.10 But you do not hold to this, Pārtha; you say there is nothing higher than wealth. On this I shall set you right, showing how wealth is not the foremost thing.

12.19.11 For righteous folk are seen given to austerity and to the study of sacred lore, sages joined to austerity, whose worlds are everlasting.

12.19.12 Steadfast men whose beards had not yet grown, and others dwelling in the forest, countless and wholly without wealth, have gone to heaven by the study of the sacred word.

12.19.13 By the northern path the noble ones, through the restraint of the senses, casting off the darkness born of unwisdom, have reached the worlds of those who renounce.

12.19.14 But that shining path you behold to the south—these are the worlds of men of ritual action, who have resorted to the cremation grounds.

12.19.15 But indescribable is that goal which the seekers of liberation behold; therefore renunciation is held the foremost good, though it is hard to make known.

12.19.16 Following the scriptures, the wise have taken their stand, asking 'might it be thus here, might it be thus,' in their longing to discern the essence from the dross.

12.19.17 Going beyond the doctrines of the Vedas and the forest treatises, they split open the plantain trunk—and found in it no pith at all.

12.19.18 Then, by sheer process of exclusion, within the body made of the five elements they declared, by inference from its signs, a Self joined with desire and aversion.

12.19.19 He cannot be grasped by the eye, and That cannot be pointed out by speech; impelled by the force of past deeds, He revolves through living beings.

12.19.20 Having made the mind range over what is good and curbed all craving, casting off the unbroken stream of action, one may become free of every support and happy.

12.19.21 When such is the path, attainable only by subtle insight and trodden by the good, how, Arjuna, can you praise wealth, which is so full of harm?

12.19.22 For thus do men learned in the ancient scriptures see it, O Bhārata—men ever devoted to ritual acts, to giving, to sacrifice, and to works.

12.19.23 There are men hard to turn aside, learned and full of arguments, yet fixed in the lore they first heard, deluded, declaring 'this does not exist.'

12.19.24 Scorners of the immortal truth, holding forth in the assemblies of men, they wander the whole earth, voluble and widely read.

12.19.25 Whom even we do not fully understand—who here is fit to understand them, men so wise, so true, so great, the foremost in knowledge of scripture?

12.19.26 By austerity one attains greatness; by wisdom one finds what is great; by renunciation the knower of dharma ever wins happiness, O son of Kuntī.

12.20.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: At this break in the discourse, the eloquent Devasthāna of mighty austerities spoke these well-fashioned words to Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.20.2 The words spoken by Phalguna—that there is nothing higher than wealth—on these I shall set you right; hear it with single-minded attention.

12.20.3 O Ajātaśatru, by righteousness the whole earth has been won by you; having won it, you ought not, O king, to cast it away in vain.

12.20.4 A four-runged ladder it is, established upon action; mount it rung by rung, mighty-armed king, in due order.

12.20.5 Therefore, Pārtha, sacrifice with great sacrifices rich in priestly gifts; some sages sacrifice by sacred study, and others by the sacrifice of knowledge.

12.20.6 Know that some are steadfast in works and some steadfast in austerity, O Bhārata; for so, O king of kings, runs the teaching of the Vaikhānasa hermits.

12.20.7 For one who strives for the sake of wealth, not striving would be the weightier good; greater fault would grow in the man who leaned upon that wealth.

12.20.8 With great toil men amass goods for the sake of wealth; and one athirst for wealth, in his folly, does not even perceive the slaying of an unborn child.

12.20.9 He gives to the unworthy, and gives not to the worthy; for want of discerning the unworthy from the worthy, even the duty of giving is hard to fulfill.

12.20.10 Riches were created by the Ordainer for sacrifice, and man was ordained the sacrificer and the guardian; therefore all wealth is to be employed in sacrifice alone, and only thereafter desire.

12.20.11 By manifold sacrifices laden with offerings of food, Indra of mighty power surpassed all the gods; having thereby gained the rank of Indra he shines forth—therefore all is to be employed in sacrifice.

12.20.12 The great-souled Mahādeva, god of gods, in the all-sacrifice offered up his very Self and so became glorious; pervading and upholding all the worlds with his fame, the radiant one clad in a hide shines resplendent.

12.20.13 Marutta, the son of Avikṣit, a king and a mortal, by his abundance overcame the lord of the gods; in his sacrifice Royal Splendor herself took up her seat, and where every vessel was of gold.

12.20.14 Hariścandra, lord among kings, of whom you have heard—by sacrifices he worshipped, a doer of merit, freed from sorrow; though a man, by his prosperity he surpassed Śakra—therefore all is to be employed in sacrifice.

12.21.1 Devasthāna said: On this very matter they recount this ancient tale—what Bṛhaspati, when questioned in due season by Indra, answered.

12.21.2 Contentment is the very height of heaven; contentment is the supreme happiness; nothing stands more firmly and rightly established than satisfaction.

12.21.3 When a man draws in his desires from every side, as a tortoise draws in its limbs, then the Self, self-luminous, grows serene through its own self alone.

12.21.4 When he fears nothing and nothing fears him, and he conquers desire and aversion, then he beholds the Self.

12.21.5 When toward all beings he neither rages nor bears ill will, then in deed, in thought, and in word he attains to Brahman.

12.21.6 Thus, O son of Kuntī, beings perceive this dharma and that, each in its own way and in its own time; understand this therefore, O Bhārata.

12.21.7 Some praise tranquillity, others again exertion; some praise neither the one nor the other, and others still praise both together.

12.21.8 Some men praise sacrifice, others renunciation; some praise giving, while certain ones praise receiving; and some, abandoning all, sit silent in meditation.

12.21.9 Some praise kingship and the protection of all, slaying, smiting, and cutting down; while certain ones live in utter solitude.

12.21.10 Surveying all this, the considered judgment of the wise is this: the dharma that lies in doing no harm to living beings is the one esteemed by the good.

12.21.11 Harmlessness, truthful speech, fair sharing, steadfastness, forbearance, the begetting of children upon one's own wife, gentleness, modesty, and freedom from fickleness—

12.21.12 wealth whose chief aim is dharma—so Manu, son of the Self-existent, declared; therefore, O son of Kuntī, govern thus with every effort.

12.21.13 For the kṣatriya who stands firm in kingship, ever self-controlled, the same toward what is dear and not dear, eating the remnants of sacrifice, knowing the true meaning of the science of statecraft—

12.21.14 intent on curbing the wicked, intent on the advancement of the good—such a knower of dharma should rule, having set his subjects firmly on the path of righteousness.

12.21.15 Then, having passed his royal fortune on to his son, dwelling in the forest and living on its wild produce, by the rule of the ascetics, unwearied, let him await his appointed hour.

12.21.16 The king who lives thus, resolved in the dharma of kings—for him both this world and the next shall be fruitful, O lord of men; but liberation, in my view, is very hard to reach and beset with many obstacles.

12.21.17 Thus pursuing dharma, devoted to truth, giving, and austerity, endowed with the virtues of compassion, free of desire and wrath—

12.21.18 intent on the protection of their subjects, established in the highest self-restraint—through battle waged for the sake of cattle and brāhmaṇas they have attained the supreme goal.

12.21.19 Thus the Rudras together with the Vasus, and the Ādityas too, O scorcher of foes, the Sādhyas, and the bands of royal sages, taking refuge in this dharma, vigilant, attained heaven thereafter by their own meritorious deeds.

12.22.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: At this break in the discourse Arjuna spoke again these words to his eldest brother, the lord whose mind was sunk in despondency.

12.22.2 Having gained an unrivalled kingdom by the dharma of a kṣatriya, O knower of dharma, and having conquered your foes, O best of men, why do you grieve so bitterly?

12.22.3 For kṣatriyas, O great king, death in battle is held to surpass many sacrifices; call to mind the dharma of the kṣatriya.

12.22.4 For brāhmaṇas, austerity and renunciation are declared the ordained means to the world beyond; but for kṣatriyas, O lord, death in battle is appointed.

12.22.5 The dharma of the kṣatriya is most fierce, ever bound to the sword, it is declared—and slaying too, O best of the Bhāratas, with the weapon in battle at its proper hour.

12.22.6 Even for a brāhmaṇa, O king, who abides by the dharma of the kṣatriya, life is praised in this world; for the kṣatriya order is grounded in the brahman.

12.22.7 Neither renunciation, nor begging, nor austerity, O lord of men, are ordained for the kṣatriya, nor living upon the goods of another.

12.22.8 And you are the knower of all dharmas, devoted with your whole being, O bull of the Bhāratas, a king, wise and skilled, who in this world has seen both the higher and the lower.

12.22.9 Cast off the grief born of anguish and gird yourself for action; the heart of a kṣatriya above all is hard as the thunderbolt.

12.22.10 Having conquered your foes by the dharma of the kṣatriya and gained a kingdom free of thorns, master of yourself, O lord of men, be devoted to sacrifice and to giving.

12.22.11 Indra was indeed the son of Brahmā, yet by his deeds he became a kṣatriya; of his kinsmen of wicked ways he slew nine times ninety.

12.22.12 And that deed of his is honored and praised, O lord of peoples; by it he attained the lordship of Indra over the gods—so have we heard.

12.22.13 So do you, O great king, sacrifice with sacrifices rich in priestly gifts, even as Indra did, O lord of men, your fever of grief long since departed.

12.22.14 Grieve not at all over what has come to pass, O bull among kṣatriyas; those who fell have gone, by the dharma of the kṣatriya and purified by the sword, to the supreme goal.

12.22.15 What has come to pass had to be so, O bull of the Bhāratas; for what is ordained, O tiger among kings, cannot be overstepped.

12.23.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed by Guḍākeśa, the son of Kuntī, O Bhārata, the Kaurava said nothing at all; whereupon Dvaipāyana spoke.

12.23.2 The words of Bībhatsu are right, and this is true, Yudhiṣṭhira; the householder's stage of life is declared by scripture to be the supreme dharma.

12.23.3 Follow your own dharma, O knower of dharma, according to scripture and according to rule; for it is not ordained that you abandon the householder's life for the forest.

12.23.4 For upon the householder the gods, the ancestors, the sages, and his dependents ever live; cherish them, O lord of the earth.

12.23.5 Birds, beasts, and all creatures, O lord of the earth, are sustained by householders alone; therefore the householder's is the foremost stage of life.

12.23.6 This stage, of these four orders of life, is the hardest to follow; tread it, Pārtha, with a steady mind—hard to tread as it is for those whose senses are weak.

12.23.7 Your knowledge of the Vedas is complete, and great austerity has been practiced by you; you ought now to bear the yoke of the kingdom of your fathers and forefathers.

12.23.8 Austerity, sacrifice, and sacred learning, the life of alms, the curbing of the senses, meditation, the practice of solitude, contentment, and giving according to one's power—

12.23.9 Such, O great king, are the pursuits that bring the brāhmaṇas to perfection; and now I shall declare those of the kṣatriyas as well, though they are already known to you.

12.23.10 Sacrifice, learning, exertion, a refusal to rest content in the pursuit of fortune, the wielding of stern punishment, and the protection of the subjects—

12.23.11 the full knowledge of the Veda, austerity well practised, the amassing of abundant wealth, and the bestowing of it upon worthy recipients—

12.23.12 these are the deeds of kings, O lord of peoples, and when well performed, so we have heard, they secure for them both this world and the next.

12.23.13 Among these, O son of Kuntī, the wielding of punishment is called the highest; for strength abides ever in the kṣatriya, and in strength the rod of chastisement is grounded.

12.23.14 These, O king, are the pursuits that bring the kṣatriyas to perfection; and upon this very theme Bṛhaspati also spoke this verse:

12.23.15 "The earth swallows up these two, as a serpent swallows the creatures that dwell in its hole: the king who will not give battle, and the brāhmaṇa who will not go forth to wander."

12.23.16 And the royal sage Sudyumna too, we have heard, attained the supreme perfection through the wielding of punishment, even as Dakṣa, son of Pracetas, attained it.

12.24.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Holy one, by what deed did Sudyumna, that lord of the earth, attain the supreme perfection? I wish to hear of that king.

12.24.2 Vyāsa said: On this point too they recount an ancient tale. There were two brothers, Śaṅkha and Likhita, both steadfast in their vows.

12.24.3 The two of them had their dwellings, lovely and set apart from each other, furnished with trees ever in flower and fruit, along the river Bāhudā.

12.24.4 Now once it happened that Likhita came to the hermitage of Śaṅkha; and Śaṅkha, as chance would have it, had gone forth from his hermitage.

12.24.5 Then Likhita, having come to the hermitage of his brother Śaṅkha, plucked down some fruits that were fully ripe.

12.24.6 Taking them up, the twice-born one ate them without misgiving; and even as he was eating, Śaṅkha returned to the hermitage.

12.24.7 Seeing his brother eating, Śaṅkha said to him: "Whence did you obtain these fruits? By what right do you eat them?"

12.24.8 Touching water and saluting his elder brother, he replied, as though with a smile: "They were taken by me from this very place."

12.24.9 Then Śaṅkha, filled with sharp wrath, said to him: "This is theft you have done, taking the fruits of your own accord. Go, present yourself before the king, and make your deed known."

12.24.10 "Say: 'O best of kings, this that I have done is the taking of what was not given. Knowing me to be a thief, observe your own duty: swiftly inflict, O lord of men, the punishment due to me, a thief.'"

12.24.11 Thus addressed, and in obedience to his word, O mighty-armed one, Likhita, firm in his vow, went up to Sudyumna, the lord of the earth.

12.24.12 And Sudyumna, hearing from his frontier-guards that Likhita had come, went out to meet him on foot, together with his ministers, that lord of men.

12.24.13 Coming up to that best of those who know the brahman, the king said to him: "Tell me the reason for your coming, holy one; whatever it be, consider it already done."

12.24.14 Thus addressed, the sage among brāhmaṇas said this to Sudyumna: "You have promised that you will do it; having heard my request, you must perform it."

12.24.15 "Fruits not granted by my elder, O bull among men, were eaten by me; for that, O king, chastise me, and do not delay."

12.24.16 Sudyumna said: If the king is held by you to be the authority in the matter of inflicting punishment, then, O bull among brāhmaṇas, he must equally be the authority in the matter of pardon.

12.24.17 You, whose deeds are pure and whose vows are great, are hereby pardoned. Name some other desire, and I shall do as you bid.

12.24.18 Vyāsa said: But the brahman-sage, though urged by the great-souled king, would choose no other boon save that punishment alone.

12.24.19 Thereupon the guardian of the earth had the two hands of the great-souled Likhita cut off; and he, having received his punishment, departed.

12.24.20 Going to his brother Śaṅkha, he said this in his distress: "I have received my punishment; pardon now, holy one, your foolish brother."

12.24.21 Śaṅkha said: I am not angry with you, O knower of duty, nor have you wronged me; but your duty had been transgressed, and now your expiation has been made.

12.24.22 Go swiftly to the Bāhudā and offer there, as the rite prescribes, the water-libations to the gods, the fathers, and the seers; and set not your mind upon unrighteousness.

12.24.23 Vyāsa said: Hearing those words of Śaṅkha, Likhita then plunged into the holy river and set about the offering of water.

12.24.24 Thereupon his two hands appeared again, as fair as lotuses risen from the water; and in wonder he showed those hands to his brother.

12.24.25 Then Śaṅkha said to him: "This was wrought by me through my austerity. Let there be no doubt in you on this account—it is the divine will alone that is here ordained."

12.24.26 Likhita said: Why then, O greatly resplendent one, did you not purify me at the very first, you whose austerity has such power, O best of the twice-born?

12.24.27 Śaṅkha said: Thus it was for me to do; I am not the wielder of punishment over you. And now that lord of men is purified, and so too are you, together with the fathers.

12.24.28 Vyāsa said: That king, O best of the Pāṇḍavas, made foremost by that deed, attained the supreme perfection, even as Dakṣa, son of Pracetas, attained it.

12.24.29 This is the duty of kṣatriyas—the protection of the subjects who stray from the path, O great king. Do not, therefore, set your mind upon grief.

12.24.30 Hear the wholesome counsel of your brother here, O best of those who know duty: it is punishment indeed, O lord of kings, that is the kṣatriya's law, not the shaving of one's head as an ascetic.

12.25.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Once more the great seer Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana spoke this weighty word to Ajātaśatru, the son of Kuntī:

12.25.2 Dear son, those longings that your austere brothers cherished, O great king Yudhiṣṭhira, while they dwelt in the forest—

12.25.3 let these mighty warriors, O best of the Bhāratas, now attain them. Rule the earth, O Pārtha, as Yayāti, the son of Nahuṣa, ruled it.

12.25.4 A sorrowful sojourn in the forest has been endured by these austere men; now, at the end of their sorrow, let these tigers among men taste happiness.

12.25.5 Having enjoyed righteousness, profit, and pleasure together with your brothers, O Bhārata, then afterwards you may set forth, O lord of peoples.

12.25.6 Discharge your debt to guests, to the fathers, and to the gods, O Bhārata, son of Kuntī; then will you go to heaven.

12.25.7 Offer sacrifice with the Sarvamedha and the Aśvamedha, O joy of the Kurus; then afterwards, O great king, you will attain the supreme goal.

12.25.8 And having joined all your brothers in sacrifices with abundant priestly gifts, you will win unequalled fame, O scion of Pāṇḍu.

12.25.9 We know your mind, O tiger among men, O joy of the Kurus; but hear me now, how a king, acting thus, falls not away from righteousness.

12.25.10 For one who seizes wealth and one who restrains the wicked, those skilled in righteousness reckon the merit equal, O lord of men, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.25.11 The king who, awaiting the right place and time, shows toward the robber the wisdom born of the scriptures—he is not stained by any sin.

12.25.12 The king who takes the sixth part of the harvest as his due yet does not protect the realm—that prince takes upon himself a fourth part of all the people's sin.

12.25.13 Learn, too, how a king, standing thus, falls not away from righteousness: by restraining the wicked in conformity with the books of law, free from fear, heedless of desire and anger, even-eyed toward all like a father.

12.25.14 When, O greatly resplendent one, fate strikes the king at the moment of action and causes that act to fail, in that case they declare no transgression on his part.

12.25.15 By force or by stratagem the enemies must surely be subdued. He should make no pact with the wicked, nor put the kingdom up for sale.

12.25.16 The brave, the noble, and the learned are to be honoured, O Yudhiṣṭhira; and those rich in cattle and in wealth are to be protected with especial care.

12.25.17 In the conduct of lawful affairs the deeply learned are to be appointed; yet the discerning man should not place his whole trust in any single person, however endowed with virtues.

12.25.18 A king who fails to protect, who is ill-disciplined, vain, unbending, and envious, is bound to sin and is called untamed.

12.25.19 When the king is struck down by fate, those who, going unprotected, perish and are slain by thieves—all that is the king's guilt.

12.25.20 When the counsel has been good, the policy sound, and the manly deed accomplished duly as prescribed, there is no unrighteousness, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.25.21 Undertakings come to ruin, and they also succeed, by fate; but when human effort has been made, no sin touches the prince.

12.25.22 On this matter, O tiger among kings, I shall relate to you this tale—what befell the ancient royal sage Hayagrīva, O prince.

12.25.23 He slew his foes and was himself slain in the fray—that hero of untiring deeds, steadfast and without an ally, at last overcome, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.25.24 Having done the deed of subduing his foes and exercised the highest skill in protecting his people—having done his work and won renown in noble battle—Vājigrīva rejoices now in the world of the gods.

12.25.25 Heedless of his own life, drawing his bow in the battles, cut down by weapons and beset by marauders—Aśvagrīva, devoted to his duty, that great soul made perfect, rejoices in the world of the gods.

12.25.26 The bow was his sacrificial post, the string his cord, the arrow his ladle, the sword his oblation-spoon, the blood his clarified butter; the chariot, swift as thought, his altar, the battle his fire, and the four chief steeds his four officiating priests.

12.25.27 Having offered his foes into that sacrificial fire, the swift lion among kings was freed from sin; and having offered up his own life-breaths in the final ablution of the battle, Vājigrīva rejoices in the world of the gods.

12.25.28 Guarding the realm with deliberate, wise policy, heedless of his own life, ever devoted to sacrifice, that great soul, pervading all the worlds with his fame—the thoughtful Vājigrīva rejoices in the world of the gods.

12.25.29 Cherishing the divine accomplishment and the human science of statecraft, and guarding the earth by the rules of right policy—therefore the king Hayagrīva, that great soul devoted to righteousness, rejoices in the world of heaven.

12.25.30 Learned, liberal, full of faith, and grateful—having forsaken the world of men once his deeds were done, the king has won the realm of the wise, the discerning, the honoured, those who lay down their bodies in battle.

12.25.31 Having duly received the Vedas and studied the scriptures, having rightly protected his realm, that great soul—having established the four orders each in its own duty—Vājigrīva rejoices in the world of the gods.

12.25.32 Having won his battles and protected his subjects, having drunk the soma and gratified the foremost of the twice-born, having justly wielded the rod of punishment over his people—spent in battle, he rejoices in the world of the gods.

12.25.33 He whose conduct men praise, whom the good and the learned, themselves worthy of honour, hold in honour—having won heaven and gone to the realms of heroes, that great soul of holy fame has attained perfection.

12.26.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard the words of Dvaipāyana, and Dhanaṃjaya being still wroth, Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Kuntī, addressed Vyāsa and replied to him.

12.26.2 Neither this earthly kingdom nor enjoyments of every kind give any joy to my mind today; this grief roars within me and rends me.

12.26.3 And hearing the women who, bereft of their heroes and their sons, wail in their lamentation, I can find no peace, O sage.

12.26.4 Thus addressed, Vyāsa, the best of those skilled in yoga, knower of duty and master of the Vedas, made this reply to the deeply wise Yudhiṣṭhira:

12.26.5 Not by action is it gained, nor by anxious thought; nor is there any giver of it to a man. By the working of succession it has been ordained by the Ordainer: in due time a man obtains all things.

12.26.6 Not by intellect, nor by study of the scriptures, nor by their special gifts can men attain anything out of its season; yet even a fool at times obtains his ends, for time draws no distinction in respect of what is to be accomplished.

12.26.7 Out of the time of fruition, craft yields no result, nor do spells, nor medicines; yet those very same, gathered together by time, succeed and prosper when the season of fruition comes.

12.26.8 In due time the swift winds blow forth; in due time the rain comes to the clouds; in due time the water bears its lotuses and lilies; and in due time the trees put forth their blossoms in the forests.

12.26.9 In due time the nights grow dark and bright again; in due time the moon comes to its full orb. Not out of season do the trees bear flower and fruit; not out of season do the rivers run with swollen flood.

12.26.10 Not out of season do birds and serpents go to rut, nor deer and elephants, nor the great beasts of the mountains; not out of season do women conceive in the womb, nor do the cold, the heat, and the rains come at the wrong time.

12.26.11 None dies nor is born out of due time; nor does the child begin to speak before its season; not before its time does one attain to youth; nor does the seed once sown sprout out of season.

12.26.12 Not before its time does the sun draw to its conjunction, nor out of season does it sink to the western mountain; not unseasonably do they wax and wane—the moon, and the sea with its garland of mighty waves.

12.26.13 On this point, too, men recite an ancient tale, Yudhiṣṭhira—the song that was sung by King Senajit when he was stricken with grief.

12.26.14 This unconquerable cycle touches all mortals alike; for ripened by time, all human beings come at last to die.

12.26.15 Some men slay others, O king, and those in turn are slain by yet others; yet this, O king, is but a worldly manner of speaking—none truly kills, and none is truly slain.

12.26.16 One man thinks, 'He slays,' while another thinks, 'He does not slay'; but by their very nature are fixed the arising and the passing-away of beings.

12.26.17 When wealth is lost, or a wife, or when a son or a father has died, the man who broods, 'Ah, what misery!' only heaps fresh fuel upon his grief.

12.26.18 Why then do you grieve, when you yourself, in your delusion, are the one to be grieved over? Why do you mourn? Look how within sorrows lie further sorrows, and within fears further fears.

12.26.19 Not even this self is mine, yet the whole earth is mine; as it is mine, so is it others'—seeing thus, a man is not bewildered.

12.26.20 A thousand occasions for grief and a hundred for joy assail the fool day after day, but never the wise man.

12.26.21 Thus, in their portions and in their season, the dear and the hateful—sorrows and joys alike—revolve among living creatures.

12.26.22 There is only sorrow and no happiness—therefore it is sorrow alone that is truly felt; sorrow springs from the torment of craving, and what we call pleasure springs from the torment of sorrow.

12.26.23 Hard upon pleasure follows pain, and hard upon pain follows pleasure; no one meets with sorrow forever, nor does anyone meet with happiness forever.

12.26.24 For at the end of sorrows there is joy, and at the end of joy there is sorrow; therefore let him who desires lasting happiness abandon them both.

12.26.25 Whatever be the occasion of grief or anguish or of sinking swoons of sorrow, whatever be the root of one's distress—let a man cast it off, though it be a very limb of his own.

12.26.26 Be it pleasure or pain, the dear or the unwelcome, whatever comes, as it comes let him meet it with an unconquered heart.

12.26.27 Only behave, dear friend, but a little unkindly toward your wives or your sons, and you will learn at once who belongs to whom, and by what bond, and how.

12.26.28 Those who are most dull in the world, and those who have passed beyond the reach of intellect—these alone flourish in happiness; it is the man between who is yoked to suffering.

12.26.29 Thus spoke that greatly wise Senajit, O Yudhiṣṭhira—he who knew the higher and the lower, who knew the world, who knew the dharma, who knew both joy and sorrow.

12.26.30 He who is happy amid another's misery can never himself be truly happy; for sorrows have no ending—from one is born the next.

12.26.31 Pleasure and pain, being and non-being, gain and loss, death and life—all these touch a man here in their turns; therefore let the steadfast man neither exult nor rage.

12.26.32 The consecration for a sacrifice, the protection won by warfare, right governance of the realm through the science of just rule, the giving away of wealth as sacrificial fees, and true knowledge—let him know these to be the purifying things.

12.26.33 The great-souled king who guards his realm wisely and with sound policy, who is selfless and devoted to sacrifice, who moves through all the worlds as the very embodiment of dharma—he, when he has cast off his body, rejoices on high in the world of the gods.

12.26.34 Having won his battles and protected his realm, having drunk the Soma and increased his subjects, having wielded the rod of justice over the people with discernment, the king who is spent in war rejoices in the world of the gods.

12.26.35 Having rightly mastered the Vedas and studied the sacred treatises, having rightly protected his realm, and having established the four orders each in its own dharma, the king, his self made pure, rejoices indeed in the world of the gods.

12.26.36 He whose conduct men still revere even when he has gone to heaven—townsfolk, country-folk, and ministers alike—that king is the best of kings.

12.27.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: With young Abhimanyu slain, and the sons of Draupadī, and Dhṛṣṭadyumna, and Virāṭa, and King Drupada, lord of the earth—

12.27.2 and Vasuṣeṇa who knew the dharma, and the prince Dhṛṣṭaketu, and so many other lords of men from diverse lands, all fallen in the battle—

12.27.3 grief will not release me, the slayer of my kinsmen, sick at heart, the cruelly fierce craver after a kingdom, the destroyer of my own line.

12.27.4 He on whose lap I once rolled and played as a child—that son of Gaṅgā was by me, greedy for a kingdom, struck down.

12.27.5 When I beheld him reeling beneath the arrows of Pārtha, shuddering as though smitten by thunderbolts, his gaze fixed upon Śikhaṇḍin—

12.27.6 that towering grandsire, a lion among men like an aged lion still tall, when I saw him strewn over with keen arrows, my mind was rent with anguish.

12.27.7 As he sank facing the east, dislodged from his chariot by the arrows, swaying like a mountain about to fall—then did a darkness of despair come over me.

12.27.8 He, bow and arrows in hand, that scion of Kuru who for many days did battle with the Bhārgava upon Kurukṣetra in that mighty fray—

12.27.9 he, the son of the river, the hero, challenged in battle from a single chariot the whole assembled warrior-host of kings at Vārāṇasī, to win brides—

12.27.10 he by whose blazing weapon King Ugrāyudha, that unassailable emperor, was burnt up—he it is whom I have slain in battle.

12.27.11 Guarding the moment of his own death, he who would not bring down with arrows the Pāñcāla prince Śikhaṇḍin—he was laid low by Arjuna.

12.27.12 When I saw him fallen to the earth and drenched in blood, in that very hour a most fierce fever entered into me, O best of sages—he by whom we were reared as children, he by whom we were guarded and kept.

12.27.13 He was slain by me—greedy for a kingdom, sinful, a slayer of my elder, a fool—for the sake of a kingship that lasts but a little while.

12.27.14 And the preceptor, that great archer, honoured by all the lords of earth—I came up to him in battle and, sinful as I was, spoke a lie to him concerning his son.

12.27.15 That burns my very limbs—the words my teacher spoke to me: 'You are a man of truthful speech, O king; if my son still lives, do not deceive me with falsehood'—so the brahmin, trusting in the truth, questioned me upon it.

12.27.16 Taking an elephant as my screen, I played him false—I, exceedingly greedy for a kingdom, sinful, a slayer of my teacher.

12.27.17 Wrapping myself in the cloak of truth, I told my teacher on the field, 'Aśvatthāman is slain'—when it was the elephant that had been struck down. To what worlds shall I go, having done so dreadful a deed?

12.27.18 And in that I caused the slaying of Karṇa, who never fled in battle, my own most fierce elder brother—who is a greater doer of evil than I?

12.27.19 And young Abhimanyu, born like a lion among the mountains—it was I, in my greed, who sent him into the army that Droṇa guarded.

12.27.20 From that day on I cannot bear to look upon Bībhatsu, nor upon lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa—a sinner I, like one who has slain an unborn child.

12.27.21 And Draupadī too, who deserved no sorrow, now bereft of her five sons—I grieve for her, as for the earth stripped of its five mountains.

12.27.22 So I, the wrongdoer, the sinner, the cause of the earth's ruin, shall sit here even thus and waste away this body of mine.

12.27.23 Know me from this day to have sat down to fast unto death, I who slew my teacher—so that in other births as well I may never again become the destroyer of my house.

12.27.24 I will not eat, nor will I in any wise take water; I will wither away the dear breath of my life, staying here, O you whose wealth is austerity.

12.27.25 Go now wherever you please; I freely give you leave, having made my peace with you. Grant me, all of you, your leave in turn—I shall cast off this body.

12.27.26 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: To Pārtha as he spoke thus, overwhelmed with grief for his kinsmen, Vyāsa, the best of sages, restraining him, said, 'Not so!'

12.27.27 Beyond all measure, great king, you ought not to grieve. Once more I shall declare it to you, O lord: this was ordained by fate.

12.27.28 Unions and separations are the certain lot of all born creatures; like bubbles upon the waters, they come into being and pass away.

12.27.29 All that is heaped up ends in wasting away; all that rises up ends in falling; all unions end in separation, and life itself ends in death.

12.27.30 Pleasure ends in pain, and so does sloth; diligence is painful, yet it gives rise to happiness; prosperity, fortune, modesty, steadfastness, and success do not dwell with the slothful.

12.27.31 Friends cannot suffice to make one happy, nor enemies to make one wretched; wisdom does not suffice to win wealth, nor does wealth suffice to win happiness.

12.27.32 As you were created by the Ordainer for your works, son of Kuntī, so perform them; for from that alone comes your success—you are not your own master, O king.

12.28.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: As the eldest son of Pāṇḍu, scorched by grief for his kinsmen, was minded to give up his life, Vyāsa drove away his sorrow.

12.28.2 Vyāsa said: On this point, too, men recite an ancient tale, the song of Aśman, O tiger among men; hear it, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.28.3 King Janaka of Videha, plunged in pain and grief, questioned upon his doubt the wise brahmin Aśman.

12.28.4 Janaka said: In the coming or the going of kinsmen and of wealth, how should a man who desires his own welfare bear himself?

12.28.5 Aśman said: From the very moment a man's self comes into being, straightway thereafter these manifold sorrows and joys come upon him.

12.28.6 And when one or another of these befalls him, whatever he then resorts to carries off his understanding, as the wind sweeps away a cloud.

12.28.7 'I am nobly born, I am accomplished, I am no mere common man'—by these three grounds is a man's mind flooded with conceit.

12.28.8 His mind thus overflowing, he squanders the enjoyments his fathers amassed, and once impoverished he comes to think it well to seize the goods of others.

12.28.9 Him, transgressing all bounds and grasping at what is not his due, kings hold back—as hunters hold back a deer with their arrows.

12.28.10 Those men who are twenty years of age, or thirty, will not endure beyond a hundred years, O king.

12.28.11 For these most grievous sorrows let a man prescribe a remedy by his understanding, regarding all the while, here and there, the lot of every living creature that bears breath.

12.28.12 The source of mental sorrows is the bewilderment of the mind, or the onset of what is unwished-for; a third cause there is not.

12.28.13 Thus do these sorrows, of every kind, come upon a man here, and so too do those that arise from bodily contact.

12.28.14 Old age and death devour all beings, like two wolves—the strong and the weak alike, the lowly and the great alike.

12.28.15 No man can ever escape old age and death, not though he has conquered this whole earth to the very shores of the sea.

12.28.16 Whether it be pleasure or pain that has drawn near to creatures, all of it must be undergone, helpless as they are; there is no turning it aside.

12.28.17 In the first age of life, or in the middle, or in the last, O lord of men, these conditions are not to be shunned, yet the things one longs for turn out otherwise.

12.28.18 Parting from the well-beloved, and union with the unloved, gain and loss, pleasure and pain—all follow the appointed ordinance.

12.28.19 The coming-forth of beings, and likewise the laying-down of the body, and the toil of effort by which men obtain things—all this is fixed and ordained.

12.28.20 Smell, colour, taste, and touch arise and cease by their own nature; even so do pleasures and pains follow the appointed ordinance.

12.28.21 Sitting, lying down, going, rising up, drinking, and eating—all are fixed for every living creature, and come to pass by time alone.

12.28.22 Even physicians fall ill; the strong become utterly weak; men rich in women turn impotent—strange is the turning of time.

12.28.23 Birth in a noble house, valor, health, and steadfastness, good fortune and enjoyment—all are won only through what is destined to be.

12.28.24 The poor, who wish for none, have sons in abundance; while the wealthy, striving and longing for many, have none at all.

12.28.25 Disease, fire, water, the sword, starvation, beasts of prey, poison, death by the noose, and a fall from a height—such are a creature's ends.

12.28.26 Whatever departure is appointed for a man, by that cause he goes; none is seen to overpass it, nor, once it is past, to be subject to it again.

12.28.27 For here, O lord of men, a wealthy man is seen to perish while still young, and a poor man, sorely afflicted, lives a hundred years.

12.28.28 Men who possess nothing are seen to live long, while those born in a prosperous house perish like moths in a flame.

12.28.29 In this world the prosperous, for the most part, have no power to enjoy; yet the poor, O ruler of men, can digest even wood.

12.28.30 "It is I who do this," thinks the man driven by time—the evil-souled one, committing every kind of sin out of his discontent and craving.

12.28.31 Women, dice, the hunt, and drink—these attachments the wise condemn; yet many men, even the deeply learned, are seen ensnared by them.

12.28.32 Thus, through time, all things—desired and undesired alike—come to touch every being, and no cause for it can be found.

12.28.33 The wind, the ether, and fire, the moon and the sun, day and night, the stars, the rivers, and the mountains—who makes or sustains them?

12.28.34 Cold and heat, and the rains as well, revolve in their turn by time; even so, O bull among men, do the joys and sorrows of mortals.

12.28.35 Neither herbs nor scriptures, neither oblations nor recitations can save a man once he is overtaken by death or by old age.

12.28.36 As two logs of driftwood come together upon the great ocean, and having met, drift apart again—such is the meeting of beings.

12.28.37 Those attended by retinues of men and women, by song and music, and those who are forlorn, living on others' food—toward all of these time acts alike.

12.28.38 Thousands of mothers and fathers, and hundreds of sons and wives, have been experienced through our wanderings in existence—whose are they, and whose are we?

12.28.39 No one truly belongs to him, nor does he belong to anyone; this gathering with wife, kin, and the host of friends is but a meeting upon the road.

12.28.40 "Where was I? Where am I? Where shall I go? Who indeed am I, and to what end do I abide here? Wherefore, and for whom, should I grieve?"—thus should one steady the mind, when union with what is dear is impermanent and the round of existence turns like a wheel.

12.28.41 The wise know that the world beyond is never seen beforehand by direct perception; yet one who wishes to prosper must place his faith without transgressing the sacred traditions.

12.28.42 One should perform the rites due to the ancestors and the gods, and practice the duties of dharma; the learned man should offer sacrifice according to the ordinance, and pursue the threefold aim of dharma, artha, and kāma.

12.28.43 This whole world is sinking down into the deep ocean of time, where old age and death are the great sea-monsters—and not one being is aware of it.

12.28.44 Many physicians, who have studied the whole science of medicine together with its appurtenances, are seen overwhelmed by diseases.

12.28.45 Though they drink astringent decoctions and clarified butters of many kinds, they cannot pass beyond death, any more than the great ocean passes beyond its shore.

12.28.46 Even those skilled in elixirs, who have administered their tonics well, are seen broken by old age, as trees are broken by mighty elephants.

12.28.47 Likewise, those rich in austerity, devoted to the study of scripture, the givers of gifts and the performers of sacrifice—none of these cross beyond old age and death.

12.28.48 For the days never return, nor the months, nor again the years; for all beings that are born, neither the fortnights return nor the nights.

12.28.49 Helplessly, in the course of time, this perishable man sets out upon that vast and certain road which is traveled by all beings.

12.28.50 Either the body departs from the living soul, or the soul departs from the body; this companionship with wife and other kinsmen is but a meeting upon the road.

12.28.51 No everlasting union is ever obtained by anyone, not even with one's own body—how much less, then, with any other?

12.28.52 Where now, O king, is your father today? Where now is your grandfather? You do not see them now, nor do they see you.

12.28.53 For no man is a witness of heaven or of hell; but the sacred tradition is the eye of the good—O king, follow it here.

12.28.54 Having fulfilled the vow of chastity, one should beget offspring and offer sacrifice, free of envy, that he may discharge his debt to the ancestors, the gods, and the great seers.

12.28.55 Devoted to sacrifice and settled in the begetting of offspring, having first lived as a chaste student and apportioned his obligations, he wins both heaven and this world, having cast away the falsehood that lay within his heart.

12.28.56 For a king who duly practices dharma and gathers wealth as is fitting, whose wheel of sovereignty rolls onward, his fame grows ever greater throughout all worlds, moving and unmoving.

12.28.57 Vyāsa said: Having thus understood this discourse in its fullness, complete in its reasoning, the king of Videha, his understanding purified, took leave of Aśman and went home, his grief stilled.

12.28.58 So too do you, O unfaltering one, let go of grief; arise, you who are the equal of Śakra, and come to gladness. By the dharma of the warrior the earth has been won by you; enjoy it, O son of Kuntī, and do not despair.

12.29.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: While Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Kuntī and son of Dharma, kept silent, Guḍākeśa the Pāṇḍava addressed Hṛṣīkeśa.

12.29.2 "Tormented by grief for his kinsmen, the Dharma King, scorcher of foes, is here sunk in an ocean of sorrow—console him, O Mādhava.

12.29.3 We are all once more cast into doubt, O Janārdana; you, O mighty-armed one, are able to dispel his sorrow."

12.29.4 Thus addressed by the great-souled Vijaya, Govinda the lotus-eyed, the unfaltering one, turned toward the king.

12.29.5 For Keśava was one whom the Dharma King could not refuse; from boyhood onward Govinda had been dearer to him even than Arjuna.

12.29.6 Taking hold of the king's arm, anointed with sandal and like a pillar of stone, the mighty-armed scion of Śūra spoke, seeking to comfort him.

12.29.7 Resplendent was Kṛṣṇa's face, with its fair teeth and lovely eyes, like a full-blown, unfolded lotus awakened by the sun.

12.29.8 "Do not grieve, O tiger among men, with the grief that wastes the body; for those who fell on this field of battle are not to be easily regained.

12.29.9 As gains obtained in a dream prove false upon waking, even so, O king, are those warriors who have passed away in the great battle.

12.29.10 For all those heroes, the ornaments of war, departed facing the foe; not one of them was struck down from behind, nor while fleeing.

12.29.11 All those heroes, having yielded up their own lives fighting in the great combat, purified by the sword, have attained heaven; you ought not to grieve for them.

12.29.12 On this very matter they recite an ancient tale—how Nārada spoke to Sṛñjaya, who was stricken with grief for his son.

12.29.13 "I and you, O Sṛñjaya, and all creatures alike, shall move on, never released from joys and sorrows—what, then, is there to lament?

12.29.14 Hear of the supreme good fortune of kings, as I recount it; give heed, O monarch, and thereafter you will cast off your sorrow.

12.29.15 Hearing of those mighty kings who have died, drive away your anguish; listen to me in full detail.

12.29.16 Hear from me, O Sṛñjaya, that Marutta, son of Avikṣit, has died—he to whose sacrifice the gods came, the all-creating ones, with Indra and Varuṇa, led by Bṛhaspati, to that great-souled king.

12.29.17 He who drew Śakra, the king of the gods, lord of a hundred sacrifices, into rivalry; whom the learned Bṛhaspati, wishing to please Śakra, refused to officiate for—and for whom Saṃvarta then conducted the rites, to vex Bṛhaspati.

12.29.18 While that king, best of monarchs, ruled the good, the earth shone forth, ripening her crops untilled, and garlanded with sacred shrines.

12.29.19 At the great sacrifice of Avikṣit's son, the All-Gods were the assembly-members, the Maruts were the servers, and the Sādhyas too attended that great-souled king.

12.29.20 When the hosts of the Maruts drank Marutta's soma, the sacrificial gifts he gave surpassed those given to gods, to men, and to Gandharvas alike.

12.29.21 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya—he who was richer than you in the four blessings and more meritorious than your son—then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.22 We have heard, O Sṛñjaya, that Suhotra, son of Vitithi, has died—he for whom Maghavan rained down gold for a whole year.

12.29.23 He upon whose accession the earth, called "the wealth-bearing," became true to her name, O lord of men; while that ruler of the realm reigned, the rivers carried gold.

12.29.24 Maghavan, honored by the world, O king, let fall into the rivers tortoises and crabs, crocodiles and sea-monsters and dolphins—all of gold.

12.29.25 Seeing the golden fish, sea-monsters, and turtles fallen by the thousands and hundreds, the son of Vitithi then smiled.

12.29.26 That boundless gold, gathered together in the Kurujāṅgala, he distributed with a collected mind to the brāhmaṇas as he sacrificed at the outspread rite.

12.29.27 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya—he who was richer than you in the four blessings and more meritorious than your son—then do not grieve for your son, who gave no sacrificial gifts and offered no sacrifice; be calm, O son of Śvitya, and do not mourn.

12.29.28 We have heard, O Sṛñjaya, that Aṅga, of the great chariot, has died—he who set free a thousand thousand white horses.

12.29.29 And a thousand thousand maidens, adorned with gold, he drove forth as sacrificial fee while sacrificing at the outspread rite.

12.29.30 A hundred hundred-thousands of bulls, garlanded with gold, each followed by a thousand cows, he drove forth as the sacrificial fee.

12.29.31 While Aṅga sacrificed upon the mountain at Viṣṇu's stride, Indra grew exhilarated with the soma, and the twice-born with the sacrificial gifts.

12.29.32 At his sacrifices, O lord of kings, numbering a hundred over and over, the gifts he gave surpassed those given to gods, to men, and to Gandharvas.

12.29.33 No man has been born, nor will another be born, who shall bestow such gifts as the wealth Aṅga gave away at the seven forms of the soma sacrifice.

12.29.34 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya—he who was richer than you in the four blessings and more meritorious than your son—then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.35 We have heard, O Sṛñjaya, that Śibi, son of Uśīnara, has died—he who could roll up this whole earth like a hide.

12.29.36 Making the earth resound with the great roar of his chariot, he brought the world under a single parasol with his one victorious car.

12.29.37 As many cattle and horses as there are today, together with the beasts of the wild—so many cows did Śibi, son of Uśīnara, bestow at his sacrifice.

12.29.38 Prajāpati deemed that none could bear his burden—none past nor yet to come among all kings, O Bhārata—save Śaibya, son of Uśīnara, the royal seer of Indra's prowess.

12.29.39 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya—he who was richer than you in the four blessings and more meritorious than your son—then do not grieve for your son, who gave no sacrificial gifts and offered no sacrifice; be calm and do not mourn.

12.29.40 We have heard, O Sṛñjaya, that Bharata, son of Duḥṣanta, has died—the son of Śakuntalā, the great archer of abundant wealth and splendor.

12.29.41 He who bound thirty horses for the gods along the Yamunā, twenty along the Sarasvatī, and fourteen along the Gaṅgā.

12.29.42 With a thousand horse-sacrifices and a hundred rājasūyas did Bharata, son of Duḥṣanta, of great splendor, perform his rites of old.

12.29.43 The mighty deeds of Bharata, among all kings, the other princes could not attain, even as mortals cannot reach the sky with their arms.

12.29.44 He who, having bound more than a thousand horses and laid out the sacrificial altar, gave to Kaṇva a thousand lotuses of gold — that was Bharata.

12.29.45 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.46 We have heard that Rāma, son of Daśaratha, also died, O Sṛñjaya — he who ever showed compassion for his subjects as for sons born of his own body.

12.29.47 In whose realm no widows were left without protection — to all alike Rāma was as a father, when he ruled the kingdom.

12.29.48 The rain-clouds poured in their season, the crops were full of savor, and there was ever abundance of food while Rāma governed the kingdom.

12.29.49 No living being drowned in the waters, fire burned no one without cause, and there was no fear born of beasts of prey while Rāma governed the kingdom.

12.29.50 The subjects lived for thousands of years, blessed with thousands of sons, free of disease and with all their aims fulfilled, while Rāma governed.

12.29.51 There was no quarrel even among women with one another — how much less among men — and the people were ever steadfast in dharma while Rāma governed the kingdom.

12.29.52 The trees bore flowers and fruit perpetually and were free of blight, and every cow yielded a droṇa-measure of milk while Rāma governed the kingdom.

12.29.53 That great ascetic, having dwelt fourteen years in the forest, performed ten unrestricted horse-sacrifices, rich in jārūtha offerings.

12.29.54 Dark-hued, youthful, red-eyed, with the stride of a rutting elephant, Rāma ruled the kingdom for ten thousand years.

12.29.55 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.56 We have heard that King Bhagīratha too died, O Sṛñjaya — at whose far-extended sacrifice Indra, drinking the soma, grew flushed with intoxication.

12.29.57 The lord Pākaśāsana, foremost of the gods, by the might of his arms conquered many thousands of the asuras.

12.29.58 He who, sacrificing at his far-extended rite, gave away as priestly fee a thousand thousand maidens adorned with gold.

12.29.59 Every maiden was seated in a chariot, and every chariot was yoked with four horses; to each chariot a hundred elephants, lotus-marked and garlanded with gold.

12.29.60 A thousand horses followed behind each single elephant, a thousand cows behind each horse, and a thousand goats and sheep behind each cow.

12.29.61 As he dwelt in seclusion, Gaṅgā Bhāgīrathī once sat upon his lap; and from her, of old, Urvaśī came to be.

12.29.62 To Bhagīratha, scion of Ikṣvāku, the sacrificer who gave abundant fees, Gaṅgā who courses through the path of the three worlds came as a daughter.

12.29.63 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.64 We have heard that Dilīpa too, son of Ilavila, died, O Sṛñjaya — whose many deeds the twice-born recount.

12.29.65 That lord of the earth, with collected mind, gave away at his great sacrifice this very earth, abounding in wealth, to the brāhmaṇas.

12.29.66 As he sacrificed, at each rite his household priest gave away a thousand golden elephants as priestly fee.

12.29.67 At whose sacrifice there stood a great and splendid sacrificial post of gold, which the gods, with Śakra at their head, drew near as they performed the rite.

12.29.68 Upon that golden post whose top-ring was of gold, six thousand gods and gandharvas danced in seven companies.

12.29.69 There in their midst Viśvāvasu himself played upon the vīṇā, and every being believed, "It is for me that he plays."

12.29.70 This of King Dilīpa other kings could not match: that women laden with gold lay sleeping at ease upon the roads.

12.29.71 Even those men who but looked upon King Dilīpa — fierce-bowed, truth-speaking, exceedingly great of soul — won heaven by it.

12.29.72 Three sounds never ceased in Dilīpa's dwelling: the chant of the Vedic recitation, the twang of the bowstring, and the cry "Let it be given!"

12.29.73 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.74 We have heard that Māndhātṛ, son of Yuvanāśva, died, O Sṛñjaya — whom the Marut gods drew forth as an embryo from his father's side.

12.29.75 He who grew within the belly of the great-souled Yuvanāśva, born of the consecrated ghee — that splendid king, conqueror of the three worlds.

12.29.76 Seeing him, godlike in form, lying upon his father's lap, the gods asked one another, "Whom shall this child suckle?"

12.29.77 "He shall suckle from me!" — thus Indra came forward; and so Śatakratu gave him the name Māndhātṛ.

12.29.78 Then, for the nourishment of the great-souled one, the hand of Indra let a stream of milk flow into the mouth of Yuvanāśva's son.

12.29.79 Suckling at Indra's hand, in a single day he grew by a year; in twelve days, O king, he became as one of twelve years.

12.29.80 In a single day this whole earth submitted to him — the righteous-souled, great-souled hero, equal to Indra in battle.

12.29.81 For Māndhātṛ conquered in battle the kings Āṅgāra, Marutta, Asita, Gaya, Aṅga, and Bṛhadratha.

12.29.82 When the son of Yuvanāśva did battle with Āṅgāra, the gods, at the twangings of his bow, thought, "The heavens are splitting apart!"

12.29.83 From where the sun rises to where it sets — all that is called the domain of Yuvanāśva's son, Māndhātṛ.

12.29.84 Having sacrificed with a hundred horse-sacrifices and a hundred royal consecrations, that lord of the earth gave to the brāhmaṇas red-gold fish.

12.29.85 Of gold they were, a yojana in height and ten yojanas in length; what remained over from the twice-born, the other people shared among themselves.

12.29.86 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.87 We have heard that Yayāti, son of Nahuṣa, also died, O Sṛñjaya — he who conquered this whole earth together with its oceans.

12.29.88 That king ranged across it stage by stage at each cast of the yoke-pin, adorning it with altars; sacrificing with holy rites, he traversed the whole earth.

12.29.89 Having sacrificed with a thousand rites and a hundred horse-sacrifices, he gratified the lord of the gods with three mountains of gold.

12.29.90 In the great array of the war between gods and asuras, having slain the daiteyas and dānavas, Yayāti, son of Nahuṣa, apportioned the whole earth.

12.29.91 Having settled his sons — Yadu, Druhyu, and the rest — in the border-lands, and consecrated Pūru in his own kingdom, he set out for the forest together with his wife.

12.29.92 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.93 We have heard that Ambarīṣa, son of Nābhāga, died, O Sṛñjaya — the holy one whom the subjects chose as their protector, O best of kings.

12.29.94 He who, at his far-extended sacrifice and with collected mind, gave to the brāhmaṇas a thousand thousand kings, each of whom had performed ten thousand sacrifices.

12.29.95 "This men of old never did, nor shall any others do it hereafter" — thus the recipients of the priestly fees acclaimed Ambarīṣa, son of Nābhāga.

12.29.96 A hundred thousand kings and a hundred hundred kings, all having performed horse-sacrifices, attained through him the southern course of the dead.

12.29.97 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.98 We have heard that Śaśabindu of the Caitraratha line died, O Sṛñjaya — that great-souled one who had a hundred thousand wives.

12.29.99 He who had a thousand thousand sons of the line of Śaśabindu, all clad in golden armor and all supreme archers.

12.29.100 A hundred maidens followed behind each one of those princes, a hundred elephants behind each maiden, a hundred chariots behind each elephant.

12.29.101 A hundred horses of fine breed and garlanded with gold behind each chariot, a hundred cows behind each horse, and so too a hundred goats and sheep behind each cow.

12.29.102 This boundless wealth, O great king, Śaśabindu bestowed upon the brāhmaṇas at his great horse-sacrifice.

12.29.103 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.104 We have heard that Gaya, son of Amūrtarayas, died, O Sṛñjaya — that king who for a hundred years ate only what remained from the oblations.

12.29.105 To whom Agni granted boons; and Gaya then asked these boons: "May my giving be inexhaustible, and may my faith in dharma ever increase."

12.29.106 "May my mind delight in truth — through your grace, O eater of oblations." And he obtained all those desires from the fire-god: so have we heard.

12.29.107 With the new-moon and full-moon rites and the four-monthly sacrifices, again and again, that one of great splendor sacrificed for a thousand years.

12.29.108 A hundred thousand cows and a hundred hundred horses he gave, rising up to give again and again, for a thousand years.

12.29.109 He gratified the gods with soma, the twice-born with wealth, the ancestors with the svadhā offerings, and his own wives with the things they desired, O bull among men.

12.29.110 Having fashioned an earth of gold, ten fathoms broad and twice as long, the king gave it as priestly fee at his great horse-sacrifice.

12.29.111 As many as are the grains of sand of the Gaṅgā, O king, O bull among men — just so many cows did Gaya, son of Amūrtarayas, bestow.

12.29.112 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.113 We have heard that Rantideva, son of Saṃkṛti, died, O Sṛñjaya — that one of great renown who, having duly propitiated Śakra, obtained a boon.

12.29.114 "May our food be abundant, may we be granted guests, may our faith never desert us, and may we never have to beg of anyone."

12.29.115 The beasts, both of the village and of the wild, came of their own accord to wait upon him — the great-souled and glorious Rantideva, firm in his vows.

12.29.116 From the moisture seeping out of the heap of hides a great river streamed forth; and from this that great river became renowned as the Carmaṇvatī.

12.29.117 In the wide-spread assembly the king gave golden niṣkas to the brāhmaṇas; and where the twice-born cried out, "A niṣka for you, for you!" he would say, "A thousand for you," and so approach the brāhmaṇas.

12.29.118 Whatever served for the monthly offering or as utensils for the rite — the pots, the cooking-vessels, the cauldrons, the dishes, and the pans — not one thing of the wise Rantideva's was other than gold.

12.29.119 On whatever night one lodged in the house of Rantideva, son of Saṃkṛti, a hundred cows and twenty thousand more were slaughtered.

12.29.120 There the cooks, wearing well-polished jeweled earrings, would cry out: "Eat your fill of the broth — today there is not so much meat as before!"

12.29.121 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he who was endowed with the four excellences more fully than you, and more meritorious by far than your son — then do not grieve for your son.

12.29.122 We have heard that the great-souled Sagara also died, O Sṛñjaya — that tiger among men of the line of Ikṣvāku, of more than human valor.

12.29.123 Sixty thousand sons followed behind him as he went, like the hosts of stars trailing the moon, lord of the constellations, in a cloudless sky at the season's end.

12.29.124 He to whom the whole earth bowed in submission of old, beneath a single royal canopy, and who gratified the gods with a thousand horse-sacrifices —

12.29.125 who bestowed a palace of golden pillars, all of gold, thronged with couches and filled with women whose eyes were like the petals of the lotus —

12.29.126 who granted to the worthy twice-born their desires both great and small, so that at his command the brāhmaṇas divided that wealth among themselves —

12.29.127 who in his wrath caused the earth to be dug out, marking it with the sea, and from whose name the great water itself came to be called the ocean —

12.29.128 if even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he far richer than you in the four blessings and far more meritorious than your son — then grieve not for your son.

12.29.129 We have heard, O Sṛñjaya, that King Pṛthu, son of Vena, has died — he whom the great seers assembled together to consecrate in the vast forest.

12.29.130 "He shall make the worlds prosper" — thus was he proclaimed Pṛthu; and "he saves us from harm" — therefore is he remembered as kṣatriya.

12.29.131 When the people beheld Pṛthu, son of Vena, they cried, "We are won to him in love"; and so, out of that devotion, the name rājan arose for him.

12.29.132 While the son of Vena ruled, the earth yielded grain unploughed, honey filled cup upon cup, and the cows gave milk by the droṇa-measure.

12.29.133 Free of disease, all their aims fulfilled, and afraid of nothing, men dwelt as they desired, in the fields and in their homes.

12.29.134 When he wished to cross the sea, its waters stood still; the rivers did not heave up against him, and his banner met no hindrance.

12.29.135 In the great rite of the horse-sacrifice that king gave to the brāhmaṇas one and twenty mountains of gold, each three reeds in height.

12.29.136 If even he died, O Sṛñjaya — he far richer than you in the four blessings and far more meritorious than your son — then grieve not for your son.

12.29.137 Why do you brood in silence, O Sṛñjaya? Do you not, O king, hear these words of mine? If you do, then my speech has not been uttered in vain — wholesome counsel rightly spoken, as if to one about to die.

12.29.138 Sṛñjaya said: I do hear this speech of yours, O Nārada — rich in wondrous meaning, fragrant with holiness like a garland — a recital, bright with their fame, of those great-souled royal sages and doers of holy deeds, told to dispel my grief.

12.29.139 Not in vain have you spoken, O great seer; at the mere sight of you, Nārada, my sorrow is gone. I long to hear your words, O speaker of the sacred truth; I cannot have my fill of them, as of a draught of the nectar of immortality.

12.29.140 O you whose sight is never barren, if you would show favour to me, O lord, scorched by sorrow for my son, then by your grace let my dead son live again this day, and let me be joined with him once more.

12.29.141 Nārada said: That dear son of yours who has passed away — the Gold-Spitter whom Parvata granted you — that very son I now give back to you again, Hiraṇyanābha, endowed once more with a span of a thousand years.

12.30.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How did the son of Sṛñjaya come to be the Gold-Spitter? For what reason was he granted by Parvata, and by what cause did he die?

12.30.2 If a man's allotted span was a thousand years, how then did Sṛñjaya's son die before he had even reached his boyhood?

12.30.3 Was "Gold-Spitter" but a name only, or was it truly so that he spat gold? This I wish to learn.

12.30.4 Vāsudeva said: I shall tell you how it came to pass, O lord of men. Long ago there were two seers, Nārada and Parvata, honoured throughout the worlds.

12.30.5 Uncle and sister's son, those two mighty ones came down here of old from the world of the gods, wishing in their fondness to roam awhile among mortals.

12.30.6 On purifying oblation-food fit for sacrifice, and on the very fare of the gods, Nārada the uncle, and Parvata the sister's son, sustained themselves —

12.30.7 both endowed with ascetic power, wandering over the surface of the earth, and tasting human pleasures, they ranged about as was fitting.

12.30.8 Loving and joyful, they made there a compact: "Whatever resolve should arise in the heart, whether good or ill, it must be disclosed to the other; to do otherwise shall bring a curse upon the false one."

12.30.9 "So be it," the two world-honoured great seers vowed; and coming to King Sṛñjaya, son of Śvitya, they said this to him:

12.30.10 "We two shall dwell with you, sir, for a time, for your good; be duly attentive to us, O guardian of the earth." "So be it," said the king, and honouring them, he waited upon them well.

12.30.11 Then one day, to those two great-souled ones who had so come to him, the king, exceedingly pleased, said: "This is my daughter, of fair complexion.

12.30.12 This is my one and only daughter, and she shall attend upon you both — lovely to look upon, flawless of limb, endowed with good character and conduct, tender and maidenly, and like the filament of a lotus."

12.30.13 "Excellent, gentle one," said the two; and so addressed, the king commanded her: "Daughter, wait upon these brāhmaṇas as upon gods and as upon a father."

12.30.14 And that maiden, walking in righteousness, said "So be it" to her father, and according to the king's command she honoured the two and waited upon them.

12.30.15 By her ministering thus, and by her matchless beauty, love swiftly and all at once took hold of Nārada's heart.

12.30.16 And then desire grew in the heart of that great-souled one, as the lord of the stars, the moon, waxes slowly at the onset of the bright fortnight.

12.30.17 Yet that knower of the law, out of shame, did not disclose his fierce passion to his sister's son, the great-souled Parvata.

12.30.18 But by his ascetic power and by Nārada's bearing, Parvata came to know it; and in anger at Nārada, stricken with desire, he then cursed him bitterly.

12.30.19 "You made a compact with me without reservation: that whatever resolve should arise in the heart, whether good or ill,

12.30.20 it should be disclosed to one another. That word of yours, O brāhmaṇa, you have made false; and therefore I say this to you.

12.30.21 You did not tell me earlier of the desire stirring within you for the maiden Sukumārī; for that reason I now lay this curse upon you.

12.30.22 Since you, a teacher and an expounder of the sacred word, an ascetic and a brāhmaṇa, have broken the compact made between us two —

12.30.23 therefore, in deep wrath, I shall curse you; hear me. Sukumārī shall indeed become your wife — of that there is no doubt;

12.30.24 but from the moment of the wedding onward, O lord, the maiden — and other men besides — shall behold you as a monkey, stripped of your own form."

12.30.25 And when Nārada had heard that speech from Parvata, then the uncle in his turn cursed his sister's son in anger:

12.30.26 "Though endowed with austerity, with chastity, with truth, and with self-restraint, and ever devoted to righteousness, you shall not attain a dwelling in heaven."

12.30.27 Having cursed each other thus, in deep wrath and intolerant of one another, the two parted ways, like a pair of mighty elephants enraged.

12.30.28 Parvata, the great sage, wandered over the whole earth, honoured everywhere as was his due by his own splendour, O descendant of Bharata.

12.30.29 Then Nārada, foremost in righteousness, lawfully won that maiden, the blameless Sukumārī, the daughter of Sṛñjaya.

12.30.30 But that maiden, in accordance with the curse, beheld Nārada — from the very moment the marriage-mantras were pronounced — as a monkey.

12.30.31 Yet Sukumārī did not scorn the divine seer, monkey-faced though he was; on the contrary, she remained full of affection for him.

12.30.32 Devoted to her husband, she waited upon him and did not, even in thought, turn to another — neither god, nor sage, nor yakṣa — to take as her lord.

12.30.33 Then once the venerable Parvata went into a certain solitary forest, and there he caught sight of Nārada.

12.30.34 Then, having saluted him, Parvata said to Nārada: "Be gracious to me, O lord, and grant me leave to enter heaven."

12.30.35 Then Nārada, beholding Parvata seated before him with hands folded in supplication and downcast — himself yet more downcast — said to him:

12.30.36 "You first cursed me, saying, 'You shall become a monkey'; and afterward, stung by resentment, I cursed you too, saying, 'From this day forth you shall not attain a dwelling in heaven.'

12.30.37 This is not worthy of you, for you stand to me in the place of a son." And so the two sages then withdrew, each from the other, the curses they had laid.

12.30.38 Then, seeing Nārada radiant with glory and of godlike form, Sukumārī fled, fearing he must be some other woman's husband.

12.30.39 Then Parvata, seeing the blameless one fleeing, said to her: "This is your own husband; there is no need to doubt it here.

12.30.40 The seer Nārada, the venerable lord, a soul supremely righteous, is yours alone, his heart cleaving to none but you. Let there be no doubt of this in your mind."

12.30.41 Reassured in many ways by the great-souled Parvata, and having heard of that taint of the curse upon her husband, she returned to her own nature; then Parvata went to heaven, and Nārada went to his home.

12.30.42 This great seer Nārada, before whose eyes all things are made manifest, will himself, if asked, tell you how it came to pass, O best of men.

12.31.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the king, the son of Pāṇḍu, replied to Nārada: "Venerable one, I wish to hear of the origin of the Gold-Spitter."

12.31.2 So addressed by the King of Righteousness, the sage Nārada recounted how it had come to pass concerning the Gold-Spitter.

12.31.3 "It is even so, O great king, as Keśava has told it. But what remains of this matter, that I shall relate to you, since you ask.

12.31.4 I and Parvata — my sister's son, the great sage — wishing for lodging, came to Sṛñjaya, the best of the victorious.

12.31.5 There, honoured by him with rites prescribed by ordinance, and well provided with every comfort, we dwelt in his house.

12.31.6 When the rains had passed and the time for departure was at hand, Parvata spoke to me these words, weighty and timely:

12.31.7 "We two have dwelt, most highly honoured, in the house of this lord of men for the appointed time. Now, O brāhmaṇa, let us take thought what should be done in return."

12.31.8 Then I said, O king, to the fair-seeming Parvata: "All this rests with you, my lord, my sister's son.

12.31.9 Let the king be offered a boon and obtain whatever he desires; by the power of our austerities let him gain his wish, if you think it fitting."

12.31.10 Then Parvata, the bull among sages, summoned the fair-seeming King Sṛñjaya and spoke these agreed-upon words:

12.31.11 "We two are pleased, O king, with the honours you have rendered us, born of your sincerity. With our leave, O best of men, think now upon a boon.

12.31.12 Whatever, without offence to the gods, lies within the measure of what is possible for a mortal, that take, O great king; for you are deemed by us worthy of honour."

12.31.13 Sṛñjaya said: If you two are pleased with me, then by that alone my purpose is achieved; this very thing is for me the highest gain, attained and rich in fruit.

12.31.14 Nārada said: To him, who spoke thus, Parvata replied once more: "Choose, O king, the desire that has long abided in your heart."

12.31.15 Sṛñjaya said: I long for a son — a hero, valiant and firm in his vows, long-lived and greatly blessed, splendid as the king of the gods.

12.31.16 Parvata said: This desire of yours shall be fulfilled, but he shall not be long-lived; for this resolve in your heart is meant to surpass the king of the gods.

12.31.17 And from his spitting of gold he shall become the Gold-Spitter; and he, splendid as the king of the gods, must be guarded against the king of the gods.

12.31.18 Nārada said: Having heard this speech of the great-souled Parvata, Sṛñjaya then sought to win him over, saying, "Let it not be thus."

12.31.19 "Let my son be long-lived, O sage, by the power of your austerity." But Parvata said nothing at all to him in reply, out of regard for Indra.

12.31.20 To that grieving king I then spoke once again: "Remember me, O great king; when remembered, I shall show myself to you."

12.31.21 "Your beloved son, gone into the power of the Lord of the Dead, I shall give back to you in that very form. Do not grieve, O lord of the earth."

12.31.22 Having spoken thus to the king, we two departed as we had wished; and Sṛñjaya, his desire fulfilled, entered his own palace.

12.31.23 Then to Sṛñjaya, the royal sage, in the course of time, was born a son of mighty valor, blazing as it were with splendor.

12.31.24 He grew in due season like a great lotus in a lake, and he became Golden-Spittle: rightly did that name belong to him.

12.31.25 That most wondrous thing spread through the world, O best of the Kurus; and the lord of the gods came to know of the boon granted by the two great-souled ones.

12.31.26 Then the slayer of Bala and Vṛtra, fearing to be overthrown, took his stand upon the counsel of Bṛhaspati and lay in wait for an opening against the boy.

12.31.27 He charged the thunderbolt, that divine weapon embodied in form: "Become a tiger and slay this prince!" — so he commanded, O lord.

12.31.28 "Grown great in might, this one will surely overthrow me, O thunderbolt — this son of Sṛñjaya, even as Parvata bestowed him."

12.31.29 Thus addressed by Śakra, the thunderbolt, conqueror of hostile cities, continually followed the boy, watching for an opening.

12.31.30 And Sṛñjaya, having gained a son radiant as the king of the gods, the king rejoiced; and then, with his harem, he took to dwelling in the forest.

12.31.31 Then once, on the bank of the Bhāgīrathī, by a forest stream, the child ran about at play, his nurse beside him.

12.31.32 The boy, about five years of age, with the prowess of a lordly elephant, in his great strength came upon a tiger that had sprung up all at once.

12.31.33 Crushed by it, the king's son, trembling, fell lifeless to the earth; and at that the nurse cried out in anguish.

12.31.34 And having slain the prince, that tiger vanished on the very spot, made to disappear then by the magic of the king of the gods.

12.31.35 Hearing the cry of the nurse as she wept in utmost distress, the lord of the earth himself ran to that place.

12.31.36 He beheld the boy lying lifeless, his blood drained, robbed of all joy, like the moon fallen from the sky.

12.31.37 Lifting onto his lap that son with the crushed chest, drenched in blood, he lamented over him in his anguish.

12.31.38 Then the mothers of the boy, weeping, wasted with grief, ran to that place where King Sṛñjaya was.

12.31.39 Then the king, his mind turned inward, called me to mind; and I, knowing that he had thus thought of me, came into his sight.

12.31.40 Lost in grief, he was made to hear from me these very words which the hero of the Yadus has told to you, O lord of the earth.

12.31.41 And the boy was restored to life by me then, with Vāsava's consent; for what is destined must be so, and it cannot be otherwise than that.

12.31.42 Thereafter the prince Golden-Spittle, of great renown and valor, gladdened the hearts of his father and his mother.

12.31.43 When his father had gone to heaven, that mighty one of terrible prowess ruled the kingdom for a thousand and a hundred years.

12.31.44 Then, having performed many great sacrifices with abundant priestly gifts, that one of great splendor satisfied both the gods and the ancestors.

12.31.45 And having begotten many sons to continue the line, in the fullness of long time, O king, he came to the law of Time.

12.31.46 So you, O lord of kings, turn back this grief that has arisen within you, even as Keśava and Vyāsa of mighty austerity have counseled you.

12.31.47 Take up the kingdom of your fathers and forefathers, and bear hard the burden of rule; and by performing holy great sacrifices you shall attain the worlds you desire.

12.32.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: To the king Yudhiṣṭhira, fallen silent and grieving, the ascetic Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, knower of the truth of dharma, then spoke.

12.32.2 "The protection of subjects is the dharma of kings, O lotus-eyed one. Dharma is the standard of the world, and constant conformity to dharma is the rule."

12.32.3 "Hold fast, O king, to the station of your fathers and forefathers; and the dharma that lies among the brāhmaṇas is eternal, established by the Veda."

12.32.4 "That is the standard of standards, everlasting, O bull of the Bhāratas; and of that dharma in its entirety the kṣatriya is the protector."

12.32.5 "And whatever man within his realm strikes against his command, that wrecker of the world's course is to be restrained by force of arms."

12.32.6 "Whoever, fallen under the sway of delusion, makes the standard no standard — be he a servant, or a son, or even some ascetic — those wicked ones the king should restrain by every means, or put to death."

12.32.7 "A king who acts otherwise than this incurs guilt; for he who does not guard dharma when it is perishing is himself a slayer of dharma."

12.32.8 "Those slayers of dharma were struck down by you, together with their followers. Acting in your own dharma, why then do you grieve, O Pāṇḍava? For a king must slay, must give, and must protect his subjects according to dharma."

12.32.9 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "I do not doubt the word you speak, O treasury of austerity; for dharma is no hidden thing to you, O best of all upholders of dharma."

12.32.10 "Yet many who ought not to have been slain were slain by me for the sake of the kingdom; those things I ought not to have done, O brahmin, sear me and burn me."

12.32.11 Vyāsa said: "Either God may be the doer, O Bhārata, or the individual man, or chance prevails in the world, or the fruit is held to be born of action."

12.32.12 "If men, appointed by God, perform their deeds both good and ill, O lord of earth, then that fruit goes to God."

12.32.13 "For just as a man may fell a tree with an axe in the forest, the guilt would belong to the feller, and in no way to the axe."

12.32.14 "Or if men were to gain the fruit of the deed because they took up the means, still the guilt wrought by rod and sword would not be found in the man."

12.32.15 "And this is not held to be right, O son of Kuntī — that one should reap the fruit of what another has wrought. Therefore lay it upon God."

12.32.16 "Or if the man is the doer of his deeds, both fair and foul, and no other agent is found, then in that case do some other good."

12.32.17 "For no one anywhere, O king, can turn back from what is destined; and the guilt wrought by rod and sword is not found in the man."

12.32.18 "Or if you think, O king, that the world rests upon chance, then in that case too the evil deed has neither been nor shall be."

12.32.19 "But if responsibility for good and evil must be assigned to the world, then the most fitting thing in the world is the lifted rod of kings."

12.32.20 "And again, if deeds come round full circle in the world, O Bhārata, then these men reap the fruit, fair and foul, of their own doing — such is my view."

12.32.21 "Thus, true and yielding good counsel, is the certain fruit of action. Cast it off, O tiger among kings; do not set your mind on grief in this way."

12.32.22 "For one acting in his own dharma, even when there is reproach, O Bhārata, this abandonment of self, O king, is unbecoming of you."

12.32.23 "Atonements are ordained here for the doers of deeds, O son of Kuntī; one possessed of a body may perform them, but the bodiless would meet ruin."

12.32.24 "Therefore, O king, while you yet live, you shall perform the atonement; but if you do not make atonement, you shall burn for it hereafter, O Bhārata."

12.33.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "Slain are sons and grandsons, brothers and fathers too, fathers-in-law, teachers, maternal uncles, together with grandfathers."

12.33.2 "And great-souled kṣatriyas, kinsmen and friends alike, companions and relatives and brothers, O grandfather —"

12.33.3 "and many lords of men, gathered from diverse lands — all were brought to death by me alone, greedy for the kingdom, O grandfather."

12.33.4 "Having slain such men as those — guardians of the earth, ever steadfast in dharma, heroes who again and again drank the soma — what shall I attain, O treasury of austerity?"

12.33.5 "Day and night now I burn, brooding again and again upon this earth, bereft of those lordly lions among kings in all their splendor."

12.33.6 "Beholding the terrible slaughter of kinsmen, enemies slain by the hundred and other men by the millions, I am consumed with anguish, O grandfather."

12.33.7 "What now shall be the lot of those noble women, bereft of their own sons, their husbands, and their brothers?"

12.33.8 "Reviling us — the dreadful Pāṇḍavas, bringers of the end, leagued with the Vṛṣṇis — gaunt and wretched, falling down upon the ground,"

12.33.9 "those women, seeing no more their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, will all give up their dear lives and go to the abode of Yama."

12.33.10 "Of this I have no doubt, O best of the twice-born: through their tender love, and clearly through the subtlety of dharma, we shall incur the slaughter of women as well."

12.33.11 "We, having slain our friends and wrought sin without end, shall fall headlong into hell, head downward indeed."

12.33.12 "We shall cast off our bodies by fierce austerity, O most virtuous one. Declare to me, O grandfather, the several modes of holy life."

12.34.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard that speech of Yudhiṣṭhira, the seer Dvaipāyana then, pondering it keenly with his intellect, spoke to the Pāṇḍava.

12.34.2 "Do not give way to despair, O king; recall the dharma of the warrior. By their own dharma these kṣatriyas were slain, O bull among kṣatriyas."

12.34.3 "Coveting sovereignty entire and great glory upon the earth, bound by the ordinance of fate, they went to their destruction through Time."

12.34.4 "Not you are the slayer, nor Bhīma, nor Arjuna, nor the twins; it is Time that, by the law of succession, takes the life-breaths of embodied beings."

12.34.5 "By that Time were they gathered in — Time, which has neither mother nor father, which has no one to favor, which is the witness of creatures' deeds."

12.34.6 "This is but the instrument of that Time, O bull among men: that it slays beings by means of beings — that is its sovereign form."

12.34.7 "Know Time to be the very embodiment of action, the witness of good and evil, whose outcome is the qualities of pleasure and pain, the bestower of the fruit of Time."

12.34.8 "Consider too, O mighty-armed one, the deeds of those men, by reason of which, as causes of their own destruction, they fell into the power of Time."

12.34.9 "And recognize your own disposition toward restraint and vow and virtuous conduct, even when you were made to do such a deed, constrained by ordinance."

12.34.10 "As a contrivance fashioned by Tvaṣṭṛ lies in the power of him who set it, so by action joined with Time is this world set whirling."

12.34.11 "For seeing this coming-to-be of a man without apparent cause, and his perishing by mere chance, grief and joy are alike of no avail."

12.34.12 "Yet whatever falsehood here ensnares your mind, for the sake of that, O king, atonement is enjoined: perform it."

12.34.13 "And this is heard, O Pārtha, of the war of gods and asuras of old: the asuras were the elder brothers, and the gods the younger."

12.34.14 "Among them too, for the sake of sovereignty, there arose a great upheaval; the war lasted, it is said, two and thirty thousand years."

12.34.15 "Making the earth one ocean, awash with blood, the gods then slew the daityas and won for themselves the triple heaven."

12.34.16 "Even so, having gained the earth, brāhmaṇas versed to the end in the Vedas, deluded by pride, attached themselves to the aid of the dānavas."

12.34.17 "Renowned as the Śālāvṛkas throughout the three worlds, O Bhārata, those eighty-eight thousand too were slain by the gods."

12.34.18 Those evil-souled men who, seeking the destruction of dharma, become the promoters of adharma, must be slain—even as the fierce Daityas were slain by the gods.

12.34.19 If by killing one man the welfare of the rest of a family is secured, or by destroying a family or even a kingdom, then such an act does no injury to right conduct.

12.34.20 For there is, O lord of men, a dharma that wears the form of adharma, and an adharma that wears the form of dharma; this the wise man must learn to discern.

12.34.21 Therefore steady your heart, O Pāṇḍava, for you are learned; you have followed the path trodden of old by the gods themselves, O Bhārata.

12.34.22 Men such as you do not go to hell, O bull of the Pāṇḍavas; comfort these your brothers and your friends, O scorcher of foes.

12.34.23 For he who, set upon a sinful undertaking, is wholly possessed by that intent—who acts in that same spirit while doing it, and remains shameless once it is done—

12.34.24 in him, it is said, all that taint reaches its fullness: for such a one there is no expiation, nor any lessening of the evil deed.

12.34.25 But you are of pure birth, made to act by another's fault; unwillingly you wrought this deed, and now you grieve for having done it.

12.34.26 The horse-sacrifice, the great offering, is declared to be the expiation; perform it, O great king, and thus you shall be cleansed of evil.

12.34.27 Maghavat, the chastiser of Pāka, having vanquished his foes together with the Maruts, by performing one sacrifice after another a hundredfold, became the Lord of a Hundred Sacrifices.

12.34.28 Cleansed of sin, having won heaven and attained the worlds where bliss arises, Śakra, surrounded by the host of the Maruts, shone resplendent, lighting up the quarters.

12.34.29 As the lord of Śacī is honored in the world of heaven amid the Apsarases, the sages wait upon him, and the gods too attend that ruler of the wise.

12.34.30 Even such are you, who here by your valor have passed over the whole earth, and by your valor have conquered its guardian-kings, O sinless one.

12.34.31 Go to their cities and kingdoms, O king, surrounded by your friends, and consecrate their brothers, sons, and grandsons each in his own realm.

12.34.32 Even the children, even those still in the womb—speaking words of comfort, gladdening all your subjects, do you protect the earth.

12.34.33 And where there is no son, there consecrate the daughters; for womankind is set upon desire, and thus they will lay aside their grief.

12.34.34 When you have thus brought solace to all the kingdoms, O Bhārata, offer the horse-sacrifice, as Indra the victorious did of old.

12.34.35 Those great-souled warriors are not to be mourned, O bull among Kṣatriyas; by their own deeds they met their ruin, bewildered by the power of fate.

12.34.36 The duty of a Kṣatriya you have fulfilled, and your kingdom is won unstained; walk now in that dharma, O son of Kuntī, which yields the higher good in the life beyond.

12.35.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: By doing what deeds in this world does a man come to need expiation, and by doing what is he set free? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.35.2 Vyāsa said: By leaving undone the ordained acts, by performing the forbidden ones, and by living falsely—thus does a man come to need expiation.

12.35.3 The student of the Veda upon whom the sun rises while he still sleeps, or upon whom it sets, the man with diseased nails, the man with discolored teeth—

12.35.4 the man married before his elder brother and the man whose younger brother weds before him, the forsaker of the Veda and the reviler of it, the husband of a remarried woman, and the man who weds before his elder brother—

12.35.5 he who has broken his vow of chastity, the slayer of a twice-born man, he who abandons sacred learning to an unworthy recipient and he who withholds it from a worthy one—

12.35.6 the village-priest, O son of Kuntī, the seller of a king's secrets, and the slayer of a Śūdra woman—of these, each earlier-named is the more to be condemned.

12.35.7 He who slaughters an animal in vain, he who sets fire to a forest, he who serves another with falsehood, and he who opposes his teacher—

12.35.8 and he who casts away his sacred fires, and likewise the seller of the Veda, and he who has broken his sworn agreement—all these are counted among the sins.

12.35.9 I shall also tell of the things that ought not to be done; learn them from me—deeds opposed to the world and the Veda; hear them with single-minded attention.

12.35.10 The abandonment of one's own duty and the practice of another's; the officiating at sacrifices for those unfit to sacrifice; and the eating of what ought not to be eaten;

12.35.11 the forsaking of one who has come for refuge, the failure to support a dependent, the selling of flavored liquids, and the slaying of beasts of the brute-born kind;

12.35.12 the failure of a capable man to perform the kindling of the fires and the like, and the withholding of all those things, O Bhārata, that ought ever to be given—

12.35.13 the failure to bestow sacrificial fees, and the laying of hands upon a Brāhmaṇa's property—all these the knowers of dharma declare to be deeds not to be done.

12.35.14 The son who divides the inheritance against his father's will, he who defiles his teacher's bed, and he who fails to beget offspring—through such unrighteousness a man becomes a doer of adharma.

12.35.15 These deeds have now been told, both at length and in brief—the deeds by doing or by failing to do which a man comes to need expiation.

12.35.16 But hear now under what particular circumstances these very same deeds, when performed, do not stain men with guilt.

12.35.17 If a man slays in battle even one versed in the end of the Veda who comes against him with weapon raised, intent on killing, he does not by that become a slayer of a Brāhmaṇa.

12.35.18 And moreover, O son of Kuntī, a sacred verse upon this is recited in the Vedas; I declare to you that dharma as ordained by the authority of the Veda.

12.35.19 He who slays a Brāhmaṇa fallen from his rightful conduct, an aggressor with weapon poised, does not thereby become a slayer of a Brāhmaṇa; it is one wrath answering another.

12.35.20 In peril of life, or through ignorance, even one devoted to dharma who drinks strong liquor—if unprompted to it—deserves once more to be purified by the sacraments.

12.35.21 All this concerning the eating of what should not be eaten has been told to you, O son of Kuntī; through the ordinance of expiation all of it is purified.

12.35.22 For the approaching of the teacher's bed, when done at the teacher's bidding, does not defile a man: Uddālaka begot Śvetaketu through a pupil in just this way.

12.35.23 He who commits theft for his teacher's sake in times of distress is not bound by it, provided he does not turn to it again and again out of wilful desire.

12.35.24 He who takes such property, save that of a Brāhmaṇa, incurs no fault; and he who does not himself partake of it is not tainted by sin.

12.35.25 A falsehood may be spoken to save life, one's own or another's; and so too for the teacher's sake, in matters concerning women, and in the making of marriages.

12.35.26 A vow is not broken by an emission of seed in a dream by any means; an oblation of clarified butter upon the kindled fire is ordained as the expiation.

12.35.27 There is no offense of marrying before an elder brother who has become an outcaste, or who has gone forth as an ascetic or a mendicant; and the taking of his wife in such a case is no violation of dharma.

12.35.28 One should neither slaughter an animal in vain nor cause it to be done; for the sacramental slaying of beasts, when ordained by the rule, is in truth a grace bestowed upon them.

12.35.29 What is given to an unworthy Brāhmaṇa through ignorance is no offense; and so too the imparting of learning, for due cause, whether to a worthy or an unworthy recipient.

12.35.30 For women who have transgressed there is an atonement free of blame; by it even she is purified, and the husband is not thereby defiled.

12.35.31 Knowing its true nature, the sale of Soma may be made without fault; the dismissal of a dependent who is incapable is without offense; and the burning of a forest, when done for the sake of cattle, is no transgression.

12.35.32 These deeds have been told, by doing which a man incurs no fault; now I shall declare the expiations at length, O Bhārata.

12.36.1 Vyāsa said: By austerity, by rites, and by gifts, O Bhārata, a man cleanses away his sin—if, once purified, he does not return to it again.

12.36.2 Eating but once a day, wandering for alms, performing his own observance, a skull in his hand and a club at his side, chaste, ever alert,

12.36.3 free of malice, sleeping upon the ground, proclaiming his deed before the world—after twelve full years the slayer of a Brāhmaṇa is set free.

12.36.4 In six years a man who lives on penitential fare is cleansed of the slaying of a Brāhmaṇa; eating but once each month, he is freed in three years.

12.36.5 He who eats but once a month is purified within a single year, of this there is no doubt; and likewise, O king, one who abstains from food is freed even by a lesser term.

12.36.6 By the rite of the horse-sacrifice he is purified, of this there is no doubt; and whatever men bathe at its concluding ablution—

12.36.7 all of them become cleansed of sin, so runs the highest sacred tradition; and he who is slain in battle for a Brāhmaṇa's sake is freed from the guilt of Brāhmaṇa-slaying.

12.36.8 By bestowing a hundred thousand cows upon worthy recipients, the slayer of a Brāhmaṇa is set free from that and from all sins as well.

12.36.9 He who gives twenty-five thousand tawny milch-cows is freed from all his sins.

12.36.10 In peril of life, by giving a thousand milch-cows with their calves to the virtuous who are poor, a man is freed from his guilt.

12.36.11 He who gives a hundred Kāmboja horses to Brāhmaṇas of disciplined life, O guardian of the earth, he too is released from his sin.

12.36.12 He who fulfills the heart's desire of even a single man, O Bhārata, and who, having given, does not proclaim it abroad—he too is released from his sin.

12.36.13 A twice-born man who, having once drunk strong liquor, then drinks it fire-hot, thereby purifies himself both in this world and the next.

12.36.14 By casting himself from the heights of Meru, or by entering the fire, or by setting forth upon the Great Journey, he is freed from all his sins.

12.36.15 A Brāhmaṇa who has drunk liquor, having sacrificed with the Bṛhaspati-sava rite, may once more join the assembly of Brāhmaṇas—so runs the sacred tradition of the Brāhmaṇas.

12.36.16 He who, having drunk liquor, makes a gift of land without grudging and drinks no more, O king—that man, once sanctified by the sacraments, is purified.

12.36.17 He who has defiled his teacher's bed should lie down upon a heated slab of iron, or, taking his own member in his hand, should go forth gazing upward.

12.36.18 By the surrender of the body he is freed from the evil deed; and women who keep restraint for a year are released from such deeds.

12.36.19 He who performs the Great Vow, or gives away all that he possesses, or is slain in battle for his teacher's sake, is released from the evil deed.

12.36.20 He who has served another with falsehood, and he who has opposed his teacher, by rendering to him what is dear, are released from that sin.

12.36.21 For the breaking of the vow of chastity, one should observe the penance prescribed for the slaying of a Brāhmaṇa, clad in an ass's hide for six months; thus is he freed from his guilt.

12.36.22 He who has carried off another's wife, and he who has seized another's wealth, by holding a vow for a full year, are thus freed from their guilt.

12.36.23 From whomever one has stolen, to him one should give back wealth of equal worth; by such manifold means is one freed from that guilt.

12.36.24 By a penance of twelve nights well observed, or of no fewer than ten, both he who married before his elder brother and the elder brother so passed over are made pure, O Bhārata.

12.36.25 He should then take a wife, ever delivering his forefathers thereby; and upon the woman no fault falls, nor is she tainted by it.

12.36.26 For in conjugal union, purified by the season, a four-month observance is ordained; by it women are made pure, so the knowers of dharma understand.

12.36.27 But women suspected of sins are not to be approached by a man who knows; by their monthly courses they are made pure, as a vessel is cleansed by ashes.

12.36.28 For Brāhmaṇas the whole of dharma is ordained, complete on all four feet; for the Kṣatriya the dharma is ordained drawn short by one foot.

12.36.29 So too for the Vaiśya and the Śūdra, foot by foot it is diminished; by this measure one should determine the greater and lesser weight of their duties.

12.36.30 Having slain a creature of the animal kingdom, or having felled many other sorts of trees, a man should subsist on air alone for three nights and openly proclaim what he has done.

12.36.31 For approaching a woman one may not lawfully approach, O king, this penance is ordained: for six months he must go about clad in wet garments and sleep upon ashes.

12.36.32 This same rule applies to all forbidden deeds, by the procedure declared by the Brāhmaṇas, grounded in precedent, scripture, and reasoning.

12.36.33 Even by reciting the Sāvitrī in a clean place, eating sparingly, doing no harm, neither dull nor given to idle chatter, a man is freed from all his sins.

12.36.34 By day he should remain ever standing under the open sky, by night he should sleep beneath it, and three times by day and three times by night he should enter the water with his garments on.

12.36.35 While bound by this vow he should not speak with women, Śūdras, or the fallen; having committed sins through ignorance, the twice-born man so vowed is set free.

12.36.36 After death a man obtains the fruit of good and evil, with the elements as his witnesses; and whichever of the two preponderates, that is the fruit the doer reaps.

12.36.37 Therefore, when he has done an evil deed, let him by gift, by austerity, and by good works so increase the fruit of merit that it comes to outweigh the rest.

12.36.38 As an antidote to evil deeds he should perform good works, and give away his wealth without ceasing; thus he is released from sin.

12.36.39 For a penance proportioned to the sin has been laid down; yet, save for the great sins, an expiation is indeed prescribed.

12.36.40 In all matters of what may and may not be eaten, and likewise of what may and may not be spoken, in cases of ignorance and of knowledge alike, O king, the ordinances grant their dispensations.

12.36.41 A sin done knowingly becomes in every case a grave one; but where the fault arises from a lapse made in ignorance, expiation is ordained.

12.36.42 Sin can be wiped away by the procedure as it has been declared; but this procedure is ordained only for the believer who has faith.

12.36.43 For unbelieving men, devoid of faith and given over to the vice of hypocrisy, this procedure is never to be seen at all.

12.36.44 The conduct of the cultivated and the dharma the cultivated uphold, O best of the upholders of dharma, must be honored, O tiger among men, by one who seeks happiness both here and hereafter.

12.36.45 Thus, O king, you shall be freed of sin by that cause already stated, whether by reason of the slaying of these men for the protection of others, or by reason of a king's proper duty.

12.36.46 Or, if some compassion still remains in you, you may perform a penance; but do not go to your ruin through conduct fit only for the ignoble.

12.37.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed by the venerable one, Yudhiṣṭhira, the king of dharma, reflected for a moment and then replied to the sage whose wealth was austerity.

12.37.2 What is to be eaten and what is not to be eaten, and what gift is held praiseworthy, and who is a worthy recipient and who is not — tell me this, O grandsire.

12.37.3 Vyāsa said: On this point too they relate an ancient tale, the dialogue between the Siddhas and Manu, the Lord of Creatures.

12.37.4 In the days of old the Siddhas, devoted to austerity and vows, having come together, questioned about dharma the mighty Lord of Creatures as he sat there at the beginning of time.

12.37.5 How is one to eat, how to give, how to study, how to practice austerity? Declare to us all, O Lord of Creatures, what ought and what ought not to be done.

12.37.6 Thus addressed by them, the venerable Manu, son of the Self-Existent, replied: Listen, as it truly is, to dharma told both in full and in brief.

12.37.7 Not taking what is not given, giving, study, austerity, non-injury, truthfulness, freedom from anger, forbearance, and sacrifice — these are the marks of dharma.

12.37.8 That very thing which is dharma becomes unrighteousness when set in the wrong place or the wrong time; even taking, falsehood, and injury may be dharma — for dharma, it is taught, is conditioned by circumstance.

12.37.9 For those who understand, both dharma and its opposite are twofold; abstention from action and engagement in action — such is the twofold division both in worldly life and in the Veda.

12.37.10 From abstention comes immortality, while mortality is the fruit of action; one should know that the fruit of evil is evil, and that of good is good alone.

12.37.11 Of these two there exist, according to their good and evil nature, both the divine and what is joined to the divine, both the breath of life and dissolution.

12.37.12 When evil deeds are done without forethought, a good fruit may yet arise hereafter, in doubtful measure, or even for a purpose seen in this world; and for what is done without forethought an expiation is ordained.

12.37.13 As for deeds done in anger and delusion — by precedent, scripture, and reason it is shown that the affliction of the body and of the mind, in things pleasant and unpleasant, is quieted by medicines, by sacred formulas, and by penances.

12.37.14 The customs of castes, of guilds, and of settlements, and the laws of families in every respect, one should not forsake; for there is no dharma among those in whom dharma is not found.

12.37.15 What ten men learned in the Vedas and the law-books, or three who are reciters of dharma, declare when a matter arises — that is dharma in a case of doubt concerning dharma.

12.37.16 Red earth, and likewise ants, and the śleṣmātaka fruit, and poison too — these are not to be eaten by the Brāhmaṇas.

12.37.17 Not to be eaten by Brāhmaṇas are those fishes that are without scales, four-footed creatures other than the tortoise, frogs, and whatever else is born of the water.

12.37.18 Bhāsa birds, swans, eagles, cakravāka geese, cranes, waterfowl, the heron, the diver-bird, vultures, and crows and owls as well —

12.37.19 all flesh-eating birds, and four-footed beasts furnished with fangs, those that have teeth on both jaws, and all that have the four canine teeth —

12.37.20 the milk of ewes, mares, she-asses, and she-camels, of cows newly calved, and of women and of doe-deer as well — of these the Brāhmaṇa should not drink.

12.37.21 Food connected with a death, food connected with childbirth, and whatever has not yet passed its tenth day, is not to be eaten nor drunk; so too the milk of a cow within ten days of calving.

12.37.22 The food of a carpenter, of a tanner of hides, of an unchaste woman, of a washerman, of a physician, and likewise of a watchman, is not to be eaten.

12.37.23 So too the food of those denounced by guilds or villages, of those who live off women of the stage, of a younger brother married before the elder and of eunuchs, and of bards and those skilled in dicing —

12.37.24 and food brought though it was being refused, food that has soured or gone stale, food tainted with liquor, defiled leavings, and whatever has been left as a remnant — all this is not to be eaten.

12.37.25 Preparations of flour, of meat, of sugarcane, of greens, and likewise of milk, and barley-meal, parched grain, and gruel of curds and meal, are not to be eaten when they have stood long.

12.37.26 Milk-rice, a dish of rice and sesame, meat, and cakes prepared to no sacred purpose, are not to be eaten nor partaken of by Brāhmaṇa householders.

12.37.27 Only after he has honored the gods, the ancestors, men, the sages, and the household deities is the householder entitled to eat.

12.37.28 As a mendicant who has gone forth, so should the householder dwell within his own home; living thus, abiding with his beloved wife, he attains to dharma.

12.37.29 The righteous man should not give a gift for the sake of fame, nor out of fear, nor to one who has done him a service, nor to those given to dancing and singing, nor to jesters.

12.37.30 Not to a drunkard, nor to a madman, nor to a thief, nor to a physician, nor to one bereft of speech or pallid, nor to one maimed in limb, nor to a dwarf —

12.37.31 nor to a wicked man, nor to one of base family, nor to one not consecrated by the vows; a gift to a Brāhmaṇa unlearned in scripture, who does not expound the sacred word, is a gift that is dead.

12.37.32 What is given improperly, and what is improperly received, turns to the ruin of them both — of the giver and of the taker alike.

12.37.33 As a man who would cross the sea clinging to a log of khadira wood or to a stone sinks down, so do both the giver and the receiver sink alike.

12.37.34 As a fire heaped over with damp wood does not blaze up, so is the recipient of gifts who is devoid of austerity, of study of the scriptures, and of good conduct.

12.37.35 As water held in a skull, or as milk in a dog-skin bag, is spoiled by the fault of its vessel, so is sacred learning in one bereft of good conduct.

12.37.36 To one who is without sacred formulas, without vows, ignorant of the scriptures, yet free of malice — out of compassion a gift may be given, even to such poor men as these.

12.37.37 Yet a gift should not be given even out of compassion to a wretch who works harm — neither on the plea that the worthy have practiced it, nor again on the plea that it is dharma.

12.37.38 A gift made without good cause to a Brāhmaṇa devoid of dharma incurs the fault of an unworthy recipient — on this I have no doubt.

12.37.39 As an elephant made of wood, as a deer made of leather, so too a Brāhmaṇa who does not study — these three bear but the name.

12.37.40 As a eunuch is barren among women, as a cow with a cow yields no fruit, as a bird without wings — so is a Brāhmaṇa without the sacred formulas.

12.37.41 As grain stored in an empty village, as a well without water, as an oblation poured where there is no fire — even so is an offering made to one untrained in sacred rites.

12.37.42 A fool who destroys the offerings due to the gods and the ancestors, an enemy who carries off their substance, does not deserve to attain the higher worlds.

12.37.43 All this has been told to you as it truly came to pass, O Yudhiṣṭhira; in brief it has been declared, yet it is a great matter to be heard, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.38.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I wish to hear at length, O venerable one, O great sage, O best of the twice-born, the whole of the duties of kings and of all the four castes.

12.38.2 And how, in times of calamity, statecraft is to be ordered by a ruler of the earth, and how, keeping to the path of righteousness, I might win the whole earth.

12.38.3 For this discourse on expiation, enlarged with the matter of foods lawful and forbidden, has stirred my curiosity and seems to awaken delight in me.

12.38.4 The practice of dharma and the rule of a kingdom seem forever at war with one another, and by this my mind is confounded as I ponder it without cease.

12.38.5 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: To him the mighty Vyāsa, best of those who know the Vedas, who knew all that was of old, glancing toward Nārada, spoke.

12.38.6 If you wish to hear the whole of dharma, O Yudhiṣṭhira, go forth, O mighty-armed one, to Bhīṣma, the aged grandsire of the Kurus.

12.38.7 In all the mysteries he will cut away the doubts that abide in your mind — the son of Bhāgīrathī, the all-knowing, the knower of all dharma.

12.38.8 He whom the divine goddess, the celestial river that flows by three paths, brought to birth; he who beheld face to face all the gods with Śakra at their head.

12.38.9 Having again and again gratified with due homage the divine seers, with Bṛhaspati at their head, the lord learned the science of statecraft.

12.38.10 That whole science which the Brāhmaṇa Uśanas, preceptor of gods and demons, knows, this best of the Kurus obtained together with all its commentary.

12.38.11 From Cyavana of the Bhārgava line the great-minded one received the Vedas with their supplementary limbs, and also from Vasiṣṭha, firm in his vows.

12.38.12 He who of old learned from the eldest son of the grandsire, the youth of blazing splendor, who knew the true nature of the path of the inmost Self.

12.38.13 From the mouth of Mārkaṇḍeya he gained the whole law of the ascetics, and from Rāma weapons, and from Śakra he obtained them too, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.38.14 He whose death, though born among men, comes only by his own will; and though he is without offspring, the holy worlds in heaven are said to be his.

12.38.15 He in whose assembly the holy Brāhmaṇa-seers ever sat as members; for whom nothing whatever among the things to be known by knowledge remains unknown.

12.38.16 He, the knower of dharma, versed in the subtle truth of dharma and of its purport, will declare it to you; go to him before that knower of dharma releases his life-breaths.

12.38.17 Thus addressed, the son of Kuntī, far-sighted in wisdom and of great splendor, spoke to Vyāsa, the son of Satyavatī, best of those who speak.

12.38.18 Having wrought a most terrible carnage of my kinsmen, one that makes the hair stand on end, having become a sinner against the whole world and the cause of the earth's ruin —

12.38.19 having caused him to be slain in battle by guile, though he fought without crookedness — by what right am I fit to approach him with my questions?

12.38.20 Then, desiring the welfare of the four castes, the mighty-armed one of great splendor, best of the Yadus, spoke again to that best of kings.

12.38.21 It is not fitting now, O best of kings, to persist so stubbornly in grief: whatever the venerable Vyāsa has told you, do that.

12.38.22 The brāhmaṇas, O mighty-armed one, and your brothers of vast vigor, wait upon you full of expectation, as men scorched by heat await the rain-cloud.

12.38.23 The kings who survived the slaughter, and the whole of the four orders gathered together, and your realm of Kurujāṅgala, O great king—all look to you.

12.38.24 If only to please these high-souled brāhmaṇas, and at the command of this teacher Vyāsa of measureless splendor,

12.38.25 and of your friends, beginning with me, and of Draupadī, O scorcher of foes—do what they wish, O slayer of enemies, and work the welfare of the world.

12.38.26 Thus addressed by Kṛṣṇa, the lotus-eyed king of great austerity rose up for the good of all the world.

12.38.27 That tiger among men was entreated in person by Viṣṭaraśravas, and by Dvaipāyana, and likewise by Devasthāna and by Jiṣṇu,

12.38.28 and entreated by these and many others, the high-minded Yudhiṣṭhira cast off the sorrow of his heart and his anguish.

12.38.29 A hearer of counsel, a treasury of sacred learning, skilled in what is heard and worthy to be heard, the son of Pāṇḍu resolved himself and attained peace of mind.

12.38.30 Encircled by them like the moon by the constellations, the king, placing Dhṛtarāṣṭra before him, entered his own city.

12.38.31 Wishing to enter, that knower of dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira son of Kuntī, paid worship to the gods and to the brāhmaṇas by the thousand.

12.38.32 Then a new, gleaming chariot, draped with woolen blankets and antelope hides, yoked to sixteen white oxen marked with auspicious signs—

12.38.33 honored with holy hymns and praised by the great sages, he mounted it as the god Soma mounts his chariot made of nectar.

12.38.34 Bhīma of terrible prowess, son of Kuntī, took up the reins, while Arjuna held aloft the white, sun-bright parasol.

12.38.35 And that white parasol held above his head shone forth, pale as the lord of stars, like a cloud in the sky.

12.38.36 And the two heroes, the sons of Mādrī, splendidly adorned, then took up his two yak-tail fans, gleaming white with the radiance of moonbeams.

12.38.37 Those five brothers, fully adorned, mounted upon the chariot, then appeared, O king, like the five elements all together.

12.38.38 Mounting a gleaming chariot yoked to swift horses, Yuyutsu, O king, followed behind the eldest of the Pāṇḍavas.

12.38.39 Mounting a bright golden chariot yoked to Saiṇya and Sugrīva, Kṛṣṇa, together with Sātyaki, followed the Kurus.

12.38.40 And the eldest, the father of Pārtha, O Bhārata, went on in a palanquin borne by men, in front of the Dharma-king, in the company of Gāndhārī.

12.38.41 And all the women of the Kurus, Kuntī and Kṛṣṇā Draupadī, went in conveyances high and low, with Vidura at their head.

12.38.42 Then chariots in multitude and adorned elephants, foot-soldiers and horses too, followed along behind.

12.38.43 Then, praised with eloquent words by panegyrists, bards, and minstrels, the king went on toward the city named after the elephant.

12.38.44 That procession of the mighty-armed one was without compare on earth, thronging and tumultuous and unrestrained, thronged with people glad and well-fed.

12.38.45 For Pārtha's coming, the city and the royal road were duly decked out by the men who dwelt in the city.

12.38.46 The royal road was hung with white garlands, with banners and altar-platforms, and richly perfumed with incense.

12.38.47 And the royal palace was wreathed about with powders of fragrant scents, with manifold flowers and priyaṅgu blossoms, and with hanging strings of garlands.

12.38.48 And at the city gate, firm new jars filled with water, maidens, flowers, and goats were set in place here and there.

12.38.49 So into the city, its gates finely adorned, the son of Pāṇḍu, praised with auspicious words and surrounded by his friends, made his entry.

12.39.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: As the sons of Pṛthā made their entry, many thousands of the city's people, eager for the sight, came thronging together.

12.39.2 That royal road, its squares richly adorned, shone forth, O king, like the great ocean swelling at the rising of the moon.

12.39.3 The houses along the royal road, jeweled and lofty, seemed to tremble, O Bhārata, with the weight of the women crowding them full.

12.39.4 Softly, as though abashed, those women praised Yudhiṣṭhira, and Bhīmasena and Arjuna, and the two sons of Mādrī, the Pāṇḍavas.

12.39.5 "Blessed are you, Pāñcālī, who attend, O fair one, upon these best of men, as Gautamī attended upon the great sages.

12.39.6 Your deeds are not in vain, nor your keeping of vows, O lovely lady." Thus, O great king, the women then praised Kṛṣṇā.

12.39.7 With their words of praise, O Bhārata, and the murmur of voices among them, and the sounds born of their joy, the city was filled with stir.

12.39.8 Passing in due order along that royal road, adorned and resplendent, Yudhiṣṭhira drew near to the royal palace.

12.39.9 Then all the subjects, both townsfolk and country-folk, drawing near from this side and that, spoke words pleasing to the ear:

12.39.10 "By good fortune you conquer your foes, O lord of kings, O slayer of enemies; by good fortune the kingdom is regained, through righteousness and through might.

12.39.11 Be you our king here, O great king, for a hundred autumns; guard your subjects in righteousness, O sovereign, as Indra guards the third heaven."

12.39.12 Thus honored with auspicious rites at the gate of the royal house, and receiving on every side the blessings uttered by the twice-born,

12.39.13 the king entered the palace, the likeness of the abode of the king of the gods, and having heard words joined with victory, stepped down from the chariot.

12.39.14 Entering within, the glorious one approached the household deities and worshipped them with jewels, with perfumes, and with garlands in every way.

12.39.15 Then the glorious and far-famed one came forth once more and beheld the comely brāhmaṇas standing in attendance.

12.39.16 Surrounded then by the twice-born eager to pronounce their blessings, he shone like the spotless moon ringed about by the host of stars.

12.39.17 The son of Kuntī honored those twice-born ones according to rule, placing first his preceptor Dhaumya and his elder father as well.

12.39.18 With flowers and sweetmeats, with jewels and abundant gold, with cattle and garments, O lord of kings, and with sundry things to each one's desire.

12.39.19 Then arose the proclamation of the holy day, as though propping up the heavens, O Bhārata, sacred, gladdening to friends, and sweet to the ear.

12.39.20 There, O king, the speech of the twice-born who knew the Vedas, sounding like the cry of swans, was heard, rich in meaning, in words, and in syllables.

12.39.21 Then the thunder of kettledrums and the delightful sound of conches, the clamor of those who proclaimed victory, broke forth there, O sovereign.

12.39.22 And when the assembly of the twice-born had fallen silent there once more, the rākṣasa Cārvāka, disguised as a brāhmaṇa, addressed the king.

12.39.23 There the friend of Duryodhana, cloaked in the guise of a mendicant—a Sāṃkhya ascetic, tuft-haired and bearing the triple staff, brazen and devoid of fear—

12.39.24 surrounded then by all the twice-born, more than a thousand, eager to pronounce their blessings, steadfast in austerity and restraint, O lord of kings—

12.39.25 that wicked one, wishing evil upon the high-souled Pāṇḍavas, without so much as consulting those twice-born ones, spoke thus to the king:

12.39.26 "All these twice-born ones declare, laying their words upon me: Shame be upon you, a base king, a slayer of your own kin!

12.39.27 What good is the kingdom to you, son of Kuntī, having wrought this ruin of your kindred and slain your elders? Death were better than to live."

12.39.28 Hearing this from that dreadful rākṣasa, the twice-born ones were sorely shaken and cried out, stung by his words.

12.39.29 Then all those brāhmaṇas, and King Yudhiṣṭhira too, abashed and deeply troubled, fell silent, O lord of the people.

12.39.30 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Be gracious to me, my lords, as I bow and beseech you. I am stricken with calamity and have but now returned; you ought not to reproach me.

12.39.31 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, O king, O lord of the people, all those brāhmaṇas said: "This is not our word. May good fortune be yours, O sovereign!"

12.39.32 And those high-souled brāhmaṇas, knowers of the Vedas, made pure by austerities, then knew him for what he was with the eye of insight.

12.39.33 The brāhmaṇas said: This is the friend of Duryodhana, a rākṣasa named Cārvāka, who in the guise of a wandering ascetic seeks to do that one's bidding.

12.39.34 We do not speak thus, O righteous one; let such fear of yours depart. May welfare attend upon you together with your brothers.

12.39.35 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then all those brāhmaṇas, swollen with wrath, the pure-souled ones, with cries of "huṃ" and with rebukes struck down the wicked rākṣasa.

12.39.36 Burnt up by the fiery power of those expounders of the Veda, he fell, like a budding tree scorched by the thunderbolt of great Indra.

12.39.37 Honored, the twice-born departed, having saluted the king; and the king, the Pāṇḍava, with his company of friends, was filled with joy.

12.39.38 Vāsudeva said: The brāhmaṇas, dear one, are ever to be honored by me in this world. These are gods who walk the earth, whose poison is in their speech, yet easily made gracious.

12.39.39 Long ago, dear one, in the Kṛta age, a rākṣasa named Cārvāka, O mighty-armed one, performed austerities at Badarī for many years.

12.39.40 Offered a boon by Brahmā again and again, he chose, O Bhārata, safety from all living beings.

12.39.41 The Lord of the world then granted him that matchless boon—safety from all beings—save only in the case of contempt for the twice-born.

12.39.42 But that wicked rākṣasa, having gained the boon, of boundless prowess, fierce in his deeds and mighty in strength, set himself to torment the gods.

12.39.43 Then the gods, assembling, sore harried by his might, spoke this to Brahmā, seeking the destruction of that rākṣasa:

12.39.44 The imperishable god said to them: A means has been ordained by me whereby his death shall come about before long, O Bhārata.

12.39.45 A king named Duryodhana shall be his friend, O sovereign; bound by affection for him, this one will hold the brāhmaṇas in contempt.

12.39.46 Then the twice-born, enraged and provoked by his outrage, mighty in speech, shall burn up the wicked one, and so he shall come to destruction.

12.39.47 Here lies that rākṣasa Cārvāka, slain by the rod of Brahman, O best of kings; grieve not, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.39.48 Your kinsmen, O sovereign, were slain by the law of the warrior, and the high-souled heroes, those bulls among kṣatriyas, have gone to heaven.

12.39.49 Therefore stand firm in welfare; let no weariness be yours, O steadfast one. Smite your foes, protect your subjects, and sustain the twice-born.

12.40.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the king, son of Kuntī, his anger gone and his fever gone, glad of heart, sat down facing east upon a supreme golden seat.

12.40.2 Facing him, upon a couch spread with a sumptuous covering, sat the two tamers of foes, Sātyaki and Vāsudeva.

12.40.3 Placing the king between them, the two great-souled ones, Bhīmasena and Arjuna, seated themselves upon two smooth jewelled stools.

12.40.4 Upon a bright ivory couch-seat adorned with Jāmbūnada gold, Pṛthā too sat together with Sahadeva and Nakula.

12.40.5 Sudharman, Vidura, Dhaumya, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra of the Kuru line seated themselves, each upon a separate seat blazing like fire.

12.40.6 Yuyutsu, Saṃjaya, and the renowned Gāndhārī—all of them took their places there where King Dhṛtarāṣṭra sat.

12.40.7 Seated there, the righteous one touched white flowers, svastika emblems, unbroken grains, the earth, gold, silver, and gems.

12.40.8 Then all the subjects, placing the household priest at their head, came bearing many auspicious offerings to behold the king of righteousness.

12.40.9 They brought earth and gold and jewels of many kinds, and the consecration-vessel filled with every requisite for the rite.

12.40.10 There were full jars of gold, of udumbara wood, of silver, and of earthenware, with flowers, parched grain, kuśa grass, and milk-curds.

12.40.11 There were kindling-sticks of śamī, palāśa, and puṃnāga wood, honey and clarified butter, a ladle of udumbara wood, and conches adorned with gold.

12.40.12 Authorized by the Dāśārha, the household priest Dhaumya there smeared and consecrated by the prescribed marks an altar sloping toward the northeast.

12.40.13 Upon a smooth seat covered over with a tiger's skin, auspicious on every side, firm-footed and steady, shining bright as the oblation-eating fire,

12.40.14 having seated the great-souled one and Kṛṣṇā, the daughter of Drupada, the wise priest offered into the purifying fire with rite and mantra duly observed.

12.40.15 He consecrated Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Kuntī, as lord of the earth; and so did the royal sage Dhṛtarāṣṭra and all the subjects.

12.40.16 Then they caused cymbals, drums, and kettledrums to resound; and the king of righteousness accepted all of it according to the law.

12.40.17 And, generous with abundant gifts, he honored them all according to the ordinance; then with a thousand gold pieces he had the brāhmaṇas pronounce blessings—those accomplished in Vedic study and endowed with good character and conduct.

12.40.18 Well pleased, O king, the brāhmaṇas pronounced blessing and victory, and, crying out like swans, they extolled Yudhiṣṭhira:

12.40.19 "Mighty-armed Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Pāṇḍu, by good fortune you are victorious! By good fortune, O greatly radiant one, you have attained your own dharma by your valor.

12.40.20 By good fortune the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva and Bhīmasena son of Pāṇḍu, and you too, O king, are well, and the two Pāṇḍava sons of Mādrī as well.

12.40.21 Delivered from this slaughter of heroes, your foes slain in battle, swiftly now, O son of Pāṇḍu, perform the duties that the time to come requires."

12.40.22 Then, honored in return by the virtuous, Yudhiṣṭhira the king of righteousness took possession of the great kingdom together with his friends, O Bhārata.

12.41.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard that speech of the subjects, fitting to the place and the time, King Yudhiṣṭhira then spoke this reply in answer.

12.41.2 "Blessed in the world are the sons of Pāṇḍu, whose virtues—whether truly theirs or not—the foremost of brāhmaṇas, gathered here, proclaim.

12.41.3 Surely we are worthy of your favor—such is my conviction—since, free of envy, you call us thus endowed with merit.

12.41.4 The great king Dhṛtarāṣṭra is our father and our highest deity; those who wish my pleasure must abide by his command and his good will.

12.41.5 For this very purpose I go on living, after having wrought the great slaughter of my kinsmen: that I, ever unwearied, must render him service.

12.41.6 And if I am worthy of the favor of you, my friends, then toward Dhṛtarāṣṭra you ought to conduct yourselves just as before.

12.41.7 For he is the lord of the world, of you, and of myself; to him alone belongs the whole earth, and the Pāṇḍavas one and all. This word of mine you must take to heart.

12.41.8 "Having attended upon the king, go now as you please." So dismissing all the townsfolk and country-folk, the joy of the Kurus, scion of the Kauravas, appointed Bhīmasena to the office of heir-apparent.

12.41.9 For counsel and decision and the deliberation of the sixfold policy of state, he gladly appointed Vidura, who was perfect in wisdom.

12.41.10 To the oversight of what was done and left undone, and to the reckoning of income and expenditure, he assigned Saṃjaya, prosperous and endowed with abundant virtues.

12.41.11 To the mustering of the army, the rations and the wages, and the supervision of the workmen, the king assigned Nakula.

12.41.12 To the repelling of hostile armies and the crushing of the insolent, the great king Yudhiṣṭhira appointed Phalguna.

12.41.13 To the Vedic rites of the twice-born and to other sacred duties, the scorcher of foes appointed Dhaumya, the best of household priests.

12.41.14 Sahadeva he appointed to remain ever at his side; for by him the king was to be guarded in every circumstance, O lord of peoples.

12.41.15 Whomever he judged fit for whatever tasks, to those very tasks the lord of earth, well pleased, appointed them.

12.41.16 To Vidura, Saṃjaya, and the great-minded Yuyutsu, the slayer of enemy heroes, righteous-souled and devoted to dharma, spoke thus:

12.41.17 "Whatever needs to be done from one occasion to the next for this king, my father, all of it you must accomplish, vigilant and exactly as is fitting.

12.41.18 And whatever affairs of the townsfolk and country-folk arise from day to day, those you must, with the king's leave, attend to according to the law."

12.42.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then King Yudhiṣṭhira, noble of mind, had the śrāddha rites performed, each separately, for those of his kinsmen who had fallen in the battle.

12.42.2 King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, of great renown, gave for his sons the funeral offerings, complete with every desirable thing—food, cattle, wealth, and jewels of varied kinds and great worth.

12.42.3 And Yudhiṣṭhira, for Karṇa and for the great-souled Droṇa, for Dhṛṣṭadyumna and Abhimanyu, and for the rākṣasa son of Hiḍimbā,

12.42.4 and for Virāṭa and the rest of his helpful friends, and for Drupada and the sons of Draupadī—together with Draupadī he made the offerings.

12.42.5 Designating thousands of brāhmaṇas, each one singly in turn, he gratified them with wealth and garments, with jewels and with cattle.

12.42.6 And for those other rulers of earth who had no kinsfolk left to them, the king, naming each one, performed the rites for the dead.

12.42.7 Assembly-halls and many watering-stations and tanks the son of Pāṇḍu caused to be made as funerary memorials for all his friends.

12.42.8 Thus freed of his debt to them, and having attained beyond reproach among the worlds, the king became one who had fulfilled his duty, governing his subjects with righteousness.

12.42.9 Dhṛtarāṣṭra as before, and Gāndhārī and Vidura likewise, and all the Kaurava ministers and retainers, he honored fittingly.

12.42.10 And whatever women there were whose heroes were slain, whose sons were slain, all of them the compassionate Kaurava king honored and protected.

12.42.11 And to the wretched, the blind, and the helpless, with houses, clothing, and food, the king, devoted to kindness, the sovereign, showed his grace.

12.42.12 Having conquered the whole earth and discharged his debt against his foes, King Yudhiṣṭhira, without a rival and at ease, dwelt in contentment.

12.43.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Consecrated and having gained the kingdom, the greatly wise Yudhiṣṭhira, purified and with palms joined, spoke to the lotus-eyed Dāśārha:

12.43.2 "By your grace, O Kṛṣṇa, by your statecraft and your strength, by your wisdom, O tiger of the Yadus, and by your valor,

12.43.3 this kingdom of my fathers and forefathers has been regained by me. Homage to you, O lotus-eyed one, again and again, O subduer of foes!

12.43.4 You alone they call the Puruṣa; you they call the lord of the Sātvatas; with names of many kinds the supreme sages praise you.

12.43.5 Maker of all, homage be to you; Soul of all, source of all—Viṣṇu, Jiṣṇu, Hari, Kṛṣṇa, Vaikuṇṭha, supreme among beings!

12.43.6 In the ancient age you entered the womb of Aditi for seven nights; you alone are the child of Pṛśni, and they call you also Triyuga, he of the three ages.

12.43.7 You are called Śuciśravas, Hṛṣīkeśa, Ghṛtārci, and Haṃsa; three-eyed, you are the one Śambhu, the all-pervading, and Dāmodara as well.

12.43.8 You are the Boar, Agni, Bṛhadbhānu of mighty radiance, the bull Vṛṣaṇa, marked by the emblem of Tārkṣya; the vanquisher of armies, the Puruṣa, Śipiviṣṭa, the wide-striding one.

12.43.9 Lord of speech, the terrible, the army-leader, the true one, giver of food and strength, the hidden one; the unfallen, the overthrower of foes, the maker and unmaker, the bull.

12.43.10 You are Kṛtavartman, you are the Mountain, Vṛṣagarbha, Vṛṣākapi; dweller in the sea, the Wave, the three-peaked, threefold-abode, threefold, the unfallen.

12.43.11 Sovereign, the vast, the self-ruling, and king of the gods; giver of dharma, the becoming; the all-pervading, the Earth, the all-surpassing, Kṛṣṇa, and the one whose path is dark-tracked—that too are you.

12.43.12 The doer of right sacrifice, the healer, the Whirlpool, Kapila, and the Dwarf are you; the Sacrifice, the steadfast, the Bird, and Jayatsena—so you are called.

12.43.13 Śikhaṇḍin, Nahuṣa, Babhru, you are the toucher of heaven, Punarvasu; Subabhru, the Ox, Rukma are you, Suṣeṇa, and likewise the Drum.

12.43.14 Rim of the sunbeams, the radiant Lotus, the Lotus-flower, the bearer of flowers; the Ṛbhu, the all-pervading, subtlest of all are you, and as the Sāvitra hymn you are recited.

12.43.15 You are the ocean of waters, you are Brahmā, the purifying, the abode, and the bow; they call you Hiraṇyagarbha, the Svadhā and the Svāhā, O Keśava.

12.43.16 You are the womb of this all and its dissolution, O Kṛṣṇa; you alone bring forth this universe in the beginning, and this universe lies under your sway, O womb of all. Homage be to you, who bear in your hands the Śārṅga bow, the discus, and the sword!

12.43.17 Praised thus by the king of righteousness in the midst of the assembly, the lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, well pleased, the foremost of the Yādavas, greeted that Bhārata, the eldest son of Pāṇḍu, with words full and gracious.

12.44.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the king dismissed all his subjects, and, given leave, they returned each to his own dwelling.

12.44.2 Then the wise King Yudhiṣṭhira, comforting Bhīma of terrible prowess, and Arjuna, and the twins, spoke to them:

12.44.3 "Your bodies hacked by the enemy with weapons of every kind in the great battle, you have grown utterly weary, sorely tormented by grief and wrath.

12.44.4 On my account, O best of men, you endured wretched dwellings in the forest, as though you were base-born men.

12.44.5 Now enjoy this victory at your ease and to your heart's content; rested and recollected, tomorrow I shall meet with you again."

12.44.6 Then the palace of Duryodhana, graced with lofty mansions, strewn with many jewels and thronged with serving-women and serving-men,

12.44.7 sanctioned by Dhṛtarāṣṭra and bestowed by his brother, the mighty-armed Vṛkodara took into his possession, as Maghavat took Mount Mandara.

12.44.8 And as with Duryodhana's palace, so with Duḥśāsana's, ringed with rows of mansions and adorned with golden archways,

12.44.9 filled with serving-women and serving-men and abounding in wealth and grain—the mighty-armed Arjuna took into his possession by the king's command.

12.44.10 The dwelling of Durmarṣaṇa, finer than the house of Duḥśāsana, resembling the palace of Kubera and adorned with gems and gold,

12.44.11 the king of righteousness, Yudhiṣṭhira, well pleased, O great king, gave to Nakula, worthy of the best, who had been worn thin in the great forest.

12.44.12 And the splendid foremost mansion of Durmukha, gold-adorned, full of women with eyes like lotus-petals and crowded with couches,

12.44.13 he bestowed upon Sahadeva, ever the doer of his pleasure; and receiving it, he rejoiced as the giver of wealth rejoiced in gaining Kailāsa.

12.44.14 Yuyutsu and Vidura, and Saṃjaya of great splendor, and Sudharmā and Dhaumya too—each departed to his own dwelling.

12.44.15 Together with Sātyaki, Śauri, that tiger among men, entered Arjuna's dwelling, as a tiger enters a mountain cave.

12.44.16 There, well provided with food, dishes, and drink, they rested at ease; and waking refreshed, they attended upon King Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.45.1 Janamejaya said: When the mighty-spirited Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira had won the kingdom, whatever else he did, O brāhmaṇa, that you ought now to tell me.

12.45.2 And whatever the blessed Hṛṣīkeśa, the supreme teacher of the three worlds, that hero, did—that too, O sage, you ought to expound.

12.45.3 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hear, O lord of kings, faultless one, as I truly recount what the Pāṇḍavas did, with Vāsudeva set before them.

12.45.4 Having won the kingdom, the mighty-spirited Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira established the four varṇas, fittingly, each in its own dharma.

12.45.5 And to a thousand great-souled brāhmaṇas who had completed their studentship, the Pāṇḍava had a thousand niṣkas of gold proclaimed for each one.

12.45.6 Likewise he satisfied with their desires his dependents, his servants, those who had taken refuge with him, and his guests, even the destitute and the petty disputants.

12.45.7 To Dhaumya, his household priest, he gave cattle by the ten thousand, and wealth, gold, silver, and garments of many kinds.

12.45.8 And toward Kṛpa, O great king, he conducted himself as toward a teacher; and that righteous one of steadfast vows did honor to Vidura.

12.45.9 With food, dishes, and drink of many kinds, with garments, beds, and seats, that best of givers gladdened all who had taken refuge with him.

12.45.10 Having restored what had been won to peace, that king of great renown, O best of kings, did honor to Yuyutsu, the son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.

12.45.11 Having entrusted that kingdom to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, to Gāndhārī, and to Vidura, King Yudhiṣṭhira, O king, dwelt as though at ease.

12.45.12 And having thus brought the whole city to contentment, O Janamejaya, he approached the great-souled Vāsudeva with palms joined in reverence.

12.45.13 Then upon a great couch, adorned with jewels and gold, he beheld Kṛṣṇa seated, dark as a rain-cloud upon Meru.

12.45.14 Blazing with his beauty, adorned with divine ornaments, wrapped in yellow silk—like a jewel set within gold.

12.45.15 Resplendent with the Kaustubha jewel resting upon his breast, like the eastern mountain crowned by the rising sun—he for whom no likeness exists anywhere in the three worlds.

12.45.16 Approaching that great-souled one, Viṣṇu in human form, he then, sweet of speech, spoke this with a smile.

12.45.17 Has your night passed in comfort, O best of the wise? Are all your faculties of knowledge serene, O Acyuta?

12.45.18 For relying upon that divine intelligence of yours, O best of the wise, we have attained the kingdom, and the earth abides under our sway.

12.45.19 By your grace, O blessed one whose stride ranges through the three worlds, victory has been won and foremost glory; nor have we fallen from dharma.

12.45.20 But to Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, speaking thus, the blessed one said nothing at all; he passed instead into meditation.

12.46.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What is this great marvel? You are meditating, O you of immeasurable valor. Is all well with these three worlds, O refuge of the worlds?

12.46.2 Having taken up the fourth path of meditation, O supreme Person, you have withdrawn, O god; therefore my mind is filled with wonder.

12.46.3 For the breath of fivefold function that moves within your body has been restrained by you, and all your senses have been set within the mind.

12.46.4 Your senses and your mind have been gathered into the intellect, and that whole host, O god, has been merged by you into the Knower of the Field.

12.46.5 The hairs of your body do not stir; your intellect is steady, and so your mind. You have become as a post, a wall, a stone, motionless and free of all striving, O Mādhava.

12.46.6 As a lamp set in a windless place burns unflickering, O Acyuta, so are you, O blessed god, unwavering and firm in resolve.

12.46.7 If I am worthy here to hear it, and if it is no secret of yours, cut away my doubt, O god, for I have taken refuge in you and beseech you.

12.46.8 For you are the maker and the unmaker; you are the perishable and the imperishable; you are without beginning or end, and the primordial one—you alone, O supreme Person.

12.46.9 To me who have taken refuge in you, a devotee bowing with my head, tell the true nature of this meditation, O best of the upholders of dharma.

12.46.10 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, having set his mind, intellect, and senses back upon their own objects, the blessed one, the younger brother of Vāsava, said this with a smile.

12.46.11 Lying upon his bed of arrows, Bhīṣma, that tiger among men, like a fire sinking into stillness, meditates upon me; therefore my mind has gone toward him.

12.46.12 He whose twang of bowstring and slap of palm-guard, like the crashing of a thunderbolt, even the king of the gods could not endure—toward him have I gone in mind.

12.46.13 He who, charging swiftly upon the whole circle of kings, long ago carried off three maidens—toward him have I gone in mind.

12.46.14 He who fought against the Bhārgava for three-and-twenty days and nights, and was not overcome by Rāma—toward him have I gone in mind.

12.46.15 That prince whom Gaṅgā bore in her womb by ordained law, the disciple of Vasiṣṭha—toward him, my dear, toward him, O king, have I gone in mind.

12.46.16 That mighty-spirited, wise one who holds the divine weapons and the four Vedas with their ancillary sciences—toward him have I gone in mind.

12.46.17 The beloved disciple of Rāma the son of Jamadagni, O Pāṇḍava, the repository of all branches of knowledge—toward him have I gone in mind.

12.46.18 Having made the whole company of his senses one, restraining his mind by his understanding, he has come to me for refuge; therefore my mind has gone toward him.

12.46.19 For he, O bull among men, knows the past, the future, and the present—that best of the upholders of dharma; therefore my mind has gone toward him.

12.46.20 For when that tiger among men has gone to heaven by his own deeds, the earth, O Pārtha, will be like a night whose moon has set.

12.46.21 Therefore, Yudhiṣṭhira, go to Bhīṣma, the son of Gaṅgā, of terrible prowess, clasp his feet, and ask whatever is in your mind.

12.46.22 Ask him of the fourfold Vedic lore, of the fourfold sacrificial priesthood, of the four stages of life, and of the dharma of the four varṇas, O lord of the earth.

12.46.23 When Bhīṣma, that bearer of the Kauravas' burden, has set like the sun, these branches of knowledge will grow scant; therefore I urge you on.

12.46.24 Hearing that true and excellent speech of Vāsudeva, the knower of dharma, his throat choked with tears, said this to Janārdana.

12.46.25 What you have said concerning the power of Bhīṣma, O Mādhava, is even so; of this there is no doubt in me, O giver of honor.

12.46.26 For the great fortune of Bhīṣma and the power of that great soul have been heard by me from the lips of great-souled brāhmaṇas as they recounted them.

12.46.27 And what you, the maker of the worlds, declare, O slayer of foes, that word is beyond all questioning, O joy of the Yādavas.

12.46.28 Yet since your mind is set upon doing me grace, O Mādhava, placing you before us, we shall go to behold Bhīṣma.

12.46.29 When the blessed sun has turned, he will depart to the other worlds; therefore, O mighty-armed one, the Kaurava deserves the sight of you.

12.46.30 For the sight of you, the primordial god, the perishable and the imperishable alike, would be his gain; for you are the treasure-house made of Brahman.

12.46.31 Hearing this speech of Dharmarāja, the slayer of Madhu said to Sātyaki, who stood at his side, "Let my chariot be yoked."

12.46.32 Then Sātyaki, going forth from the presence of Keśava, said to Dāruka, "Let Kṛṣṇa's chariot be yoked."

12.46.33 Hearing at once the word of Sātyaki, he made ready the finest chariot, its body adorned with gold, embellished with facets of cat's-eye and crystal, its wheels bound with gold;

12.46.34 radiant as the rays of the sun, swift-going, adorned with diverse and varied gems and jewels, blazing like the newly risen sun, bearing its wondrous Garuḍa-banner and its pennons;

12.46.35 yoked well with the finest horses led by Sugrīva and Sainya, swift as thought, their bodies adorned with gold—Dāruka, with palms joined, announced it ready to Acyuta, O lion among kings.

12.47.1 Janamejaya said: But lying upon his bed of arrows, the grandsire of the Bhāratas, how did he relinquish his body, and what yoga did he hold to?

12.47.2 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Listen attentively, O king, having become pure and composed, to the relinquishing of his body by the great-souled Bhīṣma, O tiger of the Kurus.

12.47.3 As soon as the sun had turned upon its northern course, he, fully composed, gathered his self into the Self alone.

12.47.4 Like the sun with its rays spread wide, Bhīṣma, pierced by hundreds of arrows, lay invested with surpassing splendor, surrounded by the foremost of brāhmaṇas.

12.47.5 By Vyāsa renowned for Vedic lore, by Nārada the divine sage, by Devasthāna, by Vātsya, and by Aśmaka and Sumantu;

12.47.6 by these and by other hosts of sages, greatly blessed and great of soul, who held faith and self-restraint foremost, he was encircled as the moon by the planets.

12.47.7 And Bhīṣma, that tiger among men, lying upon his bed of arrows, with deed, with mind, and with speech, meditated upon Kṛṣṇa, abiding with palms joined.

12.47.8 With a full-resounding voice he praised the slayer of Madhu, the lord of yoga, the lotus-naveled, Viṣṇu, the ever-victorious, the lord of the world.

12.47.9 With palms joined, having become pure, that foremost of those skilled in speech, Bhīṣma, supremely righteous of soul, then hymned the Lord Vāsudeva.

12.47.10 "The speech I would set forth, seeking to propitiate Kṛṣṇa—by that speech, both expansive and concise, may the supreme Person be pleased.

12.47.11 Pure, intent upon him, having yoked my whole self with all my being, I take refuge in that Lord of creatures, the Swan who dwells in purity, the supreme one set on high.

12.47.12 In whom all beings abide and into whom they enter, become his qualities, within the Lord of beings, as beads of gems upon a thread.

12.47.13 On whom, the eternal, outstretched, firm thread, the universe rests like a garland—the All, woven of being and non-being, upon him whose limbs are all things, the maker of all.

12.47.14 Whom they call Hari, thousand-headed, with a thousand feet and eyes, the god Nārāyaṇa, the supreme refuge of the universe.

12.47.15 The subtlest of the subtle, the most massive of the massive, the weightiest of the weighty, and the best even of the good.

12.47.16 Whom in the hymns and the recitations, in the sittings and the secret teachings, they extol as the doer of true deeds, the Truth among the true Sāman chants.

12.47.17 The fourfold one in his four forms, abiding in goodness, the lord of the Sātvatas, whom they worship as god with divine and secret supreme names.

12.47.18 The god whom the goddess Devakī brought forth from Vāsudeva, for the safeguarding of the earthly Veda, as the firestick brings forth blazing fire.

12.47.19 Whom the undistracted one, free of all craving, having worshipped Govinda for the sake of the infinite, beholds as the self, stainless, dwelling within his own self.

12.47.20 In ancient lore he is proclaimed the Person; at the beginnings of the ages he is proclaimed Brahmā; at the dissolution he is proclaimed Saṃkarṣaṇa—him, worthy of worship, we worship.

12.47.21 Whose action surpasses Vāyu's and Indra's, whose splendor surpasses the sun's and fire's, whose self surpasses intellect and the senses—in him, the Lord of creatures, I take refuge.

12.47.22 Whom indeed they call the maker of all, the lord of the world both moving and unmoving, the overseer of the universe, the imperishable, the supreme abode.

12.47.23 To him whom Aditi bore as a golden-hued embryo, destroyer of the Daityas, the one brought forth in twelvefold form—to him whose Self is the Sun, homage.

12.47.24 To him who in the bright fortnight gladdens the gods and in the dark fortnight the ancestors with the nectar, and who is king over the twice-born—to him whose Self is the Moon, homage.

12.47.25 To the Person beyond the great darkness, shining with flame, whom having known a man transcends death—to him whose Self is the Knowable, homage.

12.47.26 To him, the Vast, whom they hymn in the bṛhatī verse and in the recitation, in the fire and in the great sacrifice, whom assemblies of brahmins chant—to him whose Self is the Veda, homage.

12.47.27 To him whose abode is Ṛk, Yajus, and Sāman, whose form is the fivefold oblation, whom they extend as the seven-threaded rite—to him whose Self is the Sacrifice, homage.

12.47.28 To him who is the fair-winged bird named the Yajus, whose body is the chant, whose head is the trivṛt hymn, whose eyes are the Rathaṃtara and Bṛhat sāmans—to him whose Self is the Praise-song, homage.

12.47.29 To him who was born in the thousand-pressing session as the seer of the world's creators, a golden-hued bird—to him whose Self is the Swan, homage.

12.47.30 To him whose limbs are the words, whose joints are the junctures, marked by vowels and consonants, whom they call the eternal Imperishable Syllable—to him whose Self is Speech, homage.

12.47.31 To him who builds up the dike of the good with cosmic order, the womb of immortality, and with the limbs of dharma, purpose, and right conduct—to him whose Self is Truth, homage.

12.47.32 To him whom those who follow diverse duties, seeking the diverse fruits of duty, worship through their diverse observances—to him whose Self is Dharma, homage.

12.47.33 To him, the Unmanifest abiding in the manifest, whom the great seers seek out, the Knower of the field seated within the field—to him whose Self is the Field, homage.

12.47.34 To him whom the Sāṃkhyas declare to be the seeing Self, abiding in the self, encompassed by the sixteen constituents and reckoned the seventeenth—to him whose Self is Sāṃkhya, homage.

12.47.35 To him whom the sleepless, who have mastered the breath, who are established in purity, with senses restrained, behold as a light while in meditation—to him whose Self is Yoga, homage.

12.47.36 To him whom, when both demerit and merit have ceased, the tranquil renouncers, freed from fear of rebirth, attain—to him whose Self is Liberation, homage.

12.47.37 To him who, at the close of a thousand ages, with blazing flame as the radiant fire, devours all beings—to him whose Self is the Terrible, homage.

12.47.38 To him who, having devoured all beings and made the world a single ocean, sleeps alone as a child—to him whose Self is Illusion, homage.

12.47.39 To that thousand-headed Person of measureless Self, whose Self is the yoga-slumber that circles round the four oceans, homage.

12.47.40 To him, the lotus-eyed one, in whose single lotus rising from the navel of the Unborn the whole universe is established—to him whose Self is the Lotus, homage.

12.47.41 To him in whose hair are the rain-clouds, in the joints of whose every limb are the rivers, and in whose belly are the four oceans—to him whose Self is the Waters, homage.

12.47.42 To him who revolves through the ages by his portions—days, seasons, fortnights, and years—the maker of creation and dissolution—to him whose Self is Time, homage.

12.47.43 To him whose mouth is the brahmins, whose arms are the warriors, whose whole thighs and belly are the commoners, and on whose feet the śūdras rest—to him whose Self is the social orders, homage.

12.47.44 To him whose mouth is Agni, whose head is the sky, whose navel is space, whose feet are the earth, whose eye is the Sun, and whose ears are the quarters—to him whose Self is the worlds, homage.

12.47.45 To him whom they declare, by the Vaiśeṣika categories, to be the guardian of the objects for those engaged amid sense-objects—to him whose Self is the Protector, homage.

12.47.46 To him who, composed of food, drink, and fuel, increasing the sap and the vital breath, sustains all beings—to him whose Self is the Breath of Life, homage.

12.47.47 To him who is beyond Time, beyond the sacrifice, beyond both being and non-being, beginningless yet the beginning of the universe—to him whose Self is the All, homage.

12.47.48 To him who deludes living beings with the bonds of affection and passion, for the sake of preserving creation—to him whose Self is Delusion, homage.

12.47.49 To him whom the knowers reach, having known this self-knowledge, the knowledge abiding within the five—to him whose Self is Knowledge, homage.

12.47.50 To him of immeasurable body, with infinite eyes on every side, boundless and beyond all measure—to him whose Self is the Object of Contemplation, homage.

12.47.51 To him with matted locks, bearing the staff, ever pot-bellied in form, girded with the water-pot—to him whose Self is Brahmā, homage.

12.47.52 To him who bears the trident, lord of the gods, the three-eyed great one, smeared with ashes, his liṅga upraised—to him whose Self is Rudra, homage.

12.47.53 To him who has become the Self of the five elements, the Self of the origin and end of beings, free from anger, malice, and delusion—to him whose Self is Peace, homage.

12.47.54 To him in whom is all, from whom is all, who is all, who is on every side, and who is eternally made of all—to him whose Self is the Whole, homage.

12.47.55 O Maker of all, homage be to you, Self of all, source of all; you are the deliverance of beings, standing beyond the five elements.

12.47.56 Homage to you in the three worlds, homage to you in the three beyond, homage to you in all the quarters—for you are the supreme refuge of all.

12.47.57 Homage to you, Lord Viṣṇu, origin and dissolution of the worlds; for you, Hṛṣīkeśa, are the maker and the unconquered destroyer.

12.47.58 By that grace I behold your divine manifestations upon the three paths, and I behold in its very truth that eternal form of yours.

12.47.59 By your head the heaven is pervaded, by your feet the goddess Earth, and by your stride the three worlds—you are the eternal Person.

12.47.60 For those who pay homage to Govinda, the imperishable one robed in yellow and resembling the flax-flower, no fear exists.

12.47.61 As truth is pervaded by Viṣṇu, as the oblation is pervaded by Viṣṇu, as all is pervaded by Viṣṇu—so let my sin be destroyed.

12.47.62 For the devotee who has taken refuge in you and longs to win the goal he desires—meditate upon that which is his highest good, O lotus-eyed one, best of gods.

12.47.63 Thus is Viṣṇu praised, the womb of knowledge and austerity yet himself unborn; worshipped with the sacrifice of speech, may the god Janārdana be gracious to me.

12.47.64 Having spoken this much, his mind wholly fixed upon him, Bhīṣma then made obeisance to Kṛṣṇa with the single word "Homage."

12.47.65 And Mādhava, having through his yogic power perceived Bhīṣma's devotion, departed—Hari going to bestow the divine knowledge that beholds the three times.

12.47.66 When that utterance had ceased, those expounders of the sacred word, their throats choked with tears, then honored the great-minded Bhīṣma with their words.

12.47.67 And those foremost of brahmins, praising Keśava, the supreme Person, all softly extolled Bhīṣma as well, again and again.

12.47.68 And the supreme Person, having recognized Bhīṣma's devout discipline, rose at once with delight and mounted his chariot.

12.47.69 Keśava and Sātyaki went in one chariot; in another rode the two great-souled ones, Yudhiṣṭhira and Dhanaṃjaya.

12.47.70 Bhīmasena and the twins together mounted one chariot, while Kṛpa, Yuyutsu, and the charioteer Saṃjaya took another.

12.47.71 Those bulls among men set forth in chariots vast as cities, making the earth tremble with the mighty thunder of their wheel-rims.

12.47.72 Then that best of men, glad of heart, heard along the way the words uttered by the brahmins in your favor; and the slayer of Keśin, with gladdened mind, greeted in return the other folk who bowed before him with joined palms.

12.48.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then Hṛṣīkeśa, and King Yudhiṣṭhira, and Kṛpa and all the rest, and the four Pāṇḍavas as well—

12.48.2 in their chariots vast as cities, splendid with pennants and banners, swiftly went to Kurukṣetra, drawn by fleet-footed horses.

12.48.3 They came down upon Kurukṣetra, thick with hair, marrow, and bones, where those great-souled warriors had laid down their bodies—

12.48.4 heaped as if with mountains formed of the bodies and bones of elephants and horses, and strewn with men's skulls like conch-shells.

12.48.5 Covered with thousands of funeral pyres, cluttered with armor and weapons, it was like a banqueting-ground of Death, just then feasted upon and cast aside.

12.48.6 Beholding Kurukṣetra, roamed by hosts of spirits and frequented by troops of rākṣasas, those great chariot-warriors swiftly went on.

12.48.7 As he went, the mighty-armed delight of all the Yādavas spoke to Yudhiṣṭhira of the valor of the son of Jamadagni.

12.48.8 "Yonder, O Pārtha, seen from afar, are those five lakes of Rāma, in which he satisfied the ancestors with the blood of the warriors.

12.48.9 Having thrice-seven times made the earth free of warriors, the lord Rāma then desisted here from that deed."

12.48.10 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "In that you tell me the earth was then made thrice-seven times free of warriors by Rāma—herein lies a great doubt of mine.

12.48.11 When the seed of the warrior race had been burned away by Rāma, O bull of the Yadus, how came the warrior race once more into being, O you of boundless valor?

12.48.12 How was the warrior race rooted out by the great-souled, venerable Rāma, O bull of the Yadus, and how did it again attain increase?"

12.48.13 "For in the great Bhārata war warriors were slain by the millions, and the earth thus came to be strewn with warriors, O best of speakers.

12.48.14 Sever this doubt of mine thus, O scion of Vṛṣṇi, you whose banner bears Garuḍa; for from you, Kṛṣṇa, younger brother of Vāsava, comes our highest authority."

12.48.15 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, even as he journeyed on, the lord, elder brother of Gada, recounted to him in full and truly—to Yudhiṣṭhira of matchless might—how it was that the earth came to be thronged with warriors.

12.49.1 Vāsudeva said: Hear, O son of Kuntī, so much of Rāma as I have heard from the great seers as they told the cause of it and of his birth.

12.49.2 and how warriors were slain by the millions by the son of Jamadagni—those who, having sprung up again in the royal lines, were slain once more in the Bhārata war.

12.49.3 Jahnu's son was Ajahnu, and his son was Ballava; his son was the law-knowing king named Kuśika.

12.49.4 On earth, the peer of the thousand-eyed god, he undertook fierce austerity, with the wish: "May I obtain a son unconquered, a lord of the three worlds."

12.49.5 Seeing him fierce in austerity, the thousand-eyed Purandara, able himself to be begotten as a son, came in person, O Bhārata.

12.49.6 That lord over the lords of the worlds attained sonship to him, O king; the son who was born, named Gādhi, descended of Kuśika, was the chastiser of Pāka.

12.49.7 To him was born a daughter named Satyavatī, O sovereign king; and the lord Gādhi gave her to Ṛcīka, son of the sage Aurva.

12.49.8 Then well pleased, O son of Kuntī, delight of the Kurus, the descendant of Bhṛgu cooked a sacrificial porridge for the sake of a son, and one likewise for Gādhi.

12.49.9 And summoning his wife, Ṛcīka of the line of Bhṛgu then said: "This porridge is to be consumed by you, and this one by your mother.

12.49.10 To her will be born a radiant son, a bull among warriors, unconquerable by warriors in the world, a slayer of the bulls among warriors.

12.49.11 And for you too, fair lady, this porridge will ordain a son, steadfast, endowed with austerity, of tranquil nature, the foremost of the twice-born."

12.49.12 Having spoken thus to his wife, Ṛcīka, the delight of the Bhṛgus, wise and devoted to austerity, went away into the forest.

12.49.13 At this very time King Gādhi, bent on a pilgrimage to the holy fords, arrived together with his wife at the hermitage of Ṛcīka.

12.49.14 Taking up the two portions of porridge, O king, Satyavatī then, calm and following her husband's word, gladly presented them to her mother.

12.49.15 But her mother, O son of Kuntī, gave her own portion to her daughter, and unknowingly took her daughter's portion for herself.

12.49.16 Then Satyavatī bore in her womb the embryo destined to be the destroyer of the Kṣatriyas, of blazing form and terrible to behold.

12.49.17 Seeing her thus, Ṛcīka, perceiving the matter by the power of meditation, then spoke to his fair-complexioned wife, O tiger among kings.

12.49.18 "You have been deceived by your mother, gentle lady, through the exchange of the sacrificial offerings; for now a son of cruel deeds and mighty strength shall be born to you.

12.49.19 And a brother shall be born to you who is the very embodiment of Brahman, rich in austerity; for through my penance I infused into that offering the whole power of the sacred word."

12.49.20 Thus addressed by her husband, the blessed Satyavatī then fell at his feet with her head bowed and, trembling, spoke these words:

12.49.21 "You ought not, O blessed one, to utter today such words as these—'You shall obtain a son who is a degenerate among Brahmins,' O great sage."

12.49.22 Ṛcīka said: "This was not the wish I intended in your case, gentle lady; that your son should be of fierce deeds—the cause of this is the offering and your mother."

12.49.23 Satyavatī said: "Were you to wish it, O sage, you could create whole worlds; how much more easily then could I, through you, obtain a son who is peaceable in spirit and upright, O best of those who recite the sacred prayers."

12.49.24 Ṛcīka said: "Never before, gentle lady, have I spoken a false word even in jest—how much less when I have kindled the fire and prepared the offering with sacred mantras.

12.49.25 Satyavatī said: "Let it be, then, that such a one shall be my grandson—and yours as well; but may I obtain a son who is peaceable in spirit and upright, O best of those who recite the sacred prayers."

12.49.26 Ṛcīka said: "To me there is no difference between son and grandson, O fair-complexioned one; even as you have spoken, gentle lady, so shall it come to pass."

12.49.27 Vāsudeva said: Then Satyavatī gave birth to a son of the line of Bhṛgu—Jamadagni, devoted to austerity, tranquil, and peaceable in spirit.

12.49.28 And Gādhi, son of Kuśika, obtained as his heir Viśvāmitra, equal to the Brahmin sages and endowed with the whole power of the sacred word.

12.49.29 Jamadagni, son of Ṛcīka, begot the most terrible Rāma—master of every branch of learning, supreme, accomplished in the science of archery, the slayer of the Kṣatriyas, blazing like fire.

12.49.30 Now at that very time there lived the mighty son of Kṛtavīrya, Arjuna by name, a lustrous Kṣatriya of the lineage of the Haihayas.

12.49.31 He ruled the whole earth with its seven continents and its cities by the strength of his own arms and weapons in battle, and by the highest righteousness.

12.49.32 O Kaurava, when he was begged by the hungry Citrabhānu—the Fire—that valiant one of a thousand arms granted alms to Agni.

12.49.33 With his arrows the valiant king set ablaze villages, towns, cowherds' settlements, and cities, for Citrabhānu was eager to consume them in flame.

12.49.34 Through the power of that lord among men, Kārtavīrya, the great-glowing Fire burned the mountains and forests as well.

12.49.35 Fanned by the wind, Citrabhānu, together with the Haihaya, burned the deserted forest hermitage of the son of Varuṇa.

12.49.36 Then, O unfallen one, when his hermitage had been burned by Kārtavīrya, the valiant sage Āpava in his wrath cursed Arjuna, O great king:

12.49.37 "Because in your folly you did not spare this forest of mine but let it be burned, therefore in battle, O Arjuna, Rāma shall sever your arms."

12.49.38 Yet Arjuna, O great king, was mighty, ever peaceable in spirit, devoted to the Brahmins, a refuge to those who sought it, generous, and heroic, O descendant of Bharata.

12.49.39 His sons were exceedingly strong, but through the curse they became the instruments of their father's slaying—arrogant they were, and cruel at all times.

12.49.40 They carried off the calf of Jamadagni's cow, O bull of the Bhāratas, without the knowledge of the wise Kārtavīrya, lord of the Haihayas.

12.49.41 Then the son of Jamadagni, endowed with manly valor, severed the arms of Arjuna and brought back to his own hermitage the lowing calf from their inner apartments, O lord of kings, that mighty lord.

12.49.42 But those witless sons of Arjuna then banded together and went, unannounced, to the hermitage of the great-souled Jamadagni.

12.49.43 With their broad-headed arrows they struck off his head from his body, O ruler of men, while the great-souled Rāma had gone out to gather firewood and kuśa grass.

12.49.44 Then, in his fury at his father's murder, Rāma, filled with utmost wrath, vowed to rid the earth of Kṣatriyas and took up his weapon.

12.49.45 Then that tiger of the Bhṛgus, the valiant one, advancing in his might, swiftly slew the sons and grandsons of Kārtavīrya, every one of them.

12.49.46 Having slain thousands of Haihayas, the descendant of Bhṛgu, filled with utmost wrath, made the earth into a mire of blood, O king.

12.49.47 Having thus rid the earth of Kṣatriyas, that one of vast splendor, overcome by deep compassion, withdrew into the forest.

12.49.48 Then, after some thousands of years had passed, that lord, irascible by nature, was driven to fierce agitation.

12.49.49 For the grandson of Viśvāmitra, son of Raibhya, the great ascetic Parāvasu, O great king, taunted him and said in the assembly of men:

12.49.50 "Those worthy men who gathered at the sacrifice held at the fall of Yayāti—Pratardana and the rest—were they not Kṣatriyas, O Rāma?

12.49.51 False to your vow are you, O Rāma; you boast in the assembly of men, yet out of fear of the Kṣatriya heroes you have taken refuge in the mountain."

12.49.52 Hearing then these words of Parāvasu, the descendant of Bhṛgu, seeing the earth once more thickly peopled with hundreds of Kṣatriyas, took up his weapon again.

12.49.53 Then those Kṣatriyas, O king, who in their hundreds had been spared by him, had grown up and become mighty lords of the earth.

12.49.54 He swiftly slew them again, O ruler of men, even the very children; yet once more the earth was filled with those still in the womb.

12.49.55 And each embryo, as soon as it was born, he slew again; yet the Kṣatriya women managed to save some of their sons.

12.49.56 Thrice seven times that lord rid the earth of Kṣatriyas, and then, at the close of a horse-sacrifice, he gave it as the priestly fee to Kaśyapa.

12.49.57 Then, for the sake of the surviving Kṣatriyas, the illustrious Kaśyapa, pointing with the hand that held the sacrificial ladle, spoke these words, O king:

12.49.58 "Go to the farther shore of the southern ocean, O great sage; never henceforth, O Rāma, may you dwell here within my domain."

12.49.59 Then, out of dread of the son of Jamadagni, the ocean fashioned for him the land of Śūrpāraka, that western tract of the earth.

12.49.60 But Kaśyapa, O great king, having received this earth and placed it under the governance of the Brahmins, entered the great forest.

12.49.61 Then the Śūdras and the Vaiśyas, acting wantonly each as he pleased, behaved disgracefully toward the wives of the foremost of the twice-born, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.49.62 In a kingless world the weak are oppressed by the stronger, and no man here holds secure ownership over his wealth.

12.49.63 Then in course of time the earth, no longer duly protected by Kṣatriyas who guard the law, began to sink into the nether regions.

12.49.64 Then Kaśyapa upheld upon his thigh the earth as she was sinking, O king; and from this, men say, the earth is called Urvī.

12.49.65 Then the goddess Earth, having propitiated Kaśyapa, besought him, naming as her protectors the strong-armed Kṣatriyas:

12.49.66 "There are, O Brahmin, certain bulls among Kṣatriyas, hidden by me among men, born in the lineage of the Haihayas; let these protect me, O sage.

12.49.67 There is an heir of the Pauravas, the son of Viḍūratha, O lord, who was reared by bears upon the mountain Ṛkṣavat, O Brahmin.

12.49.68 So too the heir of Saudāsa was protected out of compassion by Parāśara, the sacrificer of immeasurable might.

12.49.69 He performs all menial tasks for that sage like a Śūdra, and so is known as Sarvakarman, 'doer of every work'; let that prince protect me.

12.49.70 The son of Śibi, of great splendor, Gopati by name, was protected in the forest by cattle; let him protect me, O sage.

12.49.71 The son of Pratardana, of great renown, Vatsa by name, was reared among the calves in the cow-pen; let that prince protect me.

12.49.72 And Aṅga, the grandson of Dadhivāhana and son of Diviratha, was likewise protected by Gautama upon the bank of the Gaṅgā.

12.49.73 The mighty-armed Bṛhadratha, honored with prosperity upon the earth, that blessed one, was protected by black-tailed monkeys upon Gṛdhrakūṭa.

12.49.74 And in the line of Marutta, three Kṣatriyas of Turvasu's race, equal in valor to the lord of the Maruts, were protected by the ocean.

12.49.75 These heirs of the Kṣatriyas, renowned here and there, let them duly protect me; then shall I stand firm and unshaken.

12.49.76 The fathers of these men, and likewise their grandfathers, were slain in battle for my sake by Rāma of untiring deeds.

12.49.77 To them too I must surely make requital; for I do not desire to be protected forever by one who is without valor.

12.49.78 Then Kaśyapa gathered together those whom the Earth had named and consecrated them as guardians of the earth—Kṣatriyas esteemed for their valor.

12.49.79 From their sons and grandsons the dynasties were established. Thus it was that this came to pass of old, concerning which you ask me, O Pāṇḍava.

12.49.80 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Even as he spoke thus, that foremost hero of the Yadus, addressing Yudhiṣṭhira, the best of the upholders of righteousness, swiftly drove on in that chariot, like the blessed Sun pervading the three worlds with his rays.

12.50.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, having heard of that deed of Rāma, King Yudhiṣṭhira, filled with the utmost wonder, replied to Janārdana:

12.50.2 "Ah, O scion of Vṛṣṇi, what valor was that of the great-souled Rāma, like to Śakra's, whereby in his wrath he rid the earth of Kṣatriyas!

12.50.3 By cattle, by the ocean, and by black-tailed monkeys, bears, and apes were the bearers of the Kṣatriya lineages protected, trembling in fear of Rāma.

12.50.4 Ah, blessed indeed is this world, and fortunate are the men upon the earth, wherein such a righteous deed was wrought by a Brahmin, O unfallen one."

12.50.5 As they journeyed on thus, O dear one, those two—the unfallen Kṛṣṇa and Yudhiṣṭhira—came to where the lordly son of Gaṅgā lay upon his bed of arrows.

12.50.6 Then they beheld Bhīṣma lying upon his couch of arrows, wrapped about in the net of his own radiance, like the evening sun, like blazing fire.

12.50.7 He was attended by sages as Indra of the hundred sacrifices is attended by the gods, in that most holy region beside the river Oghavatī.

12.50.8 Beholding him from afar, Kṛṣṇa and the King of righteousness, and the four Pāṇḍavas, and those headed by the son of Śaradvat—

12.50.9 —alighting then from their mounts, restraining their restless minds and gathering together the host of their senses, they approached the great sages.

12.50.10 And having paid homage to those sages headed by Vyāsa, Govinda, Sātyaki, and the Kauravas thereafter drew near to the son of Gaṅgā.

12.50.11 Then, having inquired after the increase of his austerities, the Yadus and the Kauravas, those bulls among men, all surrounded the son of Gaṅgā and sat down.

12.50.12 Then, observing the son of Gaṅgā—like a fire slowly dying down—Keśava, his heart somewhat grieved, spoke thus to Bhīṣma:

12.50.13 "Are your faculties of knowledge, O king, clear as they were of old? And is your understanding undisturbed, O best of speakers?

12.50.14 Does your body not burn with the pain of the arrows' wounds? For pain of the body is harder to bear even than pain of the mind.

12.50.15 By the boon granted by your father, you may die at your own will, O lord—for so the righteous-natured Śaṃtanu wished; yet this is no ground for tranquility of spirit."

12.50.16 Even a very fine splinter lodged in the body breeds pain; how much more for you, O Bhārata, pierced through and through by a mass of arrows.

12.50.17 Truly there is no need to instruct you on the origin and dissolution of living beings, for you, O Bhārata, could teach the highest good even to the gods.

12.50.18 For whatever has been, will be, and now is, O bull among men, all of it lies as if placed in your palm, ripe with wisdom as you are.

12.50.19 The cycle of transmigration of beings and the ripening of the fruit of dharma are known to you, O man of great wisdom; you are a treasury made of brahman.

12.50.20 For though set in a flourishing kingdom, whole of limb and free of sickness, surrounded by a thousand women, I see you here as one whose seed flows ever upward, chaste.

12.50.21 In the three worlds, O king, save for Bhīṣma the son of Śaṃtanu—true to his word, of mighty valor, heroic, devoted to dharma alone—

12.50.22 of no one have we ever heard, dear sire, who, lying on a bed of arrows, has by sheer power held off death that arises by nature's own course.

12.50.23 In truth, in austerity, in giving, in the conduct of sacrifice, in the science of archery and in the Veda, and ever in vigilant discernment—

12.50.24 of no great chariot-warrior like you have we ever heard: free of cruelty, pure, self-controlled, devoted to the welfare of all beings.

12.50.25 For you are able, with but a single chariot, to conquer the gods together with the gandharvas, the suras, asuras, and rākṣasas—of this there is no doubt.

12.50.26 For you, O mighty-armed Bhīṣma, are the peer of Vāsava among the Vasus; ever do the brāhmaṇas declare you the ninth, yet second to none in your virtues.

12.50.27 For I know you well, O best of men—you who by your own power are renowned even among the thirty gods, you of surpassing might.

12.50.28 Among men, O lord of men, never have I seen nor heard of any man anywhere on earth who is your equal in virtues.

12.50.29 For in all virtues, O king, you surpass even the gods; indeed, by your austerity you are able to create the worlds with all that moves and is still.

12.50.30 Therefore, O Bhīṣma, drive away the grief of this eldest son of Pāṇḍu, who burns with sorrow over the destruction of his kinsmen.

12.50.31 For all the dharmas declared for the four varṇas, O Bhārata, intertwined with those of the four stages of life, are known to you.

12.50.32 Those duties proclaimed in the fourfold Vedic lore and in the fourfold priestly office, O Bhārata, and those eternal dharmas fixed in Sāṃkhya and Yoga—

12.50.33 and that one foremost dharma which, when practiced, stands unopposed by any of the four varṇas—that too, O son of Gaṅgā, is known to you.

12.50.34 The lore of legend and ancient tale is known to you in its entirety, and the whole science of dharma stands ever fixed within your mind.

12.50.35 And whatever matters in this world breed doubt, there is no one in the world but you to cut them away, O bull among men.

12.50.36 Therefore, O lord of men, draw out by your wisdom the grief that has risen in the mind of this son of Pāṇḍu; for one such as you, with the vast reach of supreme understanding, exists for the peace of bewildered folk.

12.51.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard the words of the wise Vāsudeva, Bhīṣma raised his face a little and, with palms joined, spoke these words.

12.51.2 Homage to you, O blessed Viṣṇu, source of the worlds' arising and ending; for you are their maker, O Hṛṣīkeśa, and their unconquered destroyer.

12.51.3 O maker of all, homage be to you, O Self of all, source of all; you are the final release of beings, abiding beyond the five elements.

12.51.4 Homage to you in the three worlds, homage to you beyond the three; O Lord of Yoga, homage be to you, for you are the supreme refuge of all.

12.51.5 By the words you have spoken concerning me, O best of men, I now behold your divine manifestations along the three paths.

12.51.6 And I see in truth that eternal form of yours: the seven courses of the wind of boundless splendor are held fast within you.

12.51.7 By your head the heaven is filled, by your feet the goddess Earth; the quarters are your arms, the sun your eye, and in your might stands Śakra established.

12.51.8 We perceive your body, O Acyuta, dark as the flax-flower and robed in yellow, like a cloud charged with lightning.

12.51.9 For the devotee who has taken refuge in you and longs to win the desired goal, ponder, O lotus-eyed one, that which is his highest good, O best of the gods.

12.51.10 Vāsudeva said: Because your devotion to me is supreme, O bull among men, therefore, O king, my divine form has been shown to you.

12.51.11 For never, O lord of kings, do I reveal myself to one who is without devotion, nor to a devotee who is crooked, nor to one without self-restraint, O Bhārata.

12.51.12 But you are my devotee, ever steadfast in uprightness, given to self-control, austerity, truth, and giving, and pure.

12.51.13 You are worthy, O Bhīṣma, to behold me by your own austerity, O king; for there have drawn near to you those worlds from which one does not return again.

12.51.14 Fifty-six days, O foremost hero of the Kurus, remain of your life; thereafter, O Bhīṣma, when you have let go the body, you shall attain to the auspicious risings of the fruits of your deeds.

12.51.15 For these gods, the Vasus, all mounted in their celestial cars and blazing like fire, wait unseen upon you, until the sun, attaining its course, moves northward.

12.51.16 The moment the blessed sun, by force of time, has turned and reached the northern quarter, you shall go, O foremost of heroes, to those worlds which the wise man, once he has gained, returns from no more.

12.51.17 And once you, O Bhīṣma, have departed this world, all knowledge will pass away entire, O hero; therefore have we all gathered close about you, for the discernment of dharma.

12.51.18 To Yudhiṣṭhira, true to his word, whose learning is stricken by grief for his kinsmen, speak the meaningful word joined to dharma, wealth, and concentration, and so dispel his sorrow.

12.52.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, having heard those salutary words of Kṛṣṇa, joined with dharma and wealth, Bhīṣma the son of Śaṃtanu replied with palms joined.

12.52.2 O Lord of the worlds, mighty-armed, auspicious one, Nārāyaṇa, Acyuta—having heard your words, I am overwhelmed with joy.

12.52.3 And what shall I declare in your presence, O Lord of Speech, when all that can be uttered is already gathered within your own speech?

12.52.4 For whatever has been done in the world, whatever is to be done and is being done, all of it has issued forth from you, O god; the worlds are made of your understanding.

12.52.5 He who would describe the world of the gods in the very presence of the king of the gods—such a one would be expounding the matters of the sciences of dharma, pleasure, and wealth before you.

12.52.6 My mind is troubled by the striking of the arrows, O slayer of Madhu; my limbs sink, and my understanding does not grow clear.

12.52.7 Nor have I any flash of insight to speak even a little, O Govinda, tormented as I am by arrows like poison and fire.

12.52.8 My strength wanes, my wit decays, and my life-breaths hasten away; my vital points burn, and my mind is likewise bewildered.

12.52.9 From weakness my speech falters; how then shall I dare to speak? Be gracious to me, I pray, O delight of the house of the Dāśārhas.

12.52.10 Forgive me therefore, O mighty-armed Acyuta, that I should say nothing at all; even Vācaspati, speaking in your presence, would falter.

12.52.11 I no longer rightly know the quarters, nor the sky, nor the earth; it is solely by your power that I endure, O slayer of Madhu.

12.52.12 Therefore, O lord, do you yourself speak swiftly that which is for the good of the King of Dharma; for you are the source of all sources of sacred lore.

12.52.13 How, when you abide—you the eternal, the maker of the worlds—could anyone such as I hold forth, as a pupil might in the presence of his teacher?

12.52.14 Vāsudeva said: Fitting is this speech in you, O bearer of the Kauravas' burden, of mighty valor, of great inner strength, who perceive all things.

12.52.15 And as for what you have told me, O son of Gaṅgā, concerning the pain of the arrows' striking—accept herein a boon, O Bhīṣma, granted by my grace, O lord.

12.52.16 No faintness, no swoon, no burning, no pain shall overcome you, O son of Gaṅgā, nor yet hunger and thirst.

12.52.17 All forms of knowledge shall shine forth within you, O sinless one, nor shall any clinging of the intellect arise in you anywhere.

12.52.18 And your mind, O Bhīṣma, shall ever abide in the quality of sattva, freed from passion and darkness, like the lord of stars released from the clouds.

12.52.19 And whatever you ponder that is joined to dharma, or to wealth as well, in that your understanding shall be foremost.

12.52.20 And this fourfold host of beings, O tiger among kings, you shall behold, O man of boundless prowess, by recourse to the divine eye.

12.52.21 Endowed with the eye of knowledge, O Bhīṣma, you shall behold the fourfold web of creatures in their very truth, as a fish is seen in clear water.

12.52.22 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then all those great seers, together with Vyāsa, worshipped Kṛṣṇa with words joined to the Ṛc, Yajus, and Sāman.

12.52.23 Then a divine rain of flowers of every season fell from the vault of heaven upon the place where the Vārṣṇeya was, together with the son of Gaṅgā and the Pāṇḍavas.

12.52.24 And celestial instruments sounded, and the troops of apsarases sang; nor was anything harmful or unwelcome seen there at all.

12.52.25 An auspicious, gentle, pure breeze blew, bearing every fragrance; and toward the quarter grown calm the beasts and birds cried out, themselves at peace.

12.52.26 Then, after a moment, the blessed thousand-rayed day-maker appeared in the west, as though burning a forest at the world's far edge.

12.52.27 Then all the great seers rose up and took leave of Janārdana, of Bhīṣma, and of King Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.52.28 Then Keśava made obeisance, and so did the Pāṇḍava, and Sātyaki and Saṃjaya, and Kṛpa the son of Śaradvat.

12.52.29 Then those devoted to dharma, duly honored by the seers, said "Tomorrow we shall meet again," and went their ways in haste, each as he pleased.

12.52.30 In the same way, having taken leave of the son of Gaṅgā, Keśava and the Pāṇḍavas, turning round him to the right, mounted their splendid chariots.

12.52.31 Then with chariots whose poles were of gold and ivory, with rutting elephants like mountains, with swift-going horses like Suparṇa, and with foot soldiers bearing bows and the rest—

12.52.32 that army moved on, vast in its march, both before the chariots and behind them likewise, as the great river Narmadā flows before and behind on reaching the mountain that abounds in bears.

12.52.33 Then the blessed maker of night rose up before them, gladdening that host, and joining once more with their own virtue the herbs whose sap the day-maker had drunk up.

12.52.34 Then those bulls of the Yadus and the Pāṇḍavas, entering the city whose radiance rivaled the city of the gods, withdrew each to his own fitting and stately mansion, weary, as lions withdraw to their dens.

12.53.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, having entered his dwelling, the slayer of Madhu fell asleep, and awoke when but a single watch of the night remained.

12.53.2 Mādhava, taking to the path of meditation, surveyed all forms of knowledge, and thereafter meditated upon the eternal brahman.

12.53.3 Then those versed in scripture and ancient lore, well trained and sweet of throat, sang the praises of Vāsudeva, the maker of all, the Lord of creatures.

12.53.4 Those who keep time by clapping recited, and the singers sang, and conches, drums, and tabors were sounded by the thousand.

12.53.5 And the most enchanting sound of lutes, small drums, and flutes, spread wide like a peal of laughter, was heard from his mansion.

12.53.6 And likewise from King Yudhiṣṭhira's dwelling there rose up sweet voices charged with benediction, blended with song and instrument.

12.53.7 Then the Dāśārha, the mighty-armed Acyuta, having risen and bathed, with palms joined, having murmured the secret prayer, stood by attending upon the sacred fires.

12.53.8 Then Mādhava caused a thousand brāhmaṇas, each versed in the four Vedas, to pronounce their benedictions, presenting to each one a thousand cows.

12.53.9 Having performed the rites of auspicious touch and beheld himself in a spotless mirror, Kṛṣṇa then spoke to Sātyaki.

12.53.10 "Go, scion of Śini, go to the king's dwelling and learn whether the mighty-splendored Yudhiṣṭhira is ready to go and behold Bhīṣma."

12.53.11 Then at Kṛṣṇa's word Sātyaki went swiftly, and approaching King Yudhiṣṭhira he spoke.

12.53.12 "The fine chariot of wise Vāsudeva is yoked, O king; Janārdana will set out for the presence of the son of the river-goddess."

12.53.13 "That Kṛṣṇa awaits you, O Dharmarāja of great splendor; whatever should next be done in this matter, that you ought to do."

12.53.14 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "Let my fine chariot be yoked, O Phalguna of incomparable splendor; we must not go with soldiers — we ourselves alone shall go."

12.53.15 "And Bhīṣma, the foremost of the upholders of dharma, must not be troubled by me; therefore let even the forerunners turn back, O Dhanaṃjaya."

12.53.16 "From this day onward the son of Gaṅgā will declare the highest mystery; therefore, O son of Kuntī, I do not wish for any gathering of common folk."

12.53.17 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard that speech, Dhanaṃjaya the son of Kuntī announced to him, O bull among men, that the fine chariot was yoked.

12.53.18 Then King Yudhiṣṭhira, with the twins and with Bhīma and Arjuna, set out for Kṛṣṇa's dwelling — like all created beings come together.

12.53.19 As those great-souled Pāṇḍavas were approaching, the wise Kṛṣṇa too, together with the scion of Śini, mounted his chariot.

12.53.20 Standing in their chariots, having greeted one another and inquired after a comfortable night, those great chariot-warriors set out in fine chariots that rumbled like thunderclouds.

12.53.21 Dāruka urged on Vāsudeva's horses — Meghapuṣpa and Balāhaka, Sainya and Sugrīva.

12.53.22 Those horses of Vāsudeva, driven on by Dāruka, then sped forward, O king, scoring the earth with the tips of their hooves.

12.53.23 Swift and mighty, as though devouring the sky, they descended upon Kurukṣetra, the field of dharma entire.

12.53.24 Then they went to where the lord Bhīṣma lay upon his bed of arrows, surrounded by brahmin-seers as Brahmā is by the hosts of gods.

12.53.25 Then Govinda alighted from the chariot, and so did Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva, the twins, and Sātyaki; raising their right hands, they paid honor to the seers.

12.53.26 Encircled by them like the moon by the constellations, the king approached the son of Gaṅgā as Vāsava approaches Brahmā.

12.53.27 That mighty-armed one, gripped by dread out of fear, gazed upon him lying on his bed of arrows like the fallen sun.

12.54.1 Janamejaya said: "When the righteous one of great spirit, true to his word, master of himself, vowed to the gods, the blessed and unfaltering Bhīṣma lay upon his bed of arrows —

12.54.2 "when Bhīṣma, the delight of Śaṃtanu, the son of Gaṅgā, that tiger among men, lay upon the hero's couch, attended on every side by the Pāṇḍavas —

12.54.3 "what discourses arose at that gathering of heroes, when all the armies had been slain? Relate that to me, O great sage."

12.54.4 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When Bhīṣma, the burden-bearer of the Kurus, lay upon his bed of arrows, the perfected seers, with Nārada at their head, came near, O king.

12.54.5 And the kings who had survived the slaughter, with Yudhiṣṭhira at their head, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Kṛṣṇa, and Bhīma, Arjuna, and the twins as well.

12.54.6 Those great-souled ones, drawing near to the grandsire of the Bhāratas, the son of Gaṅgā, grieved over him as over the fallen sun.

12.54.7 And having reflected for a moment, Nārada, whose vision is godlike, spoke to all the Pāṇḍavas and to the surviving princes.

12.54.8 He declared that the time had come: "Let this Bhīṣma be questioned, for the son of Gaṅgā is setting like the radiant sun, O descendant of Bharata."

12.54.9 "He is about to surrender his life-breaths; draw near to him, all of you, and ask, for he knows the whole and manifold duties of the four orders."

12.54.10 "This aged one will soon attain the worlds of those who cast off the body; question him quickly upon the doubts that abide in your minds."

12.54.11 Thus addressed by Nārada, the rulers of men went up to Bhīṣma; but, unable to question him, they looked upon one another.

12.54.12 Then Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Pāṇḍu, said to Hṛṣīkeśa: "None other than you, O son of Devakī, is able to question the grandsire."

12.54.13 "Do you, O invincible slayer of Madhu, draw him first into speech; for you, dear one, are the supreme knower of all dharma among us all."

12.54.14 Thus addressed by the Pāṇḍava, the blessed and unfaltering Keśava then approached the unassailable one and drew him into speech.

12.54.15 Vāsudeva said: "Has the night passed in comfort for you, O best of kings? Has your understanding, with its faculties unclouded, returned to you?"

12.54.16 "Do all branches of knowledge shine clear within you, O sinless one? Is your heart not faint, and is your mind not distressed?"

12.54.17 Bhīṣma said: "Burning and bewilderment, weariness and exhaustion, faintness and pain — all at once, by your grace, O sinless Govinda, have departed."

12.54.18 "What has been and what shall be and what now is, O one of supreme splendor — all that I behold, like a fruit set in the palm of my hand."

12.54.19 "The duties declared in the Vedas, and those laid down in the Vedānta — all of them I clearly perceive through the boon you have granted, O unfaltering one."

12.54.20 "The dharma declared by the virtuous, that too abides in my heart; and I am a knower of the duties of countries, castes, and families, O Janārdana."

12.54.21 "The meaning that lies in the duties of the four stations of life, that too is fixed in my heart; and I comprehend the duties of kings in their entirety, O Keśava."

12.54.22 "And wherever something must be said, that I shall say, O Janārdana; for by your grace an auspicious understanding has entered my mind."

12.54.23 "I have become as it were a youth again, fortified by meditation upon you; I am able to speak of what is best, by your grace, O Janārdana."

12.54.24 "But why do you yourself not declare what is best to the Pāṇḍava? What is it you wish to say in this matter? Tell it quickly, O Mādhava."

12.54.25 Vāsudeva said: "Know me to be the root of glory and of the good, O Kaurava; from me have all states of being arisen, whose nature is the existent and the non-existent."

12.54.26 "When the cool-rayed one is called the moon, who in the world would marvel? Just so, when I am full of glory, who would marvel?"

12.54.27 "But further glory is to be conferred upon you by me, O one of great splendor; therefore, Bhīṣma, my abundant resolve has been set upon you."

12.54.28 "For as long as the earth shall stand firm, O protector of the earth, so long shall your undying fame range throughout the worlds."

12.54.29 "And whatever you shall declare, Bhīṣma, to the Pāṇḍava who questions you, shall endure upon the face of the earth like the pronouncements of the Vedas."

12.54.30 "And whoever shall yoke himself to himself by this authoritative measure shall, after death, enjoy the fruit of all meritorious deeds."

12.54.31 "For this reason, Bhīṣma, a divine understanding has been bestowed upon you by me — that your glory might spread the more abroad."

12.54.32 "For as long as a man's fame spreads in the world upon the earth, so long, it is determined, does his imperishable station endure."

12.54.33 "The kings who survived the slaughter sit about you, O king, wishing to inquire into the duties of dharma; expound them to these, O descendant of Bharata."

12.54.34 "For you are advanced in years, endowed with learning and good conduct, and skilled in the duties of kings, both those of old and those that came after."

12.54.35 "From your birth onward no one has ever seen a crookedness in you; all the princes know you as one who understands the subtleties of dharma."

12.54.36 "To them, O king, as a father to his sons, declare the highest polity; for the seers and the gods have ever been honored by you."

12.54.37 "Therefore it must indeed be spoken by you here, as I see it without remainder — the duties of dharma, to those who wish to learn, and again to one who, being good, is asked."

12.54.38 "And it should be spoken by the learned — so the wise declare to be dharma; for a grievous fault befalls one who does not answer, O lord."

12.54.39 "Therefore, being questioned about the eternal duties of dharma by sons and grandsons who seek to know, do you, learned one, expound them, O bull of the Bhāratas."

12.55.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the mighty-splendored delight of the Kurus spoke these words: "So be it — I shall declare the duties of dharma; firm now are my speech and my mind by your grace, O Govinda, for you are the eternal self of all beings."

12.55.2 "But let King Yudhiṣṭhira question me about the duties of dharma; thus shall I be pleased, and I shall declare those duties, O sinless one."

12.55.3 "At whose birth — that bull among kings, righteous and great-souled — all the seers rejoiced: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.4 "He to whom there is no equal among all the Kurus of blazing fame who walk in dharma: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.5 "He in whom dwell ever firmness, self-restraint, chastity, forbearance, and dharma, and vigor and splendor: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.6 "He in whom are all these — truth, charity, austerity, purity, tranquility, skill, and composure: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.7 "He, righteous of soul, who would not, from desire nor anger, nor fear nor for the sake of gain, commit unrighteousness: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.8 "He who honors with hospitality his kinsmen, guests, and servants, and those who seek shelter and dependence with him: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.9 "He who is ever true, ever forbearing, ever devoted to knowledge, fond of guests, and who gives always to the virtuous: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.10 "He who is ever devoted to sacrifice and study, and always intent upon dharma, tranquil, and versed in the secret of sacred lore: let that Pāṇḍava question me."

12.55.11 Vāsudeva said: "Possessed of utmost modesty, that righteous Yudhiṣṭhira, terrified by the fear of your curse, does not approach you."

12.55.12 "Having wrought the destruction of the world, this lord of the world, O ruler of peoples, terrified by the fear of your curse, does not approach you."

12.55.13 "Having slain with his arrows those worthy of worship and honor — the devoted, the elders, kinsmen, and friends, all deserving the guest-offering — he does not approach you."

12.55.14 Bhīṣma said: "As the dharma of brāhmaṇas is charity, study, and austerity, so for kṣatriyas, O Kṛṣṇa, it is the casting down of the body in battle."

12.55.15 "He who slays in battle fathers, grandfathers, sons, elders, kinsmen, and friends who have set out in a wrongful cause — that is dharma indeed."

12.55.16 "The kṣatriya who slays in battle those wicked men who have broken their compact and are greedy — even elders, O Keśava — he is a knower of dharma."

12.55.17 "When challenged in battle, the kinsman of the warrior-caste must always fight; for war is in accord with dharma, conducive to heaven and to the worlds — so Manu declared."

12.55.18 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed by Bhīṣma, the Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira drew near humbly and stood before him in his sight.

12.55.19 Then he clasped his feet, and Bhīṣma welcomed him, and kissing him upon the head, said to him then: "Be seated."

12.55.20 Then the son of Gaṅgā, the bull among all bowmen, said to him: "Question me freely, dear son; have no fear, O best of the Kurus."

12.56.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having bowed down to Hṛṣīkeśa and saluted the grandsire, and having sought the leave of all his elders, Yudhiṣṭhira began to question him.

12.56.2 The knowers of dharma declare that kingship is the highest dharma; yet I deem it a mighty burden. Speak to me of it, O king.

12.56.3 Tell me in particular of the duties of kings, O grandsire; for the whole world of the living, the duties of kings are the final refuge.

12.56.4 In the duties of kings, O Kaurava, the three aims of life are bound together, and the dharma of liberation too is plainly and wholly comprised therein.

12.56.5 As the reins are to the horse and the goad to the elephant, so is the dharma of a king remembered to be the rein that guides the world.

12.56.6 If this dharma, honored by royal sages, fell into confusion, the world would lose its stability and all would be thrown into disorder.

12.56.7 As the rising sun destroys the demonic darkness, so do the duties of kings cast off the inauspicious course that leads from the bright worlds.

12.56.8 Therefore, first of all, declare the very essence of the duties of kings, O grandsire, best of the Bhāratas; for you are the foremost among the wise.

12.56.9 From you comes the highest tradition for us all, O scorcher of foes; for Vāsudeva himself accounts you supreme in wisdom.

12.56.10 Bhīṣma said: Homage to the great Dharma, homage to Kṛṣṇa the creator; having bowed to the brāhmaṇas, I shall declare the eternal duties.

12.56.11 Hear from me in their entirety, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the duties of kings as I expound them, attentive and composed, and whatever else you desire to know.

12.56.12 At the very outset, O best of the Kurus, a king who desires to give joy to his people must conduct himself toward the gods and the twice-born according to ordinance.

12.56.13 By worshipping the deities and the brāhmaṇas, O upholder of the Kurus, a king becomes free of his debt to dharma and is honored by the world.

12.56.14 And in exertion, my son, always strive, O Yudhiṣṭhira; for without exertion, fate alone does not bring about the success of kings' aims.

12.56.15 These two together work in common—fate and exertion alike; yet I hold human effort to be supreme, while fate is said to be already determined.

12.56.16 And when an undertaking has failed, do not give way to grief; discipline labors on, my son—this is the highest policy of kings.

12.56.17 For apart from truth there is no cause of success for kings; a king devoted to truth rejoices both here and hereafter.

12.56.18 Even for the seers, O king of kings, truth is the highest wealth; and likewise for a king there is no greater ground of trust than truth.

12.56.19 Endowed with virtues, of good character, self-restrained, gentle, righteous, master of his senses, fair to look upon and large of aim—such a one never falls from prosperity.

12.56.20 In all your dealings hold to uprightness, O delight of the Kurus, tempered yet by the discernment of policy and by the safeguard of the three Vedas.

12.56.21 A king who is always gentle becomes despised by all on every side; yet from one who is harsh the people recoil. Therefore practice both.

12.56.22 The brāhmaṇas must ever be exempt from punishment, O best of givers; for they are the highest order of beings in the world, those called brāhmaṇas, O Bhārata.

12.56.23 Two verses were sung of old by the great-souled Manu, O king of kings; you ought to keep them in your heart amid your own duties, O Kauravya.

12.56.24 Fire arose from the waters, the kṣatriya from the brāhmaṇa, iron from stone; their all-pervading energy is quenched within their own sources of birth.

12.56.25 When iron strikes the stone, when fire meets the waters, and when the kṣatriya turns in hatred against the brāhmaṇa—then those three come to ruin.

12.56.26 Knowing this, O great king, the twice-born are ever worthy of your homage; the best of the twice-born, possessed of tranquillity, uphold the earthly Brahman.

12.56.27 And even so, O tiger among men, those who would wreck the order of the world—such men must ever be held in check by force of arms.

12.56.28 Two verses were sung long ago by Uśanas, the great seer, my son; mark them well, O most wise king, with single-minded attention.

12.56.29 Even one who has reached the end of the Vedas, if he comes weapon-raised against him in battle, a king mindful of dharma should strike down in keeping with his own duty.

12.56.30 For he who guards dharma when it is being destroyed is a knower of dharma; by that deed he does not become a slayer of the unborn—the wrath of the offender falls upon himself.

12.56.31 And even so, O best of men, the twice-born must be protected; though they have offended, the king should but banish them to the edge of his realm.

12.56.32 Even toward one of them accused of crime he should show compassion, O lord of peoples—whether in the slaying of a brāhmaṇa, the defiling of a teacher's bed, or the killing of the unborn.

12.56.33 And for a brāhmaṇa hated by the king, banishment to the edge of the realm is ordained; never at any time should bodily punishment be visited upon them.

12.56.34 And these men should ever be held dear, O best of men; for kings have no greater treasury than a gathering of able men.

12.56.35 Among the six kinds of fortresses determined by the treatises, O great king, in all of them the fortress of men is held the hardest to overcome.

12.56.36 Therefore the wise king must ever show compassion toward the four orders; a king righteous of soul and truthful in speech gives joy to his subjects.

12.56.37 Yet you must not be forever forbearing, O best of men; for an over-gentle, ever-forgiving king is unrighteous, like an elephant that suffers all.

12.56.38 In the treatise of Bṛhaspati certain verses were laid down of old upon this very matter, O great king; hear them as I recite them to you.

12.56.39 A king who is always forbearing the low-born will hold in contempt; like the driver of an elephant, the people will seek to mount upon his very head.

12.56.40 Therefore let a king be neither always gentle nor always harsh, but glorious like the sun in spring—neither cold nor scorching with heat.

12.56.41 By direct observation, by inference, by analogy, and by instruction, O great king, your own people and your foes alike must always be examined.

12.56.42 And forsake all vices, O giver of bounteous gifts; not that he should wholly abstain from pleasures, but he should shun attachment to them.

12.56.43 For a man given to vice is ever despised in the world; and a ruler too full of hatred fills the world with dread.

12.56.44 A king must always conduct himself after the manner of a pregnant woman, O great king; and hear the reason why this is enjoined.

12.56.45 For just as a pregnant woman forsakes what her own heart finds pleasant and seeks instead the good of the child within her, so too must a king act, beyond all doubt.

12.56.46 A king who follows dharma, O best of the Kurus, must ever conduct himself thus, surrendering his own pleasure for whatever serves the good of the world.

12.56.47 And your firmness you must never abandon at any time, O Pāṇḍava; for the command of one who is resolute and unwavering in justice is never thwarted.

12.56.48 And jesting with your servants must not be constant, O best of speakers; do not indulge in it, O tiger among kings—hear from me the fault therein.

12.56.49 Dependents grown over-familiar come to despise their master; they keep not to their proper place and transgress his word.

12.56.50 When sent on errands they make objection; they pry into secrets, beg for what should not be begged, and have served to them food that ought not to be eaten.

12.56.51 They grow angry and blaze forth, they usurp his land, and by bribery and deceit they thwart the conduct of affairs.

12.56.52 They wear down his realm with counterfeits, they cling to women with wanton eyes, and they array themselves in dress equal to his own.

12.56.53 Shameless, they break wind and spit in his very presence, O tiger among men, and openly mock his words.

12.56.54 They mount, without leave, the horse, the elephant, or the chariot reserved for the king's own use, when the ruler is given to mirth and is soft of temper.

12.56.55 "This deed of yours, O king, was ill-done; this conduct of yours was unseemly"—thus, in the assembly, do men who pass for friends speak.

12.56.56 When he is angered they but laugh; honored, they take no pleasure; and they are ever quarrelsome, contending against one another for cause.

12.56.57 They let his counsel leak away and lay bare his misdeeds; scornfully and in mere sport they carry out his command—even as to his ornaments and his food, his bath and his anointing.

12.56.58 Heedless and at their ease, O tiger among men, they listen to him with contempt; they decry their own offices and forsake them, O Bhārata.

12.56.59 They are not content with their wages and seize what is the king's due; they wish to toy with him as with a bird held on a string, and they say abroad in the world, "This king is led by us."

12.56.60 These faults and many others besides arise, O Yudhiṣṭhira, when a king is given over to softness and to merriment.

12.57.1 Bhīṣma said: A king must be ever exerting himself, O Yudhiṣṭhira; for a king bereft of effort fades away, like a woman left without a husband's care.

12.57.2 The blessed Uśanas spoke a verse upon this matter, O lord of peoples; with single mind, O king, mark it as I recite it to you here.

12.57.3 These two the earth devours, as a serpent swallows the creatures that lodge in its holes: a king who offers no resistance, and a brāhmaṇa who never goes abroad.

12.57.4 This, O tiger among men, you ought to lay to heart: make peace with those fit for peace, and set yourself against those to be opposed.

12.57.5 Whoever within your kingdom of seven limbs should act perversely against it—be he your teacher or your friend—he is to be struck down all the same.

12.57.6 For this ancient verse was sung by King Marutta of old, upon the governance of a kingdom, O king of kings, after the teaching of Bṛhaspati.

12.57.7 Even a teacher, if he is arrogant and knows not what should and should not be done, who has strayed onto the wrong path—the forsaking of him is ordained.

12.57.8 By the wise King Sagara, son of Bāhu, his eldest son Asamañja was cast off, for the sake of the welfare of the citizens.

12.57.9 Asamañja, of old, used to drown the children of the citizens in the Sarayū, O king; therefore his father rebuked him and sent him into exile.

12.57.10 By the seer Uddālaka too was Śvetaketu, of great austerity, his beloved son, cast off, for he had dealt falsely with the brāhmaṇas.

12.57.11 Herein the eternal dharma of kings is just this: to give joy to the people, to safeguard truth, and to deal uprightly in all affairs.

12.57.12 He should not lay hands on others' wealth, and should cause what is due to be given in its season; valiant, truthful, and forbearing, such a king does not swerve from his path.

12.57.13 Keeping his counsel secret, having conquered wrath, settled in his grasp of the meaning of the treatises, ever devoted to dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa alike.

12.57.14 A king ought to have his weak points covered over by the three Vedas; for kings there is no better defense against wrongdoing than this concealment.

12.57.15 The duties of the four orders must be guarded by the ruler of the earth; for to prevent the confusion of dharma is the eternal dharma of kings.

12.57.16 A king should neither be over-trusting nor wholly without trust, and should ever weigh in his mind the merits and faults of the sixfold policy.

12.57.17 A king who marks the weak points of his foes is ever praised, who knows the import of the three aims and rightly employs spies and secret agents.

12.57.18 Devoted to the gathering of his treasury, the equal of Yama and Vaiśravaṇa, and a knower of the tenfold group concerning stability, growth, and decline.

12.57.19 He should be a supporter of the unprovided and a watchful guardian of those already in his service; and a king should be of pleasant countenance, addressing men with a smile.

12.57.20 A waiter upon the aged, one who has conquered sloth and is free of greed, his mind fixed in the conduct of the good; for the good are the very mirror of right conduct.

12.57.21 And he should never at any time take wealth from the hands of the good; but from the wicked he may take it, and to the good he should bestow it.

12.57.22 He should strike in his own person and seize, his self under control and his instruments under control; a giver in season and an enjoyer in season, and a man of pure conduct as well.

12.57.23 Let him take as allies men who are valiant, loyal, not to be bought away, well-born, free of disease, refined and allied with the refined, self-respecting and not contemptuous of others.

12.57.24 Men learned in knowledge, knowing the ways of the world, mindful of the world beyond, devoted to the duties of dharma, good, and as unshakable as mountains.

12.57.25 Such men the king should ever make his companions, keeping their welfare foremost. He should be their equal in enjoyments, exalted above them only by the royal parasol and the power of command.

12.57.26 His conduct, both seen and unseen, should at all times be the same. Acting thus, the lord of men finds no grief in this world.

12.57.27 But a king who suspects everyone and seizes everything—crooked and greedy—is soon brought to ruin by his own people.

12.57.28 The pure guardian of the earth, devoted to winning the hearts of his people, does not fall though seized by foes; and if he falls, he rises again.

12.57.29 Free of anger, free of vice, gentle in punishment, his senses mastered—such a king becomes as trustworthy to his creatures as the Himālaya.

12.57.30 Wise, endowed with the virtues of justice, intent upon the weak points of his enemies, fair to look upon for all the classes, and knowing both policy and the failure of policy.

12.57.31 Swift in action, his anger conquered, readily gracious, magnanimous, of healthy constitution, disciplined, energetic in his undertakings, and not given to boasting.

12.57.32 The king whose enterprises are seen to be begun but never yet finished off—that king is the best of kings.

12.57.33 He in whose realm men move about without fear, like sons in their father's house—that king is the best of kings.

12.57.34 He whose townsfolk and country-dwellers do not have to hide their wealth, and who discern between sound and unsound policy—that king is the best of kings.

12.57.35 He whose people, dwelling in his realm, are devoted each to his own work, taking no pleasure in conspiracy, self-restrained, and protected according to the ordinances—

12.57.36 obedient, biddable, well-disciplined, not given to strife, and delighting in giving within his realm—he is a true king.

12.57.37 In whose realm there is no trickery or deceit, no fraud, no envy—that guardian of the earth holds dharma eternal.

12.57.38 He who honors the sciences, is amenable to counsel, devoted to the welfare of his townsfolk, follows the dharma of the good, and is liberal—that king deserves his kingdom.

12.57.39 He whose spies, whose counsel, and whose deeds done and undone are never known to his foes—that king deserves his kingdom.

12.57.40 And this verse was once sung by the great-souled descendant of Bhṛgu, in the telling of the deeds of Rāma, concerning the king, O Bhārata:

12.57.41 "First let a man find a king, then a wife, then wealth. When there is no king, whence comes a wife for the world, and whence comes wealth?"

12.57.42 Therefore, O king, for the lions among kings there is no other eternal dharma than plain and manifest protection; protection is the sustaining of the world.

12.57.43 And these two verses were uttered by Manu, son of Pracetas, concerning the duties of kings, O lord of kings; hear them now with single-minded attention.

12.57.44 "These six a man should abandon, as one abandons a leaking boat upon the sea: a teacher who does not teach, an officiating priest who has not studied,

12.57.45 a king who does not protect, a wife of unkind speech, a cowherd who longs for the village, and a barber who longs for the forest."

12.58.1 Bhīṣma said: This is the very cream of the duties of kings that I have given you, Yudhiṣṭhira; for the venerable Bṛhaspati commends no other dharma.

12.58.2 The venerable Viśālākṣa, and Kāvya of great austerities, and the thousand-eyed great Indra, and Manu son of Pracetas,

12.58.3 and the venerable Bharadvāja, and the sage Gauraśiras—these authors of the science of kingcraft, devoted to brahman and expounders of brahman,

12.58.4 commend protection alone as the dharma of kings, O best of upholders of dharma, you whose eyes are coppery as the lotus. And now hear of the means to achieve it.

12.58.5 Spies and secret agents, giving in season without envy, taking by right means but not seizing by wrong ones, O Yudhiṣṭhira—

12.58.6 the gathering of good men, valor, skill, truth, the welfare of the subjects, and the breaking up of the enemy's faction by crooked means and by straight—

12.58.7 not forsaking the good, sustaining the well-born, laying up what should be laid up, and the service of the wise as well—

12.58.8 the constant heartening of his troops, the watching over of his subjects, tirelessness in his undertakings, and the increasing of the treasury—

12.58.9 the guarding of the city, wariness, the breaking up of conspiracies among the townsfolk, and attention to dilapidated dwellings and to those who are sinking into ruin—

12.58.10 the application, urged by the occasion, of the two kinds of punishment, and the proper watching over enemies, neutrals, and friends—

12.58.11 the suborning of the enemy's servants, and—from observing how others fare—being himself distrustful, while reassuring the other side—

12.58.12 following the dharma of statecraft, constant exertion, never despising one's foes, and ever shunning the ignoble:

12.58.13 For Bṛhaspati declared that exertion is the very root of the kings' dharma; learn from me the verses upon this.

12.58.14 By exertion the nectar of immortality was won; by exertion the Asuras were slain; by exertion the great Indra attained supremacy in heaven and on earth.

12.58.15 The man steadfast in action stands above those steadfast only in speech; the men steadfast in speech wait upon and please the one steadfast in action.

12.58.16 For a king devoid of exertion, however wise he be, is forever there for his foes to trample, like a serpent stripped of its venom.

12.58.17 And an enemy is not to be despised by the stronger, even though he be weak; for even a small fire burns, and a little poison kills.

12.58.18 An enemy possessed of but a single horse, taking refuge in a stronghold, can scorch this region and that even of a prosperous king.

12.58.19 The secret counsel of a king for the sake of victory, his gathering of allies, whatever crookedness may be in his heart and whatever serves his purpose—

12.58.20 whatever crooked deed of his is to be carried out, he should sustain it under a show of straightforwardness, and to deceive the world he should perform the most righteous-seeming acts.

12.58.21 For kingship is a vast machine, hard to be borne by the undisciplined; it cannot be carried by a gentle man—it is a supreme place of slaughter.

12.58.22 Kingship, that bait coveted by all, can never be held in this world by straightforwardness alone; therefore one must ever act by a blend of both, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.58.23 And even should disaster befall him while he protects his subjects, that too is great dharma for him; for such is the conduct of the guardians of the earth.

12.58.24 This much of the duties of kings I have set forth to you in brief; whatever further doubt you have, speak it, O best of speakers.

12.58.25 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the venerable Vyāsa, and Devasthāna together with Aśman, and Vāsudeva, and Kṛpa, and Sātyaki, and Saṃjaya likewise—

12.58.26 crying "Well said, well said!" and thrilled with joy, their faces as it were abloom, they praised that tiger among men, Bhīṣma, the best of the upholders of dharma.

12.58.27 Then with downcast heart that best of the Kurus spoke to Bhīṣma, gently touching his feet, his eyes brimming with tears:

12.58.28 "Tomorrow now I shall ask you of my doubts, grandsire; the sun too is going to its setting, having drunk up the earth's moisture."

12.58.29 Then Keśava and Kṛpa, and Yudhiṣṭhira and the others, having saluted the twice-born and circumambulated the son of the great river, mounted their chariots filled with gladness.

12.58.30 And those firm in their vows, those scorchers of foes, having bathed in the Dṛṣadvatī, performed the water-rites, and made their auspicious recitations, and having worshipped the twilight according to the ordinance, then entered the city named for the elephant.

12.59.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, rising at daybreak and performing the morning rites, the Pāṇḍavas and the Yādavas went forth in chariots vast as cities.

12.59.2 And reaching Kurukṣetra and coming to the sinless Bhīṣma, son of Gaṅgā, best of charioteers, they asked whether his night had passed in ease.

12.59.3 Having saluted the seers, Vyāsa and the rest, and being greeted by them all, they sat down all around Bhīṣma, surrounding him on every side.

12.59.4 Then the king of great splendor, Yudhiṣṭhira the Dharmarāja, having honored and saluted Bhīṣma, spoke to him with joined palms:

12.59.5 "This word that goes about, 'king, king,' O Bhārata—how did it first arise? Tell me that, grandsire.

12.59.6 Equal in hands, head, and neck, equal in intellect, senses, and self, equal in his capacity for pain and pleasure, equal in back, arms, and belly—

12.59.7 equal in seed, bone, and marrow, equal too in flesh and blood, equal in his breathing out and in, possessed of a body and life-breath like the rest—

12.59.8 the same in birth and death, the same in all the qualities of men—how does one man stand above those of surpassing intellect and the brave?

12.59.9 How does one man protect the whole earth, thronged with heroes, champions, and noble men—and the world besides yearns for his favor?

12.59.10 By the contentment of one man the whole world grows content; when he is troubled, all the world is troubled too—such is the settled truth.

12.59.11 All this I wish to hear truly, O bull of the Bhāratas; expound it to me as it really is, O best of speakers.

12.59.12 No small cause can this be, O lord of peoples, that before one man the whole world bows down as before a god."

12.59.13 Bhīṣma said: With self under control, O best of men, hear it all in full—how kingship first arose in the beginning, in the Kṛta age.

12.59.14 There was no kingdom, no king, no punishment, and no one to inflict it; by dharma alone all the people protected one another.

12.59.15 But as men guarded one another thus by dharma, O Bhārata, they came at last to utter weariness, and thereupon delusion entered into them.

12.59.16 Fallen under the sway of delusion, O bull among men, those men, through the bewildering of their judgment, let their dharma perish.

12.59.17 And when their judgment was lost, the men, mastered by delusion, then fell one and all under the sway of greed, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.59.18 Then, as men reached out to grasp at what was not theirs, another thing called desire arose there among them, O lord.

12.59.19 And as they fell under the sway of desire, a thing called passion laid hold of them; impassioned, they no longer knew what should and should not be done, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.59.20 Going to those who were forbidden, speaking what was not to be spoken, eating what was not to be eaten, O lord of kings—they shunned neither fault nor virtue.

12.59.21 When this world of men was thus thrown into ruin, then the Veda perished; and from the perishing of the Veda, O king, dharma too came to its destruction.

12.59.22 When the Veda and dharma were lost, the gods then fell into terror; and in their terror, O tiger among men, they went to Brahmā for refuge.

12.59.23 Coming to the venerable Brahmā, the grandsire of the world, those gods, all afflicted with grief, sorrow, and fear, spoke with joined palms:

12.59.24 "Venerable one, the eternal Veda that dwelt in the world of men is lost through such states as greed and delusion, and thereupon fear has entered into us.

12.59.25 And by the perishing of the Veda, dharma too has perished, O Lord; thereby we have been brought level with mortals, O lord of the three worlds.

12.59.26 For our rain falls downward, but the mortals rain upward by their offerings; and since their rites have ceased, we have thereby fallen into peril."

12.59.27 Ponder for us, O Grandsire, what here is our highest good; that power of ours which sprang from your power is now perishing.

12.59.28 Then the blessed Self-Born spoke to all those gods: I shall devise what is best; let your fear depart, O bulls among the gods.

12.59.29 Then, born of his own mind, he composed a hundred thousand chapters, wherein dharma, and likewise artha, and kāma too were set forth.

12.59.30 This group, proclaimed by the Self-Born as the trivarga, the threefold aim; and the fourth, namely mokṣa, a distinct aim and a distinct group of its own.

12.59.31 And for mokṣa too another triad was declared: sattva, rajas, and tamas; while stability, increase, and decline are the triad that springs from the rod of rule.

12.59.32 The self, the place, and the time, the means, the deed to be done, the allies, and the cause as well: this is remembered as the sixfold set born of statecraft.

12.59.33 The triple Veda, and philosophic inquiry, and economy, O bull of the Bhāratas, and the broad science of statecraft: these branches of knowledge are there shown forth.

12.59.34 The safeguarding and surveillance of ministers, the guarding of the king's son, espionage by manifold means, and surveillance of various kinds.

12.59.35 Conciliation, and the giving of gifts, division, and punishment, O Pāṇḍava, and a fifth, indifference: these too are here set forth in full.

12.59.36 Counsel too is described entire, and likewise the matter of sowing dissension, and the failure of counsel, and the fruit that lies in its success or failure.

12.59.37 And treaty of manifold name, the inferior, the middling, and the superior, that called of fear, of honor, and of wealth, is described in full.

12.59.38 And the four seasons for a campaign, and the elaboration of the threefold aim; conquest joined with righteousness, and likewise conquest for gain.

12.59.39 And the demonic conquest too is thus described in full; and the threefold character of the fivefold set is here set forth.

12.59.40 The open and the hidden form of force is then declared: the open is there of eight kinds, while the covert is of vast extent.

12.59.41 Chariots, elephants, horses, and foot soldiers too, O Pāṇḍava, levied labor, boats, spies, and guides upon the road: these are the eight.

12.59.42 These, O Kaurava, are the open limbs of an army; and the mobile and immobile applications of powders, poisons, and the like are also told.

12.59.43 In what is touched and in what is eaten, secret poisoning of many kinds is recorded; the foe, the friend, and the neutral, these too are described.

12.59.44 The full merits of routes, and likewise the merits of terrain, self-protection, the heartening of troops, and the oversight of spies.

12.59.45 The manifold marshalings of men, elephants, chariots, and horses, battle arrays of various name, and the wondrous skill of warfare.

12.59.46 Portents and downfalls, the well-fought fight and the well-managed retreat, and the lore of tempering weapons, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.59.47 The disasters of an army are set forth, and likewise the rousing of an army to joy; the time for harrying and assault, and the time of peril, O Pāṇḍava.

12.59.48 And the contrivance of trenches, and the deployment of stratagems, and the harassing of a hostile realm by fierce bands of robbers and forest folk.

12.59.49 By arsonists and poisoners, by spies in disguise, by suborning the heads of guilds, and by the cutting down of crops.

12.59.50 By the corrupting of elephants, by the breeding of mistrust, by cutting off provisions, and by seizing the roads.

12.59.51 The fitting decline and growth of the kingdom with its seven limbs, the right employment of an envoy's powers, and the increase of the realm.

12.59.52 The handling of foe, neutral, and friend is rightly told; and the crushing and the repulse of those who are stronger.

12.59.53 Most subtle litigation, and likewise the clearing away of thorns; peace, the exertion of effort, and the gathering and amassing of goods.

12.59.54 The maintenance of the unsupported, the care of dependents, giving at the proper time of need, and abstention from the vices.

12.59.55 Likewise the virtues of a king, and those virtues that belong to a commander, and the merits and faults of the instrument and of the agent as well.

12.59.56 The manifold tokens of malice, and the conduct of dependents, wariness toward all, and the shunning of negligence.

12.59.57 The desire to gain the ungained, and likewise the increase of what is gained, and the giving of what has grown to worthy recipients according to rule.

12.59.58 The disbursing of wealth for the sake of dharma, for the sake of gain, and for the sake of pleasure, and a fourth in the warding off of calamity: these too are here described.

12.59.59 The fierce vices born of wrath, and likewise those born of desire, ten in all, O best of the Kurus, are here declared.

12.59.60 Hunting, dicing, drink, and women, O bull of the Bhāratas, the teachers call those born of desire, and they were here proclaimed by the Self-Born.

12.59.61 Harshness of speech, and ferocity, and harshness in punishment, oppression of oneself, prodigality, and the squandering of wealth.

12.59.62 Engines of many kinds, and their workings, are described; the crushing assault, the repulse, and the shattering of standards.

12.59.63 The destruction of sacred trees, the breaking of sieges and the ruin of workshops, the removal of obstacles, the march, and the means of attendance are described.

12.59.64 Of small drums, kettledrums, conches, and war drums, O best of warriors, the gathering of materials and the chief vital points: these are the six.

12.59.65 The settling of what is won, the honoring of the good, union of purpose with the learned, and knowledge of the rite of the morning oblation.

12.59.66 The touching of auspicious things, the care of the body, the ordering of food, and constant piety as well.

12.59.67 How a man should rise unaided, truthfulness, sweet words, the holding of festivals and assemblies, and the rites that arise on the raising of standards.

12.59.68 Conduct both open and concealed in all the offices of state, O tiger of the Bhāratas, and constant vigilance.

12.59.69 The immunity of brāhmaṇas from punishment, the just infliction of punishment, and the safeguarding of merit on behalf of dependents and one's own kindred.

12.59.70 The protection of the townsfolk and the increase of one's own realm, and that deliberation upon the circle of states, O king, the doctrine of the twelve kings.

12.59.71 And the doctrine of the seventy-two, which was declared by the Self-Born, and the laws of regions, of castes, and of families are fully described.

12.59.72 Dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa are here described, and the means and the pursuit of wealth, manifold and with abundant sacrificial fees.

12.59.73 The working of sorcery by roots, and illusion and magic, are here described, and the fouling of flowing streams and of still waters is set forth.

12.59.74 By whatsoever means the world might be kept from straying from the path of the noble, all that, O tiger among kings, is described in the science of statecraft.

12.59.75 Having wrought this auspicious treatise, the blessed Lord, well pleased, then spoke to all the gods led by Śakra.

12.59.76 For the benefit of the world and for the establishing of the threefold aim, this wisdom, the very cream of eloquence, has been brought forth.

12.59.77 For this, joined with the rod of chastisement, works the protection of the world, and, intent on restraint and on favor, it shall move among the worlds.

12.59.78 And this is guided by the rod, and it guides the rod in turn; therefore it is called daṇḍanīti, the rule of the rod, and it pervades the three worlds.

12.59.79 Holding the essence of the six measures of policy, it shall stand foremost among the great-souled; and by the greatness of that rod, the rule has its clear mark.

12.59.80 And the broad course of policy, by which all this is spread abroad, and the lore of the ancient tales, and the origin of the great sages.

12.59.81 The succession of holy fords, and the lineage of the constellations, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the whole order of the four life stages, and likewise the rite of the four priests.

12.59.82 The system of the four classes, and likewise the fourfold knowledge of the Vedas, is here described; the epic histories and the subsidiary Vedas, and the whole science of right reasoning, are set forth.

12.59.83 Austerity, knowledge, and non-injury, truth and falsehood, the highest polity, attendance upon elders, giving, purity, and exertion as well.

12.59.84 And compassion for all beings, all this is here described; whatever upon the earth has passed into speech, all of it has been brought together.

12.59.85 In that treatise of the Grandsire, O Pāṇḍava, this is beyond doubt: dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa are here all proclaimed entire.

12.59.86 Then the blessed Śaṃkara first received that science of polity, he of many forms, the wide-eyed, Śiva, Sthāṇu, the lord of Umā.

12.59.87 Perceiving the dwindling of the ages and of the lifespan of men, the blessed Śiva then abridged the treatise of great import that Brahmā had made.

12.59.88 It was called the Vaiśālākṣa, after the wide-eyed one; that Indra received, the well-versed in sacred lore, of great austerity, in ten thousand chapters.

12.59.89 The blessed Puraṃdara too abridged that treatise into five thousand chapters, my son, and it is called the Bāhudantaka.

12.59.90 But into three thousand chapters Bṛhaspati, the lord, abridged it by his wisdom, and it is called the Bārhaspatya.

12.59.91 Into a thousand chapters Kāvya declared the abridgment of that treatise, he of boundless wisdom, the master of yoga, of great austerity.

12.59.92 Thus, out of regard for the world, this treatise was abridged by the great sages, perceiving the waning lifespan of mortals, O Pāṇḍava.

12.59.93 Then the gods, assembling, said to Viṣṇu, the lord of creatures: Appoint that one who alone among mortals is worthy of supremacy.

12.59.94 Then, having reflected, the blessed god Nārāyaṇa, the lord, brought forth a mind-born son, full of splendor and free of passion.

12.59.95 But Virajās, O greatly fortunate one, desired no sovereignty upon the earth; his mind was bent solely upon renunciation, O Pāṇḍava.

12.59.96 Kīrtimat was his son; he too passed beyond the five senses; and Kardama was his son, and he too performed great austerity.

12.59.97 Of Kardama the lord of creatures there was indeed a son named Anaṅga, a protector of the people, a good man, skilled in the science of statecraft.

12.59.98 Anaṅga's son Atibala, versed in polity, having attained it, came to the kingship of the earth; but then he fell under the sway of his senses.

12.59.99 Now the daughter of Death, O king, mind-born, named Sunītha, renowned throughout the three worlds, gave birth to Vena.

12.59.100 Him, lawless toward his subjects and a slave to passion and hatred, the sages who expound the sacred word struck down with blades of kuśa grass made potent by mantras.

12.59.101 The sages, by force of mantra, churned his right thigh; thereupon there was born of him upon the earth a misshapen man of stunted limbs.

12.59.102 Like a charred stump to look upon, red-eyed and black-haired, to him the sages who expound the sacred word said, 'Sit down' (niṣīda).

12.59.103 From him sprang the Niṣādas, cruel, dwelling in mountains and forests, and the others by hundreds of thousands, the barbarians abiding in the Vindhyas.

12.59.104 Again those great sages churned his right hand; thereupon a man arose, like a second Indra in his form.

12.59.105 Clad in armor, his sword girded on, bearing arrows and bow, knowing the Vedas and their auxiliaries, and a master of the science of archery.

12.59.106 In him, that best of men, the whole science of statecraft took its abode, O king; then the son of Vena, with hands joined in reverence, spoke to those great sages.

12.59.107 "A most subtle understanding has arisen in me, one that perceives both dharma and worldly gain. By it, what is it that I must do? Tell me that truly."

12.59.108 "Whatever task, sound in purpose, you shall enjoin upon me, that I will surely perform—herein there is no need for hesitation."

12.59.109 Then those gods and those supreme seers spoke to him: "Wherever dharma stands fixed, that practice without misgiving."

12.59.110 "Casting aside both the pleasing and the unpleasing, even-minded toward all creatures, banishing far from you desire and anger, greed and pride."

12.59.111 "Whatever man in the world should swerve from dharma, he is to be restrained by you with your two arms, you who ever keep your gaze upon dharma."

12.59.112 "And take this vow in thought, in deed, and in word, again and again: 'I shall protect the sacred order of Brahman upon the earth.'"

12.59.113 "'And whatever has here been declared the polity of dharma, founded upon the science of just punishment, that I shall carry out without misgiving, never acting at my own caprice.'"

12.59.114 "And vow, O lord, 'The twice-born are exempt from punishment by me,' and 'I shall guard the world from all confusion of order,' O scorcher of foes."

12.59.115 Then the son of Vena said to those gods, led by the seers: "If the brāhmaṇas be my helpers, then so let it be, O bulls among the celestials."

12.59.116 "So be it," the expounders of the Veda said to the son of Vena; and Śukra, that treasure-house full of sacred wisdom, became his household priest.

12.59.117 The Vālakhilyas were his counselors, and the Sārasvata host became his retinue; the great seer, the venerable Garga, became his astronomer.

12.59.118 "With himself as the eighth"—such is the high tradition recounted among men; and the first of his bards arose then, the Sūta and the Māgadha.

12.59.119 And he brought about, rightly, the levelling of the earth; for great had been the unevenness of the ground before, so we have heard.

12.59.120 He was consecrated to the protection of the people by the god Viṣṇu, by Śakra together with the gods, by the seers, and by Brahmā.

12.59.121 The Earth herself, O Pāṇḍava, came to serve him, bearing her jewels, as did the Ocean, lord of rivers, and Himavān, best of mountains.

12.59.122 And Śakra bestowed upon him inexhaustible wealth, O Yudhiṣṭhira, and the great Meru, the golden mountain itself, gave him its gold.

12.59.123 And the venerable lord of the yakṣas and rākṣasas, he whose mount is a man, gave him wealth sufficient for dharma, for gain, and for pleasure.

12.59.124 Horses and chariots and elephants, and men by the tens of millions, sprang forth at the mere thought of the son of Vena, O Pāṇḍava; and there was neither old age nor famine, neither anguish of mind nor disease.

12.59.125 No fear ever arose there—from creeping things, from thieves, nor from one another—because of the protection of that king.

12.59.126 By him this Earth was milked of the seventeen kinds of grain, and by the yakṣas, rākṣasas, and nāgas of whatever each of them desired.

12.59.127 By that great-souled one was this world made to abound in dharma, and all his subjects were gladdened by him—therefore is he called rājan.

12.59.128 From his shielding the brāhmaṇas from harm he is called kṣatriya; and this Earth, made famous through his wealth, is held by the good to be Pṛthivī.

12.59.129 And Viṣṇu, the eternal, himself made this ordinance: "No one shall ever transgress against you, O king," O lord of the earth.

12.59.130 And by his ascetic power the venerable Viṣṇu entered into that lord of the earth; therefore the world bows before kings as before a god, O king.

12.59.131 Guarded ever by the science of just rule, O lord of men, no one could assail him—and because of his constant watch through spies and his vigilance, none dared.

12.59.132 When the king is the equal of any other in his own person and in his instruments of rule, what cause is there that the world should remain in his power, save divine ordinance and his innate worth?

12.59.133 From the brow of Viṣṇu there arose then a golden lotus, whence was born the goddess Śrī, the wife of wise Dharma.

12.59.134 And from Śrī, Artha was born through Dharma, O Pāṇḍava; thus Dharma, and likewise Artha, and Śrī, are established in kingship.

12.59.135 And through the spending of his merit, having descended from heaven to the earth, a man is born a king, my son, subject to the rule of just punishment.

12.59.136 Endowed upon the earth with that greatness which is of Viṣṇu, such a man becomes endowed with wisdom and attains to majesty of soul.

12.59.137 This ordinance of the gods none transgresses; and the world abides in the power of one alone, if it is governed accordingly.

12.59.138 For an auspicious deed, O lord of kings, conduces to weal—that of the one man, though the equal of others, in whose word this world abides.

12.59.139 For whoever has looked upon his face, gentle one, becomes obedient to his will, beholding it as gracious, full of meaning, and fair of form.

12.59.140 Therefore in the world, O lord of kings, it has ever been proclaimed by the wise: "The gods and the gods among men are equal," O lord of peoples.

12.59.141 All this concerning the greatness that resides in kings has now been related to you in full, O best of the Bhāratas. What else shall be set forth here?

12.60.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then once more, having saluted the grandsire, the son of Gaṅgā, and having become composed with palms joined, Yudhiṣṭhira put his question.

12.60.2 "What are the duties common to all the orders, and what severally are those of the four castes? What are held to be the duties of the four stages of life, and what the duties of a king?"

12.60.3 "By what does a realm prosper, by what does a king grow great, and by what do the citizens and the retainers flourish, O bull of the Bhāratas?"

12.60.4 "As for treasury, army, and fortress, and allies and counselors, as well as officiating priests, household priests, and teachers—what manner of men should a king shun?"

12.60.5 "In whom should kings place their trust in any calamity, and against what should one's own self be firmly guarded? Tell me that, O grandsire."

12.60.6 Bhīṣma said: Homage to mighty Dharma, homage to Kṛṣṇa the ordainer! Having made obeisance to the brāhmaṇas, I shall declare the eternal duties.

12.60.7 Freedom from anger, truthful speech, fair sharing, and forbearance; the begetting of offspring upon one's own wife, purity, and freedom from malice.

12.60.8 Uprightness, and the maintenance of those who depend upon one—these nine belong to all the castes alike. But the duty that is the brāhmaṇa's alone, that I shall now declare to you.

12.60.9 Self-restraint, O great king, the ancients declared to be the foremost duty; in the study of the Veda and the teaching of it, the brāhmaṇa's work is fulfilled.

12.60.10 Should wealth come to such a one, while he abides in his own proper work, doing no forbidden deeds, tranquil, and contented in the satisfaction of wisdom—

12.60.11 let him beget a line of offspring, and then give gifts and offer sacrifice; for it is held by the good that wealth should be enjoyed only when it has been shared out.

12.60.12 But the brāhmaṇa who has accomplished his task through the study of the Veda alone may do other works or may not; he, being friendly to all, is called a true brāhmaṇa.

12.60.13 The duty that belongs to the kṣatriya also I shall declare to you, O Bhārata: a king should give but not beg, should sacrifice but not officiate as priest for others.

12.60.14 He should not teach, but should study; he should protect his subjects; ever ready for the slaying of marauders, he should show his valor in battle.

12.60.15 Of those rulers who have offered sacrifices and are learned in the Veda, those very ones who are conquerors in battle are the foremost winners of worlds.

12.60.16 The kṣatriya who returns from battle with his body unwounded—those versed in the ancient lore do not praise that deed of his.

12.60.17 For the slaying of the foes of the kṣatra-order is declared to be his foremost duty; there is no act more fitting for him than the crushing of marauders.

12.60.18 Giving, study, sacrifice, the practice of yoga, and the securing of welfare are enjoined upon him; therefore a king who seeks dharma must above all be ready to fight.

12.60.19 Having established all his subjects each in their own duties, the lord of the earth should cause all their undertakings to be brought to fulfillment in accordance with dharma.

12.60.20 A king may be deemed to have accomplished his task through the protecting of his people; he may do other works or may not, and is then called a prince of Indra's stamp.

12.60.21 The duty that here belongs to the vaiśya also I shall declare to you, O Bhārata: giving, study, sacrifice, and the gathering of wealth by honest means.

12.60.22 Diligent, the vaiśya should tend all his cattle here as a father tends his children; any other work that he should undertake would be a forbidden deed for him; for by guarding them he shall indeed attain great happiness.

12.60.23 For Prajāpati, having created the cattle, made them over to the vaiśya, while to the brāhmaṇa and to the king he made over all the people.

12.60.24 I shall declare his means of living and that whereby he sustains himself: of six cows he may take the milk of one, and from a hundred he may take a pair.

12.60.25 On the produce a seventh part, and likewise a small share on horn and hoof; and of grain and of all seeds—this is his yearly maintenance.

12.60.26 And it must never be the vaiśya's wish to say, "I will not guard the cattle"; and if the vaiśya is willing, they are by no means to be guarded by any other.

12.60.27 The duty that belongs to the śūdra also I shall declare to you, O Bhārata: Prajāpati appointed the śūdra to be the servant of the castes.

12.60.28 Therefore service to the castes is enjoined upon the śūdra; and by his ministering to them he shall attain great happiness.

12.60.29 Let the śūdra serve these three castes without spite; and let the śūdra never in any way make hoardings of wealth.

12.60.30 For a baser man, having gained wealth, would bring his betters under his sway; but if permitted by the king, a righteous one may do so at his pleasure.

12.60.31 I shall declare his means of living and that whereby he sustains himself; for the śūdra is said to be one whom the castes are bound to maintain.

12.60.32 An umbrella, a turban, a mat of fragrant grass, sandals, and fans—worn or used articles such as these are to be given to the śūdra who serves.

12.60.33 Garments that have become unfit to wear and are worn out by the twice-born are to be assigned to the śūdra alone; for that is his rightful portion.

12.60.34 And whatever śūdra should come willing to serve among the twice-born, by that one his fitting maintenance is to be provided, so say those who know dharma; a portion of food is to be given to the one who does not forsake his master, and the aged and the feeble among such are to be supported.

12.60.35 And the master must not be abandoned by the śūdra in any calamity; rather, when the master's substance is exhausted, he must be supported all the more, for the śūdra has no property of his own, since his wealth is such as the master may rightfully take.

12.60.36 For the three castes the sacrifice has been declared to be by means of the threefold Veda, O Bhārata; but for the śūdra the sacred utterance is enjoined to be the cry of svāhā and the reverential salutation.

12.60.37 With these two the śūdra, keeping his vows, may himself sacrifice by means of the simple cooked-food offerings; the sacrificial fee for such an offering, they say, consists of a vessel filled with food.

12.60.38 A śūdra named Paijavana gave a hundred thousand as the sacrificial fee, according to the rite of Indra and Agni—so have we heard.

12.60.39 Hence for all the castes the sacrifice of faith is enjoined; for faith is a great divinity, and it is that which sanctifies those who sacrifice.

12.60.40 The supreme divinity the brāhmaṇas worshipped here, each by his own rite and among one another, with their long sacrificial sessions and with those several eternal desires.

12.60.41 By the brāhmaṇas alone were the creations of the three castes brought forth; and they who are gods even of the gods—whatsoever they should pronounce, that indeed is supreme; therefore all sacrifices are brought about through the castes, not by self-interested desire.

12.60.42 A twice-born one who knows the Ṛk, the Yajus, and the Sāman should ever be honored like a god; but he who lacks the Ṛk, the Yajus, and the Sāman is a blight upon the realm of Prajāpati.

12.60.43 Sacrifice springs from devout intent, my son, among all the castes, O Bhārata; the gods do not strive after the sacrifice of one who destroys it, nor do other men; therefore among all the castes the sacrifice of faith is enjoined.

12.60.44 The brāhmaṇas ever worshipped their own divinity by their own rite, and so they caused the other castes to sacrifice; thus it was. That mighty law has been made known to us, ordained by Brahmā and beheld among the three castes.

12.60.45 Hence the castes are upright in their inborn duties; they are brought forth in due order, and this is the ripening of that ordinance: one is the Sāman, one the Yajus, and one the Ṛk, and one is the brāhmaṇa—yet among these an uncertainty has been observed.

12.60.46 On this matter, O lord of kings, those versed in ancient lore recite the verses sung of sacrifice, concerning the Vaikhānasa sages who longed to perform the rite.

12.60.47 Whether the sun has risen or not yet risen, the man of faith, his senses subdued, pours the oblation into the fire according to dharma; for faith, indeed, is the great cause.

12.60.48 Whatever of his oblation has spilled is reckoned the lesser, and whatever has not spilled the higher; manifold are the forms of sacrifice and varied the fruits of its diverse acts.

12.60.49 He who comprehends these rites fully, firm in the certainty of knowledge, a twice-born endowed with faith—that man is fit to perform the sacrifice.

12.60.50 Be he a thief, or wicked, or even the worst of evildoers—if he desires to perform the sacrifice, they call him a good man even so.

12.60.51 The seers praise him, and this is good beyond all doubt; for it is settled that by every means and by men of all varṇas the sacrifice must be performed—since nothing equal to sacrifice is found in the three worlds.

12.60.52 Therefore they declare that a man free of envy must sacrifice, taking refuge in the purity of faith and giving according to his means.

12.61.1 Bhīṣma said: Hear now, O mighty-armed one of true valour, of the four stages of life and of the duties of the four varṇas, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.61.2 The forest-dweller's life, the mendicant's begging, and householdership—that great stage—and the stage of studentship: this fourth they call the order embraced by brāhmaṇas.

12.61.3 Having undergone the rite of the matted lock and attained the state of the twice-born, having taken up the rites beginning with the kindling of the sacred fire, and having studied the Veda—

12.61.4 whether with a wife or without one, self-possessed and with senses restrained, having discharged his obligations he may pass from the householder's stage into the forest-dweller's order.

12.61.5 There, having mastered the forest treatises, that knower of dharma, with seed drawn upward, having begotten offspring, attains oneness with the Imperishable.

12.61.6 These very observances of the sages of upward-drawn seed are what the learned brāhmaṇa must first perform here, O king.

12.61.7 For the brāhmaṇa who has fulfilled his studentship, O lord of peoples, fitness for the mendicant's life is commended here, for one bound on liberation.

12.61.8 There he should sleep wherever the sun sets him, without sacred fire, without a home, living on whatever he chances to find—a sage, controlled, his senses conquered.

12.61.9 Free of craving, the same toward all, without enjoyments, unaltered—the brāhmaṇa, having reached this stage of peace, attains oneness with the Imperishable.

12.61.10 Having studied the Vedas and discharged every duty, having begotten offspring and tasted his pleasures, let him, composed, pursue that hard-to-tread dharma of householdership, beheld in the law of the sages.

12.61.11 Content with his own wife, approaching her in her season, observing his appointed duties, neither false nor crooked, sparing in food, devoted to the gods, grateful, truthful, gentle, free of cruelty, and forbearing—

12.61.12 controlled, obedient, heedful in offerings to gods and ancestors, ever a giver of food to the twice-born, free of envy, giving to all who wear the marks of an order, and constant in the three sacred fires—such should the householder be.

12.61.13 And on this, my son, the great seers of mighty soul recite the Song of Nārāyaṇa, weighty in meaning and fraught with the highest austerity; mark it well as I declare it.

12.61.14 Truth and uprightness, the honouring of guests, dharma and wealth, and delight in one's wife—these are the joys to be cultivated, in this world and the next alike: such is my view.

12.61.15 The maintenance of sons and wife, and likewise the full recitation of the Vedas—that stage of the virtuous the supreme seers declare the most excellent.

12.61.16 The brāhmaṇa who, devoted to sacrifice, thus dwells duly in householdership, having purified well the householder's way of life, attains in heaven a stainless fruit.

12.61.17 At his laying down of the body, his cherished, undecaying desires are deemed to wait upon him, leading to the infinite—beings with eyes, heads, and faces on every side.

12.61.18 Eating alone, reciting alone, moving alone, O Yudhiṣṭhira, serving but one teacher, covered with the grime of penance—

12.61.19 the student, ever vowed, ever bent on consecration, self-mastered, should dwell always doing his appointed task and reciting the Veda without questioning.

12.61.20 Rendering constant service, let him bow low before his teacher, neither wholly withdrawn from the six prescribed acts nor wholly given over to them.

12.61.21 He does not act beyond his sanctioned office, nor serve one who is hostile: this, my son, is held to be the proper station of the student.

12.62.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Tell me of those duties—auspicious, pleasant, of great consequence, free of harm, approved by the world, easy of means, and bringing happiness to such as I am.

12.62.2 Bhīṣma said: For the brāhmaṇa, O lord, four stages of life are ordained here; the three other varṇas follow after them, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.62.3 Many heaven-winning duties have been declared, O king, that have the kṣatriya for their mainstay; these are not recorded among matters of illustration, for in the warrior's code everything is ordained in due order.

12.62.4 A man who, being a brāhmaṇa, takes to the works of the kṣatriya, the vaiśya, and the śūdra is censured in this world as dull of mind, and in the next world he goes to hell.

12.62.5 The name appointed in the world for a slave, a dog, a wolf, or a beast—that very name apply, O Pāṇḍava, to a brāhmaṇa settled in forbidden work.

12.62.6 For one engaged in the six prescribed acts in all four stages of life, endowed with every duty, fully formed, his self perfected—

12.62.7 for such a purified brāhmaṇa, delighting in austerity, free of craving and bountiful, the worlds are those named Imperishable.

12.62.8 Whatever deed a man does, of whatever kind, by whatever means and wherever—of just that kind, and by just such means, does he reap its quality.

12.62.9 Through usury, through farming and trade, and through the sustaining of life, you ought to understand, O lord of kings, the great reckoning measured by sacred study.

12.62.10 Time, impelled by time and fixed in the cycle of time, performs of necessity its deeds—the highest, the lowest, and the middling.

12.62.11 Finite are the gifts and the meritorious acts of old; but the world devoted to its own proper duty is imperishable, facing every way.

12.63.1 Bhīṣma said: The drawing of the bowstring, the slaughter of foes, farming, trade, the herding of cattle, and likewise menial service for the sake of gain—all this is the gravest forbidden conduct for a brāhmaṇa.

12.63.2 But the six sacred acts of the brāhmaṇa are to be practised by the wise householder; and for the brāhmaṇa who has discharged his duties, dwelling in the forest is commended.

12.63.3 Service of a king, wealth from farming, livelihood by trade, crookedness, the offspring of an unchaste woman, and usury—all these he should shun.

12.63.4 A brāhmaṇa in name only, O king, becomes a śūdra—he who is ill-conducted and fallen from dharma, the husband of a low-born woman, the slanderer, the dancer, the village drudge, and the doer of forbidden work.

12.63.5 Whether reciting the Vedas or not, O king, he is equal to śūdras, and like a slave he is one whose food may be taken; all these become the equals of śūdras, and them, O king, one should exclude from the rites of the gods.

12.63.6 In one of unbridled appetite, of cruel ways, of violent nature, who has cast off dharma and his own proper conduct, O king, the offerings to gods and ancestors and all else that should be given become things not to be given to him.

12.63.7 Therefore the dharma ordained for the brāhmaṇa is self-restraint, purity, and uprightness, O king; and likewise all the orders of the brāhmaṇa were in days of old sent forth by Brahmā himself.

12.63.8 He who is controlled, a drinker of the soma, noble in character, compassionate, all-enduring, free of craving, upright, gentle, without cruelty, and forbearing—he indeed is the brāhmaṇa, and not the other, the doer of evil deeds.

12.63.9 The śūdra, the vaiśya, and the king's son, O king—all the worlds, desiring dharma, lean upon them; yet, deeming the varṇas bound fast in the duties of mere birth, Viṣṇu does not desire them, O son of Pāṇḍu.

12.63.10 And were this fourfold order of varṇas not to exist in the world for all the world, the doctrines of the Veda too would not be; nor would all the sacrifices and all the works of the world, and at once none would be established in the orders of life.

12.63.11 And he among the three varṇas who would wish to follow the orders of life and to perform the duties prescribed for those orders—hear of them, O Pāṇḍava.

12.63.12 For the śūdra who has discharged his duty of service and accomplished the begetting of offspring, having gained leave of the king, O lord of the earth—

12.63.13 even for one who has gone but a little way, or who has gone the way of the ten duties, all the orders of life are ordained, save only that of the cravingless ascetic.

12.63.14 But they do not prescribe the mendicant's begging for that practiser of dharma, nor likewise for the vaiśya, O lord of kings, nor indeed for the king's son.

12.63.15 Having discharged his duties, advanced in years, and having laboured fully for the king, the vaiśya, with the king's leave, may pass into the round of the orders of life.

12.63.16 Having studied the Vedas according to dharma and the treatises on kingship, O sinless one, having performed the rites beginning with the begetting of offspring and partaken of the soma—

12.63.17 having guarded all his subjects according to dharma, O best of speakers, having performed the Rājasūya, the Aśvamedha, and other sacrifices likewise—

12.63.18 having gathered all as prescribed and given his sacrificial fees to the brāhmaṇas, having won victory in battle, whether little or much—

12.63.19 having set upon the throne, as guardian of the people, a son, O Pāṇḍava, or some other approved kṣatriya of another lineage, O bull among kṣatriyas—

12.63.20 having duly honoured the ancestors with rites for the fathers according to rule, and having worshipped the gods with sacrifices and the seers with the Vedas, all with diligence—

12.63.21 and when the end of life has come, he who would seek another order of life may, O king, passing through the orders in their due succession, attain perfection.

12.63.22 In the manner of a royal seer, O lord of kings, by following the path of the mendicant's begging, even one who has left behind the householder's dharma may roam abroad out of his desire to live.

12.63.23 Yet this is not the final, perfected work of the three—nor of the four orders of those who dwell in the stages of life, O tiger among kings, so they declare, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.63.24 Much depends on the kṣatriyas, who practise the dharma highest among men in the world; all the duties of the three varṇas, together with their subsidiary duties, derive from the dharma of the king—so I hear from the Veda.

12.63.25 As, O king, within the footprint of an elephant the tracks of all creatures born are merged, so know that all the duties, in every state, are wholly merged within the duties of the king.

12.63.26 Men learned in dharma call the other duties of small support and small fruit; but the noble declare that the kṣatriya's dharma, of great support and abounding in blessings, is foremost, and not another.

12.63.27 All duties have the king's dharma for their chief; by it are all duties protected; in the king's dharma lies the renouncing of all things, O king, and in renunciation, they say, lies the foremost and most ancient dharma.

12.63.28 Were the science of governance destroyed, the threefold Veda would sink, all duties would fall into confusion and cease to be, and all the duties of the orders of life would be undone, were the kṣatriya's ancient royal dharma forsaken.

12.63.29 All renunciations are seen within the king's dharma; all consecrations are declared within the king's dharma; all disciplines are declared within the king's dharma; all the worlds have entered into the king's dharma.

12.63.30 As living beings, struck down in the realm of nature, serve to oppress those who hold to dharma, so the duties, sundered from the king's dharma, in no condition uphold their own proper law.

12.64.1 Bhīṣma said: The duties of the four orders of life and the duties of birth, O Pāṇḍava, and those that have the guardians of the worlds for their height, are all established within the kṣatriya's dharma.

12.64.2 All these duties rest in the kṣatriya's code, O best of the Bhāratas; in the world of the living, the cravingless too are established within the kṣatriya's dharma.

12.64.3 The dharma of those who dwell in the orders of life is unseen and of many gates; its nature they expound as eternal, by scriptural tradition alone.

12.64.4 Others, disputants, with holy words declare a settled doctrine of the world; not knowing the certainties of the duties, they take their delight in what has no demonstrable end.

12.64.5 But the dharma that abounds in manifest happiness, that has the self for its witness, that is free of deceit and is the good of all the world—that is firmly established among the kṣatriyas.

12.64.6 As for the brāhmaṇas who abide in the dharma of the orders of life, O Yudhiṣṭhira, and likewise for the three other varṇas, the teaching reckoned of old, peerless in the duties of kingship, has been won here through good conduct, and leads to the worlds.

12.64.7 It has been told to you, O lord of kings, how in days of old very many valiant kings resorted to Viṣṇu of mighty splendour, the god lord of all beings, the sovereign Nārāyaṇa, for the sake of the science of governance.

12.64.8 Each weighing one by one his own deeds in his station, the kings of old waited reverently upon him, abiding by his word of illustration.

12.64.9 The Sādhyas, the gods, the Vasus and the two Aśvins, the Rudras, the All-gods, and the hosts of the Maruts—gods created of old by the First God—these perfected ones too conduct themselves within the kṣatriya's dharma.

12.64.10 On this I shall set forth for you a dharma that is the settling of right purpose. When all bounds had been broken and the cause of the Dānavas alone prevailed, there was a king, O lord of kings, named Māndhātā, mighty in valour.

12.64.11 Long ago that guardian of the earth, out of a longing to behold him, performed a sacrifice directed toward the god Nārāyaṇa, who is without beginning, middle, or end.

12.64.12 That king, O tiger among kings, that Māndhātā, bowed his head and clasped the feet of the Supreme One, of the great-souled Viṣṇu, at the sacrifice.

12.64.13 Viṣṇu revealed himself to him, assuming the form of Vāsava; and the king, surrounded by virtuous princes, worshipped that Lord.

12.64.14 Between that assembly of kings and that great-souled one there took place this great dialogue concerning Viṣṇu, O you of mighty splendour.

12.64.15 Indra said: What do you desire, O best of the upholders of dharma, that you wish to behold the immeasurable one — Nārāyaṇa, the primeval first god, of boundless illusion and unmeasured being and might?

12.64.16 That god of universal form cannot be seen face to face even by me, nor even by Brahmā. Whatever other desires lie within your heart, O king, those I shall grant — for you are a king among mortals.

12.64.17 Steadfast in truth, devoted to dharma, master of your senses, a hero firmly delighting in the gods — for your wisdom, your devotion, and your supreme faith, I therefore grant you a boon as you wish.

12.64.18 Māndhātā said: Without doubt, O Lord, I shall behold the primeval god, having won his favour with my head bowed. Renouncing pleasures, longing for dharma, I wish to go to the forest, to the righteous path that the worthy frequent.

12.64.19 By the kṣatriya dharma, vast and immeasurable, I have won the worlds and established my own fame. But that dharma which proceeded from the primeval god, the foremost in the world — that I do not know how to fulfil.

12.64.20 Indra said: Should you walk without an army and turned away from dharma, you would still attain the highest goal only by remaining vigilant. For the kṣatriya dharma proceeded from the primeval god, and the other duties came afterward, as its remainders.

12.64.21 Those remainders, though created with limits, become endless and lead well onward, being grounded in the kṣatriya dharma. Into this dharma all the other duties have entered; therefore men call this dharma the highest.

12.64.22 For in olden days the gods and the seers of measureless might were all delivered by deeds, when Viṣṇu, through the kṣatriya dharma, crushed their foes.

12.64.23 For had that Lord, the wealth-bearing and immeasurable one, not slain all the enemies, there would be no brāhmaṇas, no maker of the worlds and the rest, no true dharma, and no primal dharma at all.

12.64.24 Had that immeasurable best of the gods not in olden times conquered this earth by his valour, the four varṇas and the duties of the four āśramas would all be no more, through the destruction of brahman itself.

12.64.25 The eternal duties, seen in their hundredfold forms, are set in motion again and again by the kṣatriya dharma; in age after age the primal duties are set forth. Therefore men call the kṣatriya dharma the foremost in the world.

12.64.26 Self-sacrifice, compassion for all beings, knowledge of the world, the granting of release, protection, and the deliverance of the despairing and the afflicted — all these are found, for kings, in the kṣatriya dharma.

12.64.27 The lawless, driven by desire and wrath, do not fall into sin out of fear of the king; while the disciplined others, endowed with every virtue and of righteous conduct, righteously practise dharma.

12.64.28 All beings, who must be cherished like sons by kings through the dharma proper to their station, move about in the world unharmed — of this there is no doubt.

12.64.29 The kṣatriya order, devoted to all duties, foremost in the world and eternal, has the imperishable as its everlasting bound — itself imperishable and facing every direction.

12.65.1 Indra said: Of such valour, endowed with all virtues, the kṣatriya dharma is the highest among all duties. It must be upheld by you, O noble lions among men; for in its reversal would come the ruin of the people.

12.65.2 Let the king know as his foremost dharma the cultivation of the land, the rites of consecration befitting a king, the renunciation of begging, the protection of the people, compassion for all beings, and the surrender of his body in battle.

12.65.3 The sages declare renunciation the highest; best of all is he who would lay down his body. In the duties of kingship all is forever given up — these protectors of the earth are ever a witness before your eyes.

12.65.4 By wide learning, by service to the teacher, or by the slaying of an enemy, men declare it dharma. Let the kṣatriya, a celibate ever devoted to duty, longing for dharma, walk alone through the stages of life.

12.65.5 When affairs touching the common good are afoot, carefully shunning both favour and disfavour, by establishing and protecting the four varṇas, and by those several disciplines, observances, and inborn means—

12.65.6 —by all such exertions they declare the dharma of the stages of life to be the kṣatriya dharma, the foremost, endowed with every virtue. Those varṇas who do not practise each their own duty, those very duties are pronounced ill-performed.

12.65.7 Men who are forever lost in lawless gain they call mere beasts in human form. Inasmuch as it leads to right conduct, away from greed for gain, the order of the kṣatriya dharma is therefore the better.

12.65.8 That course belonging to the brāhmaṇas versed in the three Vedas, and that mode of life enjoined upon brāhmaṇas — this they call the brāhmaṇa's foremost work; doing otherwise, he is like a śūdra, fit to be slain by the sword.

12.65.9 The duties of the four āśramas and the duties of the Veda, O king, are to be followed by the brāhmaṇa; no other should know them in any way.

12.65.10 For one who conducts himself otherwise, that mode of livelihood is not allowed; dharma is made manifest by deeds — as is a dog, so is he.

12.65.11 A brāhmaṇa established in forbidden acts does not deserve honour; useless in his proper works, men know him to be unworthy of trust.

12.65.12 These duties and all the varṇas are to be upheld by heroes, by kṣatriyas — this is their dharma. Therefore the duties of kingship are foremost, and no others; the duties of heroes, with valour foremost, are in my judgement supreme.

12.65.13 Māndhātā said: The Yavanas, Kirātas, Gāndhāras, Cīnas, Śabaras, Barbaras, Śakas, Tuṣāras, Kahvas, Pahlavas, Āndhras, and Madrakas;

12.65.14 the Oḍras, Pulindas, Ramaṭhas, Kācas, and barbarians of every kind; and the men sprung from brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya stock, the vaiśyas, and the śūdras—

12.65.15 how should all these who dwell within a realm practise dharma, and how are all those who live as outlaws to be set in order by men such as I?

12.65.16 This I wish to hear, O Lord; tell it to me; for you have become a kinsman to us kṣatriyas, O lord of the gods.

12.65.17 Indra said: Service to mother and father must be rendered by all outlaws, and likewise service to the teacher and the elders, and to those who dwell in the āśramas.

12.65.18 Service to the protectors of the earth, too, must be rendered by all outlaws; and the rites enjoined by Vedic dharma are likewise ordained as their dharma.

12.65.19 Offerings to the ancestors, the digging of wells, watering-sheds, and resting-places, and gifts in due season to the twice-born — these too they should bestow.

12.65.20 Non-injury, truth, freedom from anger, the giving and safeguarding of livelihood, the support of one's children and wife, purity, and the absence of malice;

12.65.21 the sacrificial fees of all sacrifices are to be given by one who desires prosperity; and the costly cooked-food offerings are to be performed by all outlaws.

12.65.22 These works of such kinds, ordained of old, O sinless one, are the duties of all people, to be performed here, O king.

12.65.23 Māndhātā said: There are seen in the world, among all the varṇas, men who are outlaws — moving under another guise, present even within the four āśramas.

12.65.24 Indra said: When the rod of justice is ruined and the duty of kingship cast aside, beings fall into utter confusion through the wickedness of the king, O lord of men.

12.65.25 Countless mendicants and bearers of false marks will arise, and a confusion of the āśramas, once this Kṛta age has passed away.

12.65.26 Heedless of the supreme courses of the ancient duties, men will take to the wrong path, driven by desire and wrath.

12.65.27 When the evildoer is restrained by the rod of justice in the hands of the great-souled, then dharma — true, eternal, and supreme — does not waver.

12.65.28 Whoever slights the king, who is a guide even to the world beyond, for him neither gift, nor oblation, nor funeral rite ever bears any fruit.

12.65.29 The lord of men, sovereign over mortals, become divine and everlasting, devoted to dharma — even the gods hold such a king in high honour.

12.65.30 For the Lord Prajāpati, who created this whole world, desires the kṣatriya order for the sake of setting the duties in motion and bringing them to rest.

12.65.31 He who, with understanding, keeps in mind the course of dharma once set in motion — he is worthy of my honour and my worship; in him the kṣatriya order stands established.

12.65.32 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken thus, that Lord Viṣṇu, surrounded by the host of the Maruts, departed to his abode, the imperishable, the supreme station.

12.65.33 With dharma thus rightly set in motion of old, O sinless one, what man of sense and wide learning would slight the kṣatriya order?

12.65.34 Things begun unjustly, and likewise things so abandoned, pass to ruin midway, as a man without sight perishes upon the road.

12.65.35 With the wheel set turning at the beginning, and devoted to that first foundation, conduct yourself accordingly, O tiger among men; this I declare to you, O sinless one.

12.66.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I have heard the four āśramas of men as the ancients told them; expound their meaning to me who ask, O grandfather.

12.66.2 Bhīṣma said: All these duties are known to you, Yudhiṣṭhira, even as they are known to me, O mighty-armed one — duties approved by the virtuous.

12.66.3 But as for the dharma that passes under another guise, about which you ask me, Yudhiṣṭhira, O best of the upholders of dharma, hear that now, O lord of men.

12.66.4 All these, O son of Kuntī, O bull among men, are found in those who, devoted to righteous conduct, perform the works of the four āśramas.

12.66.5 For the king free from desire and hatred, who rules by the rod of justice and looks with even regard upon all beings, there comes the standing of the mendicant's āśrama, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.66.6 For the hero who knows when to take and when to give, and likewise restraint and favour, and who lives by the rule laid down, there comes the standing of the āśrama of security.

12.66.7 For him who rescues his kinsmen, relations, and friends fallen into distress, O Yudhiṣṭhira, there comes the standing of the āśrama of consecration.

12.66.8 For him who performs his daily observances, and the sacrifices to beings, to the ancestors, and to men, in ample measure, O Pārtha, there comes the standing of the forest-dweller's āśrama.

12.66.9 By the protection of all beings and the safeguarding of his own realm, the king undertakes consecrations of many kinds; thus there comes to him the standing of the forest-dweller's āśrama.

12.66.10 Constancy in the study of the Veda, patience, the honouring of the teacher, and likewise service to the preceptor — these bring the standing of the brāhmaṇa's āśrama.

12.66.11 For him who ever treads a straight and guileless path toward all beings, O Bhārata, there comes the standing of the brāhmaṇa's āśrama.

12.66.12 For him who bestows ample wealth upon forest-hermits, upon brāhmaṇas, and upon those versed in the three Vedas, O Bhārata, there comes the standing of the forest-dweller's āśrama.

12.66.13 For him who shows compassion toward all beings, O Bhārata, and is devoted to gentleness, there comes a standing that embraces every state.

12.66.14 For him who shows compassion toward the young and the old in every condition, O Kaurava, O Yudhiṣṭhira, there comes a standing that embraces every state.

12.66.15 By rendering deliverance to beings overpowered by force, O foremost of the Kurus, and to those who come seeking refuge, O Kaurava, a man may dwell in the householder's life.

12.66.16 By giving protection in every way to beings moving and unmoving, and by ever offering honour as is due, a man may dwell in the householder's life.

12.66.17 Restraint and favour toward elder and younger wives, toward brothers, sons, and grandsons, O Pārtha — that is the householder's life, and that is its austerity.

12.66.18 The protection of the worthy, deserving of honour, who are known among the people as masters of themselves, O tiger among men, brings the standing of the householder's āśrama.

12.66.19 He who in his own house, O Bhārata, takes up the duties belonging to all the āśramas by the giving of food — that is the householder's life, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.66.20 The man who stands firm in the dharma created by the Ordainer, fittingly and truly, attains the unsurpassed fruit of all the āśramas.

12.66.21 In whatever man his virtues never perish, O son of Kuntī, him too they call one established in an āśrama, that best of men, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.66.22 Granting honour according to station, according to age, and likewise according to lineage, a man dwells in truth within all the āśramas, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.66.23 By upholding the customs of the land, O son of Kuntī, and likewise the customs of the lineage, O tiger among men, a king becomes a dweller in all the āśramas.

12.66.24 By honouring in due season the prosperity of beings and likewise their offerings, O tiger among men, one may dwell in the āśrama of the virtuous.

12.66.25 And he who, holding to the tenfold dharma, watches over the dharma of all the world, O son of Kuntī — that king becomes a dweller in an āśrama.

12.66.26 Of the good and skilled in dharma who practise dharma in the world, protected within a king's domain, a fourth part of their merit becomes the share of that lord of the earth.

12.66.27 But those kings who fail to protect men who delight in dharma and are devoted to dharma, O tiger among men — they take upon themselves the sin of such men.

12.66.28 And those who serve as helpers in the protection rendered by kings, O Yudhiṣṭhira—all of them, O sinless one, are sharers in the merit, though the righteous act be performed by another.

12.66.29 For the householder's life, O tiger among men, they declare to be the station that embraces all the orders of life, of luminous determination and purifying—the very one we ourselves reverently uphold.

12.66.30 But the man who looks upon all creatures as upon his own self, who has laid down the rod and conquered his anger—he, departing this world, attains happiness.

12.66.31 Raised up by dharma, with goodness for its strength, bearing the banner of the bridge of dharma, swift and driven by the wind of renunciation upon its course—this boat shall carry you across.

12.66.32 When the desire that abides in his heart has turned away from everything, then a man becomes established in goodness, and thereafter he attains to Brahman.

12.66.33 Serene in disposition and through yoga, O lord of men, O tiger among men, you shall attain dharma by delighting in the protection of your subjects.

12.66.34 Make your effort in the protection of the brāhmaṇas devoted to the study of the Vedas and of pure deeds, and of all the world besides, O sinless one.

12.66.35 Whatever dharma a man practices in the forest and in the hermitages, O Bhārata, a hundredfold of that dharma the king attains through his protection.

12.66.36 Thus has the manifold dharma been declared to you, O best of the Pāṇḍavas. Practice it, this eternal dharma beheld by the men of old.

12.66.37 Single-minded toward the four orders of life and the four classes, O Pāṇḍava, O tiger among men, you shall attain dharma by delighting in their protection.

12.67.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The four orders of life have been told here, and likewise the four classes. Tell me, grandfather, what is the most essential duty toward the realm.

12.67.2 Bhīṣma said: This is the most essential duty toward the realm—the consecration of a king. A realm without an Indra is feeble, and bandits overwhelm it.

12.67.3 In kingless realms dharma cannot stand firm, and men devour one another. In every way, fie upon the kingless state!

12.67.4 "This king is chosen as an Indra"—so runs the sacred utterance. As Indra is honored, so should the king be honored by one who desires prosperity.

12.67.5 "In kingless realms one should not dwell"—so the Vedic teaching declares. In kingless realms not even Agni bears the oblation to the gods.

12.67.6 Yet should a mightier one come forward seeking the kingdom—upon realms that are kingless, or whose king has been slain—

12.67.7 he should be met and welcomed with honor: this is the wise counsel here. For there is nothing more evil than the evil of being without a king.

12.67.8 If he looks upon the realm with favor, all will be well; for a mighty one, once enraged, could leave nothing whole.

12.67.9 The cow that is hard to milk earns the greater suffering; but the cow that yields her milk easily—her they do not torment at all.

12.67.10 What bends without being heated, that they do not heat at all; and the wood that is already bent of itself, that they do not trouble to bend.

12.67.11 By this likeness the steadfast man should bow to the stronger. He who bows to the stronger bows verily to Indra himself.

12.67.12 Therefore a king must always be installed by one who desires prosperity. Neither wealth nor wife is secure for those who live in a kingless state.

12.67.13 The wicked man delights to seize another's wealth where there is no king; but when others in turn snatch his own away, then he longs for a king.

12.67.14 Then even the wicked find no security at all; for from one, two carry off the spoil, and from those two, many others again.

12.67.15 The free man is made a slave, and women are carried off by force. For this reason the gods appointed protectors of the people.

12.67.16 Were there no king in the world, no wielder of the rod upon the earth, the stronger would roast the weaker as men roast fish upon a spit.

12.67.17 In olden times the kingless people perished, so we have heard, devouring one another as the big fish in the water devour the small.

12.67.18 Then they gathered together and made covenants, so we have heard: "The man cruel of speech, the one who deals in violence, the adulterer, and he who would seize what is not his own—such men shall be cast out by us."

12.67.19 For the assurance of all the classes alike, without distinction, they made this covenant—yet they did not abide by the covenant they had made.

12.67.20 Then, united and stricken with distress, they went to the Grandfather: "Without a sovereign we are perishing, O Lord; appoint for us a sovereign."

12.67.21 "One whom we may all together honor, and who shall guard us round about." To them he appointed Manu; but Manu did not assent to them.

12.67.22 Manu said: I am afraid of so cruel a task, for kingship is exceedingly hard to bear, above all among men who are forever false in their conduct.

12.67.23 Bhīṣma said: The people answered him: "Do not fear—the guilt of this task shall pass to those who do the wrong. One head in fifty of our cattle and of our gold, and a tenth part of our grain, we shall give you to enrich your treasury."

12.67.24 "The foremost of men, skilled in the use of weapons, shall follow you as the gods follow great Indra."

12.67.25 "You, O king, grown mighty, unassailable, full of majesty, shall establish us all in happiness, as Kubera does the Nairṛtas."

12.67.26 "And whatever dharma the people, well-guarded by the king, shall practice—a fourth part of that dharma shall come to rest in you."

12.67.27 "Sustained by that great dharma, won through our happiness, protect us on every side, O king, as Indra of a hundred sacrifices protects the gods."

12.67.28 "Go forth swiftly to victory, blazing like the sun with its rays. Scatter the pride of our enemies; may dharma forever conquer for us."

12.67.29 Forth he went, that one of mighty splendor, surrounded by a great host, endowed with high birth, blazing as it were with majesty.

12.67.30 Beholding his greatness, as the gods behold that of great Indra, all the people trembled, and set their minds upon their own duties.

12.67.31 Then he traversed the earth, like the rain-bearing cloud, quelling the wicked on every side and yoking each man to his own task.

12.67.32 Thus whatever men anywhere on earth should desire prosperity, let them first of all install a king, for the favoring of the people.

12.67.33 And let them bow before him with devotion, as pupils ever bow before their teacher, as the gods before the thousand-eyed one—so should the people stand near their king.

12.67.34 The man honored by his own people, even a stranger holds in high regard; but one despised by his own kin, strangers too will hold in contempt.

12.67.35 The contempt of strangers for a king brings unhappiness to all. Therefore the parasol, the conveyance, garments and ornaments,

12.67.36 and foods and drinks, and dwellings too, they should give to the king—seats and couches and every appointment of comfort besides.

12.67.37 Let the king be guarded in himself, hard to assail, one who speaks first with a smile; and when addressed, let him answer men sweetly.

12.67.38 Let him be grateful, firm in devotion, generous in sharing, master of his senses; when looked upon, let him look back gently, frankly, and graciously.

12.68.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Why do the brāhmaṇas call the king a divinity, O bull of the Bhāratas—him who is sovereign over men? Tell me that, grandfather.

12.68.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recite an ancient tale—how Vasumanas questioned Bṛhaspati, O Bhārata.

12.68.3 A king named Vasumanas, of Kosala, the best of the wise, accomplished in understanding, questioned the great seer Bṛhaspati.

12.68.4 Versed in courtesy, he performed for Bṛhaspati every act of homage, and taking his place at the seer's right hand, he bowed in due form,

12.68.5 and asked the way of kingship, devoted to the welfare of all beings, seeking the good of his subjects, the root of which is dharma, O lord of the people.

12.68.6 By what do creatures prosper, and by what do they come to ruin? Honoring whom, O greatly wise one, might they attain the highest happiness?

12.68.7 Thus questioned by the great king of Kosala, of measureless might, Bṛhaspati, unperturbed, declared to him the honoring due to a king.

12.68.8 The dharma of the world, O great king, is seen to have its root in the king. It is from fear of the king alone that the people do not devour one another.

12.68.9 For the king alone, by his dharma, brings to peace the whole world when it is in turmoil and unrest; and having brought it to peace, he shines forth in splendor.

12.68.10 For as, O king, were the moon and the sun not to rise, all creatures would sink into blind darkness, unable to see one another,

12.68.11 as fish in waterless shallows, or birds where none can cry out, would range about at their pleasure, falling upon one another again and again,

12.68.12 crushing and trampling and overpowering one another, they would swiftly pass into annihilation—of this there is no doubt—

12.68.13 even so, without a king, these subjects would perish; they would sink into blind darkness, like cattle without a herdsman.

12.68.14 The strong would seize the possessions of the weak, and slay those who resisted, were the king not to protect them.

12.68.15 Conveyances, garments, ornaments, and jewels of every kind the wicked would seize by violence, were the king not to protect.

12.68.16 In this world there would be no holding of property as "this is mine"; universal ruin would set in, were the king not to protect.

12.68.17 Mother, father, the aged, the teacher, the guest, the elder—men would torment or even kill them, were the king not to protect.

12.68.18 Manifold weapons would fall in many ways upon those who walk in dharma, and unrighteousness would take firm hold, were the king not to protect.

12.68.19 Slaughter, bondage, and torment would forever be the lot of the wealthy, and men would find no sense of ownership, were the king not to protect.

12.68.20 All within would become a void, this world would fall to the bandits, and men would sink into dreadful hell, were the king not to protect.

12.68.21 The rearing of stock would not go on, nor tillage, nor the trader's road; dharma would sink, and the threefold Veda would be no more, were the king not to protect.

12.68.22 Sacrifices would not be performed in due form with their proper gifts, nor weddings, nor assemblies, were the king not to protect.

12.68.23 Bulls would not be set to their work, nor would the churns be turned, and the cattle-stations would go to ruin, were the king not to protect.

12.68.24 Terrified, sick at heart, sunk in lamentation and bereft of sense, everything would perish in a moment, were the king not to protect.

12.68.25 The year-long sacrificial sessions would not be held free from all fear, endowed with their due gifts, were the king not to protect.

12.68.26 The brāhmaṇas, the ascetics, bathed in learning and bathed in austerity, would not study the four Vedas, were the king not to protect.

12.68.27 Hand would rob hand, and all the dikes of order would be broken; everything, stricken with fear, would scatter in flight, were the king not to protect.

12.68.28 The people, with their brāhmaṇas slain and themselves struck down, would find no union with dharma; the doer would go his way ruled by his own senses' whim, were the king not to protect.

12.68.29 Misrule would prevail, and there would arise a confusion of the classes; famine would invade the realm, were the king not to protect.

12.68.30 For men, guarded by the king, sleep with their house-doors thrown open at their pleasure, free on every side from all fear.

12.68.31 No one will endure even a harsh word—how much less the laying-on of a hand—if among men the king is a righteous protector.

12.68.32 And women, unaccompanied by men, adorned with all their ornaments, go their way without fear, when the lord of the earth protects.

12.68.33 They take refuge in dharma alone, they do no violence to one another, and they show each other kindness—when the lord of the earth protects them.

12.68.34 The three orders perform their great sacrifices, each in its own manner, and devoted men study the scriptures—when the lord of the earth protects them.

12.68.35 This world is rooted in livelihood and is forever upheld by the threefold Veda; all of this proceeds rightly when the lord of the earth protects it.

12.68.36 When the king takes up the noblest yoke and bears his subjects forward with a great application of strength, then the world is at peace.

12.68.37 In whose absence there would be the utter ruin of all beings, and in whose presence their continuance is ensured—who would not honor him?

12.68.38 He who bears the burden of the king—a burden that brings happiness to all the world—and abides ever in his welfare and his pleasure, wins both worlds.

12.68.39 The man who plots evil against him even in thought will, beyond doubt, suffer affliction here, and after death fall into hell as well.

12.68.40 The lord of the earth must never be despised on the grounds that he is but a man, for this is a mighty deity standing here in human form.

12.68.41 For he assumes, ever according to the occasion, five forms: he becomes Agni, and the Sun, and Death, and Vaiśravaṇa, and Yama.

12.68.42 For when the king, falsely served, burns up the wicked with fierce splendor, then he becomes Fire.

12.68.43 When the lord of the earth, through his spies, watches over all beings, and goes about securing their welfare, then he becomes the Sun.

12.68.44 And when in anger he destroys impure men by the hundred, together with their sons and grandsons and ministers, then he becomes the Ender.

12.68.45 But when he restrains all the unrighteous with sharp punishments and favors the righteous, then he becomes Yama.

12.68.46 And when he gratifies his benefactors with streams of wealth, and strips away the various treasures of those who do him harm—

12.68.47 when he bestows fortune upon one and withdraws it from another, then, O king, the lord of the earth becomes Vaiśravaṇa in the world.

12.68.48 One who is capable, untiring in his deeds, who seeks lawful gain and bears no grudge against his lord, must never stand in censure of him.

12.68.49 For no man who acts against the king can obtain happiness—be he son, or brother, or friend, even were he the king's own equal.

12.68.50 Fire whose course is black, blazing with the wind for its charioteer, may leave some remnant behind; but for the man whom the king has fallen upon, no remnant is found anywhere.

12.68.51 All things that belong to the king and are under his protection a man should shun from afar; he should recoil from seizing the king's property as he would from death.

12.68.52 He who lays hands upon it perishes at once, like a deer that touches a snare; the wise man should guard the king's property here as if it were his own.

12.68.53 Into a great and terrible hell, bottomless, the senseless men who steal the king's wealth fall, there to remain for many a long night.

12.68.54 King, lord, sovereign, emperor, kṣatriya, master of the earth, ruler of men—he who is extolled by such titles, who would not wish to honor him?

12.68.55 Therefore one who would prosper—disciplined, self-conquered, his senses restrained, intelligent, mindful, and capable—should take service with the lord of the earth.

12.68.56 The king should honor a counselor who is grateful, wise, generous of spirit, steadfast in devotion, master of his senses, ever firm in dharma, and constant in his proper conduct.

12.68.57 He should rely upon a man of firm devotion, of seasoned wisdom, knowing dharma, his senses controlled, valiant, of no mean deeds, and free of any forbidden following.

12.68.58 The king makes a man bold; the king makes the feeble man thrive; whence can there be happiness for one upon whom the king has fallen? The king makes happy the man he favors.

12.68.59 The king is the very heart of his people, weighty above all; their recourse, their foundation, and their highest happiness. Men who take refuge in the lord of men rightly conquer both this world and the next.

12.68.60 And the ruler of men too, having governed the earth with self-restraint, with truth, and with goodwill, and having worshipped with great sacrifices, attains in glory an honored place in heaven.

12.68.61 Thus addressed by his teacher, that best of kings, the heroic Kausalyā, with diligent effort carried out the protection of his subjects.

12.69.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What further duty in particular remains for a king to perform? How is the realm to be protected, and how are enemies to be guarded against?

12.69.2 How should he employ his spies, and how win the confidence of the orders? How should he deal with his servants, how with his wives, and how with his sons, O Bhārata?

12.69.3 Bhīṣma said: Hear in full, O great king, with close attention, the conduct of a king—what must first be done by the ruler himself, or by one of a kingly nature.

12.69.4 The king must always conquer himself first, and only then his enemies; for how can a ruler of men who has not conquered himself vanquish his foes?

12.69.5 Self-conquest amounts to just this: the mastery of the five-fold group of the senses. A ruler of men whose senses are subdued is able to crush his foes.

12.69.6 He should post guard-companies in the fortresses and at the junctions, O delight of the Kurus, and in the groves about the city and in its parks as well.

12.69.7 And in all the assembly-places and the market-towns, and in the heart of the city, O tiger among men, and likewise within the royal residence.

12.69.8 Then he should appoint secret agents disguised as idiots, blind men, and deaf men—well-tested, shrewd persons able to endure hunger, thirst, and the heat of the sun.

12.69.9 And with a steady mind, O great king, he should set such agents upon all his ministers, upon allies of the three kinds, and upon his own sons.

12.69.10 In the city and in the countryside, and among the neighboring kings, the agents to be deployed should be so placed that they do not know one another.

12.69.11 And he should detect the spies sent in by the enemy, O bull of the Bhāratas—in the marketplaces, in the pleasure-houses, in the gatherings, and among the mendicants;

12.69.12 in the gardens and the parks, in the assemblies of the learned, in the brothels and at the crossroads, in the council-halls and the rest-houses.

12.69.13 In this way the discerning king should foil the enemy's espionage with espionage of his own; for when the enemy's spies are foiled, all his designs are foiled, O Pāṇḍava.

12.69.14 But when a king perceives by his own judgment that he is the weaker, he should take counsel with his ministers and conclude a peace with the stronger power.

12.69.15 While his weakness is still unknown, the discerning king should make peace with his adversary—whether because he is in haste, or because he seeks to gain some particular object.

12.69.16 With those who are virtuous, of great energy, knowing dharma, and upright, the king should ally himself, governing his kingdom by dharma.

12.69.17 When the great-minded king perceives that he is being undone, he should strike down those who first did him injury and all who are hated by the people.

12.69.18 A ruler who can neither do good nor do harm, and who is in his nature impossible to overthrow—such a one is to be left to himself.

12.69.19 The discerning king should march upon an enemy who is unaware, who has no ally to call upon, who is without near support, who is preoccupied, negligent, and weak.

12.69.20 The hero, when his army is sound and well-nourished and he himself at ease, should order the campaign—but only after first making due provision both for the march and for the city.

12.69.21 And though some king be valiant, if he will not submit to him, then one inferior in strength and prowess should wear him down and so subdue him.

12.69.22 He should harass that king's realm with sword, fire, and stupefying poison, and should foment quarrels among his ministers and favorites; for open war must always be avoided by the wise man who covets dominion.

12.69.23 Bṛhaspati declares that the gaining of one's object is by three means: by conciliation, by gifts, and by sowing dissension, O ruler of men; and the wise man should rest content with whatever object he can secure thereby.

12.69.24 And the king of boundless wisdom should take a tax from his subjects, a sixth part, O delight of the Kurus—and that for their very protection.

12.69.25 Whatever wealth, great or small, belongs to those who follow the tenfold path of dharma, he should not seize precipitately—and this for the protection of his townsfolk.

12.69.26 As one's sons, so are the townsfolk to be regarded—of this there is no doubt; and affection toward them is to be shown in the conduct of public affairs.

12.69.27 And the king should appoint a wise son, who discerns all matters, to oversee judicial affairs continually; for therein the kingdom rests secure.

12.69.28 Over the mines, the salt-works, the customs-tolls, the ferries, and the elephant-forests, the king should set trusted ministers, or faithful men devoted to his welfare.

12.69.29 A king who ever wields the rod of punishment rightly attains dharma; the constant and rightful exercise of punishment is, for a king, commended as dharma itself.

12.69.30 A king should be learned in the Vedas and their auxiliaries, wise, given to austerity, ever liberal in giving, and devoted to sacrifice, O Bhārata.

12.69.31 All these virtues should abide ever firm in a king; but if a king neglects his duties, whence comes heaven for him, and whence renown?

12.69.32 But when a king is hard pressed by a stronger king, he should call upon his allies of the three kinds and make his arrangements accordingly.

12.69.33 He should post cowherd-stations along the roads, and even break up the outlying villages, and bring all their people within the suburbs and lesser towns.

12.69.34 He should bring the wealthy folk and the leaders of his forces into those regions that are well-guarded and easily defended, soothing them again and again.

12.69.35 The ruler of men should himself gather in the standing crops; and where they cannot be brought in, he should have them thoroughly burned with fire.

12.69.36 As for crops still standing in the enemy's fields, he should suborn men to corrupt them, or else destroy the whole of his foe's substance with his own forces.

12.69.37 On the rivers and along the roads he should always break down the bridges; he should drain off all the water, and what cannot be drained off he should foul.

12.69.38 Whether disputing over the immediate moment or over the future, he must repel his neighboring foe in battle—even when the hour for an ally's aid has come.

12.69.39 And all about the fortresses the king should have all the lesser trees cut down to their roots—but he should spare the sacred trees of the shrines.

12.69.40 Of the full-grown trees he should have the branches lopped off likewise; but of the sacred trees of the shrines, even the felling of a leaf is by all means to be avoided.

12.69.41 He should have proper parapets constructed, and likewise openings that admit the sky; and he should fill the moats so that they teem with stakes, crocodiles, and great fish.

12.69.42 There should be small barred gateways for the city to breathe through; and these too must be guarded with all care, just like the main gates.

12.69.43 At the gates he should ever set up massive engines, and should mount the śataghnīs, and keep them all under his own command.

12.69.44 He should bring in stores of timber, and have wells dug; and he should also cleanse the wells made earlier by those in want of water.

12.69.45 Houses thatched with grass he should plaster over even with mud; and in the month of Caitra he should clear the grass out of the city for fear of fire.

12.69.46 The ruler of men should have meals cooked only by night; by day no fire should burn in any house, save in that of the keeper of the sacred fire.

12.69.47 In the smithies and the lying-in houses fire may burn, but kept under control; and when fire is brought into the dwellings, the flame must be held in check.

12.69.48 And a heavy penalty should fall upon any man in whose house a fire is found by day; and this the king should proclaim aloud, for the safeguarding of the city.

12.69.49 Beggars, wandering cart-folk, the drunk and the deranged, and strolling players he should keep outside, O best of men; for otherwise they prove a source of mischief.

12.69.50 At the crossroads, the bathing-places, the council-halls, and the rest-houses, the king should everywhere station an informant of a station suited to each place.

12.69.51 The ruler of men should have the royal highways made broad, and should ordain the watering-booths and the market-rows each according to its proper place.

12.69.52 The storehouses, the armories, and the granaries of every kind, the stables for horses and the stalls for elephants, and the headquarters of the army—

12.69.53 the moats too, O Kaurava, the broad roads and the narrow passes—let no one ever look upon these, for they are secret matters, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.69.54 Then a king hard pressed by an enemy's forces should lay up stores—oil, honey, clarified butter, grain, and medicines of every kind.

12.69.55 Of charcoal, of kuśa and muñja grass, of the leaves of palāśa and reed, and of fodder, fuel, and resin, let him have stocks gathered up.

12.69.56 And of weapons of every sort—lances, swords, javelins, and armor—and of such things, let the lord of men have stores laid by.

12.69.57 All medicines too, with their roots and fruits, and physicians of the four kinds, he should especially keep at hand.

12.69.58 Actors and dancers, wrestlers and conjurers as well, should adorn the fair city and gladden the people in every way.

12.69.59 And wherever suspicion may arise—whether of a servant or of a counselor, of the townsfolk or even of the king himself—he should keep those persons under his own control.

12.69.60 When a task is accomplished, O lord of kings, he should honor men with gifts of wealth, with fitting marks of esteem, and with kind words of many kinds.

12.69.61 Having driven off the enemy or slain him, O joy of the Kurus, the king becomes free of his debt, as is shown in the scriptures.

12.69.62 Seven things are to be guarded by a king; learn them from me: his own self, his ministers, his treasury, his armed force, and his allies,

12.69.63 and likewise his realm and his capital, O joy of the Kurus. This sevenfold kingdom must be protected with diligence.

12.69.64 The sixfold policy, the triad of aims, and the other triad besides—he who knows these, O tiger among men, enjoys this earth.

12.69.65 What is called the sixfold policy, learn that now, O Yudhiṣṭhira: making peace and then staying still; marching forth after concluding an alliance;

12.69.66 waging war and then staying still; setting out on a campaign; the policy of division among others; and taking refuge with a stronger power.

12.69.67 And the triad that has been spoken of—hear it now with single mind: decline, stability, and growth; that is the one triad.

12.69.68 Dharma, profit, and pleasure—these are to be pursued, each in its proper season; for it is through dharma that the protector of the earth governs the earth for long.

12.69.69 On this matter there are two verses sung by Aṅgiras himself; O son of the Yādava woman, blessings upon you—it is fitting that you hear these too.

12.69.70 Having performed all his duties, having well protected the earth, and having guarded his people, he flourishes in happiness in the world beyond.

12.69.71 What use is austerity to that king, and what use his sacrifices, whose subjects, left unprotected, are all bereft of dharma?

12.70.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The science of punishment and the king—the two taken together, both of them—through whose doing of what does success come about? Tell me that, O grandfather.

12.70.2 Bhīṣma said: Hear from me, O king, as I declare it duly here, O Bhārata, the great majesty of the science of punishment, in well-established words backed by reasons.

12.70.3 The science of punishment, rightly applied by the lord, keeps the four orders to their own duties, and holds them back from acts contrary to dharma.

12.70.4 When the four orders abide each in its own duty, when the bounds of conduct are unconfused, when the science of punishment has wrought security and the people have nothing to fear from any quarter—

12.70.5 then the three orders make their effort in the Soma rites as enjoined; know therefore that the happiness of gods and men alike rests secure upon this.

12.70.6 Whether the age is the cause of the king, or the king is the cause of the age—let no such doubt remain in you: it is the king who is the cause of the age.

12.70.7 When a king conducts himself by the science of punishment rightly and in its entirety, then sets in that best of ages named the Kṛta Yuga.

12.70.8 In the Kṛta age dharma prevails; nowhere is unrighteousness to be found; and among all the orders the mind takes no pleasure in unrighteousness.

12.70.9 The acquisition and keeping of goods proceed for the people—of this there is no doubt—and the rites enjoined by the Vedas come to pass without defect.

12.70.10 All the seasons too are pleasant and free of sickness, and the voices, complexions, and minds of men grow serene.

12.70.11 No diseases arise then, nor is any man seen short-lived; no widows are there, and no cruel man is born.

12.70.12 The earth yields its harvest without tillage, and so too do the plants spring up; bark, leaf, fruit, and root all become full of potency.

12.70.13 No unrighteousness is found there, but dharma alone, entire. Know these to be the qualities of the Kṛta age, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.70.14 When a king follows the science of punishment in three parts, letting the fourth part go, then the Tretā age sets in.

12.70.15 A fourth part of evil then attends upon the three parts of good; and the earth yields its harvest only when tilled, and so too the plants.

12.70.16 When a king, abandoning half, follows but half of right policy, then sets in that age named the Dvāpara.

12.70.17 Then half of evil attends upon the two parts of good; and the earth yields its harvest only when tilled, and that too with scant fruit.

12.70.18 When the lord of the earth forsakes the science of punishment entirely and afflicts his people by misrule, then enters the Kali age.

12.70.19 In the Kali age unrighteousness is most abundant, and dharma scarcely anywhere; and among all the orders the mind falls away from its own duty.

12.70.20 Śūdras live by begging and Brāhmaṇas by menial service; the acquisition and keeping of goods is undone, and the confusion of orders prevails.

12.70.21 The rites enjoined by the Vedas are performed with defects, and all the seasons turn unpleasant and breed disease.

12.70.22 The voices, complexions, and minds of men diminish; diseases arise then, and men die before their span is full.

12.70.23 Widows are found then, and the people are born cruel; in one place the rain-cloud pours, in another the grain springs up.

12.70.24 All the savors waste away to nothing—when the lord of the earth, intent upon the science of punishment, no longer wills to guard his people aright.

12.70.25 The king is the maker of the Kṛta age, and of the Tretā and the Dvāpara; the king is the cause of the fourth age as well.

12.70.26 By bringing about the Kṛta age the king attains heaven unending; by bringing about the Tretā the king attains a heaven not unending.

12.70.27 By ushering in the Dvāpara he partakes of heaven in due measure; by ushering in the Kali the king reaps endless sin.

12.70.28 Then the evildoer dwells in hell for everlasting years; sunk in the defilement of his people, he gains only infamy and sin.

12.70.29 Setting the science of punishment foremost, the discerning Kṣatriya should ever strive to gain what is not yet won, and to preserve what is won.

12.70.30 Drawing the boundary lines of the world, fostering the world, the science of punishment well administered is as a mother and as a father.

12.70.31 In her all beings have their being—know this, O bull of the Bhāratas. This is the supreme dharma: that the king be wielder of the science of punishment.

12.70.32 Therefore, O Kaurava, guard your people by dharma, skilled in policy; conducting yourself thus and protecting the people, you shall win that heaven hard to win.

12.71.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: By what conduct, O knower of conduct, should the lord of the earth bear himself, that with ease he may attain ends fruitful in happiness, both here and after death?

12.71.2 Bhīṣma said: Here is the set of six-and-thirty virtues, joined with six-and-thirty merits; practicing these virtues, the man endowed with virtue gains the good thereof.

12.71.3 Let him follow the duties without harshness; let him let go of attachment, yet not become a denier; let him pursue profit without cruelty, and pursue pleasure without arrogance.

12.71.4 Let him speak kindly without meanness; let him be brave without boasting; let him be a giver, yet not pour gifts on the unworthy; let him be bold, yet not unfeeling.

12.71.5 Let him not make peace with the base, nor wage war with kinsmen; let him not employ the untrusted as his agents; let him accomplish his ends without oppression.

12.71.6 Let him not speak of his designs among the wicked, nor proclaim his own merits; let him not take from the good, nor lean upon a worthless man.

12.71.7 Let him not inflict punishment without examination, nor make his counsel known; let him not bestow upon the greedy, nor trust in those who have wronged him.

12.71.8 Let the king be free of envy, his wives well guarded; let him be pure, yet not squeamish; let him resort to women not overmuch, and eat what is wholesome, not what is harmful.

12.71.9 Without stiffness let him honor the honorable; let him serve his elders without guile; let him worship the gods without hypocrisy, and desire only blameless prosperity.

12.71.10 Let him serve, setting aside undue familiarity; let him be diligent, yet not a man heedless of the right time; let him conciliate, but not for the sake of enjoyment; let him favor, yet not slight.

12.71.11 Let him not strike without due knowledge; having slain his foes, let him leave no remnant; let him not show anger without cause, nor be soft toward those who do harm.

12.71.12 Thus conduct yourself, established in your kingdom, if you desire what is good here; for acting otherwise, a lord of men comes upon peril beyond all measure.

12.71.13 He who follows all these virtues as they have been told, having enjoyed blessings here, is exalted in heaven after death.

12.71.14 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard this discourse of the son of Śaṃtanu, Yudhiṣṭhira, surrounded by the foremost of the Pāṇḍavas, then bowed to his grandfather, and that wise king did even as had been told.

12.72.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How, while protecting his people, may a king not be bound by sin and not offend against dharma? Tell me that, O grandfather.

12.72.2 Bhīṣma said: In brief, my son, I shall declare to you the settled duties; for of the duties told at length one could never reach the end.

12.72.3 The twice-born who are steadfast in dharma, learned, devoted to the Vedic vows, and virtuous—honor them and lodge them in your house.

12.72.4 Rising up to meet them, clasping their feet, and saluting them, you should then perform all your affairs together with your household priest.

12.72.5 Having accomplished the rites of dharma and performed the auspicious ceremonies, you should cause the Brāhmaṇas to pronounce blessings for the gaining of your ends and for victory.

12.72.6 Endowed with uprightness, with firmness, and with understanding, O Bhārata, one should take up wealth for wealth's purpose, and shun desire and anger.

12.72.7 The fool who, setting desire and anger foremost, pursues wealth as a king, grasps neither dharma nor wealth.

12.72.8 Do not employ the greedy and the foolish in matters of pleasure or of wealth; in all your tasks employ those free of greed and possessed of understanding.

12.72.9 For a fool set over affairs, unskilled in matters of business and filled with passion and spite, afflicts the people by his misconduct.

12.72.10 Through the sixth-part tribute, through tolls, and through the fines of offenders, and through wages, as guided by the law-books, you should seek the increase of wealth.

12.72.11 Having levied the lawful tax upon the realm ever according to rule, the king, unwearied, should provide for the acquiring and keeping of goods, leaving nothing undone.

12.72.12 The protector, the giver, ever devoted to dharma and unwearied, free from passion and spite—him men come to love.

12.72.13 Do not seek the increase of wealth through gain won by unrighteousness; for him who follows wrong precepts, both dharma and wealth are unstable.

12.72.14 A king who follows wrong precepts attains no store of wealth; and that wealth of his, ill-placed, all perishes utterly.

12.72.15 Driven by greed for wealth, he works his own undoing, for in his folly he oppresses the people with levies that the scriptures nowhere sanction.

12.72.16 For he who, craving milk, should cut away the cow's udder would get no milk at all; just so a realm afflicted by misrule does not thrive.

12.72.17 But he who tends the milch cow with care wins milk continually; even so, the king who draws upon his realm with prudent means reaps its fruit.

12.72.18 A realm well guarded and enjoyed by skilful means, Yudhiṣṭhira, ever brings forth an unmatched increase of the treasury.

12.72.19 The people, well protected by the king, yield him grain and gold, as a contented mother yields her milk freely to her own and to others alike.

12.72.20 Be like the gardener, O king, not like the charcoal-burner; so disposed, you will be able, by protecting your realm, to enjoy it long.

12.72.21 If, through a campaign against a hostile power, your wealth should be exhausted, then by conciliation alone should you seek to gather what wealth lies among men who are not brāhmaṇas.

12.72.22 Let not your mind waver at the sight of a brāhmaṇa possessed of wealth, not even in the direst extremity, O Bhārata, and how much less when you are prosperous?

12.72.23 Rather should you give wealth to them according to your power and their desert; consoling and protecting them, you will attain heaven, hard though it be to win.

12.72.24 Thus, by conduct grounded in dharma, protecting the people, you will attain an end that is good, meritorious, and crowned with renown, O joy of the Kurus.

12.72.25 Protect the people through righteous administration, O Pāṇḍava; so engaged, Yudhiṣṭhira, you will not be bound by the fetters of sorrow.

12.72.26 This indeed is the supreme dharma, that the king protect his people; for the protection of beings in accordance with dharma is the highest compassion.

12.72.27 Therefore those skilled in dharma hold this to be the supreme dharma: that the king, devoted to protection, shows compassion toward all beings.

12.72.28 The sin a king commits in a single day by failing to guard the people from fear—only after a thousand years does he reach the end of its consequence.

12.72.29 The merit a king earns in a single day by protecting the people righteously—its fruit he enjoys in heaven for ten thousand years.

12.72.30 Whatever worlds are won by him who has sacrificed well, studied well, and practised austerity—those a king attains in a moment by protecting the people righteously.

12.72.31 Thus diligently upholding dharma, O son of Kuntī, having gained the fruit of merit here, you will not be bound by the fetters of sorrow.

12.72.32 And in the world of heaven you will attain great splendour, O Pāṇḍava. Duties such as these are impossible for those who are not kings; therefore it is the king alone, and no other, who can win so vast a reward.

12.72.33 Having won a flourishing kingdom and ruling it righteously, gratify Indra with the soma offering, and your friends and people with the fulfilment of their desires.

12.73.1 Bhīṣma said: He who would protect the good and root out the wicked—he alone, O king, is the man the king should appoint as his royal chaplain.

12.73.2 On this point too they recite an ancient tale: the dialogue between Purūravas, son of Ilā, and Mātariśvan, the Wind.

12.73.3 The son of Ilā said: Whence was the brāhmaṇa born, and whence the other three classes? And by what cause is one superior to the rest? Explain this to me, O Wind.

12.73.4 The Wind said: From the mouth of Brahmā was the brāhmaṇa created, O best of kings; from his arms the kṣatriya was brought forth, and from his thighs, they say, the vaiśya.

12.73.5 To serve these three classes, O bull among men, the fourth class was fashioned thereafter: the śūdra, made from his feet.

12.73.6 The brāhmaṇa, the very moment he was born, came into being upon the earth as lord over all creatures, for the safekeeping of the treasury of dharma.

12.73.7 Then he made the kṣatriya, the second class, as the protector of the earth and the wielder of the rod, for the guarding of the people.

12.73.8 The vaiśya should sustain these three classes with wealth and grain, and the śūdra should serve them—such is the ordinance of Brahmā.

12.73.9 The son of Ilā said: To whom does this earth, together with its wealth, rightfully belong—to the twice-born or to the kṣatriya? Tell me this truly, O Wind.

12.73.10 The Wind said: All this, whatever exists upon the earth, belongs to the brāhmaṇa; by reason of his birth as the eldest, those skilled in dharma know it to be his.

12.73.11 The brāhmaṇa enjoys only what is his own, wears what is his own, and gives away what is his own; for the twice-born is the guru of all the classes, eldest and most excellent.

12.73.12 As a woman, in the absence of her husband, takes the husband's brother as her lord, so the earth, by reason of succession, takes the kṣatriya as her lord.

12.73.13 This is the first rule for you; another is meant for times of distress—if, by way of dharma, you seek the highest place in heaven.

12.73.14 Whoever should conquer territory should make it over to a brāhmaṇa—one endowed with sacred learning and good conduct, knowing dharma and given to austerity—

12.73.15 to one content in his own duty, who is not greedy for wealth, who could guide the king by an understanding complete in every respect.

12.73.16 For a brāhmaṇa born in a good family, of ripened wisdom and disciplined speech, leads the king toward what is good, his eloquence flowing in wondrous strains.

12.73.17 Whatever dharma the king practises as shown to him by the brāhmaṇa—being attentive, free of arrogant speech, and steadfast in the vow of kṣatriya duty—

12.73.18 by that very measure he, grown wise, abides long in renown; and of all that dharma the royal chaplain is a sharer.

12.73.19 In just this way, all the people who take refuge in the king, conducting themselves well and abiding in their own duties, are beset by no fear from any quarter.

12.73.20 Whatever dharma they practise within the realm, well protected by the king—of that dharma the king obtains a fourth share.

12.73.21 Gods, men, ancestors, gandharvas, serpents, and rākṣasas all live upon sacrifice—and there is no sacrifice where there is no king.

12.73.22 By what is offered from here the gods and likewise the ancestors live; and upon the king alone rests the securing and preserving of this dharma.

12.73.23 In the heat one finds comfort in shade, in water, and in the breeze; in the cold one finds comfort in fire, in clothing, and in the sun.

12.73.24 The mind delights in sound, touch, taste, form, and smell; yet in all these enjoyments it is the man free of fear who finds true happiness.

12.73.25 He who is the giver of freedom from fear, his is the very greatest reward; for in the three worlds there is no gift equal to the gift of life.

12.73.26 The king is Indra, the king is Yama, the king is Dharma himself; the king bears all these forms, and by the king is all this upheld.

12.74.1 Bhīṣma said: The king should appoint as his chaplain one who is learned and deeply versed in scripture, who has weighed well both dharma and artha—both immeasurable—each in close relation to the other.

12.74.2 Those kings whose chaplain is righteous of soul and knowing of dharma, and who are themselves endowed with such virtues—with them, O king, all is well in every way.

12.74.3 Both together cause the people, the gods, and the ancestors near and far to flourish—the two who, joined together and steadfast in dharma, are worthy of trust and rich in austerity.

12.74.4 Friends to each other, in mutual accord and of one mind—through the honour paid to brahman and kṣatra the people would attain happiness.

12.74.5 But by the dishonouring of these two the people would surely perish; for brahman and kṣatra together are called the root of all duties.

12.74.6 On this point too they recite an ancient tale: the dialogue between the son of Ilā and Kaśyapa—mark it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.74.7 The son of Ilā said: When brahman forsakes kṣatra, or when kṣatra in turn forsakes brahman, which of the two then enjoys the stronger power, and through which of them does the weakness set in?

12.74.8 Kaśyapa said: Ruined becomes the realm of the kṣatriya wherein brahman and kṣatra fall into discord; there the brigands come to enjoy the power, and there the good men waste away into weakness.

12.74.9 Their bulls do not thrive, nor their cows; no churning-stick stirs the curds, nor do they sacrifice; nor do their sons study the Veda—when the kṣatriyas abandon brahman.

12.74.10 No bull thrives in their household ever; they do not study with their offspring, nor do they sacrifice; degraded, they become as brigands—those brāhmaṇas who abandon the kṣatriyas.

12.74.11 For these two are ever bound together in upholding each other: kṣatra is the womb of brahman, and the twice-born are the womb of kṣatra.

12.74.12 When these two are ever devoted to each other, they attain a great and firmly seated splendour; but if their ancient union is broken, then all falls into utter confusion.

12.74.13 Then he who would cross over finds no raft, like a boat cast adrift upon fathomless depths; the four-fold order falls into confusion, and thereupon the people are set on the path to ruin.

12.74.14 The tree of brahman, when guarded, rains down honey and gold; but left unguarded, it rains down only tears and evil without end.

12.74.15 When one who is no celibate, fallen away from right discipline, yet a brāhmaṇa, seeks protection within the brahman order, there the god rains only by rare chance, and there calamities hard to bear assail again and again.

12.74.16 Where a sinner who has slain a woman or a brāhmaṇa finds approval in the assembly, and feels no fear even in the king's presence—from that does danger arise for the kṣatriya.

12.74.17 When sin is wrought by sinners beyond all measure, then is this god Rudra born; the wicked by their wickedness bring forth Rudra, and then he destroys all alike, the good and the wicked.

12.74.18 The son of Ilā said: Whence is Rudra, and of what nature is this Rudra? By living beings the living are seen to be destroyed. Explain this to me, learned Kaśyapa—whence is this god Rudra born?

12.74.19 Kaśyapa said: Rudra is the self within the hearts of men; he slays both one's own body and the body of another. They call Rudra like the onslaughts of the wind; his form is like forest fires and like thunderclouds.

12.74.20 The son of Ilā said: No one can wrap up the wind, nor does the thundercloud rain, nor the forest fire blaze, in the same fashion as is seen among men; for it is through desire and hatred that a man is bound and is set free.

12.74.21 Kaśyapa said: As a fire blazing in a single house may swiftly burn down the whole village, so this god works delusion, and thereupon all are touched by merit and demerit together.

12.74.22 The son of Ilā said: If the rod of punishment touches the man of merit without distinction, when sin is wrought by sinners, then for what reason should one do good, and for what reason should one refrain from evil?

12.74.23 Kaśyapa said: Because the evildoers are not cast off, the same punishment touches the innocent through their commingling; the green is burned together with the dry by reason of their mingling. Let one therefore never mingle in any way with those who do evil.

12.74.24 The son of Ilā said: Here the earth bears up the good and the wicked alike; here the sun warms the good and the wicked alike; here the wind blows upon the good and the wicked alike, and the waters likewise carry the good and the wicked alike.

12.74.25 Kaśyapa said: Thus indeed it is in this world, but not so in the world beyond, O prince; after death there is a wide difference between the two—him who does good and him who does evil.

12.74.26 The world of merit flows with honey, its flame is clarified butter, its light is gold, and it is the very navel of immortality; there, after death, the man of holy conduct rejoices—there is no death, no old age, and no sorrow.

12.74.27 The world of evil is hell, devoid of light, ever full of pain and abounding in grief; there the evildoer laments over himself, falling through many years without any foothold.

12.74.28 Through mutual discord between brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas the people enter into pain hard to bear; knowing this, the king should indeed here appoint as chaplain a learned man, not one of meagre knowledge.

12.74.29 And he should consecrate such a one along with himself; so is the dharma ordained, for the brāhmaṇa is declared foremost of all here, by the law of dharma.

12.74.30 For first of all were the brāhmaṇas created, so those who know dharma understand; and by reason of his birth as the eldest, all that is highest has come to him.

12.74.31 Therefore the brāhmaṇa is to be honoured and worshipped, the first to partake of the offered food; whatever is best and most excellent should, by dharma, be presented to him.

12.74.32 This must without fail be done by the king, however mighty he may be; for brahman makes kṣatra to flourish, and from kṣatra brahman flourishes in turn.

12.75.1 Bhīṣma said: The securing and preserving of the realm is said to rest upon the king; and the securing and preserving of the king himself rests upon the chaplain.

12.75.2 Where brahman quells the unseen dangers of the people, and the king with his two arms quells the seen, that realm thrives in happiness.

12.75.3 On this point too they recite an ancient tale: the dialogue between King Mucukunda and Vaiśravaṇa.

12.75.4 Mucukunda, lord of the earth, having conquered this whole earth, and wishing to test his own might, marched against the lord of Alakā.

12.75.5 Then King Vaiśravaṇa loosed his Rākṣasas upon him, and those night-roving demons advanced, crushing his armies.

12.75.6 As his host was being slaughtered, Mucukunda, that subduer of foes and ruler of men, reproached his learned house-priest.

12.75.7 Then Vasiṣṭha, the foremost knower of Brahman, having performed fierce austerity, struck down the Rākṣasas there and so found a way through.

12.75.8 Then King Vaiśravaṇa showed himself to Mucukunda, and, as the armies were being slain, spoke these words.

12.75.9 "Mightier than you were the kings of old, together with their house-priests; yet they did not conduct themselves as you do here.

12.75.10 Those lords of the earth too, skilled in arms and mighty as they were, came and waited humbly upon me, the dispenser of joy and sorrow.

12.75.11 If there is strength in your arms, it is that you should display. Why do you presume so far by the power of a Brāhmaṇa?"

12.75.12 Then Mucukunda, though angered, answered the lord of wealth with these words, grounded in reason, unflustered and unperturbed.

12.75.13 "This Brahman and Kṣatra were created of a single origin by the Self-existent One, yet with their distinct allotments of power; together they guard the world.

12.75.14 The power of austerity and sacred formula is ever established in the Brāhmaṇas; the power of weapons and arms is ever established in the Kṣatriyas.

12.75.15 By the union of these two the protection of the people must be carried out; and yet, O lord of Alakā, you reproach me for acting in just this way."

12.75.16 Then Vaiśravaṇa said to the king and his house-priest: "I do not bestow a kingdom upon anyone unless it has been ordained for him.

12.75.17 Nor do I wrest away what has been ordained — know this, O lord of the earth. Rule, O hero, this whole earth, given by me to you."

12.75.18 Mucukunda said: "I do not wish to enjoy a kingdom given by you, O lord of the earth. It is my desire to possess a kingdom won by the might of my own arms."

12.75.19 Bhīṣma said: Then King Vaiśravaṇa was struck with the utmost wonder, beholding Mucukunda standing firm and unshaken in the Kṣatriya's duty.

12.75.20 Then King Mucukunda governed the earth, rightly won by the might of his arms, holding faithfully to the Kṣatriya's duty.

12.75.21 Thus the king who knows Brahman and acts with Brahman foremost conquers the earth as yet unconquered, and attains great glory.

12.75.22 The Brāhmaṇa should ever keep his sacred libations, and the Kṣatriya his weapons ever ready; for upon these two depends everything that exists in the world.

12.76.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: By what manner of life does a guardian of the earth make his people prosper, and conquer the holy worlds? Tell me this, O grandsire.

12.76.2 Bhīṣma said: The king should be given to charity and to sacrifice, O Bhārata, devoted to fasting and austerity, and intent upon the protection of his people.

12.76.3 And the king should ever guard all his subjects by dharma, with diligence and vigilance, and should honor the righteous.

12.76.4 For when dharma is honored by the king, it is thereupon honored everywhere; whatever the king practices, that is pleasing to the people.

12.76.5 And he should ever hold the rod of punishment raised, like Death itself toward his enemies; he should slay robbers on every side, and should not from mere caprice spare anyone.

12.76.6 For whatever dharma the people, well guarded by the king, here practice — of that dharma, O Bhārata, the king obtains a fourth part.

12.76.7 In what they study, what they sacrifice, what they give, what they worship — of all this the king, guarding the people with dharma, is partaker of a fourth.

12.76.8 But whatever evil is done in the realm when the king fails to protect his people — of that sin too, O Bhārata, the king obtains a fourth part.

12.76.9 Some say he bears the whole of it; the settled view is that he bears the greater half of the deed, O guardian of the earth — for he is then deemed cruel and a speaker of untruth. Hear by what means the king is freed from such a defilement.

12.76.10 If wealth carried off by thieves cannot be recovered, it should be made good from his own treasury — even by one who is poor and lives in want.

12.76.11 The property of Brahman and the Brāhmaṇas alike must ever be guarded by all the classes; whoever does injury to the twice-born should not be suffered to remain in the realm.

12.76.12 For when the property of Brahman is guarded, all is guarded; and when their favor has been gained, the king has accomplished his task.

12.76.13 As living creatures depend upon the rain-cloud, and as birds upon a great tree, so men depend for their living upon that king who is the accomplisher of all their aims.

12.76.14 For a king who is slave to his desires, ever crooked of mind, cruel and overgreedy, can never protect his people.

12.76.15 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I am no seeker after the pleasures of kingship; I do not desire the kingdom even for a moment. It is for the sake of dharma that I welcome sovereignty — yet here no dharma is to be found.

12.76.16 Enough, then, for me of a kingdom in which dharma is not found. I shall go away to the forest, out of my longing to practice dharma.

12.76.17 There, in the holy forests, laying down the rod, my senses subdued, I shall worship dharma as a sage, feeding on roots and fruits.

12.76.18 Bhīṣma said: I know that mind of yours — it is born wholly of the virtue of mercy; yet by pure mercilessness toward self alone one cannot attain to greatness.

12.76.19 Rather, finding you gentle, self-controlled, exceedingly noble and exceedingly righteous, the world will think you weak, a man unmanned by squeamish piety, and will hold you in little esteem.

12.76.20 Look to the duties of kings, befitting your fathers and forefathers. This conduct in which you wish to stand is not the way of kings.

12.76.21 For not by resorting to a mercy tainted with faint-heartedness — but by the protection of your people — have you indeed attained the fruit of dharma.

12.76.22 For neither Pāṇḍu nor Kuntī ever prayed for such a blessing as this for you, my child — nor for the kind of cleverness by which you now act with such subtlety.

12.76.23 Valor, strength, and resolve your father ever invoked for you; greatness of soul, strength, and magnanimity Kuntī prayed for on your behalf.

12.76.24 Ever do the gods through Svāhā and the fathers through Svadhā — both, the human offerings and the divine — ever do fathers and deities desire such blessings in their sons.

12.76.25 Charity, study, sacrifice, and the protection of the people — for this dharma, and against its opposite, you were born into the very station of your birth.

12.76.26 O son of Kuntī, of those who are yoked in due season to the burden, who bear the load laid upon them — even though they sink beneath it, their fame does not sink.

12.76.27 He who, fully self-restrained on every side, bears the burden without faltering — from his blameless deed and word comes that perfection which belongs to action itself.

12.76.28 No one here has ever passed his life by an utter and undivided abstention from action — be he a righteous man, a householder, a king, or again a student of sacred lore.

12.76.29 That deed which is mostly good, though small, is itself noble; what is done is better than what is left undone, and there is nothing more sinful than inaction.

12.76.30 When a man of good lineage, knowing dharma, attains the highest lordship, then, O king, the welfare and security of all conduce to their good.

12.76.31 One man by gifts, another by force, another by gracious and truthful speech — thus, having gained a kingdom, the righteous king should win men over on every side.

12.76.32 That king through whom learned men, born in good families and afflicted by the fear of want, find satisfaction and stability — what dharma is higher than this?

12.76.33 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What is more conducive to heaven than this? What joy is higher than this? What is the supreme lordship beyond this? Tell me, if you think fit.

12.76.34 Bhīṣma said: He in whom men, rightly established, find security on the instant — he, in our view, is the foremost conqueror of heaven; this truth I tell you.

12.76.35 Be you, then, O best of the Kurus, the one who gladdens the Kurus. Be king, conquer heaven; protect the good and destroy the wicked.

12.76.36 May your friends, together with the good, live in dependence upon you, my child — as living creatures upon the rain-cloud, as birds upon a sweet-fruited tree.

12.76.37 Bold, brave, a smiter of foes, yet merciful and master of your senses, tender and openhanded in sharing — so may the people live in dependence upon you.

12.77.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Some are engaged in their own proper duty, and others likewise in unfitting work. Declare to me, O grandsire, the distinctions among such Brāhmaṇas.

12.77.2 Bhīṣma said: Those endowed with learning and its marks, who everywhere perceive the sacred tradition — these Brāhmaṇas, O king, are proclaimed equal to Brahman itself.

12.77.3 Those accomplished as officiating priests and teachers, steadfast in their own duties — these, O king, become as gods among the Brāhmaṇas.

12.77.4 The sacrificial priest, the house-priest, the counsellor, the envoy, and the overseer of affairs — these, O king, become as Kṣatriyas among the Brāhmaṇas.

12.77.5 Riders of horses, riders of elephants, charioteers, and foot-soldiers — these, O king, become as Vaiśyas among the Brāhmaṇas.

12.77.6 Those who are devoid of the deeds befitting their birth, sordid, mere kinsmen of Brāhmaṇas in name — these, O king, become as Śūdras among the Brāhmaṇas.

12.77.7 All who are unlearned in the Veda, and all who have not kindled the sacred fire — upon all of these the righteous king should levy tribute and forced labor.

12.77.8 Hired summoners, keepers of temple-idols, casters of horoscopes, and priests for whole villages — these are the outcaste Brāhmaṇas, with the highway-wanderer as the fifth.

12.77.9 From these the lord of the earth, when his treasury is depleted, may take tribute — save only from those who are equal to Brahman and those who are godlike.

12.77.10 The king is the owner of the wealth of non-Brāhmaṇas — so declares the sacred Veda — and likewise of those Brāhmaṇas, whoever they be, who take to unfitting work.

12.77.11 But those given to unfitting work should never be neglected by the king in any way; out of a desire to uphold dharma they should be restrained and provided for.

12.77.12 In whatever king's realm a twice-born man turns thief, those who understand such matters reckon that fault to be the king's alone.

12.77.13 He who, learned in the Veda and a graduate of his studies, becomes a thief for want of livelihood — that man, O king, must be maintained by the king: so the knowers of dharma understand.

12.77.14 But if, once his livelihood has been provided, he does not mend his ways, O scorcher of foes, then he should be banished from that land, together with his kinsmen.

12.78.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Over whose wealth has the king mastery, O bull of the Bhāratas, and by what manner of life should he conduct himself? Tell me this, O grandsire.

12.78.2 Bhīṣma said: The king is the owner of the wealth of non-Brāhmaṇas — so declares the sacred Veda — and likewise of those Brāhmaṇas, whoever they be, who take to unfitting work.

12.78.3 And Brāhmaṇas given to unfitting work should never in any way be neglected by the king — so the good recount the ancient practice of kings.

12.78.4 In whatever king's realm a twice-born man turns thief, they reckon that fault, that defilement, to be the king's alone, O king.

12.78.5 By that deed they deem themselves as if accused of a crime; therefore all the royal sages devoted themselves to protecting the Brāhmaṇas.

12.78.6 On this, too, they relate this ancient tale — the words sung by the king of the Kekayas as he was being carried off by a Rākṣasa.

12.78.7 A dreadful Rākṣasa seized the lord of the Kekayas, O king — a man given to sacred study and of firm-held vows, who dwelt in the forest.

12.78.8 The king said: In my realm is no thief, no miser, no drunkard, none who has neglected the sacred fire, none who has failed to sacrifice — yet you have entered into me, into my inmost being.

12.78.9 Nor in my realm is there a Brāhmaṇa unlearned, or without vows, or who drinks not the Soma, or who has not kindled the sacred fire — yet you have entered into my inmost being.

12.78.10 In my realm none sacrifice with rites whose priestly fees are unpaid, and none who is without vows pursues sacred study — yet you have entered into my inmost being.

12.78.11 They study and they teach, they sacrifice and they officiate at sacrifice, they give and they receive — firmly established in the six prescribed duties.

12.78.12 Honored and provided for, gentle and truthful in speech — my Brāhmaṇas abide in their own duty: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.13 They do not beg but bestow, skilled in truth and in dharma; they do not teach for hire nor study as pupils, they sacrifice but do not officiate as priests.

12.78.14 They protect the Brāhmaṇas and never flee from battles — my Kṣatriyas abide in their own duty: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.15 By farming, cattle-tending, and trade they earn their living without deceit — vigilant, performing their rites, true to their vows, truthful in speech.

12.78.16 Devoted to sharing, self-restraint, purity, and goodwill — my Vaiśyas abide in their own duty: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.17 They serve the three higher orders duly and without envy — my Śūdras abide in their own duty: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.18 To the wretched, the helpless, the aged, the weak, the sick, and to women — to all of these I have given a share: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.19 Of the established duties of family and region and the rest, I am one who, as prescribed, lets none of them lapse: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.20 The ascetics in my realm are honored and protected, given their share and treated with respect: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.21 I never eat without first sharing, I never approach another man's wife, I never sport as one wholly self-willed: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.22 In my realm no mendicant lives uncontinent, no continent man is left to beg; no offering is poured save through a proper priest: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.23 I despise neither the aged nor the learned nor the ascetics; I keep watch while my kingdom sleeps: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.24 Accomplished in the study of the Veda, an ascetic, knower of all dharma, master of the whole kingdom — such is my illustrious household priest.

12.78.25 By giving I long for the celestial worlds; by truth, and by guarding the Brāhmaṇas, and by attendance I draw near to my elders — I have no fear of the Rākṣasas.

12.78.26 In my realm there is no widow, no Brāhmaṇa in name only, no Brāhmaṇa fallen to poverty, nor any thief, no adulterer, no doer of evil — I have no fear of the Rākṣasas.

12.78.27 On my body, as I fight for the sake of dharma, there is no span of two fingers' breadth unbroken by weapons: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.28 For cattle and Brāhmaṇas and for sacrifice the people of my realm forever pray my well-being: enter into my inmost self.

12.78.29 The Rākṣasa said: Since in every circumstance you look only to dharma, therefore reach your home in safety, O Kaikeya — and I depart in peace.

12.78.30 They who guard their cattle and Brāhmaṇas and protect their subjects, O Kekaya, have nothing to fear from the Rākṣasas — how much less from any man?

12.78.31 Those whose leaders are the learned, whose strength is the strength of brahman, whose wives hold guests dear — those men have surely won heaven.

12.78.32 Bhīṣma said: Therefore let the king protect the twice-born, for they, when protected, protect in return; their blessing falls upon kings, and the kingdom flourishes aright.

12.78.33 Therefore the king must especially restrain those twice-born who stray into wrongful acts, and must provide for them, for the welfare of the people.

12.78.34 The king who conducts himself thus toward townsfolk and country folk, having enjoyed blessings here, attains to dwelling in the world of Indra.

12.79.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The livelihood proper in times of distress has been expounded by way of the Kṣatriya's dharma, O Bhārata; but may a Brāhmaṇa somehow live by the dharma of a Vaiśya, or may he not?

12.79.2 Bhīṣma said: One unable to subsist by the Kṣatriya's dharma may live by the Vaiśya's dharma, taking up farming and cattle-tending in calamity, when his livelihood has failed.

12.79.3 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Selling which wares does a Brāhmaṇa, living by the Vaiśya's dharma, not fall from the heavenly worlds, O bull of the Bhāratas?

12.79.4 Bhīṣma said: Liquor and salt, sesame, lions and other beasts, bulls, honey and flesh, and cooked food, O Yudhiṣṭhira —

12.79.5 in all conditions a Brāhmaṇa should avoid these; for from selling them, my son, a Brāhmaṇa goes to hell.

12.79.6 The goat is Agni, the ram is Varuṇa, the horse is Sūrya, the earth is Virāṭ; the milch-cow, the sacrifice, and the Soma — these are never to be sold by any means.

12.79.7 The good do not commend the barter of raw for cooked; yet one may exchange cooked for raw for the sake of food, O Bhārata.

12.79.8 "We shall eat what is already cooked; let your honor prepare this raw food" — exchanging with such an understanding, there is never any unrighteousness.

12.79.9 On this I shall set forth for you what the ancient dharma was for those engaged in commerce; learn it, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.79.10 "I give this to your honor; let your honor in turn grant that" — dharma proceeds by mutual consent, never by force.

12.79.11 Thus did the dealings of old proceed, among the seers and among others alike; and this, beyond doubt, is good.

12.79.12 Yudhiṣṭhira said: But, father, when all the people take up arms and depart from their own duties, and the strength of the Kṣatriya order wanes —

12.79.13 when there is no king to be a protector in the world, what then would be the refuge? Resolve this doubt of mine in full, O grandfather.

12.79.14 Bhīṣma said: By giving, by austerity, by sacrifices, by freedom from malice, and by self-restraint, the orders headed by the Brāhmaṇas should seek their own security.

12.79.15 Among them, those strong in the Veda, rising up on every side, should increase the king's strength, as the gods increase the strength of great Indra.

12.79.16 For when a king is failing, they say that brahman alone is his refuge; therefore one who knows should rise up by the power of brahman itself.

12.79.17 But when a victorious king has secured the kingdom's safety, then let the orders enter again, each according to its dharma, upon their own tasks.

12.79.18 But when all bounds are overthrown and confusion is wrought by brigands, then all the orders, though bearing arms, incur no fault, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.79.19 Yudhiṣṭhira said: But if the Kṣatriya order should everywhere turn evil against the Brāhmaṇas, who then is the Brāhmaṇa's protector, what is his dharma, what his refuge?

12.79.20 Bhīṣma said: By austerity, by chastity, by the weapon and by force, by honest means and by stratagem, it must then be brought under control.

12.79.21 When the Kṣatriya power has grown overweening, especially against the Brāhmaṇas, brahman alone should be its restrainer; for the Kṣatriya order springs from brahman.

12.79.22 From water arose fire, from brahman the Kṣatriya, from stone iron; the all-pervading fierce energy of these is quenched in its own source.

12.79.23 When iron cleaves the stone, when fire assails the waters, and when the Kṣatriya hates the Brāhmaṇa — then these three are quelled.

12.79.24 Therefore in brahman, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the surging, unconquerable fiery energies and forces of the Kṣatriyas are quelled.

12.79.25 When the might of brahman has grown soft and the might of the Kṣatriya weak, and all the orders have turned wholly evil against the Brāhmaṇas —

12.79.26 those who then make war, surrendering their own lives, guarding the Brāhmaṇas, and dharma, and their own souls —

12.79.27 those high-minded and wrathful men win the worlds of the meritorious; for the taking up of arms by all is sanctioned for the Brāhmaṇas' sake.

12.79.28 Beyond the worlds of those who have sacrificed well and studied well, beyond those of ascetics and of those who enter into fasting unto death or into the fire — the heroes go to the highest goal; thus, through the surrender of self, men know no higher dharma.

12.79.29 Homage and benediction to them who offer up their bodies, restraining the haters of brahman; may we share their world. Manu declared those heroes winners of the world of brahman and worthy of heaven.

12.79.30 As those who have bathed in the final ablution of the horse-sacrifice are purified, so too, both the evildoer and the doer of good, are those slain by the sword in battle.

12.79.31 What is unrighteous becomes righteous; both righteousness and unrighteousness, by reason of place and time — and such is that place and time.

12.79.32 The friendly, doing cruel deeds, win the highest heaven; the righteous, doing what seem sinful deeds, reach the supreme goal.

12.79.33 On three occasions a Brāhmaṇa, taking up the weapon, incurs no fault: in defense of his own life, in a confounding of the orders, and amid the constraints of a besieged stronghold.

12.79.34 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When a host of brigands has risen up, in the cause of the Kṣatriya order, amid a confusion of castes, when the orders are utterly bewildered — if another, a strong man, should prevail,

12.79.35 a Brāhmaṇa or a Vaiśya or a Śūdra, O best of kings, and he should protect the people from the brigands, wielding the rod of punishment in accordance with dharma —

12.79.36 should this be done or not done? Should he be restrained or not? Or is the weapon never to be taken up by any save those of Kṣatriya kin?

12.79.37 Bhīṣma said: Whoever proves a farther shore where there is none, a raft where there is no boat — be he a Śūdra or any other — by all means deserves honor.

12.79.38 He under whose shelter men may live at their ease, O king — men once helpless, now protected, who had been afflicted by brigands —

12.79.39 him let those men honor with affection as their own kinsman; for one who does great service again and again, O Kaurava, deserves esteem.

12.79.40 What use is an ox that bears no burden, what use a cow that yields no milk? What good is a barren wife? And what good is a king who does not protect?

12.79.41 As an elephant made of wood, as a deer made of leather, as a cart without a driver, as a barren field beside the road —

12.79.42 so a Brāhmaṇa who does not study his Veda, a king who does not protect, and a cloud that does not rain — all these are without purpose.

12.79.43 But he who ever protects the good and strikes down the wicked — he alone should be made king; by him is all this world upheld.

12.80.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Of what origin, of what character, and of what kind should the officiating priests be, O grandfather, O lord of kings? Tell me that, O best of speakers.

12.80.2 Bhīṣma said: For each rite the ancient usage of the officiating priests is prescribed: first, having ascertained the metres and the sacred learning of the twice-born.

12.80.3 Those who are ever single-minded, steadfast, who speak no unkind word, friends to one another, respected, and even-sighted toward all;

12.80.4 in whom dwell kindness and truth, harmlessness, austerity, uprightness, freedom from malice and from pride, modesty, forbearance, self-restraint, and calm;

12.80.5 the man of modesty, firm in truth, self-controlled, who does no harm to living beings, free from desire and hatred, endowed with the three pure qualities;

12.80.6 harmless and satisfied in knowledge — he is worthy of the seat of brahman. These are the great officiating priests, my son, all to be honored according to their worth.

12.80.7 Yudhiṣṭhira said: This word of the Veda that is laid down concerning sacrificial fees — "this is to be given, this is to be given" — nowhere comes to a fixed limit.

12.80.8 This teaching takes no account of one's wealth, nor of the dharma of distress, which lies outside the rule; this dread command of the scripture regards not a man's capacity.

12.80.9 "One should sacrifice beginning with faith" — such is the Vedic revelation; but for a sacrifice tainted with falsehood, what then will faith accomplish?

12.80.10 Bhīṣma said: Not by contempt of the Vedas, not by guile, not by deceit does anyone attain to greatness; let no such notion be yours.

12.80.11 The fees, my son, are a limb of the sacrifice, the strengthening of the Vedas; mantras bereft of fees can in no way carry one across.

12.80.12 One's capacity, measured by a brimming vessel, becomes not the least defective; for surely, my son, by the three orders the sacrifice must be performed as prescribed.

12.80.13 "Soma is the king of the Brāhmaṇas" — such is the Vedic revelation; and though they wish to sell him, no worthless livelihood is sanctioned. When he has been duly purchased according to dharma, the sacrifice is thereupon set in motion.

12.80.14 Thus has it been proclaimed in accordance with dharma by the seers who expound the dharma: the man, and the sacrifice, and the Soma should all be conducted by lawful means; for the man who proceeds by unlawful means is of no use to another, nor even to himself.

12.80.15 "The body is the vessel of the sacrifice" — so runs this scriptural saying; and in the case of great-souled brāhmaṇas these vessels are rightly consecrated.

12.80.16 "Austerity is higher even than sacrifice" — this is the supreme scriptural truth. I shall now declare that austerity to you, O learned one; hear it from me as well.

12.80.17 Non-injury, truthful speech, freedom from cruelty, self-restraint, and compassion — this the wise know to be austerity, and not the wasting away of the body.

12.80.18 To deny the authority of the Vedas, to transgress the scriptures, and to live everywhere without rule and order — that, indeed, is the ruin of the self.

12.80.19 Learn, O Pārtha, the nature of the ordinance of the ten priests of inward sacrifice: understanding is the ladle, the mind is the clarified butter, and supreme knowledge is the purifying strainer.

12.80.20 All that is crooked is the road to death; uprightness is the road to Brahman. Such is the whole scope of knowledge — what will idle babbling accomplish?

12.81.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Even a slighter task is hard for a single man to accomplish without a helper — how much more, then, the rule of a kingdom, O grandsire?

12.81.2 Of what character and what conduct should a king's minister of affairs be? In what sort of man should a king place his trust, and in what sort should he place none?

12.81.3 Bhīṣma said: Kings, O king, have friends of four kinds: the ally bound by a shared interest, the loyal partisan, the friend by birth, and the friend made by contrivance.

12.81.4 The righteous-souled man is a fifth kind of friend; but he belongs neither to one party nor to two — he stands on whichever side dharma stands, or else he remains neutral.

12.81.5 Whatever design of his own may not please that righteous one, the king should not disclose to him; for kings bent on conquest move now by right means and now by wrong.

12.81.6 Of the four, the two middle kinds are the best; the other two are ever to be suspected. Indeed all are ever to be watched with caution, and the king's own business must be seen to before his very eyes.

12.81.7 For the king must never be negligent in the safeguarding of his friends; a negligent king the people surely come to despise.

12.81.8 The bad man turns to goodness, the good man becomes harsh; the foe becomes a friend, and the friend in turn grows corrupt.

12.81.9 A man's mind is ever changeable — who could ever wholly trust him? Therefore whatever business is of chief importance, that the king should carry out under his own eye.

12.81.10 Trust placed wholly and without reserve is the destroyer of both dharma and material gain; yet distrust of everyone everywhere is no better than death itself.

12.81.11 Trust is an untimely death, for he who trusts comes to ruin; he survives only at the pleasure of the man in whom he has placed his trust.

12.81.12 Therefore in some men one should trust, and in some one should be wary — this is the course of statecraft, my child, and the everlasting way of Fortune herself.

12.81.13 The man of whom one thinks, "By my downfall this gain would come to him" — of him one must ever be wary; the wise know such a one to be an enemy.

12.81.14 From whose field the water flows down into another's field — there, against his will, all his dykes are liable to be broken through.

12.81.15 And so too the man below, afraid of the excess of water, wishes to break those dykes; whomever one perceives to bear such a mark, him one should mark out as a foe.

12.81.16 He who is not gladdened by your prosperity, and who grows more wretched at your decline — this they declare to be the sign of the highest friend.

12.81.17 The man of whom one thinks, "By my downfall his own downfall would follow" — in him one should place trust, even as one would in a father.

12.81.18 Him, as one prospers, one should foster to the utmost by every means — the friend who ever guards one from harm, both in matters of dharma and in one's undertakings.

12.81.19 One should know fear of one's harm to be the highest mark of a friend; those who desire one's harm are reckoned one's enemies.

12.81.20 He who is ever fearful of one's misfortune and contented only in one's prosperity — such a friend, when one is found, is said to be as one's own self.

12.81.21 Endowed with fair form, complexion, and bearing, patient and free from envy, well-born and rich in good character — such a man may be your nearest confidant.

12.81.22 Intelligent, of good memory, capable, and by nature free from cruelty, one who, whether honored or unhonored, would never turn malicious — such a man is fit.

12.81.23 Be he a priest, or a preceptor, or a comrade greatly esteemed — such a minister should dwell in your house, one who is held in the highest honor.

12.81.24 He may know your most secret counsel and the very ground of your interests and your dharma; in him your trust may rest, even as it would in a father.

12.81.25 Neither two nor three such should be appointed, lest they fail to bear with one another; for it is from a single shared interest that strife among beings ever arises.

12.81.26 He who holds fame above all, who stands firm to his agreement, who does not hate the able but rather makes men able —

12.81.27 who would not abandon dharma out of desire, fear, greed, or anger, and who is capable and weighty in his counsel — such a man may be your nearest confidant.

12.81.28 Brave and noble, learned and skilled in resolve, well-born and of upright character, patient and free from envy —

12.81.29 these are the men to be made ministers, set over all affairs, honored and given their due share, well-supported and well-established.

12.81.30 When such men are wholly assigned to the tasks that befit them, and set to weighty undertakings, they bring forth the greatest goods.

12.81.31 These men perform their tasks, ever vying with one another, and they accomplish their objects, reporting them each to each.

12.81.32 And of your kinsmen you should be ever afraid, as of death itself; for as a rival king cannot endure a king's prosperity, so a kinsman never can.

12.81.33 Of the upright, the gentle, the generous, the modest, the truthful man — none, O mighty-armed one, rejoices in his ruin so much as a kinsman.

12.81.34 Yet to be without kinsmen is no great happiness either; and beyond that they are not to be despised, for the man who has no kinsmen, strangers indeed hold in contempt.

12.81.35 For the man wronged by others, his kinsman alone is his refuge; never does one kinsman endure to see another humiliated by outsiders.

12.81.36 Even when wronged by his own kin, a man knows it as a wound to himself; in them there are virtues, and in them too defects are seen.

12.81.37 One who is no kinsman neither shows favor nor hurls the poisoned shaft; but in the world of kinsmen both are seen — the good and the bad alike.

12.81.38 Them one should honor and ever revere, in word and in deed, and do what is pleasing to them, and never do anything displeasing.

12.81.39 Toward them one should always conduct oneself as though trusting, yet untrusting; for there is no man free of fault or of virtue to be found among them.

12.81.40 For the man who conducts himself thus and is never negligent, even his enemies grow well-disposed, and they too become his friends.

12.81.41 He who ever conducts himself thus, within the circle of his kinsmen and connections, among friends and foes alike, abides long in sovereignty and in glory.

12.82.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When that circle of kinsmen and connections is thus not to be grasped, how is one's true disposition to be made plain, among friends and foes alike?

12.82.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount an ancient tale — the dialogue of Vāsudeva and the divine sage Nārada.

12.82.3 Vāsudeva said: One who is no true friend does not deserve to know one's deepest counsel, O Nārada, nor does a friend who is foolish, nor even a wise man who lacks self-command.

12.82.4 Relying upon your friendship, I shall tell you something, O Nārada; and beholding the whole of your understanding, I ask of you, O traveler of the triple heaven.

12.82.5 I render service to my kinsmen under the mere name of lordship; I am but a half-sharer in enjoyments, and I bear with their harsh words besides.

12.82.6 As one desiring fire churns the fire-stick, so do their harsh words churn my heart; that ill-spoken speech, O divine sage, burns me without end.

12.82.7 Strength dwells ever in Saṃkarṣaṇa, and softness again in Gada; Pradyumna is intoxicated with his own beauty — and so I am without a helper, O Nārada.

12.82.8 And the other Andhakas and Vṛṣṇis, O Nārada, are men of great fortune, mighty and hard to assail, and endowed with unceasing energy.

12.82.9 He who lacks them would be as nothing; yet for him who has them it is sheer distress. Held back forever between two factions, I cannot choose either one.

12.82.10 For him who has both Āhuka and Akrūra, what could be more grievous than that? And for him who has neither of those two, what could be more grievous than that?

12.82.11 I am like the mother of two gamblers, O great sage: for the one I wish victory, and for the other no defeat.

12.82.12 As I am thus ever afflicted on both sides, O Nārada, you ought to tell me what is best, both for my kinsmen and for myself.

12.82.13 Nārada said: Calamities are of two kinds, O Kṛṣṇa — outer and inner, O scion of the Vṛṣṇis — and they arise whether self-wrought or sprung from another.

12.82.14 This grievous calamity of yours is the inner kind, born of your own deeds; for all these troubles spring from Akrūra and the Bhojas and follow in their train.

12.82.15 For the sake of gain, or out of desire, or through Dvāravatī, or even from loathing, the sovereignty you yourself had won was made over to others.

12.82.16 Now that lordship has struck root, has gained renown, and has won its supporters; it cannot be taken back again by you, any more than food once vomited up.

12.82.17 The kingdom of Babhru and Ugrasena can in no way be regained — out of fear of a split among the kinsmen, O Kṛṣṇa, and least of all by you.

12.82.18 And if it should be accomplished by great effort, after performing a most arduous deed, it would bring vast ruin and expense, or else destruction would come once again.

12.82.19 With a weapon not of iron, soft, yet cleaving to the very heart, draw out the tongue of all of them, stroking and soothing them again and again.

12.82.20 Vāsudeva said: How, O sage, am I to know that weapon — not of iron, and soft — by which I may draw out their tongue, stroking and soothing them again and again?

12.82.21 Nārada said: The constant giving of food to the best of one's power, forbearance, self-restraint, uprightness, and honoring each according to his due — this is the weapon not of iron.

12.82.22 When your kinsmen are minded to speak words bitter and slighting, do you with gentle speech quiet their hearts, their words, and their minds.

12.82.23 No one who is not a great man, none lacking self-command, none without helpers, takes up the mighty yoke; lift it up and bear it upon your breast.

12.82.24 Any ox at all bears a heavy load on level ground; but on rough roads it is the well-made, sturdy bullock that bears the burden hard to carry.

12.82.25 From division comes the ruin of confederacies; you are the chief of your confederacy, O Keśava. So act that this confederacy, having you, may not be brought to ruin.

12.82.26 By nothing but wisdom and patience, by nothing but mastery of the senses, by nothing but the giving up of wealth, does a community hold together in a wise leader.

12.82.27 So act, O Kṛṣṇa, that the destruction of your kinsmen may be averted — a thing fortunate, glorious, life-giving, and auspicious, which exalts your own party.

12.82.28 For the future and for the present alike, nothing is unknown to you, O lord — neither the ordering of the six measures of policy, nor the manner of march and of march against the foe.

12.82.29 The Mādhavas, the Kukuras, the Bhojas, and all the Andhakas and Vṛṣṇis depend upon you, O mighty-armed one — yes, and the worlds too, and those who are lords of the worlds.

12.82.30 The seers too wait upon your wisdom, O Mādhava; you are the teacher of all beings, you know the going and the coming of all things; and having you, O best of the Yadus, your kinsmen thrive in happiness.

12.83.1 Bhīṣma said: This is the first mode of conduct; now hear the second, O Bhārata. Whatsoever man brings forth wealth for the king, that man the king should protect.

12.83.2 Whoever — whether in the king's pay or not — should report that the royal treasury is being plundered by a minister and brought to ruin, O Yudhiṣṭhira —

12.83.3 He must be heard in private, and he must be guarded from the ministers; for the ministers, O Bhārata, most often slay the man who would expose them.

12.83.4 The plunderers of the royal treasury band together and harass the guardian of that treasury; left unprotected, he perishes.

12.83.5 On this point men recount an ancient tale: what the sage Kālakavṛkṣīya once said to the king of Kosala.

12.83.6 When Kṣemadarśin had attained the sovereignty over the Kosalas, the sage Kālakavṛkṣīya came to him — so we have heard.

12.83.7 Having confined a crow in a cage, he first went diligently about the realm of Kṣemadarśin, again and again, seeking out intelligence.

12.83.8 "I have mastered the lore of crows; the crows declare to me what is to come, what is past, and what is happening now."

12.83.9 Roaming thus through the kingdom in the company of many men, he inquired into the misdeeds of all the king's officers.

12.83.10 And when he had learned the whole working of that kingdom in every part, and had learned, here and there, all the offences of the king's officers,

12.83.11 Then, taking that very crow, the sage of stern vows came to see the king, proclaiming, "I am all-knowing."

12.83.12 Coming to the king of Kosala, he would say to the adorned royal minister, "By the word of the crow, this deed of yours was done in such-and-such a place;

12.83.13 "This man and that man know that the royal treasury was robbed by you. So this crow declares; let it be swiftly looked into."

12.83.14 And so too he denounced the others who were always pilfering the royal treasury; nor was any word of his ever found anywhere to be untrue.

12.83.15 Thus thwarted, all the king's officers, O foremost of the Kurus, went past him by night while he slept and crushed the crow.

12.83.16 But seeing the crow in the cage pierced through with an arrow, in the forenoon the brāhmaṇa spoke these words to Kṣemadarśin:

12.83.17 "O king, I beg of you safety — you, the lord and master of my life and wealth; with your leave I would speak words for your good, set before you.

12.83.18 "He who, sore distressed for a friend's sake and gone to him with whole-hearted devotion, should say in vexation, 'This man is robbing your wealth' —

12.83.19 "Wishing to rouse his friend to awareness, as a charioteer rouses a good horse, even if, in his earnestness for the other's good, he grows over-zealous —

12.83.20 "In such a friend his fault must be forgiven by the discerning man who would prosper, who desires lasting sovereignty."

12.83.21 The king answered him thus: "Whatever you may say to me, why should I not forgive it, seeking as I do my own good?

12.83.22 "O brāhmaṇa, give me your assurance, and speak out if you wish; for I shall do whatever you tell me, O sage."

12.83.23 The sage said: Having learned the courses of policy, the dangers, and the perils that come from your servants, out of devotion I have come into your presence to set forth a rule of conduct.

12.83.24 This fault of those who serve kings was declared long ago by the teachers: that a livelihood spent at a king's side is the last resort of the man who has no other resort.

12.83.25 They say that he who keeps company with kings keeps company with venomous serpents; for kings have many friends, and just as surely many foes.

12.83.26 From all of these, they say, danger comes to the king's attendants; and from these on the one side, O king, fear may arise in but a moment.

12.83.27 Toward a king one cannot keep watchfulness wholly unbroken; yet by no means must the man who desires prosperity ever be careless.

12.83.28 For through one's carelessness a king may stumble, and once he has stumbled there is no surviving him; the well-schooled man should approach a king as he would a blazing fire.

12.83.29 As though he were an angry venomous serpent, a man should always wait with care upon his lord, the master of his life and wealth, thinking, "I am as good as nothing."

12.83.30 Wary of an ill-spoken word, of a misdeed, of a thing badly managed, of sitting wrongly, of walking wrongly, of a gesture, of a movement of the limbs —

12.83.31 For a king, when pleased, like a god grants every object of desire; but enraged, like the all-consuming fire, he may burn one up root and all. Thus, O king, did Maya declare, and so indeed it stands.

12.83.32 Now I shall make the matter still plainer, again and again: a counsellor such as I lends the aid of his wisdom in time of peril.

12.83.33 My crow too, O king, was marked out for death; in this I do not blame you, nor those to whom you are dear. But discern who wish you well and who do not; do not let your judgement be a thing kept in the dark.

12.83.34 As for those who dwell in your house bent only on grasping, who wish no welfare to living beings — it was by such as these that my crow was struck down.

12.83.35 Or those who, plotting through hidden agents, desire the kingdom for themselves the moment you are destroyed — they succeed, O king, in no other way than this.

12.83.36 For fear of them, O king, I shall depart to another hermitage; for it was they who aimed the arrow that fell upon the crow, O lord.

12.83.37 By a stealthy stroke my crow was sent to the abode of Yama; for this I have seen, O king, with the far-seeing eye that austerity has given me.

12.83.38 Teeming with crocodiles and fish and water-monsters, thronged with shoals of timiṅgilas — that river which is yourself I have crossed, using the crow for a hook.

12.83.39 Beset with stumps and stones and thorns, swarming with tigers and lions and elephants, hard to approach, hard to enter, like a Himālayan cavern —

12.83.40 A fastness of darkness is passed by fire, a watery one by boats; but for crossing the stronghold that is a king, the learned know no sure means.

12.83.41 Your kingdom is an impenetrable thicket, wrapped in murk and gloom; here trust is impossible even for you — how much less for me?

12.83.42 Therefore no dwelling here is auspicious, where good and evil are reckoned alike; for here, doubtless, death falls upon the well-doer and the ill-doer the same.

12.83.43 By justice destruction falls upon the evildoer; but how should death come to the well-doer? It is not fitting to stay here long; the wise man should hasten away from here at once.

12.83.44 There is a river called Sītā, O king, in which the very raft sinks; like to that, I deem, is this all-destroying snare.

12.83.45 You are like a downpour of honey, like food laced with poison; your disposition runs as the wicked's does, not the good's; you are like a well, O king, ringed about with venomous serpents.

12.83.46 As a river of sweet water, but with treacherous fords and high banks, hedged with karīra and cane — even so, O king, are you; and though haunted by dogs and vultures and jackals, you are yet the equal of a royal swan.

12.83.47 As, taking root beside a great tree, the dense brushwood grows mighty, and then closes over it and, overtopping it, grows on —

12.83.48 And fed by that very fuel, the dreadful forest-fire surely burns — like to this are your ministers, O king; purge them away.

12.83.49 Made by you yourself, O king, and cherished by you, they hold you in contempt and seek to slay the one who is dear to you.

12.83.50 I have dwelt here suspicious, on my guard against carelessness — like a serpent within the house, like a hero's wife in his hall — wishing to test the character of the king while living at his side.

12.83.51 Has the king mastered his senses? Are his intimates won over? Is the king dear to them? Are the subjects dear to the king?

12.83.52 Wishing to learn these things I have come here to you, O best of kings; and you please me, O king, as food pleases a hungry man.

12.83.53 But your ministers please me not, as water pleases not one whose thirst is quenched; for the very reason that I serve your interest, they have laid a fault upon me — no other cause exists, of this I have no doubt.

12.83.54 For I have done them no injury; that has turned into a grievance with them. One should fear an enemy ill-struck, as one fears a serpent with its back but broken.

12.83.55 The king said: With greater retinue and greater honour, held in greater esteem, O best of brāhmaṇas, dwell yet again in my house.

12.83.56 Those who do not want you, O brāhmaṇa, shall not dwell in my house; and you yourself shall determine what is now to be done forthwith.

12.83.57 How the evildoer should be punished, and how the good deed should be rewarded — having considered these, O reverend one, appoint me to whatever is best.

12.83.58 The sage said: Without revealing this design, weaken them one by one; then, having found out the cause, do away with each man in turn.

12.83.59 For many men, banded together by a common grievance, may crush even thorns; from fear that your counsel be betrayed, O king, I tell you this.

12.83.60 But we who are called brāhmaṇas are mild in punishment and full of compassion; and I wish well to you, and to others, as to my own self.

12.83.61 O king, I declare myself to you — for I am a kinsman of yours; I am the sage known by the name Kālakavṛkṣīya.

12.83.62 I was your father's friend, esteemed by him, true to my word. When your kingdom had fallen into ruin, O king, and your father had passed away,

12.83.63 Renouncing every desire, I then practised austerity. Out of affection I tell you this, that you may not go astray again.

12.83.64 Having seen both sorrow and joy, and having won a kingdom by good fortune, how, O king, can you be heedless of a realm that rests in the hands of its ministers?

12.83.65 Bhīṣma said: Thereupon, when that bull among brāhmaṇas had been received into the house of the royal chaplain, great rejoicing once more arose in the royal family.

12.83.66 Having made the earth subject to a single parasol for the renowned king of Kosala, the sage Kālakavṛkṣīya performed sacrifices with the highest rites.

12.83.67 Having heard that salutary counsel, the king of Kosala ruled the earth; and the king did, O Bhārata, even as the sage had told him.

12.84.1 Bhīṣma said: Men ever good, restrained by modesty, endowed with truth and rectitude, able to speak rightly — let such be your members of council.

12.84.2 Men of great wealth and great valour, and brāhmaṇas of wide learning, well contented, O son of Kuntī, and of great energy in their tasks —

12.84.3 Seek such men as helpers in all calamities, O Bhārata; for a man of good family, ever honoured, does not conceal his strength.

12.84.4 For whether pleased or displeased, whether oppressed or despoiled, he most often turns the matter back to good — when such a one, even single, is cherished.

12.84.5 Men of good birth, native to the land, wise, comely, of wide learning, bold and devoted — let such be your retinue.

12.84.6 But the base-born, the greedy, the cruel, the shameless — these, my son, will wait upon you only so long as their palms are still moist.

12.84.7 With wealth and honour and homage and esteem, and with enjoyments high and low, whomever among your favourites you judge deserving of substance — let them have their share of comfort.

12.84.8 The learned of unbroken conduct, of good ways, who have kept their vows — such men, never mean and ever truthful, will not forsake you, though they look constantly to your bounty.

12.84.9 The ignoble, dull of mind, who do not know what is fitting — guard yourself against these, and mark out those who have fallen from their covenants.

12.84.10 One should not, forsaking a whole body of men, set one's heart on a single man, were a choice to be made between them; but if one man be better than many, then by all means let him give up the many for that one.

12.84.11 For this is the mark of a superior man: in whom valour is seen, who holds renown foremost, and who stands fast by his covenant.

12.84.12 Who honours the capable, who does not contend with those past contending, and who, from desire, fear, anger, or greed, never casts off dharma —

12.84.13 Free of pride, truthful, capable, master of himself, honouring those worthy of honour — such a man, tested in every condition, may be your companion in counsel.

12.84.14 Well-born, possessed of truth, enduring, capable, self-possessed, brave, grateful, and honest — this, O Pārtha, is the mark of a superior man.

12.84.15 When such a man, discerning, conducts himself in this way, even his enemies grow well-disposed and thereafter become his friends.

12.84.16 Thereafter the king, self-restrained, mature in wisdom, and desirous of prosperity, should examine the merits and faults of his ministers.

12.84.17 He should bind to himself trustworthy men of good birth, native to his own land, incorruptible, never wavering in loyalty, and well tested in every respect.

12.84.18 Warriors, hereditary retainers, and others duly equipped should be enlisted by a man who desires prosperity and seeks to flourish.

12.84.19 Those whose minds are schooled in discipline and whose nature is excellent, who possess energy, steadiness, forbearance, purity, devotion, constancy, and firmness—

12.84.20 those of tested virtues, of seasoned character, able to bear the yoke of office, and proven against the five temptations—these the king should make the agents of his affairs.

12.84.21 Men ample in speech, valiant, skilled in resolve, well-born, endowed with truth, able to read intentions, and free from harshness;

12.84.22 who know the disposition of place and time and seek the welfare of their master's work—such men the king should ever make his counselors in all matters.

12.84.23 For a man wanting in energy and joyless never reaches a firm decision, but inevitably breeds doubts in all undertakings.

12.84.24 Likewise a counselor of little learning, though of auspicious birth and versed in dharma, artha, and kāma, is not competent to weigh counsel.

12.84.25 And so one not nobly born, though he be ever so widely learned, falters in matters that call for reasoning, like a leaderless man without eyes.

12.84.26 And he who is unsteady of purpose, though intelligent, learned in tradition, and skilled in expedients, is unable to carry an undertaking through to its end.

12.84.27 From mere routine conduct, again, no discernment of the finer points of an affair can arise in the unlearned man of poor understanding.

12.84.28 In a counselor who lacks devotion there can be no trust; therefore one should never disclose counsel to a man who is not devoted.

12.84.29 For a crooked man, joined with other counselors, would torment the king, as fire entering through the fissures opened by the wind consumes a tree.

12.84.30 A master grows wroth at times and casts a man down from his post; in his fury he assails him with words, yet afterward he is appeased.

12.84.31 All such things can be endured by a devoted man; but a counselor's wrath would burst forth like the crash of a thunderbolt.

12.84.32 But the man who restrains such resentments, wishing only to please his master, and who shares alike in his joys and sorrows—him the king should consult in his affairs.

12.84.33 But a crooked man, though devoted and endowed with all other virtues and gifted with discernment of the king's mind, does not deserve to hear his counsel.

12.84.34 He who is bound up with the king's enemies and holds the townsfolk in little regard—such a friend of the king does not deserve to hear his counsel.

12.84.35 The ignorant, the impure, the arrogant, the server of foes, the boaster, the irascible, the greedy friend—he does not deserve to hear the counsel.

12.84.36 And a stranger, though devoted and ever so learned, though honored or made a sharer in fortune, does not deserve to hear the counsel.

12.84.37 And he who, even over some trifling matter, has once been reproached, though afterward endowed with other virtues, does not deserve to hear the counsel.

12.84.38 The man mature in wisdom, intelligent, wise, native to the realm, pure, and unblemished in all his dealings—he deserves to hear the counsel.

12.84.39 Endowed with knowledge and discernment, knowing the nature of foe and self alike, a friend who is the king's very equal—he deserves to hear the counsel.

12.84.40 Truthful in speech, endowed with good character, deep, modest, and gentle, one who is a servant from his fathers and forefathers—he deserves to hear the counsel.

12.84.41 Content, esteemed, truthful, high-spirited, holder of evil-doers in hatred, knower of counsel and of the right time, and valiant—he deserves to hear the counsel.

12.84.42 To one able to bring all people equally under his sway by conciliation, O king, the counsel should be entrusted by him who would wield the rod of punishment.

12.84.43 He in whom the townsfolk and country-folk place their trust by virtue of his righteousness, a warrior and one wise in statecraft—he deserves to hear the counsel.

12.84.44 Therefore the counselors, well honored and endowed with all these virtues and knowing the affairs of state, should number at least three, if one aspires to greatness.

12.84.45 They should mark the weak points in their own constituents and in those of the foe; for it is upon counsel as its root that the king's realm grows and prospers.

12.84.46 Let no enemy see his weak point; let him watch for the foe's weak points; let him hide his limbs like a tortoise and guard his own openings.

12.84.47 The wise counselors are the holders of the kingdom's counsel; the king is the very frame that binds the counsel together, and the rest of the people are its limbs.

12.84.48 They declare that the kingdom is rooted in espionage and has counsel for its essence; and here the counselors follow their master for the sake of their livelihood.

12.84.49 Having subdued pride and anger, conceit and envy, and grown serene, he should ever take counsel together with ministers proven against the five temptations.

12.84.50 Fixing his mind upon it, he should grasp the manifold deliberation of those three; and at the time of further counsel he should set forth both his own conclusion and that of the others.

12.84.51 Composed, he should approach and consult a venerable brāhmaṇa learned in dharma, artha, and kāma upon the highest matter; and when a firm resolve has been reached with him, he should pursue that course without attachment.

12.84.52 Thus, they say—those who know how to determine the true meaning of counsel—should one ever take counsel; therefore you too should always so frame counsel fit to win and hold the people.

12.84.53 Let no dwarf, hunchback, or emaciated man, no cripple, no blind or witless person, no woman or eunuch be there; let no animal, and let no one move about in front or behind, above or below.

12.84.54 Having ascended to an empty terrace, open and bright, free of kuśa and kāśa grass, and avoiding all faults of speech and gesture, he should deliberate his counsel on the matter at no untimely hour.

12.85.1 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they cite this ancient tale, the dialogue of Bṛhaspati and Śakra, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.85.2 Śakra said: What is that one word, O brāhmaṇa, which a man, practicing rightly, may become the standard for all beings and win great renown?

12.85.3 Bṛhaspati said: Conciliation is that one word, O Śakra, by practicing which rightly a man may become the standard for all beings and win great renown.

12.85.4 This one word, O Śakra, brings happiness to the whole world; practicing it toward all beings, a man becomes dear to them forever.

12.85.5 For he who never speaks a word, his face forever knit in a frown, becomes hateful to all beings, since he practices no conciliation here.

12.85.6 But he who first looks kindly upon a man and is the first to address him, speaking with a smile—toward him the world is well disposed.

12.85.7 For even a gift, given everywhere without kindly words, does not please beings—like food served without seasoning.

12.85.8 For even a man who gives nothing, by uttering sweet speech to beings, brings this whole world under his sway through conciliation, O Śakra.

12.85.9 Therefore conciliation should be practiced by those who would wield the rod here; thus it bears fruit, and the people do not shrink from him in dread.

12.85.10 For to conciliation well wrought, smooth and sweet and rightly employed, there is never found an equal.

12.85.11 Bhīṣma said: Thus instructed by his preceptor, Śakra did all accordingly; and you too, son of Kuntī, should practice this rightly.

12.86.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How, O lord of kings, does a sovereign, while protecting his subjects in accordance with dharma, win in particular an everlasting fame?

12.86.2 Bhīṣma said: By pure administration of justice, devoted to the protection of his subjects, the upright king attains both dharma and fame, and wins both worlds.

12.86.3 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What sort of justice, and with whose aid, should the king administer? Being asked this, O greatly wise one, you ought to declare it duly.

12.86.4 And those virtues that were earlier spoken of concerning a man—these are not found in any single man, such is my view.

12.86.5 Bhīṣma said: It is so, O greatly wise one, as you say, O intelligent one: hard to find is any man endowed with all these manifold virtues.

12.86.6 Yet good character, in brief, is not hard to find here for one who strives; I shall tell you how, and what manner of ministers you should appoint.

12.86.7 Four brāhmaṇas, learned, bold, of sattvic temper, and pure; and three śūdras, disciplined and pure, of proven service in their former duties;

12.86.8 and one sūta versed in the ancient lore, endowed with eight virtues, fifty years of age, bold, and free from envy, he should employ;

12.86.9 possessed of intelligence and memory, disciplined, even-handed, competent among litigants disputing a case, and ungreedy of gain.

12.86.10 In the midst of these eight counselors, wholly free from the seven dreadful vices, the king should take his counsel.

12.86.11 Then he should send them forth into the realm, and make it known to the realm: 'By this administration of justice are your subjects ever to be overseen.'

12.86.12 Nor should any hidden affair, ruinous to the business of state, be entertained by you; for should the affair miscarry, that unrighteousness would afflict both you and them.

12.86.13 And your realm would scatter, like flocks of birds fleeing a hawk, and would forever leak away like a shattered boat upon the sea.

12.86.14 For a king who protects his subjects wrongly and unrighteously here, a fear arises within his very heart, and heaven is barred against him.

12.86.15 And whoever rules unrighteously—be he king, minister, or king's son—when appointed to the seat of justice that is rooted in dharma, O bull among men—

12.86.16 the king's followers, appointed over affairs but not discharging them aright, go down to ruin, putting themselves at the head, together with the king.

12.86.17 Of those oppressed by the powerful and crying out piteously in their misery, the king is ever the protector—the protector of men who have no other lord.

12.86.18 In a dispute, then, the weight of good witnesses must decide the matter; but a case without witnesses, or one unsupported, must be examined with particular care.

12.86.19 He should lay upon evildoers a punishment befitting the offense: the wealthy he should chasten with fines, the poor with flogging and imprisonment.

12.86.20 The wicked the king may discipline, even with corrective measures and with blows; and the well-behaved he should cherish with conciliation and with gifts.

12.86.21 Whoever should seek to slay the king—for him let the death be exemplary; so too for the assassin, the thief, and the corrupter of the social order.

12.86.22 For a king who duly metes out punishment, O lord of the people, or for one fit to do so, there is no unrighteousness; here it is righteousness everlasting.

12.86.23 But the unwise man who inflicts punishment at the prompting of caprice becomes joined to infamy here, and when dead attains hell.

12.86.24 He should not inflict punishment upon others merely on another's word; having pursued the proper inquiry, he should then either imprison or release them.

12.86.25 But a king should never slay an envoy in any extremity; the slayer of an envoy enters into hell together with his ministers.

12.86.26 A king devoted to the kṣatriya's dharma who slays an envoy for delivering his message as told—the forefathers of such a king incur the guilt of slaying an embryo.

12.86.27 Well-born, endowed with good character, eloquent, skillful, agreeable in speech, faithful in delivering his message, and of good memory—an envoy should possess these seven virtues.

12.86.28 Endowed with these same virtues, his door-warden becomes his protector; and possessed of these same virtues, one becomes the guardian of his very head.

12.86.29 One who knows the true import of the treatises on dharma and artha should be the minister of peace and war—intelligent, resolute, wise, and a keeper of secrets.

12.86.30 Well-born, endowed with truth, capable—such is the praiseworthy minister; and endowed with these same virtues, so too should the commander of the army be.

12.86.31 Let him be one who truly knows battle-arrays, engines, and weapons, endowed with valor, enduring of rain and cold and heat and wind, and skilled at detecting the weak points of his foes.

12.86.32 Let him inspire confidence in others, yet himself trust no one; for even in one's sons, O lord of kings, trust is not to be commended.

12.86.33 This essence of the meaning of the treatises I have declared to you, O sinless one; mistrust is said to be the supreme secret of kings.

12.87.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: In what kind of city ought a king himself to dwell — one already built, or one he has caused to be built? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.87.2 Bhīṣma said: Where one must dwell, O son of Kuntī, together with sons and brothers and kinsmen, it is right there to inquire into its defenses and its means of livelihood, O Bhārata.

12.87.3 Therefore I shall set forth for you the matter of fortifications in particular; having heard it, you should so dispose things and carry them out with care.

12.87.4 Resorting to fortification of six kinds, let him establish cities — whichever abounds chiefly in all resources, or wherever such abundance may be possible.

12.87.5 A desert-fort, an earthwork-fort, a hill-fort, likewise a fort of men, a water-fort, and a forest-fort — these are the six.

12.87.6 That city which is well provided with defenses, furnished with grain and weapons, with stout ramparts and moats, and thronged with elephants, horses, and chariots —

12.87.7 where there are learned men and craftsmen, and stores well laid up, and where the people are righteous and have attained the highest skill;

12.87.8 vigorous in its men, elephants, and horses, graced with crossroads and markets, of well-established commerce, tranquil, and with nothing to fear from any quarter;

12.87.9 radiant, resounding, with well-ordered dwellings, filled with people who are brave and wealthy, and made to echo with the chanting of the Veda —

12.87.10 abounding in assemblies and festivals, where the gods are ever worshipped: in such a city let the king, with ministers and army obedient to him, himself dwell.

12.87.11 There let him increase his treasury, his army, his allies, and his commerce, and let him do away with every defect in city and countryside alike.

12.87.12 With diligence let him enlarge his storehouses and armories, and increase all his stores, his engines of war, his maces, and his medicines.

12.87.13 Timber, iron, chaff, charcoal, planks, horn, bone, and bamboo; marrow, oil, fat, and honey, and a whole supply of medicinal herbs —

12.87.14 hemp, resin, grain, weapons and arrows, hides and sinews, and cane, and muñja and balbaja grasses and the wood of the dhanvana tree.

12.87.15 Reservoirs and wells, excellent and abounding in water, should ever be kept secure by the king, and so too the trees that yield sap.

12.87.16 And with care let him honor teachers, officiating priests, and chaplains; mighty archers, architects, astrologers, and physicians;

12.87.17 the wise, the intelligent, the self-controlled, the able, the brave, the deeply learned, the well-born, the men of great spirit, fit for every task.

12.87.18 Let the king honor the righteous and restrain the unrighteous, and with diligence set all the classes to their proper tasks.

12.87.19 Having made well known through his spies the people of city and country, both without and within, let him then set his measures in motion.

12.87.20 To his spies, his counsel, and his treasury — and to his counsel above all — let the king himself attend; for upon these everything rests.

12.87.21 Whatever the neutral, the foe, and the ally intend to do, in city and country alike, is to be known through the eye of his spies.

12.87.22 Thereupon let everything be so ordered without negligence, the king ever honoring the loyal and restraining the hostile.

12.87.23 He should ever sacrifice with sacrifices, and give gifts without oppression; the protection of the people is to be done, and no blameworthy deed is to be done.

12.87.24 For the wretched, the helpless, and the aged, and for widowed women, let him ever provide both welfare and livelihood.

12.87.25 To the hermitages, at the proper seasons, let the king ever bring clothing, vessels, and food, doing them honor and never holding them in contempt.

12.87.26 Himself, all his affairs, and even his kingdom let him diligently lay before the ascetic, and ever stand before him in humility.

12.87.27 One who has renounced all possessions, born of good family and deeply learned — seeing such a one, let the king honor him with bed, seat, and food.

12.87.28 In him let the king place his trust in any time of distress; for even robbers place their trust in ascetics.

12.87.29 With him let him deposit his treasures and from him gather wisdom; yet let him not wait upon him too constantly, nor honor him to excess.

12.87.30 One such man should be employed within his own realm, another in foreign realms, another in the forests, and another in the cities of bordering princes.

12.87.31 To those stationed in foreign realms and forests let him render the same honors, attentions, and shares as to those within his own domain.

12.87.32 In any such circumstance, those ascetics of rigorous vows will, at his wish, grant refuge to the king who seeks refuge.

12.87.33 This, in brief, is the summary of the marks I have declared to you — of the kind of city in which a king ought himself to dwell.

12.88.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: To me who would rightly understand it, O king, declare the protection of the realm and likewise the gathering-in of the realm, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.88.2 Bhīṣma said: The protection of the realm and the gathering-in of the realm — come, I shall declare it all to you rightly; listen with single-minded attention to the truth.

12.88.3 A headman should be appointed for a village, another over ten villages, another over twice that number, and so over a hundred, and over a thousand let him likewise appoint one.

12.88.4 Whatever faults of the village the village-headman has to keep watch over, let him report to the lord of ten; and he in turn to the lord of twenty.

12.88.5 And that lord of twenty should report all the doings among the country-folk to the protector of a hundred villages.

12.88.6 Whatever the village affords for enjoyment, the village-headman may partake of; by him the lord of ten is to be maintained, and by the latter the lord of twenty.

12.88.7 The overseer of a hundred villages, held in honor, is entitled to enjoy a village — a great one, O best of the Bhāratas, thronged with prosperous people; for therein much that belongs to the king is at stake, O Bhārata.

12.88.8 But the lord of a thousand deserves a great market-town as his portion; that high officer of the realm is entitled to enjoy it through the revenue of grain and gold.

12.88.9 And whatever pertains to the village's business and the headman's duty, some minister versed in dharma should himself oversee, unwearied.

12.88.10 In every city there should be one superintendent of all affairs, set on high and of awesome aspect, like a planet among the stars; let him ever make his rounds over them all himself.

12.88.11 Considering the selling, the buying, the road-tolls, the provisioning together with its costs, and the safe conduct of goods, let him levy the taxes upon the merchants.

12.88.12 Considering again and again the output, the cost of materials, and the craft itself, let him impose upon the artisans dues proportioned to their craft.

12.88.13 The taxes, high and low, were justly fixed by the kings of old, Yudhiṣṭhira; the lord of earth should so act that they suffer no diminution.

12.88.14 Considering both the yield and the labor, let him then apportion everything; for no one undertakes either yield or labor without a motive.

12.88.15 So that both the king and the laborer may be sharers in the work — considering this, the taxes should ever be levied by the king.

12.88.16 Out of greed let him not cut off his own root, nor that of others, by blocking the avenues of their enterprise; rather let the king be of gracious aspect.

12.88.17 Men come to hate a king notorious as a devourer of too much; whence comes good to one who is hated? The well-loved obtains what is dear to him.

12.88.18 The realm should be milked, as it were a calf, by a king of undiminished judgment; for the calf, once nourished and grown strong, can bear the strain, O Bhārata.

12.88.19 A calf milked too hard does no work, Yudhiṣṭhira; and a realm too heavily milked likewise performs no great labor.

12.88.20 That king who, having taken the realm in hand, cherishes it, and lives upon what it brings forth, obtains a very great fruit.

12.88.21 For against a time of distress do kings here heap up their stores; the realm itself should be as a treasury, and the treasury kept within the palace.

12.88.22 Upon all the townsfolk and country-folk, and those who have sought his shelter or come near it, and upon all his intimates as well, let him have compassion as far as he is able.

12.88.23 Having divided off the outer folk, the middling sort may be drawn upon at ease; thus the people, whether well-off or hard-pressed, do not grow wrathful.

12.88.24 But before levying the tax, having spoken of it again and again, let him assemble the people in his domain and set before the realm the danger that threatens it:

12.88.25 "This calamity has arisen, a great peril of an invading host; it may well end in destruction, as the bamboo's bearing of fruit ends in its death."

12.88.26 "My foes have risen up together with many bandits, and seek to crush this realm to its very ruin."

12.88.27 "In this dread calamity now come upon us, in this terrible peril, for your own deliverance I shall ask of you your wealth."

12.88.28 "And when the danger is past I shall repay it all to you; but the foes, should they carry it off by force from here, will make no repayment."

12.88.29 "Putting one's wife and family first of all, a man's wealth perishes of itself — even though wealth be hoarded for the very sake of children and wife."

12.88.30 "I rejoice in your prosperity as in the rising fortune of my own sons; and as far as I am able, I favor you, without oppressing the realm."

12.88.31 "In times of distress alone is the burden to be borne by you, like good oxen; in no calamity is there anything you hold dearer than wealth."

12.88.32 With words sweet, gentle, and courteous like these, let the king, knowing the proper season, take up the yoke and slacken his own reins.

12.88.33 Considering the pasturage, the keeping of servants, the expense, the danger to herds and villages, and their welfare and safety, let him levy the taxes upon the herdsmen.

12.88.34 For if neglected, the herdsmen who dwell in the wilds would be ruined; therefore toward them in particular let him act with gentleness foremost.

12.88.35 Conciliation, protection, gifts, and steady care — these are ever to be shown to the herdsmen, O Pārtha, with fair shares and kindnesses.

12.88.36 The fruit to be drawn from the herdsmen is to be used unceasingly on every side; it enriches the realm, and commerce, and tillage too.

12.88.37 Therefore the discerning king should with diligence foster the goodwill of the herdsmen, being compassionate and vigilant, and levying upon them only gentle taxes.

12.88.38 Everywhere, my son, security of movement is easily had through the herdsmen; for there is no wealth, Yudhiṣṭhira, to compare with this.

12.89.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When a king, though capable, finds himself in need of treasure, O great-minded one, how should he then proceed? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.89.2 Bhīṣma said: According to place, according to time, and according to their capacity, let the king, seeking dharma and devoted to their welfare, direct his subjects.

12.89.3 In such wise as he judges to be for their good and for his own, let the king set in motion all righteous works throughout the realm.

12.89.4 Let him milk the realm as one gathers honey, without destroying the bees; let him milk it with regard for the calf, and not lacerate the teats.

12.89.5 Let him drink from the realm gently, as a leech does, O lord of men; and let him carry it as a tigress carries her cub — without biting, lest it fall.

12.89.6 By little and little of what is owed, let him cause the increasing yield to be paid; then more and more, at will, let him bring about its growth.

12.89.7 As one who tames steeds yet to be broken, let him steadily increase their burden, and gently, with patient effort, draw the harness over them.

12.89.8 Once entangled in the harness, they will no longer be hard to govern; treated as is fitting, with care, they will become amenable.

12.89.9 Therefore, since a throng of men is hard to set in motion all at once, having first conciliated the chief among them, let him then draw revenue from the rest of the people.

12.89.10 Then, having set at variance those inclined to dispute among themselves, and having won them over, let him draw upon them at ease, without strain.

12.89.11 Let him not levy taxes upon them in the wrong place or at the wrong time, but in due order, with gentleness, at the proper season, and according to rule.

12.89.12 These I declare to be skillful means; no deceit is what I intend. He who tames by the wrong means only provokes his horses to fury.

12.89.13 Drinking-houses and brothels, and those who keep procuresses, actors and gamblers, and whatever others are of this kind—

12.89.14 all these must be restrained, for they are the bane of the realm; abiding within it, they oppress the honest folk.

12.89.15 "By no one shall anything be begged of another save in distress"—such was the ordinance laid down of old for all beings by Manu.

12.89.16 For if all men were to live thus and did no labor here, then without doubt all the three worlds would cease to be.

12.89.17 The king is master to restrain them; he who does not restrain such men shares a fourth part of their guilt, so says the sacred lore—just as, when righteousness is done, he partakes of a fourth part of its merit.

12.89.18 Frequenting these haunts and given over to their allure, a man bent on his welfare's ruin, enslaved to desire—what wicked deed would he forbear?

12.89.19 Yet in distress alone may those who have no possessions beg; to them gift should be made righteously, out of compassion, by one who is moved to mercy.

12.89.20 Let there be no beggars in your realm, and let there be no robbers; both alike are mere takers of what is desired, neither of them nurturers of living beings.

12.89.21 Those who favor living beings and those who make the people thrive—let such men flourish in your realm, and not those who fail to nurture creatures.

12.89.22 And those whose aim is to seize wealth deserve punishment, O great king; let him set them to honest occupation, even as he sets tribute-payers to theirs.

12.89.23 Agriculture, cattle-keeping, and trade, and whatever else is of this kind—let him have such work done by men together with many laborers.

12.89.24 If a man engaged in farming, cattle-rearing, or trade should fall into any peril through it, the king is held blameworthy.

12.89.25 Let him always honor the wealthy with carriages, raiment, and food, and they should be told: "Receive these honors along with me."

12.89.26 This is a mighty limb of kings—the wealthy man, O Bhārata; the man of means is the very summit of all beings, of this there is no doubt.

12.89.27 The wise man, the hero, the man of wealth, the righteous, the ascetic, the truthful, and the man of understanding—each guards his own.

12.89.28 Therefore be well-disposed toward all of these, O prince, and uphold truth, uprightness, freedom from wrath, and absence of cruelty.

12.89.29 Thus shall you gain the power to punish, a treasury, allies, and land; devoted to truth and uprightness, O king, you will be furnished with friends and treasure.

12.90.1 Bhīṣma said: Let them not fell, within your domain, trees that bear edible fruit; for the wise declare that roots and fruit are the rightful portion of the brāhmaṇas.

12.90.2 Let other folk consume only what is left over after the brāhmaṇas; never may another take so as to deprive a brāhmaṇa in any way.

12.90.3 If a brāhmaṇa, worn thin by want of livelihood, should make this known and take to renunciation, a means of support should be provided for him together with his wife, O lord of men.

12.90.4 If he does not turn back from it, he is to be admonished in the assembly of brāhmaṇas: "In whom, then, will this world now find its bound of right conduct?"

12.90.5 Without doubt he will desist, if he says nothing further; but this correction, O son of Kuntī, should first be done out of his hearing.

12.90.6 "People say this, O brahman, yet I do not put faith in it; and he should be won over with enjoyments, should he act so for want of livelihood."

12.90.7 Agriculture, cattle-keeping, and trade are the livelihood of folk here below; and higher still is the threefold lore—it is that which sustains all beings.

12.90.8 When that lore is being striven after, those who become its adversaries are robbers; for their slaying here below, Brahmā then created the warrior order.

12.90.9 Slay your foes, protect the people, perform the sacrifices, O king; fight in battle, having become a hero, O delight of the Kurus.

12.90.10 The king who guards those to be protected is the noblest doer of kingly deeds; whoever fail to protect them are of no use whatever.

12.90.11 Ever must the king keep watch over all the people, O Yudhiṣṭhira; for that very reason should the ruler of men draw his sustenance from men.

12.90.12 Guarding outsiders from those within, and again those within from outsiders, outsiders from outsiders and your own from your own—protect them all without ceasing.

12.90.13 Guarding himself on every side, let the king guard the earth; for the learned declare that all this has its root in the self.

12.90.14 "What is my weak point? What entanglement is mine? What lies undone? From what quarter may some flaw flow in upon me?"—thus let him reflect continually.

12.90.15 With trusted spies, well-approved, let him keep watch over the land: "Is my conduct rightly ordered—do they praise it or not? Do I find favor in the countryside? Does my fame stand bright in the realm?"

12.90.16 Of those who know the law, who are steadfast, who do not flee in battle, of those who live by the realm and those who live by the king,

12.90.17 and of all the ministers and all the neutral parties everywhere, and of those who praise you or who blame you—make them all well-governed, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.90.18 For it is not possible, my son, to please all utterly; among all beings there is friend, foe, and the neutral, O Bhārata.

12.90.19 Among men equal in the strength of their arms and alike attended by virtues, how should any one be superior? Yet it is he who shall draw revenue from men.

12.90.20 For the moving devour the unmoving, and the fanged devour the fangless, like venomous serpents enraged, like snakes devouring snakes.

12.90.21 Against these be ever heedful and on guard, O Yudhiṣṭhira; for these are like the bhāruṇḍa birds—they swoop down upon the careless.

12.90.22 I trust the merchants in your realm are not driven to despair, afflicted by taxes—those who buy much for little and toil through the wilderness ways?

12.90.23 I trust the tillers, when too sorely oppressed, do not abandon the realm—they who bear the yoke for kings and sustain all the rest besides?

12.90.24 By what is given from their hands live the gods and the hosts of ancestors, men, serpents, and rākṣasas, the birds, and the beasts as well.

12.90.25 This is the conduct of the realm for you and the safeguarding of the realm, O Bhārata; resting upon this very theme, I shall speak yet further, O Pāṇḍava.

12.91.1 Bhīṣma said: Those duties of the warrior caste which Utathya, the Āṅgirasa, foremost knower of the Veda, spoke with goodwill to Māndhātṛ, the son of Yuvanāśva—

12.91.2 even as Utathya, foremost knower of the Veda, instructed him, all that I shall declare to you in full, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.91.3 Utathya said: A king exists for the sake of righteousness, not for the working of his own desire; know it thus, O Māndhātṛ—the king is the protector of the world.

12.91.4 If a king practices righteousness, he goes indeed unto godhood; but if he does not practice righteousness, he goes straight to hell.

12.91.5 Upon righteousness all beings rest; righteousness rests upon the king; the king who governs that righteousness well—he is a king, a lord of the earth.

12.91.6 When a king of the highest righteous soul, endowed with fortune, is yet called wicked, then the gods too fall into reproach, and it is said, "There is no righteousness."

12.91.7 When the prosperity of those who dwell in unrighteousness is seen, the world takes that for the whole of blessedness and follows after it.

12.91.8 Righteous conduct is cut away, and great unrighteousness prevails; men say there is dread by day and night when the wicked man is not restrained.

12.91.9 The twice-born who keep their vows no longer follow the Vedas, and the brāhmaṇas spread out no sacrifices, when the wicked man is not restrained.

12.91.10 The minds of all men grow distraught, as of those condemned to death, O great king, when the wicked man is not restrained.

12.91.11 Looking to both worlds, the seers themselves brought forth the king, that mighty being: "This shall be righteousness incarnate."

12.91.12 In whom righteousness shines forth, him they proclaim a king; in whom righteousness dissolves away, him the gods know for a base outcaste.

12.91.13 For the blessed Dharma is the Bull; whoever cuts that Bull short, him the gods know as the bull-mangler, the outcaste—therefore let none destroy righteousness.

12.91.14 When righteousness waxes, all beings ever wax with it; when it wanes, they wane away—therefore let him cause righteousness to flourish.

12.91.15 Righteousness flows from wealth, or else, it is held, from sustaining; it is remembered, O lord of men, as the setter of the bound against forbidden deeds.

12.91.16 For the welfare of beings was righteousness created by the Self-existent; therefore let him make righteousness flourish, for the sake of grace toward the people.

12.91.17 For that reason, O tiger among kings, righteousness is remembered as supreme; he is a king who governs the people, a doer of good, a bull among men.

12.91.18 Disregarding desire and wrath, let him uphold righteousness alone; righteousness is the surest bringer of welfare to kings, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.91.19 The brāhmaṇas are the womb of righteousness; therefore let him ever honor them, and let him, free of grudging, O Māndhātṛ, fulfill the desires of the brāhmaṇas.

12.91.20 For from not fulfilling their desires there arises danger to the king; his friends increase not, and they even turn to enemies.

12.91.21 When Bali, son of Virocana, came to bear ill will toward the brāhmaṇas, then majestic Fortune, who had dwelt in him, departed from him.

12.91.22 Then, having gone forth from him, she passed to Indra, the chastiser of Pāka; and afterward Bali grieved sorely, beholding Fortune now in Purandara.

12.91.23 This is the fruit of envy and of pride, O mighty one; therefore take heed, O Māndhātṛ, lest majestic Fortune forsake you.

12.91.24 Insolence by name, the son of Fortune, was born of unrighteousness, so says the sacred lore; by him, O king, gods and asuras alike were again and again brought under sway.

12.91.25 And many royal seers as well; therefore take heed, O prince. Conquering him, one becomes a king; vanquished by him, one becomes a slave.

12.91.26 So conduct yourself, O Māndhātṛ, that you cleave not to unrighteousness joined with insolence, if you wish to endure for long.

12.91.27 From the drunken, the heedless, the half-grown boy, and above all from the madman, from the practice of their ways, from association with them, and from the company of the ill-disposed—

12.91.28 from a minister who has been disgraced, and above all from women, from mountain and ravine and fastness, from elephant, horse, and creeping thing—

12.91.29 against all these let him be ever on guard, and let him shun roaming by night; let him shun excessive spending, overweening pride, hypocrisy, and wrath.

12.91.30 With women unknown to him, with the unsexed, with wanton women, with the wives of others, and with maidens, let the king not engage in union.

12.91.31 From the confusion of castes there are born into families wicked, demon-like beings—the unmanly, the maimed of limb, the thick-tongued, and the witless.

12.91.32 These and others are born when the king grows negligent; therefore the king must conduct himself with especial care for the welfare of the people.

12.91.33 When a kṣatriya grows heedless, a great fault is born of it: lawless deeds break loose that throw the people into confusion and ruin.

12.91.34 Cold sets in when it should be warm, and in the cold season the cold fails; drought comes, then flood, and sickness invades the people.

12.91.35 The lunar mansions turn baleful, and dread planets likewise rise against him; and many portents are seen abroad that spell a king's undoing.

12.91.36 The king who does not guard himself, and does not guard his people either—his subjects waste away, and he in turn perishes after them.

12.91.37 Two men seize what belongs to one, and many others seize from those two; maidens are carried off by force—this, they say, is the defilement of a king.

12.91.38 'This is mine'—such a claim holds firm for no single man, when the king forsakes dharma and follows the path of heedlessness.

12.92.1 Utathya said: When the rain-cloud pours in its season and the king walks in dharma—when this fortune comes to pass, it sustains the people in happiness.

12.92.2 A washerman who does not know how to strip the soil from garments, nor how to cleanse the dyed cloth, is as good as no washerman at all.

12.92.3 Just so the foremost brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas, and the śūdras—the four varṇas—are each set to their several appointed tasks.

12.92.4 Service belongs to the śūdra, husbandry to the vaiśya, and the rule of the rod to the king; chastity, austerity, the sacred verses, and truth belong to the twice-born.

12.92.5 That kṣatriya among them who knows how to scour away faults of conduct, as one scours soiled garments clean, is a father to his people—he is their Prajāpati.

12.92.6 Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali, O bull of the Bhāratas, are all the workings of the king; the king himself is called the very age.

12.92.7 The fourfold order of varṇas, the Vedas, and the four stages of life—all this falls into confusion when the king grows heedless.

12.92.8 The king alone is the maker of all creatures, and the king alone their destroyer; he whose soul is set on dharma is their maker, and he whose soul is lawless, their destroyer.

12.92.9 The king's wives and sons, his kinsmen and his friends, all gather together and grieve when the king grows heedless.

12.92.10 Elephants and horses and cattle, camels, mules, and donkeys—all sink into ruin, O prince, when the king's conduct is lawless.

12.92.11 For the sake of the weak, O Māndhātṛ, the ordaining Creator brought strength into being—so it is said; for the weak are that great power on which all else rests.

12.92.12 Whatever creature he cherishes, and the creatures that follow in its train—all of them sink into ruin, O prince, when the king stands on the side of unrighteousness.

12.92.13 The eye of the weak man, like the eye of a sage or of a venomous serpent, I hold to be the hardest of all to withstand: never give offense to the weak.

12.92.14 Take heed of the weak, my son, and let them never be despised, lest the eyes of the weak burn you to ashes together with your kinsmen.

12.92.15 In the house of one burned by the weak nothing ever springs up again; the fire consumes it down to the very root—so never give offense to the weak.

12.92.16 The weak is mightier than the strong, even than strength that is overwhelming in its might; for of strength once burned by the weak, nothing whatever remains.

12.92.17 If one who is scorned, struck down, and crying out finds no protector, then a chastisement not wrought by human hand falls there and destroys the king of men.

12.92.18 Do not, my son, take your stand upon mere force, nor oppress the weak, lest the eyes of the weak consume you as fire consumes the dwelling that gives it shelter.

12.92.19 The tears that fall from those falsely accused as they weep—those tears slay the sons and the cattle of the men who lay false charges upon them.

12.92.20 If not upon a man himself, then upon his sons, and if not upon his sons, then upon his grandsons and their offspring; for a sinful deed once done does not ripen at once, like a cow whose calf takes time to grow.

12.92.21 Where a weak man, set upon and slain, finds no protector, there a great and terrible chastisement, wrought by fate, comes down.

12.92.22 When the country folk, hard-pressed, take to begging like brāhmaṇas, then again and again, by the taint of their beggary, such men bring destruction on the king.

12.92.23 When in a king's domain many of the king's officers conduct themselves by misrule, that is a great sin laid upon the king.

12.92.24 When the appointed officers carry off the goods of those who beg piteously, whether out of lust or in greed for gain, that is a great slaughter charged against the king.

12.92.25 A great tree springs up and grows, and creatures take their shelter beneath it; but when the tree is cut down or burned, those that sheltered there are left without a home.

12.92.26 When men in the realm practice what they proclaim to be the highest dharma, or the rite, or the royal virtue, and yet through delusion as to dharma practice unrighteousness in its very name, one should swiftly abandon such deeds, both well done and ill.

12.92.27 Where the wicked, known for what they are, go about freely, there strife befalls the king's good men; when a king chastises men who are not deserving of it, that kingdom does not prosper, O lord of the earth.

12.92.28 But the king who honors his minister as he deserves and sets him to his task in counsel and in war—that king's realm grows great, and he enjoys the whole earth for a long age.

12.92.29 Here too the king who discerns a deed well done and a word well spoken, and honors them, attains the highest dharma.

12.92.30 When he shares before he himself enjoys, and despises no man, and strikes down the strong man grown insolent—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.31 When he protects all by word, by body, and by deed, and will not condone a wrong even in his own son—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.32 When the king guards those who have sought his refuge as though they were his sons, and never breaks the bounds of right—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.33 When, filled with faith, he sacrifices with rites whose priestly fees are duly paid, heedless of desire and hatred—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.34 When he wipes away the tears of the wretched, the helpless, and the aged, and kindles gladness in his people—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.35 When he increases his friends and draws down his foes, and pays honor to the good—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.36 When he keeps his word faithfully, ever bestows land in due measure, and honors guests and dependents—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.37 Where both restraint and favor are firmly established, the king gains the fruit thereof in this world and in the next.

12.92.38 Yama, the supreme lord, O Māndhātṛ, is the king of the righteous when he holds living beings in due restraint; but when he restrains them not, he turns to evil.

12.92.39 When he honors the officiating priests, the family chaplain, and the teachers, and never slights them but rightly upholds them—that is called the dharma of a king.

12.92.40 Yama holds all beings in check without distinction; the king should do as he does, and govern his people according to the ordinance.

12.92.41 Every king is likened to the thousand-eyed Indra; for whatever dharma he beholds, that, O bull among men, is dharma.

12.92.42 With unwavering care learn forbearance, understanding, steadfastness, and judgment, and the discernment of the true nature of creatures, of good and evil, always.

12.92.43 The winning of all creatures, generosity, and gentle speech—and the townsfolk and the country folk are to be protected as one's own people.

12.92.44 Never can an unskilled king protect his subjects; for it is a very great burden, my son—kingship, so they call it, is exceedingly hard to bear.

12.92.45 A king who is wise, valiant, and versed in the rod can protect them; it cannot be done by one who lacks the rod, who is unmanly, or who is without understanding.

12.92.46 With men of fitting bearing, well born, skilled, devoted, and deeply learned, you should test out all counsels—even those of the ascetics in their hermitages.

12.92.47 Then you will come to know the highest dharma of all beings; and whether in your own land or another's, your dharma will not be lost.

12.92.48 Of dharma, artha, and kāma, let dharma ever be the highest; for in this world and the next, the one who knows dharma flourishes in happiness.

12.92.49 Men, when they are duly honored, will give up wife and life itself; the winning of creatures lies in generosity and in gentle speech.

12.92.50 Vigilance and purity, my son, work great prosperity; and from these, O Māndhātṛ, never at any time fall away into heedlessness.

12.92.51 Let the king be ever watchful, marking the weak points of his foe and of himself; let no enemy spy out a weak point in him, while he himself seeks out his enemy's weak points.

12.92.52 Such was the conduct of Vāsava, of Yama, and of Varuṇa, and of all the royal sages: do you too uphold it.

12.92.53 Do that, O great king—that course which the royal sages have followed; set your feet without delay upon the heavenly path, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.92.54 For a king of righteous conduct, O Bhārata, in the world hereafter and in this one, the gods, the sages, the fathers, and the gandharvas, boundless in might, sing his praise.

12.92.55 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by Utathya, O Bhārata, Māndhātṛ acted on it without a doubt, and he alone won the whole earth.

12.92.56 You too, like Māndhātṛ the lord of the earth, by rightly practicing dharma and guarding the earth, will gain a place in heaven.

12.93.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How should a righteous king, wishing to stand firm in dharma, conduct himself? This I ask you, O best of the Kurus; tell it to me, grandfather.

12.93.2 Bhīṣma said: On this they tell an ancient tale, sung by the wise Vāmadeva, who had perceived the very truth of things.

12.93.3 A king named Vasumanas, ruler of the Kosalas, mighty and pure, questioned the great sage, the renowned Vāmadeva.

12.93.4 'Instruct me, blessed one, with words that hold both dharma and artha—by what conduct, standing firm, I may not fall away from my own dharma.'

12.93.5 To him spoke Vāmadeva, that ascetic, foremost of those who murmur the sacred prayers, as the king sat attending upon him, golden-hued, like Yayāti the son of Nahuṣa.

12.93.6 Follow dharma alone, for nothing higher than dharma is known; for it is kings established in dharma who conquer this earth.

12.93.7 The king who holds dharma higher than the winning of wealth, and makes his understanding true, shines forth by his dharma.

12.93.8 The king whose vision is set on unrighteousness, who acts by sheer force, swiftly falls away from this world, losing both the first end and the middle.

12.93.9 The slayer of dharma, with wicked and basest counselors, fit for the world to put to death, swiftly sinks to ruin together with his whole retinue.

12.93.10 He who attends not to his proper aims, who follows his own whim and boasts loudly, though he win the whole earth, swiftly comes to destruction.

12.93.11 But the wise king who takes hold of what is good, free of malice and master of his senses, grows great, as the ocean grows by its inflowing streams.

12.93.12 Let the lord of the earth never think, 'I am full'—neither in dharma, nor in desire, nor in wealth, nor in understanding, nor in friends—at any time.

12.93.13 For upon all these the course of the world is founded; and one who gives ear to these gains glory, renown, fortunes, and subjects.

12.93.14 Thus the king who is zealous for dharma, who ponders well both dharma and artha, and who undertakes his ventures after due reflection, surely attains greatness.

12.93.15 The king who gives nothing, who shows no warmth, who drives his people on with the rod and is rash by nature, swiftly comes to destruction.

12.93.16 And the fool who does evil knowingly yet does not see it, burdened with infamy besides, when dead attains to hell.

12.93.17 But of the king who honors others, who gives, who is upright and knows the savor of things, when calamity befalls him men long to ward it off as though it were their own.

12.93.18 He who has no teacher in dharma and asks no counsel of others, who is given over to ease in his pursuit of gain, does not long enjoy greatness.

12.93.19 He who holds his teacher foremost in matters of dharma, yet examines questions of profit for himself, and who keeps dharma foremost among the worlds — he long enjoys greatness.

12.94.1 Vāmadeva said: Where the stronger man works injustice upon the weaker, those who follow in his train take up that same way of life and live by it.

12.94.2 They follow that king who sets evil in motion, that ill-disciplined man — and swiftly does such a realm perish.

12.94.3 The very conduct by which men live under a king who keeps his proper course, even his own kin will not endure in one who has gone astray.

12.94.4 Where a king of reckless temper does some monstrous deed, a king who bears not the mark of the scriptures swiftly comes to ruin.

12.94.5 The Kṣatriya who does not follow the conduct long established toward the conquered and the unconquered falls away from the dharma of warriors.

12.94.6 The king who, having captured in battle a hostile foe who has done his deeds well, fails out of malice to honor him, falls away from the dharma of warriors.

12.94.7 Let the king, though powerful, be of gracious countenance, and show compassion in distress; thus he becomes dear to all beings and does not fall from his fortune.

12.94.8 To one whom he has wronged, let him afterward do a greater kindness; for in a little while he becomes dear who, having displeased, then renders a pleasing deed.

12.94.9 Let him shun all false speech and do kindness unasked; neither from desire, nor from fury, nor from hatred let him cast off dharma.

12.94.10 Let him not be shamed by questions, nor utter a word that can be assailed; let him not be hasty, nor envious — thus is another won over.

12.94.11 In what is pleasant let him not rejoice overmuch, and in the unpleasant let him not be inflamed; let him not lose his bearings in straits of policy, ever mindful of the welfare of his people.

12.94.12 The lord of the earth who, by his virtues, ever does what is pleasing — his undertakings prosper, and fortune does not forsake him.

12.94.13 Let the king favor the devoted man who has turned from hostile courses and walks in ways agreeable to him — for that, here, is the conduct of the good.

12.94.14 The man of well-governed senses, wise, wholly loyal, pure, capable and devoted — him let the king employ in a great office.

12.94.15 But even one so endowed with virtues, who feels no attachment to the king and who grudges his master's interests — such a man let him not employ in any office.

12.94.16 The dullard, the slave of his senses, the greedy, the ignoble in conduct, the deceitful, one who has not passed the tests of integrity, the cruel, the ill-minded, the unlearned —

12.94.17 the man who abandons what he has taken up, who is given to drink, addicted to dice, women, and the hunt — the king who employs such a one in a great task is cut off from his fortune.

12.94.18 But the king who guards himself and protects those who are to be protected — his subjects flourish, and he surely attains greatness.

12.94.19 Let him keep watch upon all the lords of the earth, whoever they may be, through trusted friends who go unrecognized; thus the king comes to no harm.

12.94.20 Having injured one who is strong, let him not feel secure thinking, "I am far away"; for such men, ranging like hawks, swoop down upon him who grows heedless.

12.94.21 Firmly rooted and of unblemished soul, having gauged his own strength, let him march against the weak — but not against those who are stronger than he.

12.94.22 Having won the earth by valor and protecting his subjects by dharma, let the king, devoted to dharma, meet his end in battle.

12.94.23 All this ends in death; nothing here is free from decay. Therefore let the king, established in dharma, protect his subjects by dharma.

12.94.24 The office of protection, warfare, the administration of dharma, deliberation upon counsel, and timely ease — by these five the realm increases.

12.94.25 He for whom these are kept secure — that king, O best of kings, ever abiding in them, enjoys this earth.

12.94.26 These cannot be watched over unremittingly by one man alone; setting trustworthy men over them, the king enjoys the earth for long.

12.94.27 The giver, the one who shares fairly, the man of gentle bearing, the pure, who does not abandon his people — him the people make their beloved.

12.94.28 But he who, recognizing the highest good, takes up that knowledge, casting aside his own opinion — him the world follows.

12.94.29 He who, out of contrariness, will not bear the word of one who seeks his good, shall before long, dejected, hear words contrary to his wishes.

12.94.30 He who fails utterly to grasp the wisdom of a conduct above the common — toward the conquered and the unconquered alike — falls away from the dharma of warriors.

12.94.31 He who, forsaking his chief ministers, takes base men for his favorites, when calamity befalls him finds no firm ground in his deep distress.

12.94.32 He who out of hatred holds in no esteem his kinsmen of excellent qualities — irresolute in soul, yet fixed in wrath — his fortune does not delight to dwell near him.

12.94.33 But he who, by kindness, makes obedient to him men endowed with virtues, even though they be unpleasing to his heart, abides long in renown.

12.94.34 Let him not press his interests out of season, nor ever be inflamed at what displeases him, nor rejoice overmuch at what pleases him; let him keep to wholesome action.

12.94.35 Which kings are attached to me in love, which have taken refuge with me out of fear, and which among them are tainted by neutrality — this let him ever ponder.

12.94.36 Having grown strong, let him never trust a weaker man in any matter; for these, like the bhāruṇḍa birds, swoop down upon him who grows heedless.

12.94.37 Even a master endowed with all virtues and gentle of speech the evil-souled man will betray; therefore let him stand in wary dread of such people.

12.94.38 This secret science of kings Yayāti, son of Nahuṣa, proclaimed; intent upon the conquest of men, the king destroys even his most matchless foes.

12.95.1 Vāmadeva said: Let the lord of the earth enlarge his victory without war; for the victory won through war, O ruler of men, they call the lowest kind.

12.95.2 Nor let him seek to gain what he has not gained while his foundation is not yet firm; for to a king whose base is weak no gain is ordained.

12.95.3 He whose realm is thriving and prosperous, whose people love their king, whose ministers are contented and well-nourished — that prince is firmly rooted.

12.95.4 He whose warriors are well content, conciliated, and proven loyal under tests of integrity — that king conquers the earth with even a small army.

12.95.5 He whose townsfolk and countryfolk are well affected and well honored, rich in wealth and grain — that prince is firmly rooted.

12.95.6 When the wise king judges both his power and the season to be in his favor, then let him seek to gain another's land and wealth.

12.95.7 For him who spares not himself in indulgence yet is compassionate to all beings, who is diligent and self-controlled, the dominion grows.

12.95.8 He hews at his own self, as one hews a forest with an axe, who deals falsely with his own people when they conduct themselves rightly.

12.95.9 The enemies of a king who slays them perpetually are nonetheless never exhausted; but he who knows how to curb his wrath has no enemy at all.

12.95.10 Let the wise man not do that deed which the noble hold in hatred; whatever is good, let him set his mind upon it and bend himself to it.

12.95.11 That king whom others do not despise, who is not consumed by self-reproach, and who seeks his pleasures only with what remains after duty is done —

12.95.12 the lord of the earth who walks in such conduct among men, having conquered both worlds, is firmly established in victory.

12.95.13 Bhīṣma said: Thus counseled by Vāmadeva, the king did all of it; and you too, by acting so, shall conquer both these worlds — there is no doubt.

12.96.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Now when one Kṣatriya seeks to conquer another in battle, what victory of his is righteous? Being asked this, tell it to me.

12.96.2 Bhīṣma said: With aid or without aid, a king, having entered a realm, should declare: "I am your king, and I shall ever protect you."

12.96.3 "Render unto me the tribute that is lawful — or how will you receive me?" If they then choose him who has come, it shall be well.

12.96.4 But if those who are not Kṣatriyas should oppose him in any way, O ruler of men, they who stand in wrongful action must be restrained by every means.

12.96.5 Then another, deeming the Kṣatriya powerless, takes up arms, judging him utterly unable even to protect himself.

12.96.6 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Now when a Kṣatriya king marches against another Kṣatriya, how is he to be fought against? Tell me that, grandfather.

12.96.7 Bhīṣma said: A Kṣatriya not arrayed for battle and without armor must not be fought in war; one is to be matched with one, and he should be told, "Loose your weapon, and I shall loose mine."

12.96.8 If he comes arrayed for battle, then one must array oneself; if he comes with an army, then with an army let one challenge him.

12.96.9 If he fights with treachery, with counter-stratagem let one fight him; but if he fights by dharma, then by dharma alone let one ward him off.

12.96.10 Let him not assail a chariot-warrior with cavalry; a chariot-warrior should advance against a chariot-warrior. One must not strike at a man in distress, nor at one who is afraid, nor at one already vanquished.

12.96.11 Let no arrow be smeared with poison, nor be barbed — such is the weapon of the wicked. One must fight only for victory; let him not rage against one who seeks not to slay.

12.96.12 But if, through a falling-out among the good, a good man should come to grief, he must not be struck if he is wounded, nor in any case if he is without offspring.

12.96.13 The man whose weapon is broken, whose horse is fallen, whose bowstring is cut, whose mount is slain — he should be tended in one's own domain, or be enabled to reach his own home; and even if unwounded he must be set free. This is the eternal dharma.

12.96.14 Therefore one must fight by dharma, so Manu the self-born declared; the dharma of the good is ever upheld among the good — abiding in it, let him not bring it to ruin.

12.96.15 The Kṣatriya, waxing in power, who conquers by unrighteousness, slays himself by himself — a wicked man, living by treachery.

12.96.16 This is the way of the wicked; let one conquer the wicked by good means. Better is death in righteousness than victory by an evil deed.

12.96.17 Unrighteousness, once done, O king, does not bear fruit at once, like the earth; but, burning, it comes after its doer's roots and branches alike.

12.96.18 Having gained wealth by an evil deed, the wicked man rejoices; and that wicked man, waxing by theft, clings ever more to evil.

12.96.19 Thinking, "There is no such thing as dharma," mocking, as it were, the pure-hearted, through his unbelieving disposition he comes to destruction.

12.96.20 Bound by the nooses of Varuṇa, he yet fancies himself immortal; swollen like a great leather bag, he keeps puffing himself up by his own doing.

12.96.21 Then he is swept away root and all, like a tree from a river's bank; and men revile him, like a pot shattered upon a stone. Therefore let the king, if he would, seek his victory by dharma.

12.97.1 Bhīṣma said: Let not the lord of the world seek to conquer the earth by unrighteousness; what king, having won a victory by unrighteousness, would approve of it?

12.97.2 A victory bound up with unrighteousness is fleeting and bars the way to heaven; it brings down both the king and his realm, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.97.3 The man whose armor is shattered, who says, "I am yours," who folds his hands in supplication and has laid down his weapon — having captured him, one must not do him harm.

12.97.4 He who has been overcome by force — the king must not fight him further; let him keep him in custody for a year, and thereafter he becomes as one reborn.

12.97.5 A maiden carried off by force must not be touched before a year is out; and even so all wealth and whatever else has been seized by violence.

12.97.6 Yet the wealth should not stand idle and barren; let the Brāhmaṇas drink the milk, or let the oxen be yoked to labor — or else forbearance may then be shown.

12.97.7 By a king a king alone is to be fought — thus is the dharma ordained; no other, who is not of royal blood, should in any way assail a king.

12.97.8 If, when two armies stand arrayed against each other, a brāhmaṇa should pass between them desiring peace from both sides, then there must be no fighting; whoever transgresses against that brāhmaṇa breaks an eternal bound.

12.97.9 And if one who merely calls himself a kṣatriya should overstep this bound, he shall thereafter be without honor, and his word shall carry no weight in the assembly.

12.97.10 The king who would conquer should not pursue any course that destroys dharma and shatters the bounds; for what gain could be greater than a victory won in accord with dharma?

12.97.11 Having swiftly bent the people to his will, he should quickly win them over with conciliation and the granting of enjoyments: this is the highest policy of kings.

12.97.12 For those who are exploited without justice, scorched within their own realm, will turn to attend upon his enemies, awaiting the flood of his misfortunes.

12.97.13 And in his hour of distress they would swiftly side with the foe, O king—wholly disaffected and longing for the king's ruin.

12.97.14 An enemy must never be utterly mutilated nor pressed past all bearing; for a man pressed too far will one day cast away his very life.

12.97.15 Even the wrongdoer, granted some little thing, is content; and one in such straits prizes even his bare life highly.

12.97.16 He whose realm is thriving and prosperous, whose king is beloved, whose servants and ministers are content—that ruler stands firm-rooted.

12.97.17 He by whom the officiating priests, the household chaplain, the teachers, and all others esteemed for sacred learning—those worthy of honor—are duly honored, he indeed is called a conqueror of the worlds.

12.97.18 By this very conduct the foremost of the gods won the earth; and following Indra's victory, kings too have sought to conquer.

12.97.19 Having vanquished a king in battle, Pratardana seized the conquered city but spared its land, and carried off again and again its life-giving healing herbs.

12.97.20 Divodāsa carried off the sacred fires, the remnants of the fire, the oblations, and the very sacrificial vessels; therefore he came to be reviled.

12.97.21 Nābhāga gave away whole kingdoms together with their kings as sacrificial fee, save only the property of vedic scholars and of ascetics, O Bhārata.

12.97.22 Manifold and varied, O Yudhiṣṭhira, were the ways of the ancient kings who knew dharma; and all of it is approved by me.

12.97.23 Or let the king who desires his own prosperity seek victory through surpassing mastery of every branch of knowledge—never through deceit, never through fraud.

12.98.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: There is no dharma more grievous than the dharma of the kṣatriya, O bull of the Bhāratas, for in marching forth and in battle the king destroys a great multitude of people.

12.98.2 Then tell me, O learned one, O bull of the Bhāratas, to me who longs to know: by what deed does a king win the higher worlds?

12.98.3 Bhīṣma said: By the restraint of the wicked and the support of the good, by sacrifices and by gifts, kings become pure and free of stain.

12.98.4 Kings bent on conquest press hard upon living beings; yet those same kings, once victory is won, make their subjects flourish again.

12.98.5 They cast off their sins by the power of gift, sacrifice, and austerity; and through their grace toward living beings their merit grows.

12.98.6 Just as a weeder of a field, weeding it once, destroys the brush together with the grain, yet the grain itself is not lost—

12.98.7 so those who loose their weapons slay, on one occasion, those fit to be slain; and the full atonement for that is the fostering of living beings thereafter.

12.98.8 He who protects living beings from loss of wealth, from slaughter, and from affliction, and saves their lives from robbers—he is a giver of wealth, a giver of happiness, a sovereign in splendor.

12.98.9 That king, having sacrificed with all the sacrifices whose fee is the gift of fearlessness, enjoys blessings here and attains to dwelling in the same world as Indra.

12.98.10 When a cause arises for the sake of the brāhmaṇas, he who marches forth and fights, raising his own self as the sacrificial post—his is a sacrifice of boundless fee.

12.98.11 Fearless, scattering his foes and likewise receiving their arrows—the gods behold nothing on earth more excellent than such a man.

12.98.12 As many weapons as pierce his skin in the fray, so many imperishable worlds does he enjoy, yielding every desire.

12.98.13 The blood that flows from the wounds of his body is no defilement; rather, by that very blood he is released from all his sins.

12.98.14 Whatever pains he endures in the searing of his wounds—there is no austerity greater than that, so the knowers of dharma have understood.

12.98.15 In the rear of the battle linger the cowards, the basest of men, seeking shelter from the brave man as one seeks life-giving rain from the cloud.

12.98.16 If the brave man would shield them in safety as he does in danger, men would render him fitting honor—yet it does not work out so.

12.98.17 If they, knowing what he has done, would always bow to him and act toward him with fitness and justice—but it does not work out so.

12.98.18 Among men seemingly equal a great difference is seen in battle, at the hour when the ranks clash, amid the war-cries and the charging onset.

12.98.19 The brave man falls facing the foe; the coward flees, taking a road that leads not to heaven, abandoning his comrades in the moment of peril.

12.98.20 Never beget such men, my son—those basest of men who, abandoning their comrades in battle, went home unscathed and pleased with themselves.

12.98.21 The gods, with Indra at their head, work woe upon them—those who by deserting their comrades seek to save their own lives.

12.98.22 Such a man the kṣatriyas should strike down with sticks and clods, or burn with a fire of straw, or slaughter like a beast—those kṣatriyas who are of true worth.

12.98.23 This is the kṣatriya's disgrace: that his death should come upon a bed, spilling phlegm and bile, wailing piteously.

12.98.24 The kṣatriya who meets his dissolution with body unwounded—those who know the ancient lore do not praise that act of his.

12.98.25 Death at home, my son, is not commended for kṣatriyas; for the proud, that is ignoble, contrary to dharma, and wretched.

12.98.26 "Ah, this is pain, this is anguish, this is the bitterest of woes"—so groaning, his face wasted away, his body foul, causing much grief to his ministers—

12.98.27 he envies the healthy and again and again longs even for death; the hero, proud and high of spirit, deserves no such death as this.

12.98.28 Having wrought havoc in battle, ringed by his kinsmen, sorely torn by keen weapons—such a death the kṣatriya deserves.

12.98.29 For the brave man, possessed by truth and righteous wrath, fights fiercely, and does not even feel his limbs being hewn apart by his foes.

12.98.30 Meeting his end in battle—an end lauded and honored by the world—having fulfilled his own ample dharma, he attains to dwelling in the world of Śakra.

12.98.31 Every warrior, resolved to strike down the foe and ready to cast away his life—the brave man who never shows his back—attains to dwelling in the world of Indra.

12.99.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What worlds belong to brave warriors who fight without ever turning back, once they have met their end? Tell me that, O grandfather.

12.99.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale, the dialogue of Ambarīṣa and Indra, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.99.3 For Ambarīṣa, son of Nābhāga, having reached that heaven so hard to win, beheld dwelling in the world of the gods, alongside Śakra, his own minister—

12.99.4 his own lord and commander-in-chief, formed all of radiance, seated in a splendid celestial chariot, rising higher and higher.

12.99.5 Seeing his commander rising above him, that noble-minded one, beholding the glory of Sudeva, spoke in wonder to Vāsava:

12.99.6 "Having ruled the whole earth bounded by the sea, in due order, governing the four orders according to scripture, devoted out of love for dharma;

12.99.7 having through stern chastity and service in the teacher's house studied the Vedas in the way of dharma, and the science of kingship complete;

12.99.8 having honored guests with food and drink, the ancestors with offerings, the seers with private study and consecrations, and the gods with unsurpassed sacrifices;

12.99.9 and standing firm in the dharma of the kṣatriya, as scripture and rule prescribe, surveying the host I conquer in battle, O Vāsava—

12.99.10 O king of the gods, this Sudeva, who was once my commander, a warrior of serene spirit—why does he so far surpass me?

12.99.11 He sacrificed not with the foremost rites, nor were the twice-born duly satisfied by him, O Śakra—why then does he so far surpass me?"

12.99.12 Indra said: Of this Sudeva, my son, a mighty battle-sacrifice was spread out—as it is for any other man who fights.

12.99.13 It is settled doctrine that every warrior, armored and consecrated, having reached the front of the host, stands invested with the office of the battle-sacrifice.

12.99.14 Ambarīṣa said: What are the oblations in this sacrifice, what the clarified butter, and what the fee? And who are called the officiating priests here? Tell me that, O Śatakratu.

12.99.15 Indra said: There the elephants are the officiating priests, the horses the adhvaryu priests; the choicest flesh is the oblation, and the blood is the clarified butter.

12.99.16 The jackals, vultures, and ravens are the assessors and partakers of the session; these drink the remnant of the butter and consume the oblation in that sacrifice.

12.99.17 The clusters of barbed darts and lances, the swords, spears, and battle-axes, blazing, sharpened, and burnished—these are the sacrificial ladles of him who holds the session.

12.99.18 The arrow, sped by the force of the bow, keen, cleaving the bodies of the foe, straight, well-whetted, and burnished—that is his great offering-spoon.

12.99.19 The sword bound with leopard-hide, its hilt wrought of ivory, grasped in a hand strong as an elephant's trunk—that becomes his wooden sword of the rite in the battle.

12.99.20 The smiting with the blazing, whetted, burnished darts, spears, and axes, keen and forged of well-tempered iron—that is his wealth of oblation.

12.99.21 And the blood that, by the rush of onset, streams upon the ground in battle—that is his full and abundant final oblation poured into the fire, yielding every desire.

12.99.22 He at the front of whose host this cry is heard, "Cut! Cleave!"—for him the chanters sing the Sāman hymns in the abode of Yama.

12.99.23 They call the front of the enemy's host his oblation-shed; the massed array of elephants, horses, and armored men—that is the fire named Śyenacit, ordained in his sacrifice.

12.99.24 And the headless trunk that rises up here when a thousand have been slain—that is called the eight-cornered sacrificial post of khadira-wood for that hero.

12.99.25 The elephants, goaded by the hook, trumpet the call of the Iḍā invocation; with the resounding clap of palms and the cry of Vaṣaṭ, O king, the war-drum sounding its triple Sāman is held to be the chanting priest in that battle.

12.99.26 He who, when the property of brāhmaṇas is being carried off, gives up his beloved body in battle, raising his own self as the sacrificial post—his is a sacrifice of boundless fee.

12.99.27 The brave man who, for his lord's sake, would show his prowess at the front of the host and would not turn back through fear—his worlds are even as mine.

12.99.28 He whose sacrificial altar is strewn over with swords shaped like the dark moon and with arms like iron clubs—his worlds are even as mine.

12.99.29 He who, bent on victory, looks to no comrade for aid and plunges into the very midst of the host—his worlds are even as mine.

12.99.30 He for whom the clustered lances are the rafts, the kettle-drums the frogs and turtles, the bones of heroes the gravel, hard to ford, its mire flesh and blood—

12.99.31 a river whose rafts are swords and shields, whose moss and water-grass is human hair, bridged over with shattered horses, elephants, and chariots;

12.99.32 its reeds and rushes banners and standards, its current a stream of slain mounts, its waters blood, brimful, hard to cross even for men who would reach the farther shore;

12.99.33 with slain elephants for its great crocodiles, dreadful, bearing men to the other world, its sandbanks heaped with pikes, swords, and standards, with vultures and herons floating upon it—

12.99.34 Haunted by flesh-eating creatures, breeding faintness in cowards—such is the river. In the great sacrifice of war that is held to be the warrior's final ablution.

12.99.35 He whose altar is strewn with the heads of his foes, with the shoulders of horses and the shoulders of elephants—his are worlds such as mine.

12.99.36 He for whom the vanguard of the enemy's host serves as the wife's pavilion, and his own troops as the oblation-shed—so the wise declare.

12.99.37 The assembly-hall is the fire amid the contending warriors, and the priest's fire-shed lies toward the north—the consort of the enemy's army has all the worlds close at hand.

12.99.38 When the array is drawn up on both sides with open ground in front, that is his altar; and in this sacrifice the three Vedas are ever the three fires.

12.99.39 But the warrior who turns away and, panic-stricken, is slain by his foes goes to a bottomless hell—of this there is no doubt.

12.99.40 He by whose surging blood a river is made to overflow, thick with hair and flesh and bone, attains the supreme state.

12.99.41 He who slays the enemy's commander and mounts his chariot strides with the stride of Viṣṇu; his is a sacrifice equal to that of Bṛhaspati.

12.99.42 He who takes captive alive a leader, or a chief authority, or whoever is honored there—his are worlds such as mine.

12.99.43 For the hero slain in battle one should never grieve; the slain hero is beyond mourning—he is exalted in the world of heaven.

12.99.44 For the slain hero men perform no rite of food, no water-offering, no bath, no observance of impurity—hear from me the worlds that are his.

12.99.45 Thousands of choice apsarases rush headlong toward the hero slain in battle, each crying, 'Let him be my husband!'

12.99.46 This is austerity, this is merit, this is the eternal dharma, and these are the four stages of life—for the man who does not flee in battle.

12.99.47 The aged force is not to be killed, nor a woman, nor a brāhmaṇa, nor one who takes a blade of grass in his mouth and says, 'I am yours.'

12.99.48 I slew Vṛtra, Bala, Pāka, Virocana of the hundred wiles, the irresistible Namuci, and Śambara of manifold deceits;

12.99.49 and the Daitya Vipracitti, and all the sons of Danu, and Prahrāda—having slain them in battle, I then became lord of the gods.

12.99.50 Bhīṣma said: Having heard and taken to heart this speech of Śakra, Ambarīṣa came to understand the perfection attainable by warriors and by himself.

12.100.1 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale—the battle that Pratardana and the king of Mithilā waged together.

12.100.2 Hear, Yudhiṣṭhira, how Janaka of Mithilā, wearing the sacred thread, roused his warriors to ardor upon the field of battle.

12.100.3 King Janaka of Mithilā, the great-souled one who knew all truths, revealed to his warriors both heaven and hell.

12.100.4 'Behold! These shining worlds belong to the fearless—filled with the daughters of the gandharvas, granting every desire, and imperishable.

12.100.5 And these hells stand ready for those who flee—everlasting infamy, and a fall to follow at once.'

12.100.6 'Seeing those foes, conquer them, your minds resolved upon self-surrender; do not fall under the sway of the bottomless hell.

12.100.7 For self-sacrifice is the root of heroes' unsurpassed gateway to heaven.' So addressed by the king, O conqueror of enemy cities, those warriors—

12.100.8 —vanquished their foes in the fray, gladdening their lord of men. Therefore the self-possessed man should ever stand firm at the head of battle.

12.100.9 Amid the elephants the chariot-warriors, behind the chariots the horsemen, and between the horsemen the mailed foot-soldiers should be stationed.

12.100.10 The king who arrays his forces thus ever conquers his enemies; therefore it should always be ordered in this way, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.100.11 All, desiring merit, full of fierce wrath through good fighting, would shake the enemy ranks as sea-monsters churn the ocean.

12.100.12 They should cheer the dejected and steady one another; one should guard the ground that has been won, and not pursue the routed too far.

12.100.13 The onset of men who turn back to fight and have despaired of life cannot easily be withstood, O king; therefore do not pursue too far.

12.100.14 For heroes have no wish to strike those who run off in fear; therefore one should not press the pursuit of those who flee.

12.100.15 The motionless are food for the moving, the fangless for the fanged, the handless for those who have hands—and cowards are food for the hero.

12.100.16 Though equal in back and belly, in hand and foot, cowards follow the hero from behind; and so, tormented by fear, bowing low and folding their hands, they wait upon the brave.

12.100.17 Upon the arms of heroes this world ever leans, as a child upon its parent; therefore in every circumstance the hero deserves honor.

12.100.18 For in the three worlds there is nothing higher than valor; the hero protects all, and upon the hero all things rest.

12.101.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How those who seek victory lead an army, even by straining dharma a little—tell me that, O grandfather, bull of the Bhāratas.

12.101.2 Bhīṣma said: Some duties rest upon truth, others upon sound reasoning, some upon the conduct of the good, and some upon expediency. I shall expound the duties of expedient means, which fulfill the aims of both profit and dharma.

12.101.3 Lawless brigands become highway-robbers; to counter them I shall set forth the established usage. Learn from me those expedients for the accomplishment of one's ends.

12.101.4 Two kinds of wisdom must be known, O Bhārata—the straight and the crooked. Knowing the crooked, one should not practice it, yet should repel it when it comes.

12.101.5 Enemies indeed approach a king through the sowing of dissension; knowing that deceit, the king beats them back as he would foes.

12.101.6 The flank-hides of elephants, of bulls and great serpents, porcupine-quill plate and iron—these are reckoned as body-armor.

12.101.7 The weapons should be sharpened and burnished, the coats of mail tawny-red, and the pennants and standards dyed in many colors.

12.101.8 Swords, lances, blades, and whetted battle-axes, shields and bucklers—these are to be prepared in great numbers; the weapons well-tempered, and the warriors well-trained.

12.101.9 The mustering of the army is commended in the month of Caitra or of Mārgaśīrṣa, for then the earth bears ripened grain and abundant water.

12.101.10 The season then is neither too cold nor too hot, O Bhārata; therefore one should mobilize at that time, or in the seasons of the enemy's distress—such occasions for marshaling an army are commended for harrying the foe.

12.101.11 A road with water and grass, level and passable, is to be preferred—one well reconnoitered beforehand by skilled scouts versed in the forests.

12.101.12 Through fresh wildwoods it would be no more possible to march than for herds of deer; therefore those who seek victory employ scouts in every army.

12.101.13 A camp that has water, is hard of access, and has open ground around it is commended, for thereby the enemy's infiltrators are repulsed.

12.101.14 But open ground near a forest is held more advantageous, on account of its many merits, by men skilled in war.

12.101.15 The posting of spies, the concealment of foot-soldiers, the repelling of the enemy, and a refuge against calamity—

12.101.16 —placing the Seven Sages at their back, they would fight unshaken as mountains. By this method, O king, one may seek to conquer even the unconquerable.

12.101.17 Where the wind is, where the sun is, where Śukra is—there is victory; and of these, each former is the more important when they meet, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.101.18 Free of mire, free of water, unbounded, free of clods—such ground for cavalry men skilled in war commend.

12.101.19 Level, waterless, and open ground is commended for chariots; ground with low trees, tall grass, and water is for those who fight on elephants.

12.101.20 Ground full of fastnesses, great trees, overspread with reeds and bamboo, and the mountains and groves—such terrain is fit for foot-soldiers.

12.101.21 An army rich in foot-soldiers is steadfast, O Bhārata; an army rich in chariots and horses is commended in fair weather.

12.101.22 One rich in foot-soldiers and elephants is commended in the rainy season. Weighing these qualities, one should make use of place and time.

12.101.23 He who, having pondered thus, marches forth, honoring the lunar day and the asterism, ever wins victory, marshaling his army aright.

12.101.24 One should not strike those asleep, thirsty, weary, or scattered, nor at the time of release, of march, of movement, or of drinking and eating.

12.101.25 Those flung far off, those scattered apart, those struck down, those reduced to small numbers, those grown over-confident, those engaged in some undertaking, those inflamed by intrigue—having set spies abroad as agents who follow them to their dwellings—

12.101.26 —at the gate that has come down by tradition, whoever are the attendants, the warders of service, and whatever bold and dashing men there are—

12.101.27 —those who break the enemy's ranks and those who close up a broken line—these are to be given equal food and drink and double wages.

12.101.28 Captains over ten should be appointed, and likewise captains over a hundred; and over them one should set as captain of a thousand a hero who is never slothful.

12.101.29 Assembling them by rank of precedence, one should say: 'Let us swear that for the sake of victory in battle we shall not forsake one another.

12.101.30 Let any cowards among us turn back here and now, lest by making a breach in the uproar of battle they get us killed.

12.101.31 He who flees in combat destroys both himself and his own side; in flight there is loss of property, slaughter, infamy, and disgrace.

12.101.32 Ugly and joyless are the words of the man who flees, his lips and teeth quivering, all his weapons cast aside.

12.101.33 As for him who flees, abandoning his comrades when their lives hang in the balance, hemmed in by his foes—let such a fate be our enemies', not ours.

12.101.34 For those who turn their backs are the dregs of men; they merely swell the heap of the dead, gaining nothing here or hereafter.

12.101.35 With glad hearts the enemies go out to meet the man who flees; but friends, my son, greet the victor with salutations and with blessings.

12.101.36 He at whose misfortune, O king, his enemies rejoice—that, I deem, is a sorrow harder to bear even than death.'

12.101.37 'Know prosperity to be the root of dharma and of all happiness; from cowards she passes to others, but the hero attains her.

12.101.38 We, then, longing for heaven, our lives laid down in battle, whether conquering or being slain, deserve to win the goodly path.'

12.101.39 Thus having sworn their oath together, having wholly given up their lives, the fearless heroes plunge into the enemy's host.

12.101.40 In front should be a phalanx of men bearing sword and shield, behind a line of wagons, and the noncombatants in the middle.

12.101.41 For repelling the enemy and concealing the foot-soldiers; for upon this the foe would grow greedy—those of them who advance in the van.

12.101.42 Those esteemed for the front rank, courageous and high-spirited, should advance first, and the rest of the men close behind them.

12.101.43 And even the cowards should be roused to ardor with effort; or let them at least stand close by, merely showing their shoulders.

12.101.44 A small force one should make fight in close formation, but a large one may be spread out at will; against a numerous foe, a small force's array should be needle-pointed.

12.101.45 When the battle is joined, or when spirits are high, whether it be true or false, one should raise his arms and cry aloud, 'The enemy are broken, broken!'

12.101.46 "Our ally's host has come—strike, and have no fear!" Raising a fearsome din, they should rush forward with their war-cries.

12.101.47 Let them sound their roars and shrill cries, their conches, krakaca-rattles and cow-horns, their kettledrums, tabors and small drums—and make the war-elephants trumpet.

12.102.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Of what character, O Bhārata, of what bearing and of what aspect, what armor and what weapons should the men be who are to stand in battle, O king?

12.102.2 Bhīṣma said: A man's weapon and his armor are assigned here according to his custom, for it is according to his upbringing that a man conducts himself in his deeds.

12.102.3 The Gāndhāras, the Sindhus and the Sauvīras fight with claw-blades and lances; the Ābhīras are very strong, and their force is one that prevails everywhere.

12.102.4 The Uśīnaras are skilled in every weapon and full of mettle; the men of the east are skilled in elephant-warfare, though they fight by guile.

12.102.5 So too the Yavanas and the Kāmbojas, and those who dwell about Mathurā, are skilled in close combat; the southerners are men of sword and shield.

12.102.6 Heroes of great spirit and great strength are born everywhere. This much has been told in the main; now hear from me the marks of a warrior.

12.102.7 Those whose voice and eyes are like a lion's or a tiger's, whose gait is like a lion's or a tiger's, whose eyes are like a dove's or a sparrow's—all such are heroes, crushers of their foes.

12.102.8 Others with a wild beast's voice and a leopard's eyes, with a bull's eyes, loud of speech, exceedingly fierce, wrathful, with a voice like a kiṃnarī's—

12.102.9 some with a voice like thunder and an angry face, some with a young-camel's bellow; with crooked noses and slender shanks, who range far and strike at a distance—

12.102.10 hunched like a cat, lean, with thin hair and thin skin, brave and restless of mind—such men prove hard to withstand.

12.102.11 Some whose eyes are half-closed like an iguana's, and mild by nature, who in motion sound like the tramp of horses—these men are capable of carrying a thing through.

12.102.12 Well-knit, slender, broad-chested and well-formed, they dance when the drums sound and rejoice in quarrels.

12.102.13 Deep-eyed or with protruding eyes, tawny-hued, knit-browed of face, or with eyes like a mongoose's—all such are heroes ready to give up their bodies.

12.102.14 Squint-eyed, with jutting foreheads, with fleshless jaws, with crooked arms and clenched fingers, gaunt and laced over with veins—

12.102.15 when the clash is at hand they plunge in with great speed; like elephants in rut they prove hard to withstand.

12.102.16 With blazing, bristling hair, with thick flanks, jaws and faces, with high shoulders and broad necks, grim of look and with thick calves—

12.102.17 with prominent eyes yet handsome necks, and stooped like birds; round-headed, with a serpent's mouth, or faces like a cat's—

12.102.18 fierce-voiced, full of fury, who go forward in battle with a roar, ignorant of dharma and arrogant, dreadful and terrible to behold—

12.102.19 all these, careless of their lives, lowborn and never turning back, should always be set in the van of the army: they are slain, and they slay.

12.102.20 Lawless and of broken conduct, their ruin is itself a good thing; for in just this way they rise up again and again in rage even against their own king.

12.103.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What, O bull among men, are the auspicious signs of an army destined to win victory? These I wish to learn here.

12.103.2 Bhīṣma said: The auspicious signs that mark an army destined to win victory, O bull among men, all of these I shall tell you in full.

12.103.3 When the appointed time has summoned a human venture, fate first sets to work upon it; this the wise perceive with the far-reaching eye of knowledge.

12.103.4 And those who know such things, performing here the rites of expiation, their mutterings and oblations and acts of blessing, lay to rest even the ill-omened.

12.103.5 The army in which the warriors and the mounts alike are high of heart—of that army, O Bhārata, one may surely foretell victory.

12.103.6 When the winds blow at its back, and the rainbows of Indra, and the clouds and the sun's rays follow behind it—

12.103.7 and when jackals, crows and vultures move along with the host on the favorable side, then its success is unsurpassed.

12.103.8 When the sacred fire is bright of flame, its rays mounting upward, its tongue curling to the right and free of smoke, and the holy fragrances of the oblations waft abroad—this, they say, is the sign of victory to come.

12.103.9 Where the conches and kettledrums sound deep and resounding, and where the men are eager to fight and not set against it—this, they say, is the sign of victory to come.

12.103.10 For those who have set out or are about to set out, deer behind and on the left are auspicious; for those who mean to strike, deer on the right betoken success; but those that cross in front forbid it.

12.103.11 When the birds cry with auspicious voices—geese, curlews, woodpeckers and blue jays—and the warriors are glad and full of spirit—this, they say, is the sign of victory to come.

12.103.12 Those whose host is radiant and hard to look upon for the bright gleam of weapons, armor, banners and standards and for the fair faces and the bright complexions of its young men—they overcome their enemies.

12.103.13 Those whose warriors are obedient and free of vanity, who hold to friendship with one another and keep themselves pure—this, they say, is the sign of victory to come.

12.103.14 When the sounds, the touches and the scents that move about are pleasing to the mind, and firmness enters into the warriors—that is the face of victory.

12.103.15 For one who has entered, the omen on the left is favorable; for one about to enter, the right; an omen behind accomplishes the aim, while one in front forbids it.

12.103.16 Having gathered a great army of the four arms, O Yudhiṣṭhira, you should first strive to turn the foe back by conciliation, and only then by war.

12.103.17 This victory which is won by war is the lowest kind, O Bhārata, for in battle victory is a doubtful thing—whether it comes by chance or by fate is a matter of question.

12.103.18 Like the great rush of waters, like herds of deer in panic, a great host once broken is most impossible to check.

12.103.19 At the mere cry "It is broken!" even the wise break apart for no cause—a great host of noble strength, like a herd of ruru-deer.

12.103.20 Heroes who know one another, joyful, careless of their lives and resolute—even fifty such can crush the army of the foe.

12.103.21 Or even five, six, or seven, joined together and firm of resolve, wellborn and rightly honored, will conquer their enemies here.

12.103.22 Pitched battle should by no means be entered upon while another way is possible; war is said to be the last resort after conciliation, sowing dissension, and gifts.

12.103.23 For at the advance of an army fear afflicts the timid: "Where, like a blazing thunderbolt, will this thing fall?"

12.103.24 When men learn that a host has marched forth and go out to meet it, the limbs of the warriors quiver, and so does the whole country.

12.103.25 The whole land is shaken, O king, with all that stands and moves within it; the very marrow sinks in the bodies of men scorched by the heat of arms.

12.103.26 To them conciliation, mixed with sternness, should be applied again and again; for when hard pressed, the enemy will come round to terms in every way.

12.103.27 To divide those within the enemy's ranks one should send forth spies; and with the king who lies beyond him, a treaty is to be commended.

12.103.28 For no other pressure of such a kind can be brought upon him as the assault from every side made together with his own enemy.

12.103.29 Forbearance is indeed a good thing, and impatience is never good; yet know, O Pārtha, the proper use of both forbearance and its opposite.

12.103.30 The fame of a king who, having conquered, shows forbearance grows great, for then even those who have gravely offended come to trust in him.

12.103.31 Śambara held that forbearance is good only after one has first worn the foe down; for wood that has not been heated returns again to its natural shape.

12.103.32 This the teachers do not commend, nor is it a good example; rather, men should be governed without harshness and without destruction, as one would govern one's own son.

12.103.33 A harsh king becomes hateful to all creatures, O Yudhiṣṭhira, yet a mild one men despise; therefore he should partake of both.

12.103.34 When about to strike, he should speak kindly, and kindly too while striking, O Bhārata; and having struck, he should show pity, as one grieving, as one in tears.

12.103.35 "It gives me no pleasure that he was slain"—thus he should say openly before others—"yet you did not heed my word though I told you again and again."

12.103.36 "Alas, how I longed that he should live! A man like this did not deserve to die. Hard indeed to find are good men who do not flee from battles."

12.103.37 "He who slew this man in the fray has done me a hurt"—saying this aloud, in secret he should yet honor the slayers.

12.103.38 And whatever wrong the slayers or those struck down may have done, he may even cry out with arms uplifted, wishing to win the people to himself.

12.103.39 Thus acting in all conditions with conciliation foremost, the king who knows dharma and is free of fear becomes dear to all creatures.

12.103.40 And in him all creatures come to place their trust, O Bhārata; and one who is trusted, and so attended upon, can be enjoyed at will.

12.103.41 Therefore the king who wishes to enjoy the earth should win the trust of all creatures without guile, and guard them on every side.

12.104.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How should a king conduct himself toward an enemy who is mild, how toward one who is fierce, and how toward one with a great following, O lord of the earth? Tell me that, grandsire.

12.104.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale, the dialogue of Bṛhaspati and Indra, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.104.3 Saluting Bṛhaspati and approaching him with joined palms, Vāsava, lord of the gods and slayer of enemy heroes, put this question to him:

12.104.4 "How, O holy one, should I bear myself toward my foes, ever vigilant, and how, without wholly destroying them, may I yet restrain them by stratagem?

12.104.5 "At the clashing of two armies victory is shared in common; doing what may I keep my blazing, glorious fortune from forsaking me?"

12.104.6 Then he who was skilled in dharma, profit and desire, ready of wit and learned in the ordinances of kingly duty, answered Puraṃdara:

12.104.7 "Never should one seek to restrain wrongdoers by open strife, for fury and impatience are the resort of fools; nor should one openly show himself an enemy if one means his death.

12.104.8 "Curbing within himself the anger, the force and the impatience born of his own nature, he should wait upon his enemy as though trusting him, while trusting him not at all.

12.104.9 "He should always speak kindly and do nothing unkind; he should desist from barren feuds and spare himself empty straining of the throat.

12.104.10 "As a skilled fowler, mimicking the cry of the birds, brings those birds under his power, so let the skilled king bring his enemies under his sway and then destroy them, O Puraṃdara.

12.104.11 "One who forever scorns his foes does not sleep at ease, O Vāsava; the evil-minded man stays wakeful, like fire risen amid a heap of fuel.

12.104.12 "No pitched battle should be joined when victory is doubtful; rather, the enemy, once trusted and won, should be brought under control and so disposed of, O lord.

12.104.13 "Having taken counsel with his great-souled ministers versed in policy, he should look on as if indifferent though he be despised, unconquered in his heart;

12.104.14 "and then, when the time comes and his foe's footing has somewhat faltered, he should strike, and corrupt his army through trusted agents.

12.104.15 "Knowing the beginning, middle and end, he should plot in secret, and corrupt his enemy's forces, having learned their full measure.

12.104.16 "By sowing dissension, by bribes, and by employing drugs as well; but he should never enter into close fellowship with his foes.

12.104.17 "Though he must wait even a long while, biding his time, he should yet destroy his enemies; and he should keep them in check until they come to trust him."

12.104.18 Let him not strike down his foes in haste; the victory of the watchful comes without fever. He who does not jar the embedded barb, nor opens up a fresh wound, prospers.

12.104.19 But when the appointed time has come, let him strike; for the moment does not return again to the man who longs, O lord of the gods, to slay his enemy.

12.104.20 For the occasion that slips past the man who awaits his occasion is hard for him to regain, though he would act in accord with the law of timeliness.

12.104.21 Thus let him master his own vigor, winning over the men whom the good esteem; let him always accomplish his ends in their season, and not press hard before the time has come.

12.104.22 Setting aside desire and wrath, and pride as well, the disciplined king should watch for the opening in his foes, O Puraṃdara.

12.104.23 Softness, harshness, sloth, and heedlessness, O best of gods, and manifold deceits, O Śakra — these overcome the man who lacks discernment.

12.104.24 Having destroyed these four, and having warded off deceit, he is then able to strike his enemies without hesitation.

12.104.25 Whenever a secret design can be carried out by one alone, let him do it so; for ministers let secrets slip among themselves, and even betray them.

12.104.26 Or, judging a thing beyond his single power, let him then make common counsel with others — the rod of brahman against unseen foes, the fourfold army against those in sight.

12.104.27 Let him first employ division, and likewise silent chastisement; the king should apply each of these in its proper season, this one now and that one then.

12.104.28 And he should bow in submission, in due season, before an enemy stronger than himself; yet, disciplined and unheedful of nothing, let him seek that foe's destruction when the foe grows careless.

12.104.29 With homage, with gifts, and speaking in honeyed words, let him attend upon his enemy, yet never let the enemy grow suspicious of him.

12.104.30 Let him ever shun the haunts of men who are wary of him, and place no trust in them; for once injured, those who have been spurned remain watchful here.

12.104.31 For there is no task harder than this, O best of gods, than to hold sovereignty over men of manifold conduct, O lord of the immortals.

12.104.32 So too is it called the very nature of men of varied dispositions. Let him strive, taking his stand upon strategy, holding off both friend and foe.

12.104.33 The gentle man they despise, yet from the harsh the people shrink. Be neither too harsh nor too gentle: be harsh, be gentle, each in its turn.

12.104.34 As an embankment, when the rushing waters flood it on every side, is breached forever once a gap appears, so is the kingdom of the heedless king.

12.104.35 Let him not assail many foes at once, O Puraṃdara, but by conciliation, by gift, by division, and by force.

12.104.36 Crushing them one by one, let him deal skillfully with those that remain; for even when able, the wise king should not take on all of them together.

12.104.37 When his army is great, thronged with horses, elephants, and chariots, abounding in foot soldiers and engines of war, well-affectioned and complete in its six divisions —

12.104.38 and when he reckons his manifold increase against the adverse measure of his foes, then let him strike openly at the marauders, without hesitation.

12.104.39 Conciliation that ends in the rod is not commended, nor is gentleness ever a fit policy of campaign toward enemies; neither the destruction of crops, nor the breeding of confusion, nor again any wavering from one's settled nature.

12.104.40 Deceits, divisions, and the planting of dissension, and likewise the working of harm through the deployment of spies — these let him carry out through trusted men, engaged in the cities and the realms of his foes.

12.104.41 Pursuing the cities of these foes, the lords of earth win for themselves all the enjoyments those cities hold, applying in them the policy ordained according to rule, O slayer of Bala and Vṛtra.

12.104.42 Having bestowed hidden wealth in the name of others, having cut off the foe's enjoyments and secured their own, and having proclaimed the wicked condemned by their own faults, they set their men to work in those cities and realms.

12.104.43 And likewise, through others well versed in the arts of pleasure, finely adorned, schooled in the prescriptions of the treatises, well-trained, and skilled in discourse and tale — through these, mark well, he sets afoot his designs among his foes.

12.104.44 Indra said: What are the marks of a corrupted man, O best of the twice-born? How may one know the corrupt? Asked this, declare it to me.

12.104.45 Bṛhaspati said: Behind one's back he speaks of one's faults, and at one's true virtues he carps; or when others are praised, he sits silent, his face turned away.

12.104.46 Even in his silence may his mind be read, if there be no other cause for it — by his feigned trust, the biting of his lip, and the trembling of his head.

12.104.47 He keeps drawing close again and again, then speaks while keeping his distance; out of sight he works against you, and, having seen you, does not address you.

12.104.48 He comes apart from the rest and eats alone — "this fare today is not as it should be" — his true feelings to be discerned, above all, in his sitting, his lying down, and his going about.

12.104.49 Distress at a friend's distress, joy at his joy — only this is the mark of a friend; but the contrary is to be understood as the very mark of an enemy.

12.104.50 These signs, declared just as I have told them, you should mark, O lord of the thirty gods; in corrupted men the inborn nature proves the stronger force.

12.104.51 Thus the discernment of the corrupt has been told to you, O best of gods, having grasped the true meaning of the treatise as it is, O lord of the immortals.

12.104.52 Bhīṣma said: Bent upon the destruction of his foes, he made the word of Bṛhaspati come true; and Puraṃdara, slayer of enemies, acted in due season for victory and brought his foes beneath his sway.

12.105.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: A righteous king who has failed to win wealth, oppressed by hostile ministers, fallen from his treasury and from his power of chastisement — how should he conduct himself if he seeks his welfare?

12.105.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point an old tale is sung, the dialogue of Kṣemadarśin. I shall set it forth to you; mark it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.105.3 To the prince Kṣemadarśin, whose strength was spent, the sage Kālakavṛkṣīya once came of old — so we have heard. Caught in dire distress, the prince clasped his feet and questioned him.

12.105.4 A man who is heir to wealth, striving for it again and again, yet failing to win the kingdom — what, O brāhmaṇa, ought one like me to do?

12.105.5 Apart from death, apart from theft, apart from dependence on another, apart from base conduct — declare that to me, O most excellent one.

12.105.6 For one afflicted by sickness, whether of the mind or of the other kind, a man of wide learning and ripened wisdom such as you becomes a refuge.

12.105.7 For a man, growing weary of desires and restraining them, increases in happiness, having let go both delight and grief, and gained a wealth that lies beyond pleasure.

12.105.8 Those whose happiness rests upon riches — for them I grieve; for my own riches, very many, have perished, having come like a dream.

12.105.9 A hard thing indeed do they accomplish, those who renounce great riches; yet we cannot bring ourselves to relinquish them, unreal though they be.

12.105.10 Fallen into this plight, wretched, stricken, cast down from fortune — whatever other happiness there is here, instruct me in that, O brāhmaṇa.

12.105.11 Thus addressed by the wise prince of Kosala, the sage Kālakavṛkṣīya, of great radiance, replied:

12.105.12 This understanding should have been yours from the very first, since you are a man of discernment: that all this is impermanent — both "I" and whatever is "mine."

12.105.13 Whatever you suppose to be — know that all of it is not. So the wise man is not shaken, even when fallen into dire distress.

12.105.14 For what has come to be, and what is yet to be, will surely cease to be. Knowing thus what is to be known, you shall be freed from unrighteous deeds.

12.105.15 What was in the former gathering of things, and what was in the gathering still earlier — all that is gone, just gone. Knowing this, who would burn with sorrow?

12.105.16 This world, having been, ceases to be, and, not having been, comes to be again. In grief there lies no power to mend; how then should a man give way to grief?

12.105.17 Where now, O king, is your father today? Where now today your grandsire? You do not see them now, nor do they any longer see you.

12.105.18 Seeing your own impermanence, why do you mourn for them? And awaken by your understanding to this: that you too will surely cease to be.

12.105.19 I and you, O king, your enemies and your friends — inevitably we shall cease to be, and all things shall cease to be.

12.105.20 Those men who are twenty years of age, and those who are thirty — all of them, indeed, will die well short of a hundred autumns.

12.105.21 And even if a man be parted from great wealth, let him, thinking "this is not mine," do what is good for his own soul.

12.105.22 What has not yet come, let him know is not his; what has passed away, let him know is not his. Holding that destiny is the stronger — such men are the wise, and that, they say, is the station of the good.

12.105.23 Even men without riches live, and even rule a kingdom — men endowed with wisdom and manliness, your equals and your betters.

12.105.24 And they do not grieve as you do; therefore do not you grieve either. Are you not their better, or at least their equal, in wisdom and in manliness?

12.105.25 The prince said: That kingdom of mine came to me by mere chance — so I reckon it; and all this, O brāhmaṇa, is being borne away by mighty Time.

12.105.26 As it is thus swept away, as if by a current, O you whose wealth is austerity, this fruit of it I clearly see: that I must live by what comes to me.

12.105.27 The sage said: Since, by a true settling of the matter, you do not grieve for the future or the past, O prince of Kosala, be so in all your concerns.

12.105.28 Desire only the ends that may be attained, never those that cannot; experiencing the things that are present, do not grieve for those not yet come.

12.105.29 As one furnished with the wealth that has come to you, so will you, O prince of Kosala, take your delight. Surely, with a nature made pure, you do not grieve though bereft of fortune?

12.105.30 For the ill-minded man of meager fortune, because of what he once possessed before, forever blames the Ordainer, and cannot endure those who have won wealth.

12.105.31 And he deems even other, unworthy folk to be men of fortune; for this very reason this suffering of his pursues him all the more.

12.105.32 Men full of envy and overreaching, O king, who pride themselves on their manhood — surely you, O wise lord of Kosala, are not thus, not given to spite?

12.105.33 Bear with the fortune of others, even though it be not yours; able men enjoy the prosperity that abides elsewhere as well. For fortune overflows abundantly, even where there is one who hates.

12.105.34 Fortune too, and sons and grandsons, men of righteous walk — heroes who know the law of renunciation — give up of their own accord.

12.105.35 Seeing how unsteady and troublesome it is, and by the means of seeking knowledge, still others renounce this fortune, judging the higher good most hard to win.

12.105.36 You, on the other hand, though you wear the form of a wise man, torment yourself most pitiably, longing for ends not to be longed for — gains turned away from you and beset with troubles.

12.105.37 Seeking to know that higher wisdom, do you yourself abandon them — those misfortunes that wear the shape of gain, and those gains that wear the shape of misfortune.

12.105.38 For some, indeed, the loss of wealth itself turns to gain; deeming that happiness to be without end, one looks askance at fortune.

12.105.39 Some man, taking delight in fortune, esteems no other good above it; and so, as he strives, his very undertaking comes to ruin.

12.105.40 When what was longed for and won with toil is lost, O prince of Kosala, then that man, his ordered course shattered, grows wearied of wealth.

12.105.41 Some men, born of noble stock, betake themselves to righteousness, desiring happiness in the world beyond, and grow weary of worldly things.

12.105.42 Some men, given over to greed for wealth, cast away their very lives; for such men hold life itself worth nothing apart from riches.

12.105.43 Behold their wretchedness, behold their want of understanding — who, in this uncertain life, out of delusion cling to the thirst for wealth.

12.105.44 When hoarding ends in loss, and life ends in death, and union ends in parting — who, then, would set his heart upon them?

12.105.45 Either wealth forsakes the man, O king, or the man in turn forsakes his wealth; inevitably the one parts from the other. Knowing this, what wise man would burn with sorrow?

12.105.46 For others too friends and riches alike are lost; behold with your understanding, O king, the calamities that befall men, and your own. Restrain, hold back, control utterly your senses, your mind, and your speech.

12.105.47 Over things forbidden and unattainable, hard to win or harmful, over conditions that are debased or perverse, over what cannot come to be — a man like you, content in wisdom and bold of spirit, does not grieve.

12.105.48 Desiring little, steady, gentle, self-controlled, well-disciplined, and endowed with continence, a man like you is never bewildered.

12.105.49 But you should never seek the vile, skull-bearer's way of life — a cruel calling, most sinful, full of misery, befitting only a base man.

12.105.50 Better to live on roots and fruits and delight alone in the great forest, guarded in speech, self-possessed, filled with compassion for all beings.

12.105.51 This befits the wise man — like a tusker whose tusks reach to the plough-pole — that he delights alone in the wilderness and is content with little.

12.105.52 A great lake, once stirred, grows clear again of its own accord; for a man who has come to such a state, this alone do I see as true happiness.

12.105.53 When prosperity is impossible, O king, for one bereft of ministers and the rest, and when fate is set against him — what does your honour deem to be the greater good?

12.106.1 The sage said: But if you see in yourself, as a warrior, any manly resolve, then come — I will tell you the policy for regaining your kingdom.

12.106.2 If you can carry it out, and will perform the deed, then hear in full, without omission, all that I shall tell you truly.

12.106.3 If you will perform the deed, you shall win great rewards — a kingdom, or counsel over a kingdom, or again great prosperity. If this pleases you, O king, say so once more, and I will speak to you.

12.106.4 The prince said: Let the blessed one declare the policy; I am ready, O lord. Let this meeting with you today not be in vain.

12.106.5 The sage said: Casting off stiffness and pride, anger, elation, and fear alike, attend upon your enemy, bowing low with hands joined.

12.106.6 Win him over with the utmost integrity and service; the king of Videha, true to his word, will be ready to grant you a livelihood.

12.106.7 You will become an authority among all beings, and a man held in trust; then you will gain helpers — zealous, free of vice, and pure.

12.106.8 Conducting himself by his own discipline, self-restrained and master of his senses, a man lifts himself up and wins the goodwill of the people.

12.106.9 Honoured by that resolute and prosperous king, you will become an authority among all beings, attaining great trust.

12.106.10 Then, having gathered a force of allies and taken well-considered counsel, divide your foes through their dissensions — split the bilva-fruit with a bilva — or, making compact with rivals, destroy his army as well.

12.106.11 Those goodly things that are hard to come by — women and fine garments, couches and seats, chariots, costly mansions —

12.106.12 birds, all manner of game, savours, perfumes, and fruits — in these you should ensnare him, so that the foe may ruin himself by his own hand.

12.106.13 Whether he is to be resisted or merely to be ignored, one who seeks his own advancement should never let his enmity stand openly revealed.

12.106.14 Dwell in the realm of your bitterest foe, esteemed there as wise; and with white-crow flatteries, worthless though they be, court that meanest of friends.

12.106.15 Set him to grand and difficult undertakings — damming rivers and the like — and contrive that he fall into conflict with the powerful.

12.106.16 With costly pleasure-gardens, beds, and seats — by the very enjoyment of luxuries — drain his treasury empty.

12.106.17 Let praise of sacrifice and of giving be sung to him among the brāhmaṇas; they will do what pleases you, and will prey upon him like wolves.

12.106.18 No doubt a king of pious character attains the supreme goal and gains the holiest abode in heaven — but, O prince of Kosala, with his treasury exhausted he falls into the power of his enemies.

12.106.19 For one caught up in both — in righteousness and in unrighteousness alike — the root of strength and wealth would be cut away, and thereby his enemies rejoice.

12.106.20 Disparage human effort to him, and extol fate; for without doubt a man devoted to fate alone swiftly comes to ruin.

12.106.21 Have him perform the Viśvajit sacrifice, that he may be parted from all his possessions; then let him go forth, his aims unfulfilled, oppressed, to beg of the multitude.

12.106.22 Commend to him some shaven ascetic versed in the law of renunciation — so that he too may long to renounce, that perhaps he may attain release.

12.106.23 With a proven drug, one that destroys all foes, strike down by contrivances his elephants, his horses, and his men.

12.106.24 These and many other well-tried stratagems of deceit can be carried out by one who can endure them — never by a coward, O son of a king.

12.107.1 The prince said: Neither by fraud nor by deceit, O brāhmaṇa, do I wish to live; nor would I desire wealth bound up with unrighteousness, however vast it be.

12.107.2 From the very first, O blessed one, I have set such means aside — those by which he might come to suspect me, or anything that would profit me wholly at such a cost.

12.107.3 Wishing to live in this world by the dharma of non-cruelty, I am not able to do this; such conduct does not befit me.

12.107.4 The sage said: You are worthy of this, as you speak, O warrior; by your very nature you are endowed, and with understanding too, O man of wondrous insight.

12.107.5 I shall strive for the good of you both, yours and his alike, and shall bring about a union between you, lasting and unbreakable.

12.107.6 For one like you — born in a noble line, free of cruelty, deeply learned, and skilled in the conduct of a realm — who would not make his minister?

12.107.7 You, who have gone forth exiled from your kingdom and fallen into the direst of misfortunes, yet by a conduct free of cruelty, O warrior, wish to live —

12.107.8 The king of Videha, true to his word, will come to my house, my son; and whatever I bid him do, that he will do without fail.

12.107.9 Bhīṣma said: Then the sage summoned the king of Videha and spoke these words: This man, born in a royal house, is known to me to his inmost heart.

12.107.10 Pure of soul as a mirror, like the autumn moon — I see no crookedness in him; on every side has he been tested by me.

12.107.11 With him let there be alliance for you; trust in him as in me. No kingdom can be governed without a minister, O slayer of foes.

12.107.12 A minister should indeed be brave and richly endowed with understanding; yet from those very qualities there is also danger to the king — behold how the kingdom is held together! For the righteous, nowhere in this world is there another course like this.

12.107.13 This prince is disciplined in soul, treading the path of the good; well retained by you and putting righteousness foremost, in your service he would win over your foes and their great hosts.

12.107.14 Were he to fight against you — that is the warrior's own duty — seeking to conquer you in battle for the seat of his fathers and forefathers,

12.107.15 and you too would fight back, fixed in the vow of conquest. Yet without battle at all, at my bidding, O king of Videha, he stands within your power.

12.107.16 Therefore look you to dharma, forsaking the unrighteousness that ill befits the hour; neither from desire nor from malice should you abandon your own duty.

12.107.17 Victory is never constant, my son, nor is defeat ever constant; therefore the other man must both be sustained and be drawn upon.

12.107.18 Both victory and defeat are to be seen within oneself alone; and for those who would leave nothing remaining, my son, from that very leaving-nothing comes danger.

12.107.19 Thus addressed, the king answered the bull among brāhmaṇas with these words, having honoured, esteemed, and shown deference to one worthy of worship:

12.107.20 As a man of great wisdom would speak, as a man of deep learning would speak, as one desiring the good would speak — what would be fitting for us both —

12.107.21 so have these words been spoken to me, and so shall I do accordingly. This indeed is the highest good; in this I have no hesitation.

12.107.22 Then the king of Videha summoned the prince of Kosala and spoke these words: In righteousness, in policy, and in strength, you have been overcome by me;

12.107.23 yet I, in turn, have been conquered by you through the virtues of your soul, O best of kings. Without holding yourself in contempt, let your honour conduct himself as a victor.

12.107.24 I do not slight your understanding, nor do I slight your manhood, nor do I slight you, saying 'I have conquered'; let your honour conduct himself as a victor.

12.107.25 Duly honoured, O king, you shall go to your home from mine. Then, the two of them having honoured the brāhmaṇa and grown to trust each other, departed to their houses.

12.107.26 The king of Videha, then leading the prince of Kosala straightway into his house, honoured that worthy one in return with water for his feet, the welcome-offering, and the honey-mixture.

12.107.27 He gave him his daughter and jewels of many kinds. This is the highest dharma of kings: that victory and defeat are alike to be borne.

12.108.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O scorcher of foes, of brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas, and of śūdras — their dharma, their conduct, their livelihood, and the means and fruits of that livelihood;

12.108.2 the conduct of kings, and the treasury, and the great work of replenishing the treasury, the increase of a minister's virtues, and the fostering of the realm's subjects;

12.108.3 the application of the sixfold policy and its qualities, and likewise the leading of armies, the discernment of the wicked and the marks of the unwicked;

12.108.4 and how one growing in power should bear himself, duly weighing the marks of equals, inferiors, and superiors, so as to keep the middling power content —

12.108.5 all this, and the way of recovery for one whose resources are spent, you have duly set forth in brief, by the form of instruction in connected discourse, O descendant of Bharata.

12.108.6 The conduct of one who seeks conquest you have likewise declared; now I wish to hear of the ways of corporations and guilds, O best of the wise.

12.108.7 How corporations prosper and are not torn apart, O descendant of Bharata, how they triumph over foes and win allies —

12.108.8 for the ruin of corporations is found to have division at its root, and the keeping of counsel secret among many is hard — such is my view.

12.108.9 This I wish to hear in full, O scorcher of foes; and how they may not be split apart — that too tell me, O king.

12.108.10 Bhīṣma said: For corporations, for clans, and for kings, O bull of the Bhāratas, these two — greed and resentment — are the kindlers of enmity, O lord of men.

12.108.11 One man embraces greed, and from that, resentment follows hard upon; the two, bound up with loss and waste, take their support each from the other.

12.108.12 By spies, by counsel, by the seizing of forces, by conciliation, gifts, and sowing dissension, by the stratagems of loss, waste, and fear, they wear one another down.

12.108.13 Therein corporations that live by union are split apart by bribes; once divided and dispirited, all of them fall, through fear, into the enemy's power.

12.108.14 Through division corporations perish, for once divided they are easily worked upon by foes; therefore let corporations ever strive to hold together in concord.

12.108.15 For wealth is won through the strength and prowess of union; and outsiders too make friendship with those who live in unity.

12.108.16 Praising those grown ripe in wisdom, attending upon one another, and turning away from secret intrigues, they thrive in happiness on every side.

12.108.17 Establishing most righteous usages according to the scriptures, and carrying them out duly, the foremost of corporations grow and flourish.

12.108.18 Restraining their sons and brothers, ever delighting in discipline, and favouring the well-trained, the foremost of corporations grow and flourish.

12.108.19 Ever attentive to the ordering of spies and counsel and to the gathering of treasure, O mighty-armed one, corporations grow on every side.

12.108.20 Ever diligent in honouring the wise, the brave, the great archers, and those of steady prowess in their tasks, corporations grow and flourish, O king.

12.108.21 Those who are wealthy and brave, skilled in arms and masters of the scriptures — they carry across the corporations that are bewildered in grievous calamities.

12.108.22 Wrath, division, terror, the rod of punishment, oppression, coercion, and slaughter swiftly lead confederacies under the enemy's sway, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.108.23 Therefore the chiefs of the confederacy must above all be honored, for upon them, O son of Pṛthā, the greater course of worldly affairs depends.

12.108.24 The keeping of counsel rests with the leading men, as does espionage, O crusher of foes; not the whole confederacy is fit to hear the secret counsel, O Bhārata.

12.108.25 Coming together with the chiefs of the confederacy, what serves its common good must be done in concert; but when the confederacy is split apart and divided in mind, its interests sink to ruin and misfortunes arise.

12.108.26 When they are divided one against another, each pursuing his own power, the wise must restrain them at once, and the leading men above all.

12.108.27 Quarrels that arise within the clans, when neglected by the clan-elders, O king, bring about the very thing that shatters the confederacy of the lineage.

12.108.28 The inner danger must be guarded against, the danger from without warded off with care; for danger born from within cuts away the very root in an instant.

12.108.29 When, from sudden wrath or greed, or from delusion sprung of their own nature, men cease to speak to one another, that is the mark of impending ruin.

12.108.30 In birth all are equal, and likewise equal in lineage; yet not so in valor, nor in intellect, nor again in beauty or in wealth.

12.108.31 Through division and through heedlessness confederacies are bent low by their foes; therefore men declare that union alone is the great refuge of confederacies.

12.109.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Great is this path of dharma, O Bhārata, and many-branched; which among all the duties is held to be the most worthy of being practiced here?

12.109.2 What deed, in your judgment, is weightier than all duties, whereby a man may attain to dharma both here and in the world beyond?

12.109.3 Bhīṣma said: The worship of mother and father and of teachers I hold in highest esteem; the man devoted to this wins the worlds and great renown.

12.109.4 Whatever deed these, well-honored, may command, my son—whether it accord with dharma or seem against it—that must be done, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.109.5 Without their leave one should ordain no other duty for oneself; that which these sanction is, by firm conviction, dharma itself.

12.109.6 These very three are the three worlds; these very ones the three āśramas; these very ones the three Vedas; these very ones the three sacred fires.

12.109.7 The father is the Gārhapatya fire, the mother is remembered as the Dakṣiṇa fire, and the teacher is the Āhavanīya; this triad of fires is the most venerable.

12.109.8 Being heedful toward these three, you shall conquer the three worlds: by serving the father this world, by serving the mother the next, and by serving the teacher you shall ever walk in the world of Brahmā.

12.109.9 Conduct yourself rightly toward these three, O Bhārata; in the three worlds you shall win renown—blessings upon you—and dharma of most abundant fruit.

12.109.10 One should never surpass them, never eat before them, never wrong them, but ever attend upon them; that indeed is the highest good deed, and thereby, O lord of men, you shall gain fame, merit, glory, and the heavenly worlds.

12.109.11 For him by whom these three are honored, all worlds are honored; but for him by whom these are unhonored, all rites bear no fruit.

12.109.12 Neither this world nor the world beyond belongs to him, O scorcher of foes, by whom these three venerable ones are ever left unhonored.

12.109.13 Neither in this world nor in the next does his fame shine forth, nor is any other blessing declared to await him hereafter.

12.109.14 To these very ones I render up all my labor in deed; thereby it became for me a hundredfold and a thousandfold, and so, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the three worlds shine open before me.

12.109.15 A teacher of good conduct surpasses ten learned reciters of the Veda; a preceptor surpasses ten such teachers; and a father ten preceptors.

12.109.16 But one mother surpasses ten fathers, or even the whole earth, in the weight of her venerableness; there is no elder equal to the mother. Yet the teacher is weightier than both father and mother—such is my conviction.

12.109.17 Both mother and father join together in one's birth; father and mother fashion the body, O Bhārata; but the second birth shaped by the teacher's instruction is divine, free from age and death.

12.109.18 Mother and father are ever inviolable, even when they do one wrong; he who acts thus is not defiled, nor do they defile him. The gods, together with the seers, know those who strive for dharma.

12.109.19 He who fills one's ears with what is true, speaking the right and bestowing the deathless—him I deem both father and mother; against him one should never bear malice, knowing what he has done.

12.109.20 They who, having heard knowledge, do not revere the teacher close at hand, in thought or in deed—just as they ought to be regarded by their teachers, so too must their teachers be honored by them.

12.109.21 Therefore the teachers must be worshiped, and shared with diligently, and honored, by one who desires the ancient dharma.

12.109.22 By whatever pleases the fathers, the grandfather too is pleased; by whatever delights the mother, the earth herself is honored.

12.109.23 By whatever pleases the preceptor, Brahman itself is worshiped; therefore the teacher is more worthy of worship than mother and father alike; and the seers and the gods, together with the ancestors, are gladdened thereby.

12.109.24 By no manner of conduct should the teacher ever be despised; nor is the mother, nor the father, such as the teacher is.

12.109.25 They deserve no contempt, nor do they defile him; the gods, together with the seers, acknowledge the honoring of teachers as supreme.

12.109.26 They who do violence to preceptor, father, or mother, in thought or in deed—their sin is greater than the slaying of an unborn child; than they there is no worse doer of evil in the world.

12.109.27 For the betrayer of a friend, the ingrate, the slayer of a woman, and the slanderer—for these four we have never heard of any expiation.

12.109.28 All this has been set forth by way of injunction, as what a man ought to do here in the world; this is the highest good, and nothing surpasses it; surveying every duty, this has been declared.

12.110.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How should a man conduct himself who wishes to abide in dharma, O Bhārata? Learned one, declare it to me who would know, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.110.2 Both truth and falsehood stand pervading the worlds; of the two, O king, which should a man resolved upon dharma practice?

12.110.3 What is truth, what is falsehood, and what is the eternal accord with dharma? At what time should one speak the truth, and at what time should one utter what is false?

12.110.4 Bhīṣma said: The speaking of truth is good; nothing is higher than truth. Yet that which in this earthly world is most hard to discern, that I shall tell you, O Bhārata.

12.110.5 There are times when truth should not be spoken and falsehood ought to be uttered, where falsehood becomes truth and truth becomes falsehood.

12.110.6 In such a case the fool is bewildered, where truth is not fixed; only after discerning truth and falsehood does one become a knower of dharma.

12.110.7 Even a man ignoble, of unripe wisdom, and most cruel may attain great merit—as Balāka did by the slaying of a blind creature.

12.110.8 And what wonder is it that a deluded man, though desiring dharma yet ignorant of it, may incur great sin—as Kauśika did at the Gaṅgā?

12.110.9 Such is this further question, wherein dharma is most hard to declare and hard to reckon; here one must determine it by reasoning.

12.110.10 The teaching of dharma was made for the welfare of beings; that which is joined with non-injury is dharma—such is the firm conclusion.

12.110.11 From its upholding they call it dharma; by dharma are creatures upheld; that which is joined with upholding is dharma—such is the firm conclusion.

12.110.12 Some say dharma is that which the scripture enjoins; others deny it. Yet we do not cavil at this, for not everything is laid down by rule.

12.110.13 To those who, seeking to seize wealth unjustly, ever covet it, that should not be disclosed; that is dharma—such is the firm conclusion.

12.110.14 If by silence there be escape, here one should by no means speak; or if one must needs speak, or if his silence would arouse suspicion, then let him speak.

12.110.15 There it is judged better to speak falsehood than truth, whereby one is freed from dealings with the wicked, even by a false oath.

12.110.16 And to such men no wealth should be given, by any means, so long as it can be helped; for wealth given to the wicked torments even the giver.

12.110.17 When one is willing to seize a boon even at the cost of his own life, those witnesses who, to establish the truth, would speak there—if they leave that unsaid which ought to be said, all of them are speakers of falsehood.

12.110.18 In peril of life and in marriage, falsehood ought to be spoken, for the safeguarding of wealth and for the sake of another's dharma; yet he who, craving others' dharma, would beg it as alms becomes base.

12.110.19 Having promised, one must give; but he who is coerced may put it off to the morrow. Whoever has fallen from the compact of dharma and taken his stand in unrighteousness—

12.110.20 that knave who, casting off his own dharma, would seek to live by deceit—such a sinner, living by treachery, must be destroyed by every means.

12.110.21 'Wealth, and wealth alone'—such is the resolve of all the wicked here, who are insufferable, unfit to dine with, and through their treachery sunk into ruin.

12.110.22 Fallen away from gods and men, they are even as the departed dead; yet harder to bear for them than the seizing of their wealth is to be parted from life.

12.110.23 'Let this dharma find favor with you'—so should one earnestly speak to them; for there is no dharma among the wicked—such is the firm conclusion.

12.110.24 He who slays one brought to such a pass is not smeared with sin; he slays one already slain by his own deeds; that man, already as good as dead, is but slain. Whoever would make any pact with those of ruined understanding—

12.110.25 As crows and as vultures, so too those who live by fraud—at the last release of the body they are reborn into such wombs as these.

12.110.26 As a man behaves toward another, so toward him one ought to behave—that is dharma: against the man of guile one must act with guile, and the man of good conduct must be met with goodness.

12.111.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When beings are afflicted by this and that condition on every side, tell me, grandfather, by what means one may cross over these hard straits.

12.111.2 Bhīṣma said: Those twice-born who conduct themselves as prescribed within the prescribed stages of life, with selves restrained—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.3 They who do not mutter prayers out of hypocrisy, whose livelihood is well-ordered, and who curb the objects of sense—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.4 They who ever lodge their guests, who are ever free from envy, and ever devoted to the study of the Veda—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.5 They, skilled in dharma, who attend upon mother and father, and who shun sleeping by day—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.6 They who go to their own wives, righteous in conduct, each in her due season, and who are devoted to the fire-oblation—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.7 Those kings who do not exact wealth through greed, though wrapped in passion, but guard their realms—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.8 Those heroes in battle who, casting aside the fear born of death, seek victory by righteous means—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.9 They who do no evil in deed, in thought, or in word, who have laid down the rod against living beings—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.10 They who speak the truth here even when the loss of life is at hand, who stand as a measure of conduct for all beings—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.11 Those brāhmaṇas who do not pursue Vedic recitation on the days when study is forbidden, who are ever given to austerity and of noble penance—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.12 They whose deeds are without trickery of purpose, whose words are kind and true, and whose aims are aims of the good—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.13 They who practice austerity, chaste from boyhood, who have completed their bath of learning, Veda, and vows—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.14 They in whom the passion of rajas is wholly stilled and the darkness of tamas wholly quenched, great souls established in truth—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.15 They of whom none is afraid and who fear none, to whom the world is even as their own self—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.16 Those good men, those bulls among men, who are not tormented by another's fortune, and who have turned away from coarse village food—they cross over the hard straits.

12.111.17 They who bow to all the gods and give ear to all the duties of righteousness, who are full of faith and self-controlled — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.18 They who seek no honour for themselves yet pay honour to others, and who, though honoured, take no pride in it — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.19 They who, desiring offspring, perform the śrāddha rites on each appointed lunar day with a wholly purified mind — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.20 They who never give way to wrath, who calm those who are wrathful, and who are not angered by their dependants — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.21 Those men who in this life ever abstain from honey and from flesh, and from intoxicating drink from their very birth — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.22 They whose eating is but to sustain life, whose union is only for the sake of offspring, and whose speech is solely for the utterance of truth — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.23 And they who are devoted to Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of all beings, the origin and the dissolution of the world — these cross beyond every peril.

12.111.24 This Acyuta, eyed like the red lotus, clad in yellow, mighty of arm, who is to you well-wisher, brother, friend, and kinsman —

12.111.25 who, were he to will it, could wrap up all these worlds together like a hide — the Lord of inconceivable nature, Govinda, the Supreme Person —

12.111.26 He, O bull among men, stands firm in the welfare and the pleasure of the victorious Arjuna; this is your own unassailable Vaikuṇṭha, the Supreme Person, O king.

12.111.27 They who in this world take refuge with devotion in this Nārāyaṇa, in Hari, do cross beyond every peril — of this I have no doubt.

12.111.28 And they who recite this passage on the crossing of perils, who cause it to be heard, and who have the brāhmaṇas recite it — these too cross beyond every peril.

12.111.29 Thus, O sinless one, have I declared to you this summary of the duties to be performed, whereby a man may cross beyond perils both in this world and the next.

12.112.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: There are men ill-natured yet fair of seeming, and men of good nature who appear ill-favoured; such men, dear father, how are we to know them?

12.112.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount an ancient story, the dialogue of the tiger and the jackal; mark it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.112.3 Long ago, in the prosperous city of Purikā, there reigned a king named Paurika, cruel and basest of men, who took delight in harming others.

12.112.4 When his lifespan was spent he passed to an undesirable destiny, and, defiled by his former deeds, attained the state of a jackal.

12.112.5 Recollecting his former birth, he came to a supreme detachment, and would not eat flesh, even when others brought it to him.

12.112.6 Doing harm to no living being, truthful in speech, firm in his vow, he made his meal at will of fallen fruits.

12.112.7 A cremation ground became the dwelling that this jackal approved, and out of attachment to his place of birth he cared for no other abode.

12.112.8 All his fellow jackals, unable to endure his purity, sought to unsettle that resolve of his with words full of feigned courtesy.

12.112.9 "Dwelling in this dread forest of the dead, you wish to win purity? This is sheer contradiction in you, seeing that you are a flesh-eater.

12.112.10 Be then as we are: we will give you food to eat. Cast off your scruple about purity and eat — for only what is eaten is truly yours."

12.112.11 Hearing these words of theirs, composed in mind he answered them with speech sweet, gentle, reasoned, and free of harshness:

12.112.12 "My birth is no warrant for me; it is by conduct that good lineage is made. I will strive after that course of action by which renown is spread abroad.

12.112.13 If my dwelling is in the cremation ground, look rather to my inner composure. It is the self that bears the fruit of deeds; it is not one's station that is the mark of righteousness.

12.112.14 If a man should slay a brāhmaṇa within a holy hermitage, or give a cow in gift outside one — would that not be a sin all the same, or that gift be rendered void?

12.112.15 You, in your utter greed, take delight in nothing but eating; but the faults that follow as the consequence — those, being deluded, you do not see.

12.112.16 A way of living that breeds distrust, that is blameworthy, tainted by the stripping away of true gain, and unwelcome both here and hereafter — such a course I do not approve."

12.112.17 Holding him to be pure and wise, a tiger of famed prowess paid him honour as to an equal of himself, and of his own accord raised him to the office of counsellor.

12.112.18 "Gentle one, your character is known to me; go now your way along with me. Choose whatever enjoyments you desire, and abundant things to be avoided are yours to set aside.

12.112.19 We are reputed to be fierce; this we make known to you. We strike, but with mildness first — and so your welfare shall be attained."

12.112.20 Then, having honoured these words of the great-souled lord of beasts, the jackal, bowing a little, spoke this courteous reply:

12.112.21 "Worthy of you, O king of beasts, is this speech of yours concerning me, in that you seek out helpers who are pure and skilled in righteousness and statecraft.

12.112.22 Greatness cannot be governed without a minister, O hero, nor with a wicked minister who is an enemy to one's very body.

12.112.23 One should strive after helpers who are devoted, free of secret leagues, not wrangling with one another, eager for conquest, and untouched by greed.

12.112.24 Such men — proven beyond all tests of temptation, wise, intent upon your good, high-minded and greatly blessed — you should honour as teachers, as fathers.

12.112.25 Yet, lord of beasts, by reason of my contentment nothing else appeals to me; I crave no pleasures, no enjoyments, no lordship in dependence upon you.

12.112.26 For my character will not consort with your old retainers; ill-natured, they will set you against me, sowing division on my account.

12.112.27 As a refuge you are praiseworthy even for other illustrious ones — disciplined of self, greatly fortunate, and not harsh even toward the wicked.

12.112.28 Far-seeing, of great energy, large-aimed, mighty in strength, accomplished, and one whose acts are never in vain — you are adorned with the qualities that are to be.

12.112.29 Yet I am content with my own lot; a service so undertaken is a painful way of life, and I am no adept in attendance, being a free rover of the woods.

12.112.30 All the reproaches and faults that fall upon the king belong to those who live as his dependants; but the life of the forest is unattached, fearless, and unconstrained.

12.112.31 The fear that lodges in the heart of one summoned by a king does not abide in the hearts of the contented who feed on roots and fruits in the forest.

12.112.32 Be it water won without toil, or be it sweet food got at the cost of fear — weighing the matter, I see that happiness lies where there is tranquillity.

12.112.33 Not so many servants have been punished by kings for their own offences as servants have been wrongly defamed by slander and brought to ruin.

12.112.34 But if this office must indeed be undertaken by me, if the lord of beasts so wills it, then I desire a compact to be made as to how I am to be dealt with.

12.112.35 My recommendations are to be respected by you, and my salutary counsel heeded; and the mode of life you have appointed for me must remain firmly fixed.

12.112.36 I shall never take counsel together with your other ministers; the politic, seeking their own ends, would speak idle slanders against me.

12.112.37 Meeting with you alone, in private, I would speak for your good; nor in the affairs of your kinsmen am I to be consulted as to what is good or ill.

12.112.38 After taking counsel with me, you must not afterward destroy those ministers; and, angered at men of my party, do not let your rod of punishment fall upon them.

12.112.39 "So be it," said the lord of beasts, and thus honoured by him, the jackal — though of the tiger's own race in spirit — attained the office of chief counsellor.

12.112.40 Seeing him so honoured and set to his charge, the former retainers, banding together, came to hate him again and again.

12.112.41 Soothing the jackal with a show of friendship and drawing him into their circle, those evil-minded ones sought to make him equally party to their misdeeds.

12.112.42 For they who before were accustomed to ways otherwise, plundering the goods of others, were now, held in check by the jackal, unable to take any property at all.

12.112.43 And those who longed for his downfall sought to seduce him with fair speeches, and with great wealth they tried to corrupt his mind.

12.112.44 But that man of great wisdom never swerved from his steadfastness; whereupon his foes, making a contrivance, set themselves to destroy him.

12.112.45 The flesh that the lord of beasts desired, dressed and made ready there, they themselves carried off and laid within the jackal's own dwelling.

12.112.46 For what purpose it was stolen, by whom, and what had been plotted — all this was known to him; yet for good reason he bore it in silence.

12.112.47 This compact had been made by him on taking up the ministership: "No slander, O king, is to be admitted by you, if you desire friendship here."

12.112.48 When the meal was to be served, that flesh was nowhere to be seen, and the king of beasts gave command: "Let the thief be sought out."

12.112.49 And by their false contrivance it was reported to the lord of beasts that the flesh had been carried off to him by your learned minister, who thinks himself so wise.

12.112.50 Then the tiger, hearing of the jackal's supposed knavery, grew full of wrath; the king became unforgiving and resolved upon his death.

12.112.51 Seeing this flaw exposed in him, those former ministers spoke out: "He is bent on the ruin of all our livelihoods.

12.112.52 And this deed of his, of such a kind, is shielded only by the master's favour. He whom our lord heard him to be before, this one is not."

12.112.53 "Righteous in words alone, but by nature cruel — this wicked one cloaks himself in righteousness and takes up a hollow show of conduct; it is for self-interest and for the sake of his food that he has expended his labour upon vows."

12.112.54 Holding the carrying-off of the flesh to be proven, the tiger, on these words of theirs, then gave the command: "Let the jackal be put to death."

12.112.55 Hearing the tiger's word, the tiger's mother thereupon came to admonish the king of beasts with words meant for his good:

12.112.56 "My son, this charge, contrived out of fraud, should not be accepted by you; through the impure faults born of the rivalry of office, the pure man is made to seem foul.

12.112.57 No one can endure another's rise; advancement breeds enmity, and even upon the pure man who does his duty it is fault alone that is made to fall.

12.112.58 To the greedy the pure are hateful, to cowards the bold, to fools the wise, to the poor the rich, to the unrighteous the most righteous, and to the ill-favoured the fair of form.

12.112.59 Many learned men are greedy, and all who live by deceit would fasten a fault upon the faultless, were he wise as Bṛhaspati himself.

12.112.60 And this flesh of yours that today was carried off from an empty house — he who will not even accept it when offered — let the matter first be well weighed.

12.112.61 There are the false who wear the look of truth, and the true who appear false; manifold are the natures one sees, and concerning them inquiry is fitting.

12.112.62 The sky appears to have a floor, the firefly seems like fire; yet there is no floor in the sky, nor fire in the firefly.

12.112.63 Therefore, though a matter be seen with one's own eyes, it is right to examine it; for he who acts on matters after testing them does not afterward repent.

12.112.64 It is no hard thing, my son, that a lord should put another to death; but in this world the forbearance of the powerful is praiseworthy and most to be chosen.

12.112.65 This one, my son, was set up by you and made famed among the neighbouring chiefs; with difficulty is a worthy vessel found — keep him as your friend.

12.112.66 For whoever takes a pure man, defamed by the faults of others, to be otherwise than he is, has himself a corrupted ministry, and quickly comes to ruin.

12.112.67 Then from that very league of the jackal's enemies someone came forth, a righteous soul, and by him it was told how this fraud had been wrought.

12.112.68 Then, his character recognized, he was honoured, set free, and embraced again and again with affection by the lord of beasts.

12.112.69 But the jackal, learned in the science of polity, having taken leave of the lord of beasts and burning still with that resentment, wished to fast unto death.

12.112.70 There the tiger, his eyes brimming with tears of affection, held the jackal back, that most righteous one, honouring him in return with marks of honour.

12.112.71 Beholding him thus moved by affection into agitation, the jackal, bowing low, spoke these words in a voice choked with tears.

12.112.72 "First I was honoured by you, and afterwards dishonoured; I was made the resort of others' designs. I am not fit to dwell with you any longer."

12.112.73 "Servants who were content, then fallen from their station, cast down from their honour, those withdrawn of their own accord, and those drawn away by enemies—

12.112.74 the impoverished, the greedy, the cruel, those tormented by imprisonment, the proud whose wealth has been seized, and those grasping ones who, once cast off, have been taken back—

12.112.75 and whoever have been afflicted, those lying in wait for a flood of calamities, those who lie concealed with hostile intent—all these become instruments of the foe."

12.112.76 "Toward me, who was treated with contempt and then reinstated, how will you ever come to trust again, and how shall I again come to trust you?"

12.112.77 "Having taken me in as capable, having installed and tested me, you broke the agreement that was made and dishonoured me."

12.112.78 "Of one who has first been proclaimed a man of good character in the assembly, his fault should not be spoken of by one who would keep his pledge."

12.112.79 "How then will you place trust in one so slighted, and so long as I distrust you, my own disquiet will remain?"

12.112.80 "You are suspicious, I am afraid; the others are forever watching for an opening, unaffectionate and hard to satisfy—and this business is full of treachery."

12.112.81 "What is broken is rejoined only with difficulty, and what is joined is sundered only with difficulty; but a friendship that is severed and then patched together does not abide in true affection."

12.112.82 "It is but rarely that one is seen unafraid in dealings between oneself and another; the feelings men show are governed by self-interest, while genuine affection is hard to find."

12.112.83 "The knowledge of men is most hard to attain, for their minds are unsteady and wavering; whether able or unable, scarcely one in a hundred is rightly understood."

12.112.84 "Men's advancement comes without cause, and their casting down comes without cause; and out of fickleness of mind they are prone to make much of both good and ill."

12.112.85 Having spoken conciliation of many kinds, grounded in dharma and statecraft, and having appeased the king, the jackal went away into the forest.

12.112.86 Not accepting the entreaty of that lord of beasts, the wise jackal, having fasted unto death and abandoned his body, went to heaven.

12.113.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What ought a king to do, and by doing what does he become happy? Declare all this to me truly, O best of the upholders of dharma.

12.113.2 Bhīṣma said: Come, I shall declare it to you; listen to the one sure rule of action—how a king ought to act here, and by doing what he becomes happy.

12.113.3 One must not conduct oneself in the manner of which we have heard tell. There is a notable story of a camel; mark it, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.113.4 A great camel, who remembered his former births and was born in the age of Prajāpati, undertook a most severe austerity in the forest, firm in his vow.

12.113.5 At the close of that austerity the Lord became gratified, and the Grandfather then offered him the choice of a boon.

12.113.6 The camel said: O blessed one, by your grace may this neck of mine grow long, so that it may reach a full hundred yojanas to forage, O mighty lord.

12.113.7 Bhīṣma said: "So be it," said the great-souled bestower of boons; and the camel, having obtained that excellent boon, went off to his own forest.

12.113.8 On account of that gift of a boon, the dull-witted creature gave himself over to sloth; deluded by fate and ill-natured, he no longer cared to walk about to forage.

12.113.9 Once, stretching out in this way his neck of a hundred yojanas, he grazed with an untiring heart; and thereupon a great wind arose.

12.113.10 That beast, having laid his own head and neck within a cave, settled down; then a very great rain came on, flooding the world.

12.113.11 Then a jackal, his limbs gripped by cold and worn with hunger, together with his mate, tormented by the water, quickly entered that cave.

12.113.12 And that flesh-eater, beholding it and sorely wasted with hunger, thereupon devoured the neck of the camel, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.113.13 But when that beast became aware that he himself was being eaten, then, grievously pained, he made an effort to draw his neck back in.

12.113.14 As the beast contracted his neck this way and that, up and down, even so was he devoured by that jackal and its mate.

12.113.15 And the jackal, having slain the camel and eaten of it, then, when the wind and rain had passed, came forth from the mouth of the cave.

12.113.16 Thus was destruction met with by that ill-witted camel; behold the great calamity that came upon him through the course of his sloth.

12.113.17 You too, abandoning this manner of conduct, with senses restrained through discipline, should act; for Manu declared that victory is rooted in intelligence.

12.113.18 Deeds of intellect are the best, O Bhārata; those of the arms are middling; those of the legs are lowest, and mere bearing of burdens is lowest of all.

12.113.19 The kingdom abides with one who is capable, who has mastered his senses, who keeps his counsel secret, who is learned, and who has good helpers, O sinless one.

12.113.20 And the affairs of one who acts after due examination prosper here, Yudhiṣṭhira; with good helpers the whole earth can be governed.

12.113.21 This was told of old by the good who know the law, O you whose majesty equals great Indra's; and I too have spoken it to you according to the vision of the scriptures—so apply yourself diligently to it and go forth, O king.

12.114.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When a weak king, O bull of the Bhāratas, has obtained a kingdom, how should he hold his ground, without resources, against an enemy of overwhelming strength?

12.114.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale, a dialogue of the rivers and the ocean, O Bhārata.

12.114.3 The ocean, the everlasting abode of the foes of the gods, lord of the rivers, asked all the rivers about a doubt that had arisen within him.

12.114.4 "I see shade-giving trees struck down root and branch, carried here by you in your fullness—yet among them never the reed."

12.114.5 "The reed is slight of body and of little substance, and grows upon your very banks; is it that, despising it, you cannot uproot it, or has it rendered you some service?"

12.114.6 "This I wish to hear—the opinion of you all—why it is that the reed is not brought under sway, while you break down these banks of yours."

12.114.7 Then the river Gaṅgā spoke an answering word, meaningful, reasoned, and convincing, to the ocean, the lord of rivers.

12.114.8 "These trees stand fixed each in its place, each rooted in a single spot; then, out of senseless contrariness, they forfeit that place."

12.114.9 "The reed, seeing the rushing current come on, bows down, but the other does not; and when the current has passed by, it regains its place and stands."

12.114.10 "Knowing the time and knowing the occasion, ever yielding and not rising stubbornly, compliant and unstiffened—and for that reason the reed comes to no harm."

12.114.11 "Those herbs, trees, and shrubs that bend down and rise again with the force of wind and water—they do not meet with overthrow."

12.114.12 "For he who, when a mighty foe has grown strong and bent on slaughter and destruction, does not at the first bear with his onset, swiftly perishes."

12.114.13 "But the wise man who moves about knowing the strength and weakness, the power and the valour, both of himself and of his foe—he does not come to overthrow."

12.114.14 "Just so, when the wise man deems his enemy too strong, let him resort to the way of the reed; this is the mark of true discernment."

12.115.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When a learned man, gentle, is reviled in the assembly by a fool grown insolent and harsh, what should he do, O Bhārata, O subduer of foes?

12.115.2 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O guardian of the earth, how this matter is sung. The man of good understanding ever bears with the abuse of the man of feeble understanding.

12.115.3 By not growing angry when reviled, the forbearing man gains the other's merit and is freed of his own ill deeds; while the one who answers anger with anger wipes away that gain.

12.115.4 One should disregard such a man as one would a lapwing crying out as if in distress; for having incurred the world's hatred, he gains nothing for his pains.

12.115.5 Thus he forever boasts of that base deed, saying, "Such a one, esteemed in the assembly of men, was told off by me!"—while the other stands there abashed, withered, and as good as dead.

12.115.6 One who boasts shamelessly of a deed not worth boasting of—such a basest of men is to be disregarded by him who is self-controlled.

12.115.7 Whatever the dull-minded man may say, one should ever bear with it; for what can a base fellow do, whether he praise or blame, croaking witlessly to no purpose like a crow in the forest?

12.115.8 If the contest of the evildoer were waged only with words, then words alone would be his object; but no such limited object belongs to one who seeks to destroy.

12.115.9 By his conduct and gestures he proclaims the baseness of his own begetting, like a peacock dancing and as it were displaying its nakedness.

12.115.10 With one for whom there is nothing in the world unspeakable and nothing whatever undoable, the pure man should hold no converse, for his deeds are foul.

12.115.11 The man who praises one's virtues to the face but slanders behind the back—such a man is like a dog in the world, bound for the loss of all blessed worlds.

12.115.12 Whatever such a man gives in charity or offers in sacrifice, even for a hundred men, he destroys it in an instant by his slander behind the back.

12.115.13 Therefore the wise man should at once shun such a one of evil mind, as the good shun the flesh that a dog has touched.

12.115.14 For the wicked man, uttering reproach against the noble, lays bare his own faults, as a serpent raises high its lifted hood.

12.115.15 He who, witless, wishes to retaliate against such a one as he carries on his own doings, sinks into the dust, like an ass plunging into a heap of ashes.

12.115.16 That hyena in human shape, never at peace, forever bent on slandering men, bellowing like a maddened elephant—him one should forsake as one would a most savage dog.

12.115.17 Walking the path frequented by the irresolute, fallen away from self-control and from good breeding, evil, ever bent on hostility and on others' ruin—shame upon that man of wicked mind!

12.115.18 Even when answered back by these men again and again, hearken and do not grow distressed; for the steadfast of mind condemn any contest between the high and the low.

12.115.19 In his rage he might strike with the flat of his hand, or pelt one with dust or with chaff, or bare his teeth to terrify—for all this is to be expected of a fool grown angry and cruel.

12.115.20 The man who in the assembly bears with the reproach heaped on by the basest of wretches, and who ever recites this instruction concerning the wicked, suffers nothing unpleasant that words can bring.

12.116.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O Grandfather, greatly wise, this is a great doubt of mine; it must be resolved by you, O king, for you are the founder of our line.

12.116.2 O father, the traffic of words of men of evil conduct and evil mind has been told; and so I ask of you further.

12.116.3 What is beneficial for the machinery of the kingdom and brings happiness to the family, and what conduces to security and increase both in the future and in the present—

12.116.4 and what delights sons and grandsons and furthers the increase of the realm, and what is wholesome in food and drink and for the body—tell that to me.

12.116.5 A king who has been consecrated, established in his kingdom and surrounded by friends—or else beset by those who are no friends—how should he win the love of his subjects?

12.116.6 For one who delights in favouring the wicked, overborne by affection and passion, who through want of mastery over his senses craves the company of base men—

12.116.7 His servants, all of good lineage, fall away into worthlessness, and that king is never blessed with the fruits that loyal servants bring.

12.116.8 To me, who stand in doubt, you—the equal of Bṛhaspati in wisdom—ought to expound these duties of a king, hard indeed to grasp.

12.116.9 You are our expounder, O tiger among men, devoted to the welfare of our line; and so too is the keen-witted Kṣattṛ (Vidura), who counsels us always.

12.116.10 Having heard from you the word that serves our house and brings forth the welfare of the realm, I shall sleep content and at ease, as though sated with imperishable nectar.

12.116.11 What manner of servants, endowed with virtues, should stand close at hand? With men of what character and what lineage should one's course of governance be conducted?

12.116.12 For no king, bereft of servants, can be a protector all alone; and as for this realm, all people of good birth proclaim it so.

12.116.13 For a kingdom cannot be governed by one alone, O Bhārata; without helpers, dear son, no aims whatsoever can be won—nor, once won, ever kept secure, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.116.14 Bhīṣma said: He whose every servant is skilled in knowledge and discernment, well-wishing, of good birth, and affectionate—he enjoys the fruit of kingship.

12.116.15 He whose counsellors are well-born, incorruptible, long resident at his side, givers of sound counsel to the king, and versed in the knowledge of connections—

12.116.16 who make provision for what has not yet come, are expert in the knowledge of timing, and grieve not for what is past—he enjoys the fruit of kingship.

12.116.17 He whose helpers share alike in his sorrow and his joy, who act in truth and are bent on the care of his interests—he enjoys the fruit of kingship.

12.116.18 He whose countryfolk, ever near at hand, are free from distress, not mean of spirit, and steadfast upon the path of the good—he comes to partake of the fruit of kingship.

12.116.19 That king is best whose treasury and revenue-records are kept always by men who swell the treasury—men trusted and content.

12.116.20 His granary, when guarded by the incorruptible and the trusted, men intent on storing up, worthy of their trust and free from greed, becomes a source of strength.

12.116.21 He in whose city the conduct of affairs is seen to bear the fruit of action, recorded clean as if by Śaṅkha and Likhita—he comes to partake of the fruit of righteousness.

12.116.22 And the king who has won his men to himself, who knows the duties of a king and lays hold upon the sixfold body of policy—he gains the fruit that springs from dharma.

12.117.1 Bhīṣma said: On this matter too they recount an ancient tale, ever instructive in the world and walked by the path of the good.

12.117.2 It is fitting to this very theme—what I heard in a penance-grove, told to Rāma the son of Jamadagni by the best of the sages.

12.117.3 In a certain great forest, untrodden by men, there dwelt a sage who lived on roots and fruits, self-restrained and master of his senses.

12.117.4 Devoted to consecration and self-discipline, serene, supreme in private study of the Veda, pure, his soul cleansed by fasting, he stood always upon the path of the good.

12.117.5 Beholding the goodness of that wise one as he sat there, all the creatures who roamed the forest would gather close about him.

12.117.6 Lions and tigers, śarabhas, and great rutting elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, and bears, and others dreadful to look upon—

12.117.7 all these blood-eating beasts would come, asking after his welfare, lowly as disciples before that sage and eager to do him pleasure.

12.117.8 Having paid their respects, they would all depart as they had come; but one tame beast, a dog, would never leave the great sage.

12.117.9 Devoted, ever attached to him, gaunt and feeble from fasting, feeding on heaps of fruit and root, serene, and gentle as a cultured being in form.

12.117.10 Seated at the feet of that great sage, the dog's nature had grown well-nigh human, and it was bound to him by a deep and tender love.

12.117.11 Then there came on a leopard of mighty strength, a blood-eater, bent upon the dog—utterly savage, cruel, like Death the ender of all.

12.117.12 Licking its lips, athirst, busily lashing its tail, its jaws agape, broken with hunger, it craved that flesh for its prey.

12.117.13 Seeing that fierce beast advancing, O lord of men, the dog, desiring life, spoke to the sage there—hear now what it said, O sagacious one.

12.117.14 "Blessed one, here is the leopard, the foe of dogs, and it means to slay me; by your grace let there be no fear of it for me, O great sage."

12.117.15 The sage said: "No fear of the leopard need you have, nor of death in any wise. Cast off the form of a dog—you become a leopard, my child."

12.117.16 Bhīṣma said: Then the dog, turned into a leopard, his form bright as gold of Jambū, his limbs dappled, glistening and glad, dwelt in the forest without fear.

12.117.17 Then there came on a most fearsome tiger, its jaws agape, gripped by hunger, licking its mouth at the leopard, greedy for its blood.

12.117.18 Seeing the tiger, fanged and forest-ranging, broken with hunger, the leopard, to save its life, took refuge with the sage.

12.117.19 Then, by the sage who ever bore for him the love bred of long dwelling together, that leopard was turned into a tiger, mightier than his foes; and seeing this, the tiger that had come did not strike him down, O lord of peoples.

12.117.20 But the dog, having attained tigerhood, now strong and a flesh-eater, no longer felt any longing then for fare of roots and fruits.

12.117.21 As the lord of beasts forever craves the dwellers of the wood, even so, great king, did that tiger then become.

12.117.22 The tiger, sated on the deer he had slain, lay sleeping at the foot of the hermit's hut; then to that spot came an elephant in rut, risen like a thundercloud.

12.117.23 His temples streaming with rut, tall, marked with the lotus-sign, his head broad and high, finely tusked, vast of body, his cry deep as a thundercloud's.

12.117.24 Seeing that rutting elephant approach, proud in its frenzy, the tiger, terrified by fear of the elephant, went to the sage for refuge.

12.117.25 Then that best of sages led the tiger into elephanthood; and seeing him like a great cloud, the other elephant was filled with dread.

12.117.26 Then with joy he roamed among the lotus-beds and the dense śallakī thickets, adorned with the pollen of the lotuses.

12.117.27 And so, as the elephant disported himself in contentment, the days and nights of that sage who dwelt in his hut of leaves passed pleasantly by.

12.117.28 Then there came to that place a lion, ruddy-maned, born of a mountain cavern, terrible, the destroyer of the elephant kind.

12.117.29 Seeing that lion advance, the elephant, distraught with fear of the lion, took refuge with the sage, trembling and stricken with dread.

12.117.30 Then that lordly elephant, turned into a lion by the sage, reckoned the wild lion as nothing, being now of like kind with it.

12.117.31 And seeing him, the wild lion fled away, its voice and strength failing for fear; while the new-made lion dwelt happily at the hermitage in that same forest.

12.117.32 But the other lesser beasts who dwelt in the penance-grove were no longer to be seen—forever cowering in fear and clinging to their lives.

12.117.33 At length, by the working of fate, there came one that did harm to all living things, mighty, a blood-eater, a terror to creatures of every kind—

12.117.34 a śarabha, eight-footed, walking with limbs upraised, a forest-ranger, came to the abode of that sage to slay the lion.

12.117.35 That śarabha the sage made surpassing in strength, O subduer of foes; and then the wild śarabha, beholding before the sage a śarabha mighty and most fierce, fled swiftly away in fear.

12.117.36 Thus set by the sage into the estate of a śarabha, he kept ever at the sage's side and enjoyed the happy condition of a śarabha.

12.117.37 Then all the herds of deer, terrified by the śarabha, fled from the forest to every quarter, O king, in fear and clinging to their lives.

12.117.38 And the śarabha, grown utterly savage, ever bent on the slaughter of living things, that flesh-eater no longer desired the peaceful fare of fruit and root.

12.117.39 Then the śarabha, seized by a mighty thirst for blood, sought to slay that very sage—ungrateful, born of the womb of a dog.

12.117.40 Then, perceiving him by the power of his penance through the eye of knowledge, the sage of great wisdom, knowing all, spoke thus to that dog:

12.117.41 "A dog, you attained leopardhood; a leopard, you came to tigerhood; the tiger became an elephant fierce in rut, and the elephant attained lionhood;

12.117.42 the lion, endowed with surpassing strength, passed further into a śarabha. Overcome by affection, I gave no thought to the lineage of your stock."

12.117.43 "Since thus, O wicked one, you wish to do harm to me who am sinless, therefore, returning to your own birth, a dog you shall once more become."

12.117.44 Then, through hatred of the sage's person, the wicked-souled and foolish śarabha, cursed by the sage, took on once more his form of a dog.

12.118.1 Bhīṣma said: That dog, restored to his own nature, fell into the depths of misery; rebuked with a "Begone!" by the sage, the wretch was cast out of the penance-grove.

12.118.2 Thus a wise king, having tested a man's good conduct and purity, his uprightness, disposition, and worth, his lineage, his behaviour, his learning and self-control,

12.118.3 his compassion, strength, valour, temper, calmness, and forbearance—should appoint such well-trained servants each to the office for which he is fit.

12.118.4 A guardian of the earth ought not to appoint a servant without testing him; the king who is thronged with men of low birth does not prosper in ease.

12.118.5 A man of good birth, appointed by the king, by reason of that good birth never sets his mind on wickedness, even when reproached though he be guiltless.

12.118.6 But a man of low birth, appointed through the ruin of worthier folk, having gained a lordship hard for him to win, if reproached will turn to enmity.

12.118.7 One well-born, trained, and wise, skilled in knowledge and discernment, knowing the true sense of all the treatises, enduring, and native to the land;

12.118.8 grateful and strong, patient, self-disciplined, master of his senses, free from greed, content with what he has, and eager for the good of his master's friends;

12.118.9 a minister who knows place and time, devoted to the gathering of all things needful, honoured, steady of mind, well-wishing, and never slothful;

12.118.10 of fitting conduct within his own domain, skilled in alliance and in war, knowing the threefold ends of the king, and beloved of townsfolk and countryfolk alike;

12.118.11 versed in the truth of entrenchments and battle-arrays, skilled in heartening the troops, knowing the meaning of gesture and demeanour, and expert in the march and the campaign;

12.118.12 learned in the training of elephants, free of arrogance, bold, deft, self-controlled, strong, and acting fittingly;

12.118.13 pure, surrounded by pure folk, well-attired and pleasing to behold, a leader skilled in statecraft, endowed with the sixty virtues—

12.118.14 unstubborn, humble, capable, soft of speech, steadfast, gentle, of great means, and able to provide for place and occasion—

12.118.15 the king who appoints such a minister and never slights him—his realm spreads wide as the moonlight of the lord of planets.

12.118.16 A king endowed with these very virtues, skilled in the treatises, supreme in dharma and intent on guarding his subjects, is one to be desired.

12.118.17 Steadfast, forbearing, pure, swift, knowing in due season the worth of manly effort; willing to learn, learned, a good listener, and skilled in weighing for and against;

12.118.18 of keen intellect, sure of memory, doing all things as justice requires, self-controlled, ever speaking kindly, and forbearing in adversity;

12.118.19 deciding for himself in giving and withholding, easy of approach, pleasant to behold, ever stretching out a hand to the distressed, trusting and trusted, and devoted to right policy;

12.118.20 not given to boasting of himself, not indifferent, not one to act at random, a doer of deeds that never fail once undertaken, and beloved of his servants.

12.118.21 He who keeps his people loyal, unhaughty, ever serene of face, generous, watchful over his servants, free from anger, exceedingly great of soul—

12.118.22 measured in punishment yet not lax in punishment, an enforcer of the duties of dharma, with spies for his eyes, watching his foes, ever skilled in dharma and artha—

12.118.23 such a king, endowed with a hundred virtues, is the one to be desired. And his warriors too, O lord of men, should be furnished with every excellence of quality.

12.118.24 Good men should be sought out as allies who can uphold the realm, and they must not be slighted by a king who longs for prosperity.

12.118.25 Warriors valiant in battle, grateful, expert in weapons, versed in the codes of dharma, attended by their bands of foot-soldiers,

12.118.26 enriched with wealth and honor, skilled in the maneuvering of chariots, adept with arrows and weapons—the king who has such men, his is this earth.

12.118.27 The king who is ever intent upon winning over all men, disposed to exertion, and rich in friends—that king is the best of kings.

12.118.28 With a thousand horses mounted by heroes, O Bhārata, and with men won over to his side, the whole earth may be conquered.

12.119.1 Bhīṣma said: The ruler of men who, after the fashion of the dog, appoints servants each to his own proper station in their fitting tasks—he enjoys the fruit of his kingdom.

12.119.2 A dog should not be raised beyond his proper station and honored above his measure; should the dog be promoted, he overleaps his own place and grasps for another.

12.119.3 Wise servants, endowed with good birth and lineage and settled in their own tasks, should be promoted; promotion to a station unfit for them is not proper.

12.119.4 The king who assigns to his servants tasks suited to them enjoys the fruit that springs from servants endowed with merit.

12.119.5 The śarabha should be placed in the śarabha's station, the lion in the post fit for a lion in his might, the tiger as a tiger, and the leopard as a leopard.

12.119.6 Servants are to be set, according to rule, in tasks befitting them; they should never be placed against the grain by one who seeks the fruit of their labor.

12.119.7 The witless ruler of men who, overstepping due measure, places his servants against the grain—he does not win the affection of his subjects.

12.119.8 Neither the foolish, nor the mean, nor those of unbridled senses, nor men of low birth should be kept at his side by a king who seeks his own welfare.

12.119.9 Men who are good, capable, brave, learned, free from envy, not mean, pure, and skilled—these should be his attendants.

12.119.10 Humble, devoted, patient, pure, well-born by nature, and of good repute—men who are above reproach each in his own station—such should be the king's outer officers.

12.119.11 At a lion's side the man should ever be a lion; even one who is no lion, when joined with a lion, gains a lion's reward.

12.119.12 But the lion who is surrounded by dogs, though bent on the fruit of a lion's deeds, cannot enjoy a lion's reward when waited upon by dogs.

12.119.13 Thus, O lord of men, with such men—brave, wise, deeply learned, and well-born—one may conquer the whole earth.

12.119.14 Neither one ignorant of medicine, nor a crooked man, nor an unlearned one, nor one without great wealth should be taken to his side as a servant by guardians of the earth, O best of those who employ servants.

12.119.15 Like arrows loosed, men intent upon their master's business speed forth; toward those servants who seek the king's good he should employ gentle, conciliating words.

12.119.16 The treasury must always be guarded by kings with diligent effort, for kings are rooted in the treasury; be one who makes the treasury his root.

12.119.17 Let your granary too be ever full, well stocked with grain, and always entrusted to honest men; be one devoted to wealth and grain.

12.119.18 Let your servants be ever ready and skilled in battle; and skill in the handling of horses is desired here as well.

12.119.19 Watchful over your kinsmen and relations, surrounded by friends and connections, and seeking the welfare of the townsfolk's affairs—so be, O delight of the Kauravas.

12.119.20 This conclusive wisdom and insight I have declared to you; the dog is your illustration, my son. What more do you wish to hear?

12.120.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Many a course of royal conduct you have set forth, O Bhārata—observances ordained of old by the ancients, who knew the dharma and the purposes of kingship.

12.120.2 That very teaching, declared at length, seen by the ancients and held to be the opinion of the good—the essence of the duties of kings—expound to me, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.120.3 Bhīṣma said: The protection of all beings—this is held to be the highest duty of the warrior caste. Hear, O lord of earth, how he may render such protection.

12.120.4 As the peacock, devourer of serpents, wears its many-colored plumes, so should the king who knows dharma assume a form of many kinds.

12.120.5 Sharpness, crookedness, sternness, truth, and uprightness—holding the mean and abiding in firmness of character, he attains happiness.

12.120.6 In whatever matter a certain hue would serve his interest, that color and form he should assume; for a king of many forms, even the subtlest aim does not fail.

12.120.7 He should ever keep his counsel guarded, mute as the autumn peacock; soft of speech and slender of frame, prosperous, he should be deeply versed in the sciences.

12.120.8 At the gateways of calamity let him be watchful, as at the outpourings of water; and as the rain-waters of the mountain seek the heights, so let him resort to the twice-born and the perfected sages.

12.120.9 Desiring his ends, the king should raise his crest like a banner of dharma; ever should he hold the rod of punishment uplifted, and act without negligence—observing income and outlay in the world, as a bird flits from tree to tree.

12.120.10 He should be cleanly among his own flock, and scatter the matters at hand with his feet; once fledged he should stir himself to motion, and guard himself against any weakness.

12.120.11 He should lay bare the faults of his foe and shake off the enemy's party; like a peacock among the blossoms in the forest, so should he go about gathering his aims.

12.120.12 He should take refuge with kings who are exalted, flourishing, and steadfast as mountains; he should seek a shade unperceived and resort to a hidden shelter.

12.120.13 With neck darkened as in the rains, let him plunge into the night in lonely places; like the peacock by its very nature, let him move unobserved among women. He should never cast off his armor, but guard himself by himself.

12.120.14 In the haunts of spies he should shun open approaches and snares; he should harass that ground, then vanish again into the thicket.

12.120.15 He should slay the wrathful, the deeply venomous, the foes who move by crooked ways; he should not resort to immature plumes, but make his dwelling in secure abodes.

12.120.16 Ever like the peacock, he should at will pursue what binds him to his purpose, and gather wisdom from every side, as the peacock gathers insects in the thickets. Thus, peacock-like, should the king protect his own realm.

12.120.17 The discerning one should ordain a policy that fosters his own growth: the restraint of self through intellect, the overthrow of others' designs by intellect, and the attainment of self-mastery through intellect—this is the teaching of the scriptures.

12.120.18 He should reassure his foe with conciliation while marking well his own strength; through self-examination he should weigh his judgment by judgment. The wise man, mind set on conciliatory means, discerns what should and should not be done.

12.120.19 He should be steadfast, his thought concealed, and speak only when speech is fitting; for the wise man, even were he Bṛhaspati in intellect, who lets out talk too closely held will revert to his true nature, like heated black iron plunged in water.

12.120.20 The lord of earth should inquire into all undertakings, both his own and his rival's, as they are taught in the authoritative scriptures.

12.120.21 The mean man, the cruel, the wise, the brave, and the one skilled in affairs—each he should appoint to his own proper task, along with whatever others excel in counsel.

12.120.22 Even without himself overseeing those set in their fitting tasks, he should keep them all in tune, as a stretched lute-string holds its notes.

12.120.23 Without conflict with any of the duties, he should do what pleases all; the king of whom each man says, 'He is mine,' stands unshaken like a mountain.

12.120.24 Holding firm resolve, as the sun holds forth its far-reaching ray, he should guard dharma alone, making the pleasing and the unpleasing equal in his eyes.

12.120.25 Men of good family, nature, and country, knowers of dharma, gentle of speech, in the prime of life, faultless, devoted to his welfare, masters of their senses,

12.120.26 free from greed, well-trained, self-restrained, and firmly grounded in the duties—such men the king, the guardian of dharma and artha, should establish in all affairs.

12.120.27 In this very manner, attentive and content, aided by his spies, he should watch over the coming and the going of all undertakings.

12.120.28 For the king whose wrath and favor are never spent in vain, who himself oversees his affairs, and whose treasury is founded on his own resolve—the very earth, the bearer of wealth, is his.

12.120.29 He whose favor is manifest and whose punishment is justly proportioned, who is guarded in himself and whose realm is guarded—that king is one who knows the dharma of kings.

12.120.30 He should ever survey his realm, as the rising sun surveys with its rays; he should know his spies through other spies, and so, by his wit, never be brought to fever.

12.120.31 He should take what comes in its due season, and the king should not betray his aim; day after day the wise one should milk the earth as one milks a cow.

12.120.32 As the bee gathers honey from the flowers little by little, so the king should take his substance and lay up his store.

12.120.33 Whatever remains after the protection of the realm, that serves dharma and pleasure alike; the king, learned in the scriptures and self-possessed, should both accumulate and disburse in turn.

12.120.34 He should not despise a small gain, nor scorn his enemies; he should understand himself through intellect, and should not place trust in the witless.

12.120.35 Steadfastness, skill, self-restraint, foremost intellect, fortitude, valor, regard for place and time, and vigilance—these eight are the kindling-fuels for the increase of wealth, be it small or great.

12.120.36 A spark of fire, when sprinkled with ghee, grows great, and a single seed becomes many thousands; marking well these vast workings of decline and increase, let the wise man never scorn the small.

12.120.37 A foe, whether child or grown or aged, will always strike down the heedless man; in due time another would tear away his very root—so the knower of the right moment is the best of kings.

12.120.38 An enemy would carry off one's fame, obstruct one's dharma, and lastingly cripple one's power in the matter of wealth—whether that foe and hater be weak or strong. Therefore the self-controlled man should never make light of a foe.

12.120.39 The ruin of the foe, the gathering of wealth and its protection, and the twin ends of dharma and pleasure conjoined—the intelligent man should bring these and yet more to fruition; therefore the king should rely upon the man of intellect.

12.120.40 Kindled intellect destroys even the strong; strength, when guarded by intellect, increases; an enemy, though waxing, sinks before intellect—and the deed that follows upon intellect is the deed that is praised.

12.120.41 The steadfast man who desires all the objects of desire, though his body be slight and clothed in but little vigor, yet as he strives for himself with wealth and honor, fills no small measure as a vessel of his own good.

12.120.42 Therefore the king, even when held in the grip of his foes, should gather the root of fortune from every side; though long oppressed, let him, by the force of his self-regard, be like the sudden flash of the lightning.

12.120.43 Knowledge, or austerity, or abundant wealth—all this can be won by resolute effort; the brahman dwells, intent, within embodied beings; therefore let one know that effort is the source of plenty.

12.120.44 Where the wise and the high-minded abide, where Śakra, Viṣṇu, and Sarasvatī dwell, and where all beings ever reside—therefore let the learned man not despise the body.

12.120.45 The greedy man one should ever overcome by gifts, for the greedy never reach contentment with another's wealth; every greedy man is grasping in the enjoyment of the fruits of action, and he who is bereft of wealth forsakes both dharma and pleasure.

12.120.46 Wealth, food, sons and wife, and prosperity—the greedy man covets all these from others; in the greedy all faults arise here below; therefore the king should not take greedy men into his service.

12.120.47 In a meeting he should urge on even the lowliest good man; the wise one should crush all the enterprises and aims of those who hate him.

12.120.48 A counselor renowned among the righteous, discreet, trustworthy, and well-born, O Pāṇḍava—such a one, O king, is fully fit for the governance of the realm.

12.120.49 The duties of the god among men, ordained by rule and here told in brief—mark them with your understanding; the king who, following these, ordains them is able to protect the earth.

12.120.50 If happiness born of misrule, of disorder, and won by violence of many kinds is seen, yet for that lord of earth there is no abiding course, and no supreme happiness arising from his realm.

12.120.51 Distinguished by wealth, honored for their wisdom and conduct, endowed with merit, their valor proven in battle, and tried in their virtues—such good men the self-possessed king here soon allies to himself, and so destroys his foes.

12.120.52 He should look to expedients by the various paths of action, and never fix his mind upon what is no true expedient; for the man who sees only flaws attains neither surpassing fortune, nor abundant fame, nor wealth.

12.120.53 Having discerned, among friends, both the rising of affection and its waning, and having weighed the two—he who would bear a heavy burden, that one alone the wise man should declare to be a true and steadfast friend.

12.120.54 These duties of a king that I have declared to you, set your mind upon them, and upon the protection of men; thus shall you easily win the fruit of merit, for the whole world is rooted in the highest dharma.

12.121.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: This eternal dharma of kings has been declared by you, grandfather, and the great Rod is sovereign; upon the Rod everything rests.

12.121.2 Of the gods, of the seers, and of the great-souled ancestors, of yakṣas, rākṣasas, and piśācas, and of mortals especially—

12.121.3 of all living beings in the world, and of those that dwell among the beasts as well, the Rod, all-pervading and of mighty splendour, is the supreme good, O lord.

12.121.4 Thus has it been declared by you that all things, moving and unmoving, are subject to the Rod; and the world is seen to cling to it—gods, asuras, and men alike.

12.121.5 This I wish to know in its true essence, O bull of the Bhāratas: What is the Rod? Of what kind is the Rod? What is its form? What is its final ground?

12.121.6 What is its nature? How does it come to be? How many forms does it bear? How does it hold sway? How does that Rod keep watch, attentive of spirit, over the people?

12.121.7 And who is it that keeps watch, guarding this realm of before and after? Which is known to be the prior, and which the other that is named the Rod? In what does the Rod abide, and what is held to be its course?

12.121.8 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O Kaurava, what the Rod is and how it is administered; for that on which all things depend, that alone is the Rod here.

12.121.9 The name of dharma, great king, is held to be 'administration of justice' (vyavahāra); for that which is heedful in the worlds, how should its abolition come to pass? It is for this purpose that the administration of justice holds its character as such.

12.121.10 Moreover this was declared of old by Manu at the very beginning, O king: he who rightly protects his subjects with a well-administered Rod, even-minded toward friend and foe alike—he alone is dharma itself.

12.121.11 Now this saying was uttered first of all by Manu in olden times, and its origin too was declared by Vasiṣṭha—the great word of Brahmā.

12.121.12 Because this saying was uttered first, men know it as the 'prior word'; and from the telling of the administration of justice, it is here called vyavahāra.

12.121.13 From the Rod, well-administered, the threefold aim of life ever proceeds; for the Rod is the supreme divine power, in form like fire with upward-leaping flame.

12.121.14 Dark as the petal of the blue lotus, four-fanged and four-armed, eight-footed, many-eyed, with pointed ears and bristling hair,

12.121.15 matted-locked, double-tongued, copper-faced, clad in the hide of the lion, king of beasts—this terrible form the Rod ever bears, hard to withstand.

12.121.16 Sword and mace, bow and spear, trident, hammer and arrow, pestle, axe and discus, the javelin, the staff, the lance, and the iron pike—

12.121.17 whatever weapons of war there are at all here, the Rod, being the soul of them all, moves embodied through the world.

12.121.18 Splitting, cleaving, crushing, slicing, rending, and tearing asunder, slaying and charging onward—the Rod alone moves abroad.

12.121.19 It is the Sword, the Slayer, Dharma, the Keen-pathed, the Unassailable, Womb-of-fortune, Victory, the Chastiser, Administration-of-justice, the Watcher-over-subjects;

12.121.20 the Scripture, the Brāhmaṇa's spell, the Chastiser who has become the prior word, Guardian-of-dharma, the Imperishable, the God, the Truth-faring, the Ever-faring, the Seizer;

12.121.21 the Unattached, son of Rudra, eldest of men, bringer of weal—these names of the Rod have been recounted, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.121.22 For the Rod is the Lord Viṣṇu, the Sacrifice, Nārāyaṇa the master; bearing forever its great form, it is called the Supreme Being.

12.121.23 As she is called the daughter of Brahmā—Lakṣmī, Polity, Sarasvatī—the science of governance by the Rod is the sustainer of the world; for the Rod is of many bodies.

12.121.24 Gain and loss, pleasure and pain, dharma and its opposite, strength and weakness, ill fortune and good fortune, merit and demerit, virtue and its absence,

12.121.25 desire and aversion, season and month, night and day and moment, displeasure and grace, joy, anger, calm and restraint,

12.121.26 fate and human effort, release and bondage, fear and fearlessness, harm and harmlessness, austerity, sacrifice, self-control, and poison and its absence,

12.121.27 the end, the beginning, and the middle, and the unfolding of all deeds; intoxication, negligence, and arrogance, hypocrisy, steadfastness, right conduct and wrong;

12.121.28 incapacity and capacity, pride and rigidity, expense and saving, discipline and emission, the timely and the untimely, O Bhārata;

12.121.29 falsehood, knowledge and ignorance, truth, and faith and faithlessness likewise, cowardice and resolve, gain and loss, victory and defeat;

12.121.30 harshness and gentleness, death, arrival and non-arrival, failure and success, what should and should not be done, strength and weakness;

12.121.31 envy and freedom from envy, dharma and its opposite likewise, shamelessness and shame, modesty, prosperity and adversity—

12.121.32 splendour in action, learning, power of speech, insight into truth: such, O Kaurava, is the manifold form of the Rod in this world.

12.121.33 Were there no Rod here, men would crush one another; it is for fear of the Rod that they do not slay one another, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.121.34 Guarded day by day by the Rod, O king, the subjects make the king prosper here; therefore the Rod is the final refuge.

12.121.35 Swiftly it sets this world in order, O lord of men. Dharma, established upon truth, abides among the brāhmaṇas.

12.121.36 The foremost twice-born, joined to dharma, become joined to the Veda; from the Vedas arose sacrifice, and sacrifice gladdens the gods.

12.121.37 And the gods, ever well pleased, deliver their gifts to Indra; and Śakra in turn gives food, showing favour to these subjects.

12.121.38 And the life-breaths of all beings ever rest upon food; therefore the people stand firm, and the Rod keeps watch over them.

12.121.39 And serving such a purpose, the Rod has passed into kṣatriyahood; protecting the subjects it keeps ever watch, well-ordained and imperishable.

12.121.40 Lord, Person, Breath, Being, Wealth, Lord-of-creatures, Soul-of-beings, and Living-self—by these eight names it is proclaimed.

12.121.41 The Rod alone bestowed upon him both abiding sovereignty and lordship; joined with power and statecraft, it is ever fivefold in nature.

12.121.42 Lineage, arms, wealth, ministers, and wisdom are declared to be the forces; and another force, O Yudhiṣṭhira, is to be acquired by the eight kinds of resources.

12.121.43 Elephants, horses, chariots, foot-soldiers, ships, and corvée labour likewise, guides and spies—that is remembered as the eightfold army.

12.121.44 Of this well-equipped eightfold force there are the elephants and their riders, the horsemen and the foot-soldiers, the ministers, and those who supply provisions,

12.121.45 the mendicant agents and the judges, the astrologers and the readers of omens, the treasury, the allies, the grain, and all the implements.

12.121.46 What they here know to be the seven-membered, eight-limbed body of the kingdom—of that the Rod is the very limb, and the Rod is its very source.

12.121.47 By the Lord, through effort, for the kṣatriya to uphold, the Rod was given, even-souled; for this Rod is eternal. Among kings none other is more worthy of worship than he who reveals dharma as it is.

12.121.48 By Brahmā, for the protection of the world and for the establishing of each one's own dharma, there arose, resting on the sovereign's authority, yet another administration of justice; hence that which is seen conjoined with it bears the mark of the sovereign's authority.

12.121.49 But administration of justice whose essence is the Veda is called that which rests on the Veda's authority; it is original, O tiger among men, and yet another kind is that taught by the law-books.

12.121.50 And that Rod which has been spoken of, bearing the mark of the sovereign's authority, is to be known as resting in the lord of men, and as resting on the Rod's own authority.

12.121.51 Though seen as resting on the Rod's authority, it is remembered as being of the nature of administration of justice; and that which is remembered as administration of justice has its essence in the domain of the Veda.

12.121.52 And that whose essence is born of the Veda is dharma, the revealer of virtues; arising upon the authority of dharma, it is dharma as it truly is, made manifest by the perfected of soul.

12.121.53 Administration of justice, the protector of the subjects, ordained by Brahmā, O Yudhiṣṭhira, upholds the three worlds; its essence is truth, and it is the increaser of well-being.

12.121.54 That which is the Rod has been seen by us as the eternal administration of justice; and that which has been seen as administration of justice, that we have heard to be dharma; and that which is the Veda is verily dharma, and that which is dharma is the path of the good.

12.121.55 Brahmā, the Lord of creatures, was the first to be, the grandfather; for he is the maker of all the worlds—with their gods, asuras, and rākṣasas, with men and serpents—and he is the creator of beings.

12.121.56 Hence this administration of justice of ours bears the mark of the sovereign's authority; and therefore we have spoken this exposition of administration of justice.

12.121.57 Mother and father, brother, wife, and household priest—for kings there exists none exempt from the Rod who does not abide in his own dharma.

12.122.1 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recite this ancient story. Among the Aṅgas there was a radiant king known as Vasuhoma.

12.122.2 That king, ever devoted to dharma and of great austerity, went together with his queen to Muñjapṛṣṭha, honoured by the hosts of divine seers.

12.122.3 There, on a peak of Himavat, on Meru the golden mountain, at the Muñja banyan where Rāma ordained the cutting away of his matted locks—

12.122.4 from that time onward, O lord of kings, by the seers of strict vows that region, frequented by Rudra, was called Muñjapṛṣṭha.

12.122.5 There, endowed with many virtues ever born of sacred lore, approved by the brāhmaṇas, he became the equal of a divine seer.

12.122.6 Once there came to visit him the undaunted lord of earth, the friend of Śakra and the honoured one, Māndhātā, scourge of his foes.

12.122.7 Approaching the king Vasuhoma, and seeing him eminent in austerity, Māndhātā stood before him with humility.

12.122.8 Vasuhoma in turn offered the king the cow and the welcome-water, and then inquired after the welfare of his eight-membered kingdom.

12.122.9 Following duly the usage practised of old by the good, Vasuhoma asked him, O king: 'What may I do for you?'

12.122.10 Greatly pleased, Māndhātā spoke to that best of kings, the deeply wise Vasuhoma, as he sat, O delight of the Kurus:

12.122.11 'The doctrine of Bṛhaspati, O king, you have studied entire, and likewise the treatise of Uśanas is fully known to you, O lord of men.

12.122.12 This I wish to hear: how does the Rod come into being? What is it that keeps watch from the first, and what is said to be supreme?

12.122.13 And how, abiding in the kṣatriya, does the Rod now stand established? Tell me, O greatly wise one; I shall give you the teacher's fee.'

12.122.14 Vasuhoma said: Hear, O king, how the Rod came to be—the sustainer of the world, for the disciplining and protection of the subjects, the eternal soul of dharma.

12.122.15 The Lord Brahmā, grandfather of all the worlds, wishing to sacrifice, found no officiating priest equal to himself—so we have heard.

12.122.16 That god bore an embryo within his head for a multitude of years; and when a full thousand years were complete, the embryo fell forth as he sneezed.

12.122.17 He came to be a Lord of creatures named Kṣupa, O subduer of foes; and he then served as the officiating priest at the sacrifice of that great-souled one, O king.

12.122.18 But while that sacrificial session of Brahmā was in progress, O bull among kings, because of the glad and untroubled course of things, that Rod became hidden from view.

12.122.19 And when it had vanished, confusion arose among the subjects: there was no longer what ought to be done nor what ought not, nor what was fit or unfit to eat.

12.122.20 What was fit or unfit to drink—whence then any right ordering? They fell to harming one another; there was no distinction then of the lawful and the forbidden, and another's property and one's own were held to be the same.

12.122.21 They plundered one another like dogs snatching at meat; the strong slew the weak, and all proceeded without bound or restraint.

12.122.22 Then the Grandsire, having worshipped the boon-granting Lord Viṣṇu, the eternal, and the great god Mahādeva, spoke thus.

12.122.23 Here you ought, of your sole grace, to show compassion: so ordain it that this confusion of all order may not come to pass.

12.122.24 Then that Lord, bearer of the trident and the matted locks, having meditated long, the best of gods, brought forth from himself, by himself, the Rod of Chastisement.

12.122.25 And from that he brought forth Policy, the goddess Sarasvatī, who treads the way of dharma; that science of governance by the Rod is renowned throughout the three worlds.

12.122.26 Again that Lord, whose chief weapon is the trident, having meditated long, appointed for each several order of beings its own particular ruler.

12.122.27 He made the thousand-eyed god the lord of the deities, and Yama, son of Vivasvat, he made the lord of the ancestral fathers.

12.122.28 Kubera he made lord of riches and of the rākṣasas; Meru he made lord of the mountains, and the great ocean lord of the rivers.

12.122.29 Over the realm of the waters and of the gods he set Varuṇa as sovereign; Death he made lord of living breaths, and the Oblation-eater (Agni) lord of the fiery energies.

12.122.30 As lord and guardian of the Rudras the Lord appointed the great-souled Mahādeva, the wide-eyed, the eternal one.

12.122.31 Vasiṣṭha he made lord of the brāhmaṇas, Jātavedas (Agni) of the Vasus; the Sun he made lord of the radiances, and the Moon of the constellations.

12.122.32 The rayed one (Soma) he made lord of the herbs; and the youthful, twelve-armed Skanda he ordained as the chief lord and king of the spirit-hosts.

12.122.33 He made Time the lord of all, whose nature is destruction and restraint, master of fourfold Death, of sorrow, and of joy.

12.122.34 The Lord whose body is all things, the king of kings, the master of wealth, the trident-bearer, is the ruler of all the Rudras: so runs the sacred tradition.

12.122.35 To that one Kṣupa, the son born after Brahmā, he gave dominion, making him the foremost overlord of creatures and of all who uphold dharma.

12.122.36 Then Mahādeva, when that sacrifice was concluded according to rule, gave the Rod, the guardian of dharma, with due honour, to Viṣṇu.

12.122.37 Viṣṇu gave it to Aṅgiras; Aṅgiras, best of sages, gave it to Indra and Marīci; and Marīci gave it to Bhṛgu.

12.122.38 Bhṛgu gave that Rod, conjoined with dharma, to the seers; the seers gave it to the guardians of the worlds, and the world-guardians to Kṣupa.

12.122.39 Kṣupa gave it to Manu, the son of the Sun; and the Lord of the Śrāddha (Manu), to fulfil the subtle ends of dharma, gave it to his sons — that Manu, the Sun's son, bestowed it as the very principle of protection.

12.122.40 Chastisement must be apportioned and meted out by dharma, not at whim: harsh rebuke, restraint, imprisonment, fines of gold, and outward correction —

12.122.41 and maiming of the body, or death — but not for a trifling cause — these several bodily torments, the surrender of life, and banishment.

12.122.42 In due succession that Rod keeps watch, guarding the people: Lord Indra keeps watch, and from Indra, Agni the radiant.

12.122.43 After Agni, Varuṇa keeps watch, and after Varuṇa, Prajāpati; and after Prajāpati, Dharma keeps watch, whose essence is discipline.

12.122.44 After Dharma keeps watch Resolve, the eternal son of Brahmā; and after Resolve, fiery energy keeps watch, protecting all.

12.122.45 After that energy the herbs keep watch, and after the herbs the mountains; and after the mountains, Sap keeps watch, by virtue of the quality of savour.

12.122.46 The goddess Nirṛti keeps watch, and after Nirṛti the heavenly lights; the Vedas are the foundation after the lights, and then the Horse-headed Lord (Hayaśiras).

12.122.47 After him Brahmā the Grandsire keeps watch, the imperishable Lord; and after the Grandsire, the great god, Lord Śiva, keeps watch.

12.122.48 After Śiva, the All-Gods, and after the All-Gods, the seers; after the seers, Lord Soma, and after Soma, the eternal deities.

12.122.49 After the deities, the brāhmaṇas keep watch in the world — know this well — and after the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas guard the worlds by dharma; the unmoving and the moving alike eternally rest upon the kṣatriyas.

12.122.50 The people keep watch in this world, and over them keeps watch the Rod; that Rod, which gathers all things into itself, is a lord equal to the Grandsire.

12.122.51 Time keeps watch at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, O Bhārata — the Lord of all the worlds, the great god, Prajāpati.

12.122.52 The God of gods, Śiva, Śarva, keeps watch forever, the Lord — the matted-haired one, Śaṃkara, Rudra, Bhava, Sthāṇu, the consort of Umā.

12.122.53 Thus is this Rod proclaimed, at the beginning, the middle, and the last; by it let the guardian of the earth, the knower of dharma, conduct himself according to justice.

12.122.54 Bhīṣma said: Whatever man should hear this teaching of Vasuhoma, and having heard it should conduct himself rightly — that king shall attain all his desires.

12.122.55 Thus have I declared to you, O bull among men, all concerning that Rod, the restrainer of every world that has gone astray from dharma, O Bhārata.

12.123.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Father, I wish to hear the settled truth concerning dharma, wealth, and desire; for the whole conduct of life in this world rests entirely upon these three.

12.123.2 In what are dharma, wealth, and desire rooted, and what is the source of these three? How do they cleave to one another, and yet operate each apart?

12.123.3 Bhīṣma said: When men are well-minded toward the discernment of the world's right ordering, then the three cleave together in their arisings, abidings, and ceasings within Time.

12.123.4 The body is rooted in dharma; wealth is its means, and desire is called the fruit of wealth. All these are rooted in resolve, and resolve has the sense-objects for its essence.

12.123.5 And the sense-objects, one and all, serve wholly for the sustaining of life; this is the root of the triad — while their cessation is called liberation (mokṣa).

12.123.6 Dharma is the safeguarding of the body; wealth is sought for the sake of dharma; and desire here has delight for its fruit — yet all these are charged with the quality of passion (rajas).

12.123.7 He should pursue these as they lie near to hand, yet not abandon them in his mind; freed from darkness (tamas), he should hold to them all — dharma and the rest — making desire their goal.

12.123.8 He of best understanding, regarding the triad, should grasp at once by the higher intellect what is to be known in any matter, and not by the meaner intellect, plodding day by day.

12.123.9 The taint of dharma is evil intent; the taint of wealth is hoarding; the taint of desire is reckless revelry — each, moreover, turning back upon its own quality.

12.123.10 On this point too they recount an ancient tale, the dialogue of both Kāmanda and Aṅgāriṣṭha.

12.123.11 Having saluted the seer Kāmanda as he sat, and observing the proper occasion, the king Aṅgāriṣṭha then put his question.

12.123.12 When a king commits a sin, driven by the force of desire and delusion, O seer, what may serve to destroy the sin of such a man when he comes to repent?

12.123.13 And when, out of ignorance, a king practises unrighteousness here thinking it righteousness, and it has become notorious in the world, how should he turn back from it?

12.123.14 Kāmanda said: He who, casting off dharma and wealth, pursues desire alone, comes by that abandonment of dharma and wealth to the ruin of his wisdom in this world.

12.123.15 Delusion is the destroyer of wisdom, and likewise the destroyer of dharma and wealth; from it, in turn, are born unbelief and wicked conduct.

12.123.16 When a king does not restrain the depraved men of evil conduct, the people shrink from him as from a serpent that has entered the house.

12.123.17 The people no longer follow him, nor the brāhmaṇas, nor the virtuous; thereupon he meets with utter ruin, and comes besides to be slain.

12.123.18 Cast down and despised, he lives a life of misery; and the very life that such a fallen man lives is but death made plain.

12.123.19 On this matter the teachers declare the means of expiating sin: the threefold sacred knowledge (the Vedas) is to be cultivated, and honour shown to the brāhmaṇas.

12.123.20 He should be high-minded in dharma, and marry into a noble house; he should also wait upon brāhmaṇas endowed with forbearance and wisdom.

12.123.21 He should murmur prayers, be given to ablutions, gracious of countenance, set upon naught else; he should consort with the righteous, having shut the evildoers out.

12.123.22 He should conciliate others with sweet speech and likewise with deeds, saying ever 'Thus am I,' while proclaiming the virtues of others.

12.123.23 For one of such sinless conduct soon becomes held in high esteem, and quells even grievous sins — of this there is no doubt.

12.123.24 Whatever supreme dharma the elders may declare, that do accordingly; for through the grace of the elders you shall attain the highest good.

12.124.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: These men, O best of men, ever praise upon the earth, before all else, good character as the foundation of dharma; thence arises in me a great doubt.

12.124.2 If it can be understood by us, O foremost of the upholders of dharma, I wish to hear all of it — how this good character is to be acquired.

12.124.3 How then is good character attained? I wish to hear, O Bhārata; and by what marks is it described? Tell me, O best of speakers.

12.124.4 Bhīṣma said: Long ago, O bestower of honour, Duryodhana here told this to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, tormented as he was at the sight of such prosperity come to others.

12.124.5 At Indraprastha, O great king, in the hall of you and your brothers, there was that mockery he suffered — hear all of it, O Bhārata.

12.124.6 Having seen that hall of yours and its unsurpassed splendour, Duryodhana, seated then, reported it all to his father.

12.124.7 And Dhṛtarāṣṭra too, having heard Duryodhana's words then, spoke this speech to Duryodhana, who was attended by Karṇa.

12.124.8 Why do you torment yourself, my son? I wish to hear the truth of it; and having heard, I shall console you, if you will but conduct yourself rightly.

12.124.9 You have attained great lordship, O conqueror of hostile cities; all your brothers are at your service, and so are your friends and kinsmen.

12.124.10 You clothe yourself in fine mantles, you eat rice with meat, thoroughbred steeds bear you along — why then do you grieve, my little son?

12.124.11 Duryodhana said: Ten thousand high-souled graduate sages dine from vessels of gold in Yudhiṣṭhira's dwelling.

12.124.12 And having seen that celestial hall, furnished with celestial flowers and fruits, the horses dappled like the partridge, and jewels of every kind —

12.124.13 having seen that splendid prosperity of the sons of Pāṇḍu, rivalling Indra's, the vast prosperity of my foes, I grieve, O bestower of honour.

12.124.14 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: If you desire prosperity such as that which is in Yudhiṣṭhira, my son, or even greater, O tiger among men, then be a man of good character, my little son.

12.124.15 For by good character the three worlds can be conquered — of this there is no doubt; nothing in the world is unattainable for those of good character.

12.124.16 In a single night Māndhātā, in three days Janamejaya, in seven nights Nābhāga, won possession of the whole earth.

12.124.17 For all these kings were men of good character, endowed with self-restraint; therefore the earth, won over by their virtues, came to them of her own accord.

12.124.18 On this point too they recount this ancient tale, told of old by Nārada concerning good character, O Bhārata.

12.124.19 By Prahlāda the kingdom of the great-souled Mahendra was wrested away; relying upon good character, that daitya brought the three worlds under his sway.

12.124.20 Then Śakra, with joined palms, presented himself before Bṛhaspati and, that man of great wisdom, said: 'I wish to know what is the highest good.'

12.124.21 Then the Lord Bṛhaspati related to him the supreme knowledge that leads to the highest weal, to the lord of the gods, O scion of Kuru.

12.124.22 'Thus much is the highest good' — so Bṛhaspati declared; but Indra asked again, 'Wherein might there be something yet greater?'

12.124.23 Bṛhaspati said: There is a great excellence in the high-souled Bhārgava, my son; go and acquire learning there once more, Purandara—blessings upon you.

12.124.24 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Then that one of vast renown and surpassing splendor, seeking his own greater good, joyfully acquired knowledge anew from the Bhārgava.

12.124.25 Granted leave even by him, the high-souled Bhārgava, the Lord of a Hundred Sacrifices said once again to Śukra, 'Is there yet a greater good?'

12.124.26 But the Bhārgava, knower of dharma, replied, 'The high-souled Prahrāda possesses knowledge of special excellence'; and thereupon Indra was delighted.

12.124.27 Then the Chastiser of Pāka, having become a brāhmaṇa, that wise one approached Prahrāda and said, 'I wish to learn what is the highest good.'

12.124.28 But Prahrāda said to the brāhmaṇa, 'I have no leisure, O bull among the twice-born, occupied as I am with the sovereignty of the three worlds; therefore I cannot instruct you.'

12.124.29 The brāhmaṇa then spoke these words: 'At what time will you have leisure? Whatever interval falls between your duties, then I wish to be instructed.'

12.124.30 Then King Prahrāda was pleased with the expounder of the Veda, and saying 'So be it,' he imparted to him the truth of knowledge at an auspicious time.

12.124.31 And the brāhmaṇa too, according to custom, rendered to his teacher unsurpassed service with his whole being, just as that one desired in his heart.

12.124.32 And he was asked by the brāhmaṇa many times: 'How, O subduer of foes, did you obtain the sovereignty of the three worlds, O knower of dharma? Tell me the cause of it.'

12.124.33 Prahrāda said: I never bear ill will, O best of the twice-born, thinking 'I am king'; when the wise speak their wisdom, my son, I restrain myself and bear it patiently.

12.124.34 Trusting in me, they speak freely and ever guide me; and when I am devoted to the path of wisdom, eager to listen and free of envy,

12.124.35 those teachers heap their instruction upon me—a man of righteous soul, conqueror of anger, self-controlled, with senses subdued—as bees gather honey from flowers.

12.124.36 Thus, savoring the essences ground fine upon the tongue's tip of the learned, I stand above those of my own kind as the moon stands above the stars.

12.124.37 This is the nectar upon the earth, this the unsurpassed eye: the wisdom on a brāhmaṇa's lips—having heard it, one goes forward in life.

12.124.38 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: 'This is the highest good,' said Prahrāda to the expounder of the Veda; and then, having been served by him, the lord of the Daityas spoke these words.

12.124.39 I am pleased with your fitting service to your teacher, O most excellent of the twice-born. Choose a boon—blessings upon you—and I shall grant it, of that there is no doubt.

12.124.40 'It is already done,' said that brāhmaṇa to the lord of the Daityas; but Prahrāda, well pleased, said, 'Let the boon be taken nonetheless.'

12.124.41 The brāhmaṇa said: If you are gracious to me, O king, and if you wish my welfare, then I desire to obtain your conduct—this is my boon.

12.124.42 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Then the lord of the Daityas was both pleased and seized by great fear, for at the boon named by the brāhmaṇa he thought, 'This one is of no small power.'

12.124.43 'So be it,' Prahrāda said to him then, astonished; but having bestowed the boon upon the brāhmaṇa, he was filled with sorrow.

12.124.44 When the boon had been given and the brāhmaṇa had departed, great anxiety came upon Prahrāda, O great king, and he could reach no certainty.

12.124.45 As he brooded thus, my son—O lord of great splendor—a radiance in bodily form, like a shadow given shape, then forsook his body.

12.124.46 Prahrāda asked that mighty-bodied being, 'Who are you?' It replied, 'Surely I am Conduct. Cast off by you, I now depart.'

12.124.47 'In that excellent brāhmaṇa, O king, I shall dwell, O blameless one—he who, having become your pupil, was ever steadfastly devoted to you.' Having spoken thus, it vanished and entered into Śakra, my lord.

12.124.48 When that radiance had gone, another of like form then issued forth from his body, and Prahrāda said, 'Who are you?'

12.124.49 'Know me, Prahrāda, to be Dharma. Where that most excellent of the twice-born has gone, there too I shall go, O lord of the Daityas; for where Conduct is, there am I.'

12.124.50 Then another, O great king, blazing as it were with splendor, issued forth from the body of the high-souled Prahrāda.

12.124.51 Asked 'Who are you?', that one of great splendor replied to him, 'I am Truth, O foremost lord of the Asuras; I shall follow Dharma hence.'

12.124.52 When that being had followed after Dharma, yet another being came forth from him; and questioned by the high-souled one, it said, 'Know me, Prahrāda, to be Right Practice; for where Truth is, there am I.'

12.124.53 When that one had gone, a great white being came forth from his body, and being questioned it said, 'Know me to be Strength; where Right Practice is, there am I.' So saying, it went there where Right Practice had gone, O lord of men.

12.124.54 Then a radiant goddess came forth from his body. The lord of the Daityas asked her who she was, and she answered, 'I am Śrī, Fortune herself.'

12.124.55 'Happily have I dwelt in you, O hero of truthful valor; but forsaken by you, I shall depart—for I go where Strength has gone.'

12.124.56 Then fear arose in the high-souled Prahrāda, and he asked her once more, 'Where do you go, O dweller in the lotus?'

12.124.57 'For you, O goddess true to your vow, are the supreme mistress of the world. And who is that most excellent of brāhmaṇas? I wish to learn the truth of it.'

12.124.58 Śrī said: That celibate student whom you instructed was Śakra himself; whatever sovereignty over the three worlds was yours, that has been carried off by him, my lord.

12.124.59 For by good conduct, O knower of dharma, you had conquered all the worlds; and knowing this, mighty Indra has taken your conduct from you, my lord.

12.124.60 Dharma, Truth, Right Practice, Strength, and I myself, O greatly wise one, are ever rooted in Conduct; of this there is no doubt.

12.124.61 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken thus, Śrī departed, and all those others with her, O Yudhiṣṭhira. But Duryodhana said again to his father these words.

12.124.62 I wish to know the true nature of conduct, O delight of the Kurus, and by what means good conduct is attained; tell me that way.

12.124.63 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: The means was set forth earlier by the high-souled Prahrāda; yet hear in brief, O ruler of men, how good conduct is attained.

12.124.64 Freedom from malice toward all beings in deed, thought, and word, together with kindness and giving—this is what is praised as good conduct.

12.124.65 Whatever deed, however manly, would not be for the good of others, or would make one ashamed—that one should by no means do.

12.124.66 But one should so act that one may be praised in the assembly. This, in brief, is good conduct as it has been declared, O best of the Kurus.

12.124.67 Even though the ill-conducted may somewhere attain fortune, O king, they do not enjoy it long, my son, but fall, uprooted to the very root.

12.124.68 Knowing this truly, be a man of good conduct, my boy, if you desire a fortune far surpassing that of Yudhiṣṭhira, my son.

12.124.69 Bhīṣma said: This Dhṛtarāṣṭra told to his son, O ruler of men. Do you do likewise, O son of Kuntī, and then you shall obtain its fruit.

12.125.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: You have told me that conduct is foremost in a man, O grandsire. How did hope arise, and what is it? Tell me that.

12.125.2 A great doubt has arisen in me, O grandsire, and there is none other than you to resolve it, O conqueror of hostile cities.

12.125.3 O grandsire, a great hope rested in me regarding Suyodhana—that, when war came, he would do what was fitting, my lord.

12.125.4 A very great hope arises in every man, and when that hope is shattered, the grief is, beyond doubt, as bitter as death.

12.125.5 And so I, my hopes destroyed, was made a fool by that evil-minded son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, O lord of kings; behold the dullness of my spirit.

12.125.6 I deem hope greater than a mountain with its trees, greater even than the sky, O king, or rather wholly immeasurable.

12.125.7 And this hope, O best of the Kurus, is hard to fathom and most hard to fulfill; and because of its very unattainability, I see nothing else harder to attain than it.

12.125.8 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall recount to you, Yudhiṣṭhira—mark it well—the ancient tale of what befell Sumitrā and the sage Ṛṣabha.

12.125.9 A royal sage named Sumitrā, of the Haihayas, had gone hunting, and having pierced a deer with a smooth-jointed arrow, he gave chase to it.

12.125.10 That deer, of boundless vigor, bore off the arrow and fled, and the mighty king pursued it swiftly from close behind.

12.125.11 Then that swift deer ran over low ground and high alike, O lord of kings, and in but a moment it came onto level ground.

12.125.12 Then the king, in his youthful vigor and inborn strength, bow and sword in hand, gave chase, gliding like a swan.

12.125.13 Crossing streams and rivers, pools and woods, passing them over and beyond, he pursued on, ranging through the forest.

12.125.14 But that deer, O king, of its own will, drawing near the king again and again, would then dart away once more with very great speed.

12.125.15 Though struck by his many arrows, that forest-ranging creature, as if in sport, O lord of kings, would again draw near him.

12.125.16 And again, summoning its swiftness, that fleet leader of the deer-herd, outstripping him again and again, O lord of kings, would once more draw near.

12.125.17 Sumitrā, scourge of his foes, taking up a dreadful, vital-piercing, most excellent shaft, loosed it from his bow at the deer.

12.125.18 Then, by but the distance of a league, that lord of the deer-herds, slipping from the path of the arrow, stood still as if laughing.

12.125.19 When that arrow had fallen blazing to the ground, the deer entered the great forest, and the king ran on after it.

12.125.20 Having entered the great forest, the king then came upon a hermitage of ascetics, and, weary, he sat himself down.

12.125.21 Seeing him bearing his bow, worn out with toil and hungered, the sages gathered round and paid him honor as the rites prescribe.

12.125.22 The sages asked that tiger among kings his purpose: 'For what gracious errand, O fair-faced one, have you come to this grove of penance?'

12.125.23 'On foot, your sword girded on, bearing bow and arrows, O lord of men—this we wish to learn: whence have you come, O bestower of honor? In what lineage were you born, and what is your name? Tell us.'

12.125.24 Then that king, O bull among men, in due order related all to those twice-born ones, and rendered them service, O Bhārata.

12.125.25 'Born in the line of the Haihayas, Sumitrā, the delight of my friends, I roam slaying the herds of deer with arrows by the thousand, guarded by a mighty host, with my ministers and my women's quarters.'

12.125.26 'A deer pierced by my arrow runs on with the barb in it; following it as it fled, I have come by chance to this forest, into your presence—my fortune lost, my hopes destroyed, wasted with toil.'

12.125.27 'What grief indeed is there other than this—that I, worn down with toil, have reached your hermitage, my hopes destroyed, the marks of royalty undone?'

12.125.28 'Neither the loss of my royal insignia nor of my city, O you whose wealth is penance, brings me grief so keen as my hope that has been shattered.'

12.125.29 'As the mighty mountain Himavān or the great ocean could not, for their vastness, be matched against the space between heaven and earth, so, O foremost in penance, have I never reached the end of hope.'

12.125.30 'All is known to you, for you who are rich in penance are all-knowing; you, sirs, are most highly blessed—therefore I shall ask you my doubt.'

12.125.31 'A man filled with hope, or else the firmament—which of these, by reason of its greatness, appears to you the greater in the world? This I wish to hear in truth: what here is hard to attain?'

12.125.32 'If it be a secret, O you ever-devoted to penance, then do not tell it here; but if it be no secret, I wish to hear it, O bulls among the twice-born.'

12.125.33 'Or if this question I have raised would be a hindrance to your penance, then I shall desist from it; but if there is occasion for such discourse, then speak.'

12.125.34 I wish to hear, in its truth and in the fullness of its causes, this whole matter; for you, ever steadfast in austerity, may set it forth with a composed mind.

12.126.1 Bhīṣma said: Then, of all those assembled sages, the foremost of seers, the brahmin-sage named Ṛṣabha, smiling as it were, spoke thus.

12.126.2 Long ago, O tiger among kings, O mighty lord, as I wandered among the sacred fords, I came upon the divine hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa.

12.126.3 There stood that lovely jujube tree and the lake Vaihāyasa, and there, O king, Aśvaśiras recites the eternal Vedas.

12.126.4 Having duly made my offerings of water to the ancestors and the gods at that lake, I then proceeded to the hermitage.

12.126.5 There, where the two sages Nara and Nārāyaṇa ever take their delight, I went, not far off, to a certain hermitage to take up my lodging.

12.126.6 Then I beheld a sage approaching, clad in bark and deerskin, exceedingly lean and tall — a treasury of austerity named Tanu.

12.126.7 O mighty-armed one, in stature he was eightfold beyond other men, yet, O royal sage, such gauntness as his I had never anywhere seen.

12.126.8 His body, O lord of kings, was as slender as a little finger; his neck, his arms, his feet, and his hair were a wonder to behold.

12.126.9 His head was in keeping with his frame, and so too his ears and eyes; yet his speech and his bearing, O best of kings, were as those of ordinary men.

12.126.10 Seeing that emaciated brahmin, I grew afraid and deeply troubled in heart; and having saluted his feet, I stood before him with hands folded in reverence.

12.126.11 Having announced my name, my lineage, and my father, O bull among men, I slowly took my seat upon the place he indicated.

12.126.12 Then, O great king, in the midst of the sages, that best of the upholders of dharma recounted discourses bound up with righteousness and worldly profit.

12.126.13 And even as he was speaking, a lotus-eyed king drew near on swift horses, together with his army and his retinue of the inner apartments.

12.126.14 Brooding over his son lost in the forest and stricken with the deepest grief — the wise and greatly renowned father of Bhūridyumna, foremost of the Raghus.

12.126.15 "Here I shall behold that son of mine, here I shall see him" — thus, O king, fashioned by hope, that monarch had once ranged through this forest.

12.126.16 "Hard indeed is it for me to behold him, that most righteous one; my only son, lost in the great forest" — thus again and again he lamented.

12.126.17 "Hard is he for me to behold, yet great is my hope; encompassed in every limb by it, I am surely about to die — of this there is no doubt."

12.126.18 Hearing this, the venerable Tanu, the very best of sages, with head bowed and absorbed in meditation, remained for a moment as if motionless.

12.126.19 Marking him sunk in thought, the king, most sorrowful and wretched of spirit, spoke these words, again and again, softly and ever more softly.

12.126.20 "What, O brahmin-sage, is hard to attain, and what may there be of hope? Let the venerable one declare this, if it be no secret kept from me."

12.126.21 Now this venerable great sage had once been slighted by that very king, who, in his ill fortune, had taken to a childish frame of mind.

12.126.22 For when, O king, the sage had asked of him a golden pitcher and garments of bark, that brahmin-sage, rebuffed, became disheartened and free of all hope.

12.126.23 Having spoken thus and saluted that sage honoured by the world, the righteous king, wearied, sat down — even as you do now, O best of men.

12.126.24 Then the great sage, bringing the welcome-offering and water for the feet, presented all to the king according to the rite of the forest-dwellers.

12.126.25 Thereupon all those sages, encircling that bull among men and setting him before them, took their seats, as the Seven Sages encircle the Pole-star.

12.126.26 And there they questioned that unvanquished king as to his every purpose and the reason for his entering the hermitage.

12.126.27 The king said: I am the king called Vīradyumna, renowned in all quarters; I have come to the forest to seek my lost son, Bhūridyumna.

12.126.28 He is my only son, O foremost of brahmins, and but a child, O sinless one; nowhere in this forest is he to be seen, and I roam about in search of him.

12.126.29 Ṛṣabha said: When the king had spoken these words, the sage, his face downcast, fell silent there and made the monarch no reply.

12.126.30 For that brahmin had once been little honoured by this king, and so, O lord of kings, he had undertaken a long austerity, lean and wasted with hope.

12.126.31 "Never in any wise shall I accept a gift from kings, nor yet from men of the other castes" — having so resolved in his mind.

12.126.32 "For hope, abiding within, makes a man babble like a child; that hope I will utterly drive away" — thus resolved, he stood firm.

12.126.33 The king said: What is the leanness of hope, and what is hard to attain here upon earth? Let the venerable one declare this, for you are a seer of dharma and of worldly good.

12.126.34 Ṛṣabha said: Then, calling all of it to mind, the venerable, lean-bodied brahmin Tanu, as if to remind the king, spoke to him thus.

12.126.35 In leanness, O king, there is nothing to equal hope, O lord of men; and it was because she is so hard to fulfil that I made my entreaties of princes.

12.126.36 The king said: Lean and not-lean I have grasped, O brahmin, from your words; and its hard-to-attain nature too, O twice-born, is to me like a saying of the Veda.

12.126.37 Yet a doubt, O greatly wise one, has arisen in my heart; this, O best of men, you ought to declare to me truly, for I ask it of you.

12.126.38 What, then, is leaner even than you? Let the venerable one declare this, if it be no secret of yours, O brahmin — what in this world is hard to attain?

12.126.39 Lean-bodied Tanu said: Hard to find, or rather not to be found, is the petitioner who keeps his composure as if undisturbed; yet harder still to find, my son, is he who does not scorn the one who comes to ask.

12.126.40 The hope that, having heard a promise, is not requited as is fitting and to the utmost of one's power — that hope, clinging to all beings, I deem the leaner one.

12.126.41 A father of an only son, when that son is lost or gone abroad, who can learn nothing of his fate — his hope I deem the leaner one.

12.126.42 The hope of women at their delivery, the longing of the aged for a son, and likewise, O lord of men, the hope of the wealthy — these I deem the leaner.

12.126.43 Ṛṣabha said: Hearing this, O king, that monarch, together with his retinue of the inner apartments, touched the sage's feet and fell with his head before that bull among the twice-born.

12.126.44 The king said: I implore your grace, O venerable one; I long to be reunited with my son. Choose a boon, O brahmin, whatever you desire, in due form.

12.126.45 Ṛṣabha said: And the lotus-eyed king spoke this word to him: "Even as you have declared, O brahmin, so it is true; there is nothing false herein."

12.126.46 Then the venerable Tanu, foremost of the upholders of dharma, laughing aloud, swiftly brought back his son by the power of austerity and of sacred lore.

12.126.47 Having brought back the son and then admonished the king, that best of the upholders of dharma revealed himself to be Dharma in his own form.

12.126.48 And having shown his own divine form, wondrous to behold, free of sin and free of wrath, he departed and ranged through the nearby forest.

12.126.49 This I myself beheld, O king, and this word I heard; therefore drive swiftly from you this hope, the leaner of the two.

12.126.50 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, O great king, by the high-souled Ṛṣabha, Sumitrā straightway drove from him then that hope, the leaner one.

12.126.51 Even so do you also, O son of Kuntī, having heard this speech of mine, grow steadfast, O king, like Himavān, the noblest of mountains.

12.126.52 For you are one who has both seen and heard in the hard straits where great deeds were done; having heard me, O great king, you ought not to grieve here any longer.

12.127.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: As of nectar, so of your speaking I can never have my fill; therefore tell me yet more of dharma, O grandsire.

12.127.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount this ancient tale, the dialogue between Gautama and the high-souled Yama.

12.127.3 Upon Mount Pāriyātra stood the great hermitage of Gautama, where Gautama dwelt for a time; hear of that too from me.

12.127.4 For sixty thousand years did that Gautama perform his austerity; and to that sage of fierce penance, steadfast and matured by his austerity—

12.127.5 —then came, O tiger among men, Yama, the guardian of the worlds; and he beheld that sage Gautama, the muni rich in austerity.

12.127.6 Knowing him for Yama who had come in his might, that brahmin-sage, that treasury of austerity, with hands folded and self-controlled, drew near to him.

12.127.7 And the King of Dharma, the moment he beheld that bull among men, made his salutation and addressed him courteously, saying, "What shall be done?"

12.127.8 Gautama said: By doing what may a man discharge his debt to mother and father? And how does a man attain to those auspicious worlds so hard to win?

12.127.9 Yama said: By one ever endowed with austerity and purity, and devoted to truth and to dharma, honour must be rendered straightway, day after day, to mother and father.

12.127.10 And sacrifice must be offered with many horse-sacrifices well furnished with their proper gifts; thereby a man attains to worlds wondrous to behold.

12.128.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For a king forsaken by his friends and beset by many foes, his treasury exhausted and his forces broken, O descendant of Bharata—what recourse remains?

12.128.2 —whose ministers and helpers are corrupt, whose counsels have leaked out on every side, who is slipping from his kingdom and sees no other way?

12.128.3 —assailed by a hostile army, weak before a stronger foe, his realm left unordered, and himself heedless of place and time?

12.128.4 When conciliation cannot be had, nor the sowing of division for want of pressure to apply—and life itself is at stake, or wealth—what then is the righteous course?

12.128.5 Bhīṣma said: A secret matter of dharma you have asked of me, O bull of the Bhāratas; unasked, I should not venture to declare this dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.128.6 For dharma, O bull of the Bhāratas, is subtler than speech and than thought; only when one has heard it and waited upon it through good conduct does a man somewhere become virtuous.

12.128.7 By action governed by intelligence a man becomes wealthy, or else he does not; such is the question you have pressed, and it must be resolved by you with your own discernment.

12.128.8 Hear, O descendant of Bharata, of an expedient abounding in dharma, meant for the sustaining of one's course. I would not, for dharma's own sake, wish for such a dharma; yet what brings pain in the taking from the wealthy here is held, in the end, to be allowable.

12.128.9 Following out the settled conclusion of all the courses of conduct—the more constantly a man regards the sacred teaching, the more he understands, and the more his understanding gives him delight.

12.128.10 From want of understanding arises a man's misapplication of means; for from want of understanding comes misapplication, whereas right application, in turn, is the maker of prosperity.

12.128.11 Without misgiving and without cavil, hear this my word: it is from the wasting of a king's treasury that the wasting of his forces is born.

12.128.12 Let the king bring a treasury into being, as water is drawn from waterless places; and when the time comes, let him show favour. This is the fitting dharma here and now.

12.128.13 Resorting to this dharma of expedients, practised by men of old—one dharma belongs to the powerful, and another, O descendant of Bharata, in times of distress.

12.128.14 A treasury comes first, it is said, then dharma; yet wisdom is weightier than dharma. He who is too weak, even on attaining dharma, does not come by a just course of conduct.

12.128.15 Since wealth is not won by any single, unbending way, therefore in time of distress even what is unrighteous is taught to bear the mark of dharma.

12.128.16 "In what does unrighteousness arise?" — this the wise have known; and as to what is nearest to the kṣatriya, on this very point you are in doubt.

12.128.17 That whereby his dharma may not languish, and whereby he may not fall under the power of the foe — that, they say, is to be done here; let him not bring himself to ruin.

12.128.18 The man whose self is composed should, by every means, strive to raise himself up—neither for the sake of dharma, nor for another, nor merely for his own self; this is the settled conclusion.

12.128.19 Herein, my son, lies the conviction of those skilled in dharma, in the subtleties of righteousness: that exertion is the livelihood of the warrior, and that he lives by the might of his arms—so runs the sacred teaching.

12.128.20 When his means of livelihood are blocked, from whom may a kṣatriya not take what he needs—save only from the property of an ascetic and the property of a brāhmaṇa, O Bhārata?

12.128.21 Just as a brāhmaṇa, sinking into distress, may officiate at sacrifices even for those unworthy of his ministry and may eat forbidden food, so too is it in this case—of this there is no doubt.

12.128.22 For one hard-pressed, what door is barred, what path forbidden to one held down? When a man is sorely pressed, he breaks out even where there is no proper door.

12.128.23 With the loss of his treasury and his army comes defeat before all the world; yet for him the life of a beggar is not ordained, nor the livelihood of a vaiśya or a śūdra.

12.128.24 For one who does not depend upon others, the livelihood nearest to his own dharma is right; pursuing first the primary rule, he may live by the secondary rule in its stead.

12.128.25 For one fallen into calamity, even a livelihood gained by irregular means among the rules of dharma is allowed; indeed this has been seen even among brāhmaṇas when their means of living are exhausted.

12.128.26 What doubt, then, could there be in the case of a kṣatriya? This is ever certain: let him take from those who have more, and let him in no way sink into ruin.

12.128.27 The kṣatriya is known as both the slayer and the protector of the people; therefore, while guarding them, the kinsman of the warrior-order must take what is needful.

12.128.28 Apart from doing harm, O king, there is no livelihood here for anyone—not even for the lone sage who roams and subsists upon what springs up in the forest.

12.128.29 One cannot live by adopting the way of life laid down by Śaṅkha and Likhita—least of all, O best of the Kurus, by one who desires to protect the people.

12.128.30 In time of calamity, mutual protection must always be practiced here between the king and the kingdom: this is the eternal dharma.

12.128.31 As the king in times of distress guards the kingdom with his abundant wealth, so too, when calamity strikes, must the king be protected by the kingdom.

12.128.32 When his kingdom is overtaken by famine, the king should not hold back his treasury, his army of punishment, his forces, his allies, or whatever else he has stored up.

12.128.33 Those who know dharma understand that the seed-grain must be procured through devoted service; and here they cite the teaching of Śambara, the master of great illusions.

12.128.34 Shame upon the life of that king in whose realm even the lowest of men perishes for lack of livelihood—he who has truly heeded the words of Śibi.

12.128.35 The king's foundation is the strength of his treasury; and the treasury, in turn, is the root of his army; that army is the root of all observances of dharma; and the people, in turn, are the root of dharma itself.

12.128.36 Without pressing upon others here, no treasury can be amassed—and whence then an army? Yet one who presses upon them for this purpose ought to incur no fault.

12.128.37 Even what ought not to be done is done for the sake of sacrifice in the rites of sacrifice; for this same reason the king ought to incur no fault.

12.128.38 One thing serves a worthy end; another, contrary to it, serves no worthy end; yet another serves a positively harmful end—all of these, indeed, bear the mark of purpose. Thus with his intellect should the wise man clearly discern what action to resolve upon.

12.128.39 One thing serves the purpose of sacrifice; in another there is no purpose for the sacrifice; yet another serves the very means of the sacrifice—all of these are instruments of sacrifice.

12.128.40 Here I shall set forth a comparison that illumines the truth of dharma: men fell a tree to make the sacrificial post; and those trees that stand in the way—

12.128.41 —certain trees standing close beside it they surely cut down as well; and these, in falling, strike down still other forest trees.

12.128.42 Just so, O scorcher of foes, those men who stand in the way of a great treasury—without striking them down I see no success to be had in this matter.

12.128.43 By wealth one wins both worlds, the world beyond and this one here; and it is a true word of dharma that the man without wealth is as though he were not at all.

12.128.44 By every means let him take wealth for the purpose of sacrifice; the fault is not the same, O Bhārata, in things to be done and things not to be done.

12.128.45 These two, O king, can in no way coexist, O Bhārata; for nowhere in the forests do I ever see men grown rich.

12.128.46 Whatever wealth is seen here upon the earth, this man hankers after it, thinking, 'This should be mine, this should be mine.'

12.128.47 There is no dharma equal to kingship, O scorcher of foes; the wise commend kingship as the dharma of kings—save where calamity dictates otherwise than this.

12.128.48 Some amass their hoards of wealth by giving and by ritual works, the ascetics by austerity, and yet others by intellect and skill.

12.128.49 They call the man without wealth weak; through wealth a man grows strong. All things are attainable by the wealthy; the man with a treasury crosses every difficulty. From the treasury flow dharma and desire, the world beyond and this world too.

12.129.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For a king grown weak, slow to act, tender-hearted toward his kinsmen, whose townsfolk and countryfolk have turned against him, and whose stores of wealth are gone—

12.129.2 —whose chief ministers are suspect, O Bhārata, whose counsel has leaked out, who can win no allies, and whose counselors are wholly divided—

12.129.3 —assailed by an enemy host, weak before a stronger foe, his mind sunk in calamity: tell me, what course of action yet remains?

12.129.4 Bhīṣma said: If the would-be conqueror be an outside foe, skilled in dharma and statecraft and pure of conduct, let the king swiftly make peace with him, releasing his prisoners one after another.

12.129.5 But if the would-be conqueror be a man of unrighteous aims, strong and set upon wickedness, then by restraining himself the king should bind that one to a treaty.

12.129.6 Or else, abandoning his capital, he may cross over the calamity by some other means; for whether it endures or passes, he, while yet alive, may earn his wealth anew.

12.129.7 As for those calamities that can be crossed by mere renunciation of possessions—what man who knows wealth and dharma would there cast away his own self, which is worth more?

12.129.8 Let him shrink from being made captive; what pity is there for a rival's wealth? Yet so long as it can be avoided, the self must in no way be surrendered.

12.129.9 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When the inner realm is in revolt and the outer is hard-pressed, when the treasury is drained and the counsel has leaked away—what course of action yet remains?

12.129.10 Bhīṣma said: Let him swiftly seek peace, or else be swiftly fierce in valor; or let him swiftly withdraw his footing—this much is the wisdom for the hour of crisis.

12.129.11 With an army that is devoted, well-nourished, and high in spirit, O lord of the earth, a king conquers the world even with but a small force.

12.129.12 Slain, he ascends to heaven; victorious, he dwells upon the earth; but he who lays down his life in battle attains to the same world as Indra.

12.129.13 Having gauged the temper of all the people and chosen the path of gentleness, the king should, to win their trust, conduct himself with humility, or else resolve to put on his marching sandals.

12.129.14 Or, should he wish to withdraw, let him conciliate as he pleases; and having gone in disguise with an ally, let him then himself set out to act.

12.130.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When the highest dharma has decayed and lawlessness oversteps all the world, when every means of livelihood upon the earth has fallen prey to robbers—

12.130.2 —by what means, O grandfather, is a brāhmaṇa to live in such a time, when the basest of ages has come, without abandoning, out of tenderness, his sons and grandsons?

12.130.3 Bhīṣma said: When such a time has come, one must live by relying upon the power of discernment. All of this is for a good end; nothing of it is for an ill end.

12.130.4 He who takes from the wicked and bestows upon the good, making of himself a bridge between them—he indeed is one who knows dharma entire.

12.130.5 With righteous indignation, O king, not disturbing the stability of his own rule, he may take even what was not given, holding the giver's wealth to be his own.

12.130.6 Of one who, purified by the power of discernment, moves even among censured deeds—steadfast, accomplished in conduct and discernment—who is fit to say anything against him?

12.130.7 Those whose livelihood is wrought by strength take pleasure in no other; they grow ever greater through their splendor, the mighty ones, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.130.8 Whatever ordinary teaching is grasped without discrimination, that the middling sort follow; but the wise man pursues, beyond it, the higher truth.

12.130.9 His officiating priests, his household priest, his teachers—the honored brāhmaṇas worshiped with due rites—the king should not harass; harassing them, he incurs grievous faults.

12.130.10 These are the standard for the world, these the eternal eye; taking them for his measure, let the king plumb the matter, and by them judge it good or ill.

12.130.11 Many are the things that village-dwellers say against one another in anger; on the strength of their words the king should neither honor a man nor punish him.

12.130.12 Slander should never be spoken, nor in any way listened to; rather, one should stop one's ears, or go away to some other place.

12.130.13 This is not the conduct of the good—neither slander nor talebearing; the good, O Yudhiṣṭhira, speak only of the virtues that are in the good.

12.130.14 As two trained oxen, evenly yoked, well-broken and drawing true, take up the yoke and bear it, so should the king conduct himself; and as his helpers bear their share, so let the others bear theirs likewise.

12.130.15 Some hold right conduct to be the weightier mark of dharma; others, who delight in the way of Śaṅkha and Likhita, do not think so. Whether out of softness or out of greed, those latter would speak words of this kind.

12.130.16 In this they see even sage-given authority for sustaining the man who strays into forbidden deeds; and nowhere is any standard found equal to that of the sages.

12.130.17 Even the gods chastise the basest of men who persists in forbidden deeds; for one who gains wealth by deceit falls away from dharma.

12.130.18 That dharma which is honored on every side by the good, who are the source and cause of prosperity, and which is sanctioned by one's own heart—upon that let a man resolve.

12.130.19 He who knows dharma endowed with its fourfold quality is the true knower of dharma; for the track of dharma, like that of a snake, is hard to trace out.

12.130.20 As the hunter follows the trail of a wounded deer through the thicket by the falling of its blood, so should one follow out the track of dharma.

12.130.21 Thus, O unfaltering one, must one walk by the path made smooth by the good; understand this to be the conduct of royal sages, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.131.1 Bhīṣma said: From his own realm and from the realm of his foe the king should raise his treasury; for from the treasury, O son of Kuntī, dharma, whose root is kingship, proceeds.

12.131.2 Therefore let him raise a treasury, and having gathered it, let him guard it; and having guarded it, let him be gracious with it: this is the eternal dharma.

12.131.3 A treasury arises neither through utter purity nor through cruelty; taking his stand upon the middle ground, the king should pursue the gathering of his treasury.

12.131.4 Whence a treasury for the weak? And whence strength for him who has no treasury? Whence a kingdom for the weak? And whence prosperity for one who is no king?

12.131.5 For one of high station the loss of fortune is as death itself; therefore let the king ever increase his treasury, his forces, and his allies.

12.131.6 Men despise a king whose treasury is depleted; they are not content with little from him, yet they grow bold to press their demands.

12.131.7 It is by reason of his fortune that a king receives the highest honor; and that fortune conceals his faults, as a garment conceals the secret parts of a woman.

12.131.8 The very people he once wronged now court his prosperity, yet he finds them ever like jackals, as though bent on his destruction. Whence, O best of the Bhāratas, can there be happiness for such a king?

12.131.9 Let him strive on and never grow weary, for exertion itself is manliness; he would sooner break, even where there is no joint to break, than bend before anyone here.

12.131.10 He may even take refuge in the forest and roam with bands of brigands, yet he should not consort with brigands who have cast off all restraint; for an army of brigands, O Bhārata, is easily had for deeds of terror.

12.131.11 From one who is utterly without restraint all people recoil; even brigands grow wary of those who act without any mercy.

12.131.12 Let him therefore establish a restraint that gladdens the hearts of the people; for even a little restraint is honored here in the world.

12.131.13 The man who has concluded, 'There is neither this world nor the next,' is not one in whom trust can ever be placed; for in a nihilist, fearful and suspicious, no confidence can rest.

12.131.14 As the seizure of others' goods is forsworn by the good, so is harm forsworn by robbers who keep within bounds; and living beings come to love even bandits who observe their proper limits.

12.131.15 The slaying of one who does not fight, the violation of women, ingratitude, the seizing of a Brahmin's wealth, leaving nothing behind, the carrying off of a woman, and ambush by lying in wait—these are reckoned shameful even among robbers.

12.131.16 Even one who shuns these deeds remains a robber still; yet those who do not aim at another's utter ruin, O Bhārata, who, even when they have a victim wholly in their power, resolve not to strip him bare—such are of firm purpose.

12.131.17 Therefore even robbers, when a man lies wholly in their power, should leave him something; one should not, thinking 'I stand in strength,' commit acts of cruelty.

12.131.18 Those who leave a remnant, my son, see a remnant left for themselves on every side; but for those who leave nothing, there is ever fear arising from that very leaving of nothing.

12.132.1 Bhīṣma said: On this matter those versed in old lore recite a saying about the outcome of works: for the discerning Kṣatriya, dharma and artha are alike things directly perceived; therein no obstruction should be raised, for the deferring of dharma to an unseen world is a thing remote.

12.132.2 Calling unrighteousness righteousness is like a wolf's footprint; for no one here has ever clearly seen the fruit of righteousness and unrighteousness laid plain.

12.132.3 Let a man wish only to be strong, for all things lie within the strong man's sway; it is the strong who in this world wins prosperity, power, and ministers.

12.132.4 He who is without wealth is as one fallen; the little that is his is but leavings. Much that would be unwholesome in another is no harm in the strong man, and nothing can save the weak from his fear.

12.132.5 Both have their rightful claim in truth, and both deliver from great fear; yet I hold strength to be above dharma, for from strength does dharma proceed.

12.132.6 Dharma rests upon strength as all that moves rests upon the earth; as smoke follows the wind into its sway, so dharma follows strength.

12.132.7 In one who lacks the strength to rule, dharma clings to strength as a creeper to a tree; dharma is subject to the mighty as pleasure to those who possess the means of enjoyment. Nothing is unattainable to the mighty; to the mighty all things are pure.

12.132.8 A man of evil conduct whose strength is spent must keep within bounds; and even then the whole world shrinks from him as from a wolf.

12.132.9 Cast down and despised, he lives his life in misery; and a life that is degraded is no better than death itself.

12.132.10 When men say of him that he is ruined by his wicked conduct, he is sorely tormented, pierced through by that arrow of their words.

12.132.11 Here the teachers declare this concerning deliverance from sin: let him devote himself to the threefold Veda and wait upon the twice-born.

12.132.12 Let him win their favor by gentle speech and by deeds as well; let him be high-minded, and let him marry into a great house.

12.132.13 Let him say, 'Thus and thus am I,' while proclaiming the virtues of others; let him recite his prayers, be devoted to ablutions, gracious in bearing, and sparing of speech.

12.132.14 Having performed much that is hard to do, let him enter into the company of Brahmin and Kṣatriya, untroubled though men speak much of this thing and that against him.

12.132.15 Sinless in such conduct, he soon comes to be held in high esteem; he may enjoy ease and wealth, and by this manner of life he safeguards himself; in this world he gains honor, and in the next a great reward.

12.133.1 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they tell an ancient tale, of how a robber who kept within proper bounds was not lost in the world beyond death.

12.133.2 He was a fierce striker, wise, valiant, learned, free from cruelty, a guardian of the imperishable dharma, devoted to the Brahmins and a worshipper of his elders.

12.133.3 Born of a Niṣāda woman by a Kṣatriya, upholding the duty of the warrior, a Naiṣādi named Kāpavya attained perfection even through the calling of a robber.

12.133.4 At dusk and in the early forenoon he roamed the forest, rousing the herds of deer, skilled in the ways of every kind of game and learned in the watering-pools.

12.133.5 Knowing all the forest tracts, ever ranging the Pāriyātra range, versed in the dharma of all beings, his arrows never failing, firm of weapon.

12.133.6 Single-handed he overcame armies many hundreds strong; and his aged, blind parents he honored there in the great forest.

12.133.7 With honey and flesh, with roots and fruits and food both fine and coarse, he honored and fed them, and waited upon them well.

12.133.8 Protecting the forest-dwelling Brahmins who had renounced the world, he slew deer for them and brought the game to them in the great wood.

12.133.9 Those who would not accept it, fearing to take a robber's food, he would leave it within their dwellings and depart at the break of day.

12.133.10 Him many thousands of robbers, lawless and pitiless in their deeds, chose to be their chieftain.

12.133.11 The robbers said: O knower of the hour, the place, and the time, wise one, steadfast in conduct and firm of weapon, be our headman, our chief, approved by all of us.

12.133.12 Whatever you bid us, that shall we do; protect us according to what is right, as a mother, as a father would.

12.133.13 Kāpavya said: Slay not a timid woman, nor a child, nor an ascetic; one who does not fight must not be killed, and women must not be seized by force.

12.133.14 By a man who fights with any creature whatsoever, a woman must never be slain; ever should welfare be wished to cow and Brahmin, and for their sake should one do battle.

12.133.15 The standing grain must not be destroyed, nor the work of the plough hindered, for by it the gods, the ancestors, and guests are honored.

12.133.16 Among all beings the Brahmin deserves to go unharmed; and to them such reverence must be shown as may cost even all one possesses.

12.133.17 He against whose downfall these, enraged, take counsel—for him there is no protector in any of the three worlds.

12.133.18 Whoever would scorn the Brahmins or wish their destruction—his own ruin is as sure and as certain as the rising of the sun.

12.133.19 Abiding here, let our band look for its due to the full of its power, and march against all who will not yield us our portion.

12.133.20 Punishment is ordained for correction, not for slaughter—so it is determined; yet for those who oppress the well-behaved, their killing is held to be a duty.

12.133.21 Those who make their living by the harassing of the realm are destroyed by that very thing, as worms perish along with the carcass they consume.

12.133.22 But those robbers who live here according to the law of dharma—even they, though robbers, may swiftly attain perfection.

12.133.23 Bhīṣma said: All this they performed, the teaching of Kāpavya; they all gained their livelihood and turned away from their evil deeds.

12.133.24 By that work Kāpavya attained a great perfection, securing the welfare of the good and turning the robbers from their sins.

12.133.25 Whoever shall ever recite this deed of Kāpavya, from the creatures of the wild he shall meet no fear at any time.

12.133.26 No fear has he from mortals, nor in any way from immortals, neither from the good nor from the wicked, O king; for he is a lord and guardian in the forests.

12.134.1 Bhīṣma said: On this matter those versed in old lore recite the verses sung by Brahmā, telling by what path kings should raise up their treasury.

12.134.2 The wealth of those given to sacrifice may not be taken, for it is the gods' own; it is only from robbers and from men who perform no sacred rites that the Kṣatriya may rightly take.

12.134.3 These subjects, O Bhārata, are for the Kṣatriyas both to be protected and to be drawn upon; for there is no other source of wealth for the Kṣatriya here.

12.134.4 Let his wealth be either for the sake of his strength or for the sake of sacrifice; for men cut down plants that cannot be eaten and cook from them only what is fit to be enjoyed.

12.134.5 He who honors neither the gods, nor the ancestors, nor mortals with oblation—such a man's wealth those who know the Veda call a wealth that serves no end.

12.134.6 That wealth a righteous lord of the earth may take, O king; for such treasure gives no joy to the worlds, and a king should not keep a hoard of that kind.

12.134.7 He who takes from the wicked and bestows upon the good, making of himself a bridge between them—him I deem one who truly knows dharma.

12.134.8 As certain creatures that spring from the ground, whether endowed with speech or not, come into being unsought, so does the man who offers no sacrifice spread his line.

12.134.9 Just as is the manner of being of gadflies and gnats, of egg-laying ants and the like, such is the lot of those who do not sacrifice; and accordingly is dharma ordained for them.

12.134.10 For just as dust, grass, and chaff arise of themselves upon the ground, so here may dharma be subtle, and subtler yet.

12.135.1 Bhīṣma said: And on this very matter hear, with untroubled mind, this most excellent tale that bears upon the procrastinator and the determining of what should and should not be done.

12.135.2 In a pool of water neither too deep nor too shallow, abounding in fish, O son of Kuntī, three friendly śakula-fish were companions together.

12.135.3 Of these three water-dwellers, one was Knower-of-the-Right-Moment, another Far-Sighted, and the third was Procrastinator.

12.135.4 Once the fishermen began on every side to drain that pool away through various channels into the lower hollows.

12.135.5 Perceiving the pool dwindling and the danger drawing near, Far-Sighted then spoke to his two friends:

12.135.6 This calamity has fallen upon all that dwell in the water; let us go swiftly elsewhere, while yet the way is not ruined.

12.135.7 He who by sound counsel wards off a misfortune not yet come falls into no peril; let it please you both—let us go.

12.135.8 But Procrastinator, who was there, said: It is well spoken; yet no haste need be made just yet—such is my settled mind.

12.135.9 Then Knower-of-the-Right-Moment said to Far-Sighted: When the time comes, nothing fitting shall be neglected by me.

12.135.10 Thus addressed, Far-Sighted of great wisdom set forth, and by one of the channels he made his way to a deep reservoir of water.

12.135.11 Then, seeing that the basin's water had drained away, those who lived by fishing snared the fish by various devices.

12.135.12 As that basin, its water run out, was churned and stirred, Procrastinator with the rest was caught.

12.135.13 But Knower-of-the-Right-Moment, seeing the fish being strung up on cords, slipped in among the others and swallowed the line.

12.135.14 Holding the swallowed line within him, he remained just so; and there the fishermen took them all to be strung together upon it.

12.135.15 Then, as the fish were being rinsed in clear water, Knower-of-the-Right-Moment let go the cord and swiftly won his freedom.

12.135.16 But Procrastinator, dull of spirit, of feeble wit and senseless, met his death, a fool whose faculties were already as good as struck dead.

12.135.17 So he who through folly fails to recognize the moment fully come perishes swiftly, like the fish Procrastinator.

12.135.18 The man who at the outset does not do what is best, thinking 'I am skilled enough,' falls into peril—as did Knower-of-the-Right-Moment.

12.135.19 But the man who makes fit provision for what has not yet come attains exceeding good fortune—as did that Far-Sighted one.

12.135.20 Moments and instants and watches, days and hours, kṣaṇas and lavas, fortnights and months and seasons, and like measures the years—

12.135.21 The earth is called 'place'; but Time is not to be seen with the eye—it is rather that which, by right means, serves for the achievement of the end desired.

12.135.22 These two, place and time, in the treatises on dharma and artha and in the treatises on liberation, the seers have pointed out as foremost, dear to men who are masters of their desires.

12.135.23 The disciplined man who acts after due examination should rightly bring together the place and the time he intends, and by these two he shall win the fruit he seeks.

12.136.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: In every case you have declared intelligence the best, O bull of the Bhāratas—the foresight that reaches what is yet to come, and that which meets what has arisen; while the procrastinating mind is the bringer of ruin.

12.136.2 This I wish to hear, O best of the Bhāratas: that supreme wisdom by which a king, though surrounded by enemies, would not lose his way.

12.136.3 O you who are skilled in dharma and statecraft, wise one, master of all the śāstras, I ask you, best of the Kurus; you ought to expound this to me.

12.136.4 How a king beset by many foes should conduct himself—this I wish to hear, all of it, in proper order.

12.136.5 For when a king stands in difficult straits, his hostile enemies—many against one—strive to root him out, inflamed by earlier injuries.

12.136.6 Pressed on every side, weak against the mighty, alone and without help—how could such a one possibly hold his ground?

12.136.7 How, O bull of the Bhāratas, should he tell friend from foe, and how should he act in the space between an enemy and a friend?

12.136.8 When, O king, an enemy of well-known character turns to friendship, what should a man do, and by doing what would he be at ease?

12.136.9 With whom should he make war, and with whom should he forge a treaty, and how should one without strength conduct himself when set in the midst of enemies?

12.136.10 This, O scorcher of foes, is the highest of all matters of action; yet there is none who can speak of it, and one who can grasp it is hard indeed to find.

12.136.11 None save Bhīṣma, son of Śaṃtanu, true to his word and master of his senses—so search it out, O mighty-armed one, and tell me all of this.

12.136.12 Bhīṣma said: This follow-up question befits you, Yudhiṣṭhira, and is rich in merit. Hear from me in full, my son, the secret to be observed in times of distress, O descendant of Bharata.

12.136.13 An enemy turns into a friend, and a friend too turns hostile, according as interests align; for the course of things forever follows that course.

12.136.14 Therefore one should both place trust and wage war, having weighed place and time in deciding what is to be done and what is not.

12.136.15 The wise who seek their own good should always be ready both to make peace and to take resolute action; even with enemies one may make a treaty, and one's life must be guarded, O descendant of Bharata.

12.136.16 For the foolish man who would never make terms with his enemies gains no advantage whatsoever, nor any fruit, O descendant of Bharata.

12.136.17 But he who makes a pact with an enemy and breaks with a friend, looking to where his interest lies, wins a very great reward.

12.136.18 On this they relate an ancient tale, the dialogue of a cat and a mouse upon a banyan tree.

12.136.19 In a certain great forest there stood a mighty banyan, screened by a network of creepers and thronged with flocks of many kinds of birds.

12.136.20 Broad of trunk, like a cloud in mass, cool of shade and lovely, the tree had grown up near a wilderness and was haunted by beasts of prey.

12.136.21 Sheltering at its root, having made himself a burrow with a hundred mouths, there dwelt a very wise mouse named Palita.

12.136.22 And taking to its branches there dwelt at ease above a cat named Lomaśa, a destroyer of birds and other creatures.

12.136.23 Now there came a hunter who had made his dwelling in that wilderness, and every day, when the sun had set, he would set his snare.

12.136.24 Having laid out his nooses of sinew duly there, he would go home and sleep at ease while the night wore on toward dawn.

12.136.25 There every night beasts of many kinds were caught; and once the cat, careful though he was, was nonetheless ensnared.

12.136.26 When that enemy, his perpetual would-be slayer, was thus bound, the very wise Palita, recognizing the moment, roamed about quite free of fear.

12.136.27 As he ranged through that forest, moving in confidence and questing for food, before long he caught sight of a piece of meat.

12.136.28 Climbing up onto the very snare, he began to eat that meat, laughing in his heart at his rival caught above him.

12.136.29 But while he was intent upon the meat, glancing about at one point he saw another, fearsome enemy of his drawing near.

12.136.30 It was a mongoose named Harika—the color of an arrow's reed-blossom, a dweller in burrows of the earth, quick-moving and copper-eyed.

12.136.31 Drawn in haste by the scent of the mouse, it had come up eager to feed, licking its mouth and standing on the ground with face upturned.

12.136.32 And on a branch he saw yet another foe, lodged in a hollow—an owl named Candraka, sharp of beak and a prowler of the night.

12.136.33 Having come within reach of both the mongoose and the owl, and seized then by very great fear, this thought arose in him:

12.136.34 "In this most grievous calamity, with death close at hand and terror sprung up on every side—how is one who seeks his own welfare to act?"

12.136.35 Thus blocked on all sides, seeing danger alike in every quarter, he was tormented by fear, and he resolved upon this supreme course.

12.136.36 "This calamity is all but ruin, and life hangs on the slimmest chance; perilous on every side, this distress has come upon me."

12.136.37 "If I dart down to the ground, the mongoose will have me; the owl, if I stay here; and the cat, once free of the snare."

12.136.38 "Yet a wise one such as I ought not give way to confusion. I will strive for my life so long as I can hold my breath."

12.136.39 "For the wise, endowed with understanding and versed in the science of policy, do not lose their heads on meeting calamity, or even on gaining great fortunes."

12.136.40 "Yet at this moment I see no refuge here other than the cat; for this creature too stands in difficulty, and he has great need of me."

12.136.41 "How, desiring to live, am I today hunted by three enemies? Therefore I shall take refuge with this very foe, the cat."

12.136.42 "Resorting to the lore of statecraft, I shall point out what is for his good, by which means I may, through deliberate cunning, baffle this assembly of enemies."

12.136.43 "This utter enemy of mine has fallen into the gravest of straits; he is bewildered—if by circumstance he can be made to grasp his own interest..."

12.136.44 "...then, having met with disaster, he may make a treaty with me. The teachers say that even the embrace of a powerful enemy who has come close should be made by one in difficulty who longs to live."

12.136.45 "For a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend; indeed, my very life now rests upon my enemy, the cat."

12.136.46 "Come, I shall lay before him a reason touching his own preservation; perhaps now, through these circumstances, this enemy may turn prudent."

12.136.47 Then the mouse, who knew the true course of interests and the seasons for peace and for war, addressed the cat with these conciliatory words:

12.136.48 "In friendship I speak to you, O cat. Are you still alive? I do desire your life, for our welfare lies in common."

12.136.49 "You need not despair, good friend; you shall live as before. I will deliver you—indeed I would lay down my own life for your sake."

12.136.50 "There is, it seems to me, a sound and ample means by which you may win your release, just as I may win my safety."

12.136.51 "I have hit upon this device, having reasoned it through in my own mind, for my sake and for yours alike; for our good is shared."

12.136.52 "This mongoose and this owl, malicious of mind, stand near me on either side. So long, O cat, as one does not assail me, I am for the moment safe."

12.136.53 "Hooting, with restless eyes, this owl is watching me from where it perches on a branch of the tree; of it I am sorely afraid."

12.136.54 "Among the good, friendship is sealed by seven steps together; you are my fellow-dweller and a wise one. I will make a true companionship of it—you have no cause to fear death."

12.136.55 "For you, O cat, cannot cut the noose without me. I will cut your noose, if you do not harm me."

12.136.56 "You dwell in the tree's crown, and I at its root. The two of us have long lived here in this very tree, as you well know."

12.136.57 "One who trusts no one at all, and one in whom no one ever trusts—the wise praise neither, for both are forever uneasy of heart."

12.136.58 "Therefore let our friendship grow, and let there be a true union between us; for the wise do not commend an act that is purposeless and let slip its proper time."

12.136.59 "Mark, then, this reasoning of interest just as it stands: I desire your life, and you desire mine."

12.136.60 "A man crosses a deep, great river by means of a log; he carries the log across, and he in turn is carried across by the log."

12.136.61 "Such will be our compact, and it shall carry us safely through: I will bring you across, and you will bring me across."

12.136.62 Having spoken thus to that end, for the good of both, Palita—his argument cogent and fit to be accepted—bided his time and watched.

12.136.63 Then, hearing his well-spoken words, the cat, his discerning enemy, made this reply—reasoned and worthy of acceptance:

12.136.64 Intelligent and gifted in speech, dwelling on those words and looking to his own desperate plight, he received them graciously, with conciliation alone.

12.136.65 Then the cat Lomaśa, his teeth keen at the tips and his eyes like beryl gems, gazed gently down at the mouse and said:

12.136.66 "I rejoice, good friend—blessings on you—that you wish me to live. And if you know the way to our good, let it be done; do not hesitate."

12.136.67 "For I am sorely fallen into distress, and you are in even worse straits than I. Let a treaty be made between the two of us in distress; do not hesitate."

12.136.68 "Do what the moment demands, and let our undertaking succeed for us both. Once I am freed from this peril, your good deed shall not be lost."

12.136.69 "My pride is laid aside; I am devoted to you, your disciple, a doer of your bidding, obedient to your command; I have come to you for refuge."

12.136.70 Thus addressed, Palito spoke this salutary word to the cat, now brought under his sway—a word fitly framed and full of meaning:

12.136.71 "Noble is what you have said—no wonder in one like you. But hear from me the course I have in mind for our good."

12.136.72 "I will creep up close beneath you. From the mongoose comes my great fear. Protect me and do not slay me—I am able to win you your release."

12.136.73 "From the owl as well guard me, for the vile thing covets me. I will cut your nooses, friend—I swear it to you in truth."

12.136.74 Hearing that speech, coherent and fitting and full of sense, Lomaśa looked up at Palita in joy and welcomed him warmly.

12.136.75 Having honored Palita, the cat, now set upon friendship, the steady one, after careful thought, spoke—glad, and indeed in haste:

12.136.76 "Come quickly—blessings on you—you are a friend dear to me as life itself. For by your favor, wise one, I shall swiftly regain my life."

12.136.77 "Whatever I, in this plight, am able to do for you today, command it, and I will do it. Let there be a treaty between us, my friend."

12.136.78 "Once freed by you from this peril, together with my friends and kin, I will do all your bidding, whatever pleases you and serves your good."

12.136.79 "And once delivered from this disaster, good friend, may I too kindle your affection, and may I be able to repay you."

12.136.80 Having made the cat grasp where his own interest lay, the mouse then crept up in full confidence and conducted the business aright.

12.136.81 Thus reassured by the cat, that learned mouse slept trustingly upon the cat's breast, as upon a father's or a mother's.

12.136.82 But seeing the mouse clinging to the cat's body, the mongoose and the owl, their hopes dashed, went off to their lairs.

12.136.83 Clinging to the cat's body, the grey-furred one, knowing place and time and awaiting the right moment, began to gnaw through the snares, O king, slowly, ever so slowly.

12.136.84 Then the cat, tormented by his bonds, watching the mouse cutting away at the snares without haste, grew anxious and impatient.

12.136.85 And so the cat began to urge on the grey one, the mouse, who was taking his time in cutting through the snares.

12.136.86 "Why, good friend, do you not hasten? Now that your end is gained, do you make light of me? Cut the snares, O slayer of foes, before the dog-cooking outcast comes!"

12.136.87 Thus pressed to hurry by that one, the wise grey mouse spoke to the cat, whose understanding had not ripened—words measured and serving his own good:

12.136.88 "Be still, good friend; you need not rush, you need not be flustered. It is I here who know the moment, and the right moment shall not be let slip.

12.136.89 A deed begun out of season serves no purpose when done; that very deed begun in season serves a great purpose.

12.136.90 Were I to free you out of season, from you alone would danger come to me. Therefore wait for the moment—why do you hurry so, my friend?

12.136.91 When I see the outcast approaching, weapon in hand, then—the danger now being common to us both—I will cut your snare.

12.136.92 Freed at that instant, you will climb straight up the tree; for then you will have no concern at all save saving your life.

12.136.93 Then, once you have fled away, terrified and frightened, O shaggy one, I shall slip into my burrow while you make for a branch.

12.136.94 Thus addressed by the mouse with words serving his own good, the cat—shrewd, well-versed in the meaning of speech, and clinging to life—replied:

12.136.95 Pressed by his own need, the shaggy one, behaving now with all due deference, spoke to the slow-acting mouse:

12.136.96 "This is not how the good do a friend's work out of affection—not the way I, in my haste, delivered you from peril.

12.136.97 In that same haste you should do me good in turn. Make the effort, O most wise one, that all may be well with us both.

12.136.98 Or is it that, remembering our old enmity, you are dragging out the time? Consider how wrongful such conduct would be: plainly, my life would be cut short.

12.136.99 Whatever offense I once did you in my ignorance, that you should not hold in your heart. I beg your pardon—be gracious to me."

12.136.100 To the cat speaking thus, the mouse—wise, learned in the treatises, and esteemed for his intelligence—then spoke these excellent words:

12.136.101 "I have heard you, O cat, looking to your own interest; now understand me too, looking to mine.

12.136.102 A friend to be won over as though one were afraid, a friend bound up with danger—from such a one the hand must be well guarded, as from a serpent's mouth.

12.136.103 He who, having made a pact with a stronger power, does not guard himself—that pact, like unwholesome food eaten, turns to his ruin.

12.136.104 No one is anyone's friend, no one anyone's well-wisher; interests are bound to interests as wild elephants are bound by tame elephants.

12.136.105 For once a task is done, no one regards the doer of it; therefore one should have all one's tasks carried out with something still left undone.

12.136.106 And even at that moment you, gripped by terror of the outcast, will be intent on flight and unable to seize me.

12.136.107 The mass of strands is cut through; one strand alone remains. That too I shall cut at once—be at ease, O shaggy one.

12.136.108 As the two of them conversed thus, each still caught in his plight, the night wore to its close, and fear came over the shaggy one.

12.136.109 Then, as dawn came on, there appeared a misshapen man, dark-tawny, broad of haunch, wild-haired and harsh, ringed about by a pack of dogs—

12.136.110 spike-eared, huge-mouthed, grizzled, fearful to look upon, an outcast named Parigha, weapon in hand, came into view.

12.136.111 Seeing him, like a messenger of Yama, the cat, his wits unstrung with terror, said in fear to the grey one: "What will you do now?"

12.136.112 And the mongoose and the owl too, sorely frightened at the sight of that terrible figure, in an instant gave up all hope.

12.136.113 Strong and clever, and now allied together, the two—because of the mouse's good policy—could not be overpowered by force.

12.136.114 Seeing the cat and mouse, who had made their pact for a purpose, the owl and the mongoose hastened off, each to his own dwelling.

12.136.115 Then the mouse cut through that last strand of the cat's, and the cat, set free, sprang up that very tree.

12.136.116 And the grey one, released from that danger and from his dreaded foe, entered his burrow, while the shaggy cat took to a branch.

12.136.117 The outcast, taking up his trap and looking all about, his hopes ruined, in a moment withdrew from that place and went home, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.136.118 Then, released from that danger and his hard-won life regained, the shaggy one, perched at the treetop, spoke to the grey one in his burrow:

12.136.119 "Without making any agreement, I came to you suddenly in my distress. Grateful as I am, and after the good I have done you—surely you do not now distrust me?

12.136.120 Having won my trust and granted me my life, why is it that, now the time has come to enjoy a friend, you do not come near me?

12.136.121 He who first makes friends but afterward does not keep faith with them—that fool wins no friends in times of hardship and calamity.

12.136.122 Now I have been made your friend by your own power, comrade; having gained me as a friend, you ought to enjoy my fellowship.

12.136.123 All the friends I have and all my kinsmen will honor you, as pupils honor a beloved teacher.

12.136.124 And I myself will honor you, together with all your band of friends and kin. What grateful soul would not honor the giver of his life?

12.136.125 Be the lord over me, over my body and my house and all my goods; be my guide and director.

12.136.126 Be my counselor, O wise one, and rule me as a father does; you have no cause to fear me—by my own life I swear it."

12.136.127 "In intellect you are Uśanas himself; in strength, it is we who hold command. Endowed with your counsel and our might, one would surely win victory."

12.136.128 Thus soothed with the utmost conciliation by the cat, the mouse, who knew where his true good lay, spoke smooth words serving his own welfare:

12.136.129 "All that you have said I have heard, O shaggy one; now hear me too as I speak, and what seems true to me.

12.136.130 Friends must be discerned, and enemies likewise understood. This is seen to be a most subtle matter in this world, one the wise hold in regard.

12.136.131 There are well-wishers in the guise of foes, and foes in the guise of friends; men beguiled by their soothing do not see through them, fallen under the sway of passion and greed.

12.136.132 There is no such thing as an enemy by birth, nor any friend by birth; it is through the workings of interest that friends are made, and foes as well.

12.136.133 As long as a man sees his own advantage in another's living, so long does that other thrive; and so long is he that man's friend—until the reverse becomes true.

12.136.134 There is no such thing as a stable friendship, nor any fixed enmity; for it is by the working of interest that friends arise, and foes likewise.

12.136.135 A friend turns to an enemy in some turn of time, and an enemy turns to a friend; for self-interest is the stronger force.

12.136.136 He who trusts in friends and does not trust in foes, not understanding how interest works—his life is unsteady.

12.136.137 He who, not understanding how interest works, sets his mind on what seems fair—whether in a friend or in a foe—his judgment too is unsteady.

12.136.138 One should not trust the untrustworthy, nor even the trustworthy trust too far; danger born of misplaced trust cuts away one's very roots.

12.136.139 For it is through the working of interest that one finds a father, a mother, sons, maternal uncles, nephews, and kindred and relations alike.

12.136.140 Mother and father will forsake even a beloved son who has fallen, and the world looks after its own self—behold the sovereignty of self-interest.

12.136.141 I hold him to be of a treacherous mind who, the very instant after his release, seeks to do a deed by easy means—of this there is no doubt.

12.136.142 Brought down to this very dwelling-place from the banyan, you, in your rashness, did not notice the trap set out before you.

12.136.143 A reckless one is no good even to himself—how then could he be to others? Therefore the reckless man ruins all his undertakings, beyond doubt.

12.136.144 You say something sweet—"You are dear to me here." That is all a making of falsehood; hear me out upon it in full.

12.136.145 From a cause one becomes dear; from a cause one becomes hateful. This world of the living seeks its own gain; no one is dear to anyone.

12.136.146 The fellowship of brothers born of one womb, or of husband and wife with each other—nowhere here do I recognize any affection without a cause.

12.136.147 Even if brothers grow angry, or a wife, in some other matter, they hold affection by their very nature; no other person holds it so.

12.136.148 One man becomes dear by gifts, another by pleasant speech, another by spells, oblations, and muttered prayers; man holds affection for the sake of his own ends.

12.136.149 Affection between us arose when a cause arose; in some other matter there is none, and when the ground of that cause is destroyed, that affection turns away.

12.136.150 What cause, then, can I suppose makes me dear to you—other than as something to be eaten? And of that too I am well aware.

12.136.151 Time fashions the occasion, and self-interest follows after it; the wise man discerns his own interest, and the world follows the wise.

12.136.152 But you should not speak in this fashion to one who knows, one learned in his own interest. Out of season and standing in no peril, this talk of yours is only for your own ends.

12.136.153 Therefore I shall not stray from my own interest, standing firm in the matter of peace and war; for like the shapes of clouds, alliances alter from moment to moment.

12.136.154 This very day an enemy, then this very day a friend, and again this very day an enemy—behold the fickleness of expedients.

12.136.155 There was friendship between us only so long as the cause existed before; it has departed together with that very cause, which was bound to the moment.

12.136.156 For you are utterly my enemy, who by force of circumstance became my friend. That business is now accomplished, and your nature has returned to enmity.

12.136.157 Knowing as I do, in their truth, the treatises laid down in this wise—how should I enter a snare of your making? Tell me that.

12.136.158 By your strength I was set free, and by my strength were you; the mutual favor being now rendered, there is no further coming together.

12.136.159 For you, good friend, have today gained your end, and we too have accomplished ours; you have no further use for me—save to make a meal of me.

12.136.160 I am the food and you the eater; I am weak and you are strong. No pact can hold between us two, since our strengths are so unequal.

12.136.161 I take the measure of your wisdom: that the very instant after your release you are surely seeking your prey by easy means—of this there is no doubt."

12.136.162 It was for the sake of food that you were bound, and once freed you came forth driven by hunger; surely, having outwitted one who knows the treatises, you mean to devour me this very day.

12.136.163 I know that you are hungry, and that this is your hour to feed; and so, having deceived me, you are hunting once more for your prey.

12.136.164 And as for your offering up your own children and wife to me, professing to render me service—friend, that is not a thing I can permit.

12.136.165 Seeing me in your company, why would your beloved wife and your sons, devoted and fond of you, not eat me up with delight?

12.136.166 I will not join with you; the reason for our union has passed. Wish me well from where you stand, if the good deed I did is remembered.

12.136.167 What wise creature, being fit to be the food of a foe who is afflicted and famished and on the prowl for prey, would walk into his reach?

12.136.168 May it be well with you—I shall go; even from afar I shrink from you. I will not come together with you; be at peace, O hairy one.

12.136.169 Nearness to the strong is never to be commended; even from one who seems calmed, O wise one, the mighty must always be feared.

12.136.170 But if you have need of any object, tell me—what shall I do for you? I will gladly grant you anything, but never my own self.

12.136.171 For one's own sake one must be ready to give up offspring, kingdom, jewels, and wealth; surrendering even all one has, a man should guard his self by his own self.

12.136.172 Of sovereignty, wealth, and jewels, though they pass into a rival's hands, we have seen and heard that for the living there is a getting back again.

12.136.173 But the surrender of the self is not, like wealth and jewels, a thing to be desired; the self must be guarded by every means—by wife and by riches alike.

12.136.174 For men who keep the practice of self-protection and who act only after careful scrutiny, no calamities arise that are born of their own faults.

12.136.175 Those weak ones who rightly understand their stronger foes—their resolve, fixed for their own sake, is never shaken.

12.136.176 Thus openly upbraided by Palita, the cat, grown ashamed, spoke these words to the mouse:

12.136.177 I honour your wisdom, for you who are devoted to my good have spoken in keeping with the truth of things, though I differ from you in view.

12.136.178 But you ought not, O good one, to judge me otherwise than as I am: my friendship for you arose from your having granted me my very life.

12.136.179 I know what is right, I know merit, and above all I am grateful; and I am tender toward friends, and toward such as you especially so.

12.136.180 Therefore, O good one, things being as they are, you ought not to drive me away; if driven off by you, I would give up my life, kinsmen and all.

12.136.181 The wise hold that a word of reproach is, for high-minded ones like me, as good as death; you who know the truth of dharma ought not to suspect me.

12.136.182 Being thus flattered by the cat, the mouse, weighing in his mind the cat's deep designs, spoke these words:

12.136.183 You are a worthy one, and I have heard your case; I am pleased, yet I do not trust. Not by praises, nor by floods of wealth, can I be won over by you again.

12.136.184 For the wise do not fall under a foe's power without cause, my friend; and on this matter mark the two verses composed by Uśanas:

12.136.185 In a task common to oneself and an enemy, having made a pact with the stronger, one should act warily and with skill; and once the end is gained, one should not trust.

12.136.186 Therefore in every condition one should guard one's own life; for goods and offspring and all besides belong only to the living.

12.136.187 The sum of the treatises on policy is held to be supreme distrust toward men; hence distrust is an abundant blessing to oneself.

12.136.188 The distrustful, even though weak, are not slain by their foes; but the trustful, even though strong, are swiftly slain by the weak.

12.136.189 From such as you, O cat, my self must always be guarded; and you too should guard your self from that low-born outcast of polluted birth.

12.136.190 While the mouse was speaking thus, the cat, seized with sudden dread, fled at once in haste to his own den.

12.136.191 Then Palita, the wise one who knew the true purport of the treatises, having proved the power of his own intelligence, betook himself to another hole.

12.136.192 Thus by his wise understanding the weak one outwitted the mighty; many foes were outmatched by Palita alone.

12.136.193 Even with a capable enemy the prudent man should make a pact; the mouse and the cat were both delivered by their mutual reliance.

12.136.194 Thus have I shown you at length the path of the kṣatriya's duty, O lord of earth; now hear it once more in brief.

12.136.195 Though they had made enmity with each other, the two formed a perfect friendship; yet the mind of each was set on outwitting the other.

12.136.196 In such a case the wise one prevails by relying rightly on the strength of his wit; but a wise man may be outdone, through heedlessness, even by fools.

12.136.197 Therefore, though fearful, let him bear himself as fearless; though distrustful, as one who trusts. For the vigilant man is not unseated, nor, once unseated, does he perish.

12.136.198 In season, peace even with a foe; in season, strife even with a friend—this, those who know the truth ever declare must be done, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.136.199 Reflecting thus, O great king, and grasping the meaning of the treatises, let him remain intent and vigilant, and act as one afraid before danger comes.

12.136.200 His arrangements and his counter-arrangements alike should be made as by one in fear; for from fear arises the discernment that is born of unremitting effort.

12.136.201 For one who fears before danger comes, O king, no danger arises; but for the fearless, through his confidence, a very great danger is born.

12.136.202 Yet counsel must never be wholly withheld from a man on the grounds that he is timid; for through such a misjudgement, knowledge passes from the ignorant to those who watch for an opening.

12.136.203 Therefore, though afraid, bearing himself as fearless, and though distrustful, as one who trusts, let him weigh the gravity of his affairs and never practise any falsehood.

12.136.204 Thus has this old tale been told by me, O Yudhiṣṭhira; having heard it, conduct yourself fittingly in the midst of your friends.

12.136.205 Having attained the highest wisdom, and the difference between foe and friend, and the seasons for peace and for war, and the means of deliverance in calamity—

12.136.206 in a task shared with an enemy, having made a pact with the stronger, let him conduct the alliance with skill, and, once his end is gained, not trust.

12.136.207 This policy, not at odds with the three aims of life, O Yudhiṣṭhira—rise up to it after what you have heard, and ever more bring joy to your subjects.

12.136.208 Let your course be taken together with the brāhmaṇas, O Pāṇḍava; for the brāhmaṇas are the highest good, in heaven and here, O Bhārata.

12.136.209 These are the knowers of dharma, ever grateful, O lord; honoured and pure in their deeds, they win victory beforehand, O ruler of men.

12.136.210 You shall gain a kingdom and the highest good, O king, and glory and renown, and the continuance of your line, each in due right and due order.

12.136.211 This well-spoken lesson of peace and war between two parties, O Bhārata, wrought by surpassing intelligence—having thus regarded it, a ruler of earth, O king, must ever practise it amid the circle of his foes.

12.137.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The counsel has been given, O mighty-armed one—that there is no trusting in foes. But how is a king to conduct himself if he can nowhere place his confidence?

12.137.2 From trust, indeed, a king's greatest peril arises, O king; yet how can a king who places no trust conquer his foes, O lord of the earth?

12.137.3 Resolve this doubt of mine; my mind is utterly bewildered, O grandsire, having listened to this discourse on distrust.

12.137.4 Bhīṣma said: Hear, son of Kuntī, what passed in the dwelling of Brahmadatta—the colloquy that Brahmadatta held with Pūjanī, O son of Pṛthā.

12.137.5 In Kāmpilya there dwelt within the inner apartments of Brahmadatta a bird named Pūjanī, who had lived with him a long while.

12.137.6 She understood the cries of all creatures, like the jīvajīvaka bird; all-knowing and versed in every duty was she, though born in the brute kind.

12.137.7 There she gave birth to a single son of radiant lustre, and at that very same time a son was also born to the king's queen.

12.137.8 Going to the shore of the sea, she brought back two fruits, for the nourishment of her own son and of the king's son alike.

12.137.9 One fruit she gave to her own son and the other to the prince—a fruit like the taste of the nectar of immortality, increasing strength and splendour; and from eating it the prince attained the utmost growth.

12.137.10 Held in the nurse's hands, he would play with that bird; but one day, in a lonely place, taking up the bird that was born at the same time as himself, he killed it, O lord of kings, and then returned to the nurse's hands.

12.137.11 Then the bird returned, O king, bringing fruit, and beheld her son slain by that child and lying upon the ground.

12.137.12 Her face full of tears, wretched at seeing her son slain, Pūjanī, scorched with grief and weeping, spoke these words:

12.137.13 In a kṣatriya there is no fellowship, no affection, and no friendship; for a purpose they cleave to you here, and once their end is gained they cast you off.

12.137.14 No trust should be placed in kṣatriyas, who would destroy all alike; even after doing harm they keep soothing you forever, to no purpose.

12.137.15 This very day I shall take upon him a fitting vengeance in kind—upon this ingrate, this cruel one, this gross betrayer of trust.

12.137.16 To slay one born and reared together with you, one who ate beside you, and one who came to you for refuge—threefold is the guilt of this deed.

12.137.17 So saying, with both her claws she tore out the eyes of the king's son, and then, composed once more, Pūjanī spoke these words:

12.137.18 A sin done deliberately recoils upon its doer that very moment; for those whose deeds bring their requital, good and evil do not pass away unanswered.

12.137.19 If any evil deed has been done, should its fruit not be found in the doer himself, it falls upon his sons, or, failing that, upon his grandsons and their descendants.

12.137.20 Brahmadatta said: A wrong was indeed done by us, and requital has been done by you; the two are now made even. Dwell here, Pūjanī; do not go.

12.137.21 Pūjanī said: Where a wrong has once been committed, to linger on in that same place the wise do not commend; better there to slip away.

12.137.22 Though soothing words be employed, O king, one in whom enmity has arisen should not be trusted; the fool is swiftly destroyed, for enmity is not stilled.

12.137.23 Among those who have made enmity with each other, it descends upon sons and grandsons; and when sons and grandsons are destroyed, it follows them into the next world.

12.137.24 For all who have made enmity, distrust brings ease; in no way at all should trust be placed in a destroyer of trust.

12.137.25 One should not trust the untrustworthy, nor even the trusted should one trust. Let one freely inspire trust in others, but in others place no trust.

12.137.26 Mother and father are the best of kinsmen; a wife is but a comrade in old age; a son is no more than one's own seed; a brother is a foe; a friend has a hand that is wet only while you feast—the self alone is the knower of its own joy and sorrow.

12.137.27 Among those who have made enmity with each other no true peace can come about; and that reason for which I dwelt here has now passed away.

12.137.28 Even when a creature who has done harm before is honoured with wealth and respect, his mind remains distrustful, for the earlier wrong terrifies him by its own force.

12.137.29 Where there is honour at first and dishonour afterward, the man of spirit, honoured and then slighted, should abandon that dwelling.

12.137.30 I have dwelt in your house a long while, unharmed; now this enmity has arisen. Fare well—I take my leave.

12.137.31 Brahmadatta said: When one requites a deed by repaying it in kind, in that he commits no offense; thereby he is freed of his debt. Dwell here, Pūjanī; do not depart.

12.137.32 Pūjanī said: Between the wrong that was done and the one who did it, friendship is never knit together again; the heart there knows the truth, both of the doer and of the deed.

12.137.33 Brahmadatta said: Between the deed and the one who did it friendship can be knit together again; a quieting of enmity is seen, and one need not again suffer evil.

12.137.34 Pūjanī said: Enmity once begun is not undone. Let no one trust, thinking 'I have been appeased'; the fool is destroyed through his trust. Therefore it is better not to meet at all.

12.137.35 Those who cannot be subdued by force, nor even by sharp-honed weapons, are mastered by soft words, as bull-elephants are by cow-elephants.

12.137.36 Brahmadatta said: From living together affection arises, even among those who would end one's life, and mutual trust as well, as between the dog and the outcaste dog-cooker.

12.137.37 Among those who have wronged one another, the enmity, softened by their living together, does not abide, like water resting on a lotus leaf.

12.137.38 Pūjanī said: Enmity arises from five sources, and the wise understand this: that caused by a woman, that born of property, that born of speech, and that born of a rival's offense.

12.137.39 In such a case the one who inflicts the injury must be slain, especially by a kṣatriya, whether openly or in secret, after weighing place, strength, and the rest.

12.137.40 When enmity has been incurred, no trust should be placed even in one who seems a friend; the enmity persists concealed, like fire hidden within wood.

12.137.41 Not by wealth, not by harsh measures, not by soothing words, nor by learning is the fire of enmity quenched, O king, any more than the Aurva-fire is quenched in the ocean.

12.137.42 For the kindled fire of enmity, or a deed born of offense, does not subside, O lord of men, without burning out one side or the other; only by the destruction of one party does it cease.

12.137.43 Even toward one honored with gifts and respect, if he was the first to do harm, there is no real peace and no trust; the remembered deed itself drives one to fear by its force.

12.137.44 In no injury have I been at fault toward you, nor you toward me; through trust I dwelt here before, but now I trust no longer.

12.137.45 Brahmadatta said: It is by Time that every act is wrought, and likewise the manifold deeds; by Time alone do they come to pass. Who here truly offends against whom?

12.137.46 Both alike come to pass, death and birth as well; both are brought about by Time, and on that ground each creature lives.

12.137.47 Some are slain all at once, while others, one by one, are not; Time consumes living beings as fire consumes the fuel it reaches.

12.137.48 Neither I nor you are the true cause in the doings, good or ill, that pass between us; it is Time that forever apportions to embodied beings their joy and their sorrow.

12.137.49 So dwell here in affection, unharmed as long as Time allows; what was done I have forgiven; do you too forgive, Pūjanī.

12.137.50 Pūjanī said: If Time is your sole authority, then no one would harbor enmity at all; why then do kinsmen seek to avenge a kinsman when he is slain?

12.137.51 Why did the gods and the demons of old strike down one another, if it is by Time that release comes, and joy and sorrow, existence and non-existence?

12.137.52 Why do physicians wish to prepare medicine for the sick, if men are ripened by Time alone? What use, then, are remedies?

12.137.53 Why is loud lamentation made by those stunned with grief, if Time is your sole authority? And why is there any merit attaching to those who act?

12.137.54 Your son slew my offspring, and he was killed by me in turn; thereafter I should rightly have been seized and bound by you, O lord of the earth.

12.137.55 For I, in grief for my young, committed an evil deed against your son; therefore you ought to strike at me. Hear now the truth I tell.

12.137.56 Men desire birds either for food or for sport; no third relation is possible save killing or caging. Be patient and consider this.

12.137.57 Some, from fear of being killed or caged, have taken up the discipline of release; those who know dharma call the suffering born of death and calamity a grievous thing.

12.137.58 Dear to every being is its own life; dear to every being are its young. Everyone shrinks from sorrow; happiness is what everyone craves.

12.137.59 Old age is sorrow, Brahmadatta; the loss of one's wealth is sorrow; sorrow is dwelling with what one dislikes, and sorrow is the parting from what one loves.

12.137.60 Sorrow arises from enmity and bondage, from violence, and likewise from a woman; sorrow alternates ceaselessly with joy, turning about from person to person.

12.137.61 Some unwise men declare that another's sorrow is no real sorrow; but it is he who has not himself known sorrow who prattles so before a crowd.

12.137.62 But one who grieves, afflicted by sorrow, how could he dare to speak so? He who has tasted all sorrow feels it in another as he feels it in himself.

12.137.63 What I have done to you, O king, and what you have done to me, that cannot be wiped away even in a hundred years, O subduer of foes.

12.137.64 In what we two have done to each other no reconciliation is possible; for as you remember your son again and again, the enmity will arise anew.

12.137.65 He who, with enmity close at hand, wishes to make peace, can no more reunite it than the pieces of a shattered earthen pot.

12.137.66 Distrust, declared by those versed in the science of statecraft, yields happiness; and long ago Uśanas spoke two verses to Prahrāda.

12.137.67 Those who, being enemies, place their faith in a foe, whether he is truthful or untruthful, are destroyed by their trusting, as one might be by honey set among dry grass.

12.137.68 For enmities are not quenched in families even to the tenth generation; and there will always be those to recount them, so long as a single man of the line survives.

12.137.69 Kings, concealing their enmities, speak soothingly; then they crush their foe, as one dashes a brimming pot upon a stone.

12.137.70 Never should one trust, O king, after having wrought evil against anyone here; for having injured others, one reaps sorrow through misplaced trust.

12.137.71 Brahmadatta said: Through distrust men gather no wealth, nor do they strive for anything; ever in fear of one side or another, they become as good as dead.

12.137.72 Pūjanī said: He whose two feet here are wounded, yet who goes about upon them, sees those very feet worn raw, even though he treads with utmost care.

12.137.73 He who, with eyes already aching, looks straight into the wind, surely suffers a yet sharper pain from the wind within his eyes.

12.137.74 He who in his delusion takes to a perilous road, not knowing his own strength, finds in that the end of his life.

12.137.75 The man who plows his field without regard to the rains, falling short in human effort, never wins his harvest.

12.137.76 And he who takes wholesome food, though it be bitter or astringent and unpleasant to the taste, makes himself fit for long life and well-being.

12.137.77 But the man who, having eaten what is wholesome, then out of greed eats other food, heedless of the consequence, finds in that the end of his life.

12.137.78 Destiny and human effort both stand by mutual support; for the high-minded, action is the rule; only the feeble rely upon destiny alone.

12.137.79 One should perform the act conducive to one's good, whether harsh or gentle; but the man of idle habit, possessing nothing, is forever devoured by misfortunes.

12.137.80 Therefore, even where the outcome is in doubt, one must still exert oneself; men should accomplish what serves their own good, even at the cost of all they have.

12.137.81 Learning, valor, skill, strength, and steadfastness as the fifth: these the wise call one's innate friends, by which they make their way in the world.

12.137.82 A dwelling, household goods, a field, a wife, and friendly folk: these they call one's acquired possessions, which a man may gain anywhere.

12.137.83 The wise man finds delight everywhere and shines everywhere; he frightens no one, and when threatened himself, he does not fear.

12.137.84 For the intelligent man, wealth, however small, ever increases; through skill he accomplishes his work, and through self-restraint he stands secure.

12.137.85 Of men of little understanding, bound fast by attachment to home, an evil wife devours the very flesh, as a she-tiger devours cattle.

12.137.86 "My home, my fields, my friends, my own land": so cling some, and thus, in their perversity of mind, men sink to ruin.

12.137.87 From a land sick with calamity, oppressed by disease and famine, one should fly away to dwell elsewhere, or settle where one is ever held in honor.

12.137.88 Therefore I shall go elsewhere to dwell; I cannot bring myself to stay here. What your son has done is past all undoing, O king.

12.137.89 A bad wife, a bad son, a bad king, a bad friendship, a bad alliance, and a bad country: all these one should shun from afar.

12.137.90 In a bad friend there is no trust; in a bad wife, where is delight? In a bad realm there is no peace; in a bad country one cannot make a living.

12.137.91 With a bad friend, whose goodwill is ever unsteady, there is no true fellowship; in a bad alliance there comes only dishonor, and the ruin of one's interests.

12.137.92 She is a wife who speaks what is dear; he is a son in whom there is contentment; that is a friend in whom there is trust; that is a country where one can live.

12.137.93 He is a king of firm rule under whom there is no oppression; nor is that a true kinship which wishes to keep a man in poverty.

12.137.94 Wife, country, friends, sons, kinsmen, and relations: all of this thrives under a virtuous king whose guide is dharma.

12.137.95 Under one ignorant of dharma, the subjects go to their dissolution for want of restraint; the king is the root of the threefold aim, when he guards it with unflagging care.

12.137.96 Having levied a sixth part as tribute, he should employ that tribute well; the king who does not rightly protect his subjects is but a royal thief.

12.137.97 The king who, having himself granted safety, does not duly hold to that pledge, takes upon himself the sin of all the world, and, his mind set on unrighteousness, goes down to hell.

12.137.98 But the king who, having granted safety, ever holds firm to his pledge is to be known as the maker of all happiness, guarding his subjects by dharma.

12.137.99 Father, mother, teacher, protector, Fire, Vaiśravaṇa, and Yama: these seven qualities of a king did Manu, the lord of creatures, proclaim.

12.137.100 The king is a father to the kingdom, one who has compassion for his subjects; but when he is led astray, a man goes astray as well.

12.137.101 Like a mother he cherishes them, and succors the helpless; like fire he burns the wicked, and in restraining men he becomes a very Yama.

12.137.102 Upon the deserving he lavishes wealth, a granter of wishes like Kubera; he is a teacher through his instruction in dharma, and a protector through his guarding care.

12.137.103 The king who gladdens by his virtues the people of the city and the countryside does not lose his realm, for he upholds both virtue and dharma.

12.137.104 For the lord of earth who himself looks well into the affairs of city and countryside rejoices in happiness, in this world and the next.

12.137.105 That king whose subjects, ever anxious, are crushed by the burden of taxes and are stripped bare by calamities, goes to his downfall.

12.137.106 But that king under whom the subjects flourish, like the great lotus in a lake, shares in the fruit of every sacrifice and is honored in the world.

12.137.107 War with one stronger than oneself, O king, is in no way to be commended; for one at strife with a stronger foe, where is the kingdom, and where the happiness?

12.137.108 Bhīṣma said: Having thus spoken, the bird, taking leave of King Brahmadatta, the ruler of men, departed to the quarter she desired.

12.137.109 This converse of Brahmadatta with Pūjanī I have now recounted to you, O best of the Bhāratas. What else do you wish to hear?

12.138.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When, through the waning of the age, dharma has dwindled away and the world too, O Bhārata, is oppressed by bandits, how should one conduct oneself, O grandsire?

12.138.2 Bhīṣma said: Listen, O descendant of Bharata, and I shall expound to you the polity for times of calamity—how, when the hour demands it, a king should conduct himself, even setting compassion aside.

12.138.3 On this they recite an ancient tale: the colloquy between Bharadvāja and the king Śatruṃtapa.

12.138.4 A king named Śatruṃtapa, a great chariot-warrior of the Sauvīras, approached Kaṇiṅka and asked him for a clear ruling on policy.

12.138.5 How is one to win what has not yet been won? By what means is the won made to grow? How should one guard what has grown, and how dispense what has been guarded?

12.138.6 Thus questioned for a settled ruling, the brāhmaṇa, whose own conclusions were firm, made this reasoned reply to him.

12.138.7 Let him keep the rod ever uplifted and his prowess ever displayed; let him be without any flaw himself yet sharp to detect flaws, and quick to seize upon the openings of his foes.

12.138.8 Before one whose rod is always raised the people tremble greatly; therefore by the rod alone should he hold all creatures in check.

12.138.9 Just so do the wise who perceive the truth give their praise; therefore, of those four expedients, the rod is declared the chief.

12.138.10 When the foundation is cut at the root, all who lived upon it are undone; for how should the branches stand when the great tree is severed at its root?

12.138.11 The wise man should first of all cut down the very root of the rival party, and thereafter pursue its allies and its whole faction without exception.

12.138.12 Well-counselled, well-charged, well-fought, well-fled—at the very moments when calamities arise let him so act, and not hesitate.

12.138.13 In speech alone let him seem all modesty, while at heart he is keen as a razor; let his words be smooth and gentle from the outset, and let him put away both lust and wrath.

12.138.14 In any affair that involves a rival, the discerning man, though he has made a treaty, should not trust it; rather, his purpose once accomplished, let him withdraw at once.

12.138.15 Wearing the guise of a friend, he should appease his enemy with conciliating words, yet shrink from him perpetually, as from a serpent that has crept into the house.

12.138.16 Him whose mind he would outwit, the dull-witted let him pacify with what is past or with what is yet to come; the shrewd, with what is present at hand.

12.138.17 Folded hands, an oath, soft words, the bowing of the head in speech, and even the shedding of tears—all this must he who desires prosperity be ready to perform.

12.138.18 Let him carry his foe upon his very shoulder so long as the time runs adverse; but when the hour has come, let him dash him to pieces as one shatters a pot upon a stone.

12.138.19 Better, O lord of kings, that a man blaze for even a single moment like a brand of tinduka wood, than that he smoulder long, flameless, like a fire of chaff.

12.138.20 With a useless or an ungrateful man one should not pursue a profitable end; yet so long as the gain may still be enjoyed, the ingrate may be used—for once his purpose is fulfilled, he scorns his helper. Therefore let him conduct all his affairs in such a way that something still remains undone.

12.138.21 Whatever is best in the cuckoo, the boar, Mount Meru, an empty house, the serpent, and the dappled deer—that let him take to himself and practise.

12.138.22 Rising again and again, ever attentive, let him go to the houses of his foe and inquire after his welfare, even when he wishes him ill.

12.138.23 The slothful do not gain their ends, nor do the weaklings, nor the overproud, nor those who dread the gossip of the world, nor those who are forever biding their time.

12.138.24 Let no enemy discern a flaw in him, while he discerns the flaw in the enemy; let him draw in his limbs like a tortoise and guard his own vulnerable point.

12.138.25 Let him plot his ends like a heron, charge like a lion, snatch like a wolf, and break away like a hare.

12.138.26 Drink, dice, women, the hunt, song and music—these let him enjoy with measure, for excessive attachment to them is fraught with ruin.

12.138.27 He may make himself a bow of straw and lie down in a deer's posture; in a time for blindness let him be blind, and may even take refuge in deafness.

12.138.28 Having met with the right place and the right time, let the discerning man exert his valour; for valour that has overshot place and time bears no fruit.

12.138.29 Weighing the seasonable and the unseasonable, his own strength and weakness, and knowing too the relative strength of the two sides, let him then direct himself accordingly.

12.138.30 The king who, having brought his enemy low by the rod, does not then subdue him, embraces his own death—as a she-mule conceiving a foal embraces hers.

12.138.31 Let him be full of blossom yet bear no fruit; or fruitful, yet hard to climb; let him be unripe though seeming ripe, and never let himself crumble away to anyone.

12.138.32 Let him hold out a hope tied to a future time, and then couple that hope with an obstacle; let him ascribe the obstacle to some pretext, and the pretext, in turn, to some cause.

12.138.33 So long as the danger has not yet come, let him make his arrangements like one who is afraid; but seeing the danger actually arrived, let him strike like one who fears nothing.

12.138.34 Without venturing into risk a man beholds no good fortune; but having ventured into risk, if he survives, he beholds it.

12.138.35 Let him foresee what has not yet come, and ward off the danger that is at hand; and from the rise and fall of things let him discern whatever may already have come to pass.

12.138.36 To forsake the happiness whose hour is present, and to hanker after a happiness yet to come—this is no policy of the wise.

12.138.37 He who, having made a pact with his enemy, sleeps in trustful ease, awakens only when he has fallen—like one who has dozed off at the top of a tree.

12.138.38 By whatever deed serves—be it gentle or be it harsh—let him lift up his own afflicted self; and once he is strong again, let him practise dharma.

12.138.39 Whoever are the rivals of his rivals, all of these let him win over to himself; and let him also be alert to the spies set upon him by his foes.

12.138.40 Espionage must be well organized, both for his own realm and against the other's; and let him send heretics, ascetics, and the like into the enemy's kingdom.

12.138.41 In gardens and pleasure-grounds, at watering-sheds and lodging-houses, in taverns and brothels, at sacred fords and in assembly-halls—

12.138.42 —there sinful men who transgress dharma, the spies and thorns of society, congregate; discovering them, let him restrain them, and even put them down.

12.138.43 Let him not trust the untrustworthy, nor yet trust even the trustworthy; for danger pursues the trusting man, and let him never trust without first putting to the test.

12.138.44 Having won his adversary's confidence by some genuine-seeming pretext, then, when the moment comes and his footing is even a little unsteady, let him strike him down.

12.138.45 Let him be suspicious even of what seems beyond suspicion, and ever wary of one already suspected; for danger born of one suspected can cut a man down, root and all.

12.138.46 By a show of devotion, by silence, by the ochre robe, by matted locks and the deerskin, let him win the trust of one who hates him, and then seize upon him as a wolf upon its prey.

12.138.47 Be it a son, or a brother, or a father, or a bosom friend—if they stand in the way of his purpose, they are to be struck down by him who would increase his fortune.

12.138.48 Even a teacher, if he is arrogant, ignorant of what should and should not be done, and gone astray upon a wrong path—for him the rod becomes the fitting discipline.

12.138.49 By rising to greet, by salutation, by gifts bestowed on this man or that, let him be a striker who deals abundant blows in return, like a sharp-beaked bird.

12.138.50 Without cutting into the vital points of others, without doing some terrible deed, without striking—as a fisherman slays his fish—a man wins no surpassing glory.

12.138.51 None is by birth an enemy, and none, indeed, is by birth a friend; it is from the interplay of power that friends and foes alike arise.

12.138.52 Let him by no means release a foe, though he plead piteously; let him feel no pity in that, but slay the man who first did the wrong.

12.138.53 Effort, free of all spite, must ever be made in winning men over and showing them favour; and with equal effort must restraint and punishment be applied by him who desires prosperity.

12.138.54 When about to strike, let him speak kindly, and even after striking let his words be kind; nay, having struck off his victim's head, let him weep and mourn for him.

12.138.55 Let him conciliate with soft words, with honour shown, with forbearance—this giving of grounds for hope is what he who desires prosperity must do.

12.138.56 Let him not engage in a fruitless feud, nor try to cross a river by the strength of his own arms alone; it is profitless and life-shortening—like gnawing on a cow's horn, wherein the teeth are merely worn away and no juice is got at all.

12.138.57 In the threefold aim of life there are three kinds of affliction and three kinds of consequence; knowing the consequences and their undoing, let him shun the affliction.

12.138.58 A remnant of debt, a remnant of fire, and likewise a remnant of an enemy—each, however small, if left unchecked, will grow again and again.

12.138.59 A debt left to mount, enemies left despised, and ailments left neglected—these bring on grievous ruin.

12.138.60 Let him not be one who does his work by halves; let him be ever vigilant—for even a thorn ill-extracted festers and causes trouble for a long time.

12.138.61 By the slaying of its men, by the spoiling of its roads, and by the wrecking of its mines, let him bring the enemy's kingdom to ruin.

12.138.62 With the eye of a vulture, the stillness of a heron, the wariness of a dog, the valour of a lion, untroubled yet suspicious as a crow, let him move with the gait of a serpent.

12.138.63 When guild-chiefs are being suborned and favourites courted away, let him keep close watch over his ministers, both as to their dividing and their banding together.

12.138.64 Men scorn him as soft, and shrink from him as harsh; therefore in a time for harshness let him be harsh, and in a time for gentleness let him be gentle.

12.138.65 By gentleness one overcomes the very gentle, and by gentleness one overcomes the fierce; there is nothing gentleness cannot accomplish—therefore gentleness is the keener weapon.

12.138.66 He who is gentle when the time is for gentleness and fierce when the time is for fierceness, he accomplishes his ends and prevails over his foes.

12.138.67 Being at odds with a wise man, let him not trust in the thought, "I am far away"; for long are the arms of the intelligent, with which, once injured, he injures in return.

12.138.68 Let him not embark on what he cannot cross to the farther shore; let him not seize what the enemy can seize back again; let him not dig at what he cannot uproot; let him not strike at one whose head he cannot strike off.

12.138.69 Thus has this counsel, bound up with crookedness, been spoken; yet a man should not himself act in this way. But how else is he to recognize such devices when an enemy employs them? It is for this that I, desiring your good, have told it to you.

12.138.70 Having heard this salutary counsel duly delivered by the brāhmaṇa, the lord of the Suvīra realm, undaunted in mind, acted upon it, and together with his kinsmen enjoyed a blazing prosperity.

12.139.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When the supreme dharma, which surpasses all the worlds, has decayed—when unrighteousness has been raised to the rank of righteousness, and righteousness has lapsed into unrighteousness—

12.139.2 —when all bounds are broken asunder and the very settled order of dharma is convulsed, when the world is oppressed by kings or by thieves, O lord of peoples—

12.139.3 —when all the orders of life are bewildered and their proper rites overthrown, and men, from desire, delusion, and greed, behold only fear, O descendant of Bharata—

12.139.4 —when all are distrustful and ever afraid, O king, when men are slain by treachery and deceive one another—

12.139.5 —when the lands are ablaze and the order of brāhmaṇas is sorely afflicted, when the rain-cloud withholds its rain and mutual dissension has arisen—

12.139.6 —when every means of livelihood upon the earth has fallen into the hands of brigands: by what means, then, is a brāhmaṇa to live, once so vile a time has come?

12.139.7 How, O ruler of men, should one who is unwilling to abandon his sons and grandsons out of compassion conduct himself in such calamities? This tell me, grandfather.

12.139.8 And how should a king conduct himself when the world has fallen into turmoil? How, O scorcher of foes, is he to fall away neither from gain nor from dharma?

12.139.9 Bhīṣma said: Rooted in the king, O great monarch, are security, prosperity, and good rains—and so too, among the people, are diseases, death, and the terrors that beset them.

12.139.10 The Kṛta age, the Tretā, the Dvāpara, and the Kali, O bull of the Bhāratas—all of these are rooted in the king; of this I have no doubt.

12.139.11 But when that time has come which works the undoing of the people, then one must live by taking one's stand upon the strength of discernment.

12.139.12 On this very matter they recite an ancient tale: the dialogue between Viśvāmitra and a Caṇḍāla in his hamlet.

12.139.13 At the juncture of the Tretā and the Dvāpara ages, long ago, by the ordained course of fate, there fell a fearful drought, O king, lasting twelve years.

12.139.14 When the creatures had multiplied and the close of the age drew near, at the time of the Tretā's passing and the ushering in of the Dvāpara,

12.139.15 the thousand-eyed Indra rained not; the planet Bṛhaspati turned contrary; and the Moon, his marks reversed, went the southern path.

12.139.16 At the end of night there was not even dew, let alone ranks of clouds; the rivers, their flooding waters shrunk away, in places sank wholly underground.

12.139.17 Lakes and streams, wells and springs alike were seen stripped of their luster, drained of their nature by the working of fate.

12.139.18 The land's water-resting places were dried up; its halls and watering-booths abandoned; its sacrifices and Vedic recitation ceased; its auspicious cries of vaṣaṭ fallen silent.

12.139.19 Tillage and the keeping of cattle had collapsed; buying and selling in the markets had stopped; the gatherings of the guilds had ended; the great festivals were utterly lost.

12.139.20 The earth was strewn with bones and skeletons, thronged with people crying alas; her cities mostly emptied, her village-dwellings burned to ash.

12.139.21 Here by thieves, there by the sword, elsewhere by desperate kings, and through mutual terror besides, she was left for the most part empty and unpeopled.

12.139.22 Her resolve in the gods departed, bereft of her old folk and her children, stripped of cattle, goats, and buffalo, men plundering one another in turn,

12.139.23 her brahmins slain, her safeguards slain, her stores of herbs all perished, peopled mostly by men turned ashen-gray—such did the earth become in that hour.

12.139.24 In that dreadful season, when dharma had waned, O Yudhiṣṭhira, famished mortals wandered, devouring one another.

12.139.25 The sages, casting off their vows, forsaking their sacred fires and their gods, abandoned their hermitages and ran about hither and thither.

12.139.26 Then the venerable Viśvāmitra, the great seer, himself without a home, beset by hunger though wise, ran roaming on every side.

12.139.27 Once, as he strayed about, he came upon the settlement of dog-cookers—savage men, slayers of living creatures—somewhere in the forest.

12.139.28 It was littered with broken pots, draped about with dog-skins, crowded with the cracked bones of boars and asses, with skulls and crocks.

12.139.29 It was spread over with the garments of the dead, its ornaments made of cast-off funeral flowers, its huts and shrines marked out with garlands of shed snake-skins.

12.139.30 It was hemmed about with godlings' shrines, their banners owl-feathered, decked out with iron bells and ringed about with packs of dogs.

12.139.31 Entering it, overpowered by hunger, the great seer, son of Gādhi, intent on his search for food, set himself to the utmost effort.

12.139.32 Yet nowhere, for all his begging, did Kauśika find any flesh, any grain, any root or fruit, or aught else whatever there.

12.139.33 "Alas, into what straits I have come!"—so resolving, Kauśika sank to the earth from weakness there in that Caṇḍāla hamlet.

12.139.34 The sage fell to pondering: "What now would be the right thing for me to do? How might my death not be in vain?"—so, O best of kings.

12.139.35 And the sage caught sight of a haunch of dog's flesh stretched out, in the Caṇḍāla's hut, O king—flesh of a creature freshly killed by the blade.

12.139.36 Then he reflected: "Theft must I commit from this place, for now no other means whatever exists to keep my life.

12.139.37 In dire need theft is sanctioned—from a superior, an equal, or a lower man; yet it grows ever graver in that order, and this is the rule: first do no theft at all.

12.139.38 What is taken should first be taken from a lower man, then from an equal; and only when no other course remains may one take even from a superior and righteous person.

12.139.39 I, then, in taking from the possession of these lowest of the low, see no guilt of theft; this meat I shall take."

12.139.40 Fixed in this resolve, the great sage Viśvāmitra slept where he had fallen, in that very spot, O Bhārata.

12.139.41 Seeing the night well advanced, while the Caṇḍāla hamlet slept, the venerable one rose softly and stole into the hut and its shrine.

12.139.42 But the Caṇḍāla, though still asleep, his eyes gummed shut with rheum, harsh, his voice cracking, a man grim to look upon, spoke out:

12.139.43 "Who tampers with the haunch while the Caṇḍāla hamlet sleeps? I am awake, I am not sound asleep—you are a dead man!"—so cried the fierce fellow.

12.139.44 "I am Viśvāmitra"—so on the instant he answered him, fear coming upon him all at once, agitated by that deed.

12.139.45 When the Caṇḍāla heard that speech of the great seer of disciplined soul, startled, he sought to spring up at once from his bed.

12.139.46 Shedding tears from his eyes, with reverence and folded hands, he said to Kauśika in the night: "Brahmin, what is it you mean to do?"

12.139.47 And Viśvāmitra, soothing the outcaste, said: "I am starving, my life ebbing away; I mean to take this haunch of dog.

12.139.48 My life-breaths fail; my memory perishes from hunger; and though I know full well my own dharma, I shall take this haunch of dog.

12.139.49 When, roaming for alms, I find nothing here in your dwelling, then is my mind set upon this sin: I shall take the haunch of dog.

12.139.50 A man parched will drink foul water; for one seeking food there is no shame; here hunger corrupts dharma—I shall take the haunch of dog."

12.139.51 "Agni is the mouth and the household priest of the gods, the pure-footed lord; even as he, the all-devourer, is Brahman, so know me to be by the law."

12.139.52 To him the Caṇḍāla replied: "Great seer, hear my words, and when you have heard, so order yourself that you fall not away from dharma.

12.139.53 The wise declare the dog the basest of beasts; and basest even of its body is this part, the haunch of its thigh.

12.139.54 This is no rightly resolved purpose, O great seer—a deed perverse: the stealing of a Caṇḍāla's property, and that of food unfit to eat besides.

12.139.55 Look rather, I pray, for some other means to sustain your life; let there be no ruin of your austerity through greed for meat, O great sage.

12.139.56 For one who knows, the unsanctioned path is not to be taken; the confounding of dharma must not be wrought. Forsake not dharma—you, the foremost of those who know it."

12.139.57 Then, O king, bull of the Bhāratas, thus addressed, Viśvāmitra the great sage, tormented by hunger, answered him once again:

12.139.58 "A very long time has passed for me without food as I have run about, and no means whatever is to be found for sustaining my life.

12.139.59 By this means or that, by whatever deed soever, the man who is sinking should keep himself alive; once able, he may then practice dharma.

12.139.60 Indra's is the dharma of the Kṣatriyas, the fire-god's that of the brahmins; the fire of Brahman is my strength—in this strait I shall eat, driven by hunger.

12.139.61 By whatever means one may live, that very thing must be done, without affliction; life is better than death—living, a man may yet attain dharma.

12.139.62 I, therefore, longing to live, resolve, with full deliberation, to eat even this food unfit to be eaten; let your honor consent to it."

12.139.63 "Living, I shall practice dharma and shall drive off my evils by austerities and by knowledge, as lights drive off the great darkness."

12.139.64 The dog-cooker said: "By eating this you will gain no other life, no long span of days, nor any fullness as of the nectar of immortality. Beg some other alms; let not your mind be set on eating dog—for the dog is no food for the twice-born."

12.139.65 Viśvāmitra said: "In this famine no other flesh is easy to come by, O dog-cooker, nor grain, nor have I any wealth. Tormented by hunger, helpless, without hope, I deem this dog's flesh to hold the six savors well enough."

12.139.66 The dog-cooker said: "Five among the five-clawed beasts are fit to eat for the brahmin and the kṣatriya, O twice-born; if the scripture is your authority, set not your mind upon what may not be eaten."

12.139.67 Viśvāmitra said: "The demon Vātāpi was once devoured by Agastya in his hunger; I, fallen into calamity and shaken, shall eat the haunch of dog."

12.139.68 The dog-cooker said: "'Fetch some other alms'—so I say; you ought not to do this thing. Surely this is not to be done; yet take the haunch of dog, if you will."

12.139.69 Viśvāmitra said: "The cultured are the warrant in matters of dharma; their conduct I would follow. Better than eating pure food I deem this haunch of dog to be, here, a thing fit to be eaten."

12.139.70 The dog-cooker said: "What is practiced by the base is no eternal dharma; what is not the established usage is not to be imitated. Do not by sophistry make a lie of the truth."

12.139.71 Viśvāmitra said: "Being a seer, you ought to do nothing fallen, nothing despised; yet I hold the dog and the deer to be alike, and therefore the haunch of dog fit to be eaten."

12.139.72 The dog-cooker said: "What is done for a brahmin's sake by a seer in his need—that too carries the sanction to be eaten. But that alone is dharma in which there is no sin, and it is to be guarded by every means."

12.139.73 Viśvāmitra said: "This brahmin is my friend, my very self, dear to me and most worthy of honor in the world; wishing to sustain him, I shall take this haunch—of cruel men such as these I have no fear."

12.139.74 The dog-cooker said: "Gladly do men give up their very lives, and do not redress their straits with forbidden food; and so, O learned one, they win here all their desires. Endure your hunger, then, if you must, holding fast."

12.139.75 Viśvāmitra said: "There is, to be sure, doubt about the state after death; but the loss of one's deeds is beyond doubt. With my heart set on this—'I may yet come back'—and guarding the root of life, I shall eat the forbidden food."

12.139.76 "He is content who knows the manifold to be set out within the realm of intellect, while through delusion oneness appears, as the skin and the eye are taken as one. And even if from doubt I commit a sin, I shall not become such as you yourself are."

12.139.77 The dog-cooker said: "This is a grief that brings about my fall—so runs my thought—that I, an evildoer, should reprove you who are a true brahmin."

12.139.78 Viśvāmitra said: "The cattle drink the water even while the frogs croak on. You have no warrant in matters of dharma; do not be a praiser of yourself."

12.139.79 The dog-cooker said: "It is as a well-wisher that I counsel you, for I feel compassion toward you, O twice-born. Lay hold, then, of what is for your good; take not the dog from greed."

12.139.80 Viśvāmitra said: "If you are my well-wisher, desiring my welfare, then rescue me from calamity. I know myself by the law; let go your hold upon the dog's haunch."

12.139.81 The dog-cooker said: "I have no heart to give you this, nor yet to look on idly while my own food is carried off; both of us would be smeared with our own defilement—I as the giver, and you, O brahmin, as the one who takes it."

12.139.82 Viśvāmitra said: "Today, having done this crooked deed, I shall live and practice the great purification; and with my soul made wholly pure, I shall lay hold of dharma itself. Tell me, then, which of these two is the weightier."

12.139.83 The dog-cooker said: "The self alone, they say, is witness in the works of the world; you yourself know what is wrong herein. As for him who would honor dog's flesh as food fit to eat—for him, I think, there is nothing left to shun."

12.139.84 Viśvāmitra said: "Whether in the taking of this or in the eating of it lie a fault, the exception to the rule must ever be reasoned out by the canons of right. Where there is no harm done and no shred of falsehood in speech, there the act of eating is no grave thing."

12.139.85 The dog-cooker said: "If this is your reasoning for eating it, then neither the Veda nor any other dharma is your warrant; and so, O chief of the twice-born, in eating what may not be eaten I see no fault, just as you have said."

12.139.86 Viśvāmitra said: "The eating of this is not seen to be a deadly sin; the dictum here runs, 'By drinking spirits one falls.' Each several deed has its own measure, just so; and a mere trifle does not undo the rightful act."

12.139.87 The dog-cooker said: "From an improper place, from a lower man, or from a thing reviled—such a taking afflicts even the learned man of good conduct. And he who recovers his standing through attachment must yet endure the penalty even so."

12.139.88 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken thus, the outcaste then desisted from Kauśika; and Viśvāmitra, his mind made up, took the haunch of dog after all.

12.139.89 Then the great sage, bent on living, seized the five-membered haunch; and having prepared it, he went off with his wife into the forest, that great sage.

12.139.90 But at that very time Vāsava sent down his rain, bringing all creatures back to life, and made the healing herbs to grow again.

12.139.91 And the venerable Viśvāmitra too, his guilt burned away by austerity, in the course of long time attained a perfection most wondrous.

12.139.92 Thus the wise man, undaunted in spirit, fallen into calamity yet eager to live, knowing the means, should by every means lift his stricken self out of distress.

12.139.93 Holding fast to this resolve, one should ever strive to stay alive; for the man who lives wins merit and beholds good fortune.

12.139.94 Therefore, O son of Kuntī, the wise man, self-controlled, taking his stand upon discernment in distinguishing right from wrong, should conduct himself in this world.

12.140.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: This dreadful teaching that has been set forth seems hardly credible, well-nigh false. Is there indeed any limit of robber-conduct that I might avoid?

12.140.2 I am bewildered, I despair; my hold on dharma has been loosened. Ponder as I may, I can find no resolve to act.

12.140.3 Bhīṣma said: This instruction in dharma that I give you does not come from scripture alone; it is a descent of insight, the honey gathered by the wise.

12.140.4 Many kinds of wisdom must a king bring to bear from this side and that; this course of life cannot be carried on by a dharma of a single branch.

12.140.5 Wisdom is begotten in kings who ever practice dharma, and then, O Kaurava, victory is theirs: know this as my word.

12.140.6 For kings supreme in wisdom, longing for conquest, are the ones who triumph; dharma must be applied by the king with judgment, this way and that.

12.140.7 The dharma of kings is not ordained by a dharma of a single branch; whence should the weak have wisdom, as was set forth before?

12.140.8 He who knows no doubleness, when the path forks into two, is bound to fall into doubt; the doubleness of judgment must be understood beforehand, O Bhārata.

12.140.9 Wisdom runs to one side and the other, branching like a river; and people understand the dharma that is uttered each in his own differing way.

12.140.10 Some have right understanding, others a false one; but the good, having grasped a thing just as it truly is, take up that knowledge.

12.140.11 The enemies of dharma plunder the scriptures, and out of their emptiness proclaim a discord in the sciences of meaning.

12.140.12 Seeking to make a living by learning, hungry for fame on every side—all such are the vilest of men, the enemies of dharma.

12.140.13 Of unripe mind and dull, they do not know things as they truly are; ever unskilled in the scriptures, they are nowhere firmly grounded.

12.140.14 Those who look only for faults in the scriptures plunder them; and so the understanding of the sciences proceeds astray, not aright.

12.140.15 Those who by belittling the learning of others advertise their own—armed with speech, drunk on the daggers of their words, as though they had milked dry the fruit of learning—know them, O Bhārata, for hucksters of knowledge, like very rākṣasas.

12.140.16 If the whole of dharma is known to you through pretext, it will desert you; for we have heard that the declaring of dharma is not by mere speech, nor by mere cleverness.

12.140.17 So Maghavat himself declared the teaching of Bṛhaspati; and yet no word here is uttered without a ground.

12.140.18 By the discipline they have learned for themselves some others resolve their course; but the wise here call the conduct of worldly life itself dharma.

12.140.19 The dharma laid down by the good a learned man should not reason away on his own out of impatience, from confusion over the scriptures, or from ignorance, O Bhārata.

12.140.20 When a wise man speaks in an assembly, scripture passes out of sight; he is approved for his speech, by a judgment grounded in tradition received.

12.140.21 Out of ignorance, because his word is a source of knowledge, men deem it sound; this is not to be cast aside, this scripture is not without purpose.

12.140.22 Uśanas of old said to the Daityas, when resolving their doubts: just as there is no knowledge that cannot be made plain, so indeed it is.

12.140.23 Whom can you satisfy with that whose root is cut? And who would heed this speech laid down upon what is untrue?

12.140.24 For you were created for fierce action, yet you will not look to it. Come, consider this statecraft, if you wish to thrive—the polity by which one man is set free and for whose sake another rejoices.

12.140.25 The goat, the horse, the warrior—these were made alike by Brahmā; hence for those whose nature is not fierce no course of life can succeed.

12.140.26 The fault that lies in slaying one who ought not to be slain is held to lie equally in not slaying one who ought to be slain; this very thing is the limit a king must not transgress.

12.140.27 Therefore let the king, stern, establish his subjects each in their own duty; for otherwise they would range about devouring one another like wolves.

12.140.28 That king in whose realm bands of robbers make away with others' goods—as crows snatch fish from the water—is verily a disgrace to the warrior caste.

12.140.29 Making well-born men your counsellors, men endowed with knowledge of the Veda, rule the earth, O king, protecting your subjects by dharma.

12.140.30 The lord of earth who takes up a man of low birth and no fit deeds, knowing no difference between the two, makes of his warrior-rule a thing unmanned.

12.140.31 Neither the wholly fierce nor the wholly gentle is here commended by dharma; transgress neither extreme—having been fierce, become mild.

12.140.32 Hard is this duty of the warrior, in whom such tenderness abides; you were created for fierce action—therefore rule the kingdom.

12.140.33 The constant restraint of the unruly, the guarding of the well-disciplined—thus spoke the wise Śakra concerning times of distress, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.140.34 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Is there indeed a limit even of robbers that another should not overstep? I ask you, O best of the good—tell me this, grandfather.

12.140.35 Bhīṣma said: One should serve the brāhmaṇas, men grown great in learning, ascetics, rich in sacred lore, good character, and conduct; for this is the highest purification.

12.140.36 The conduct you keep toward the gods—let that be yours toward the brāhmaṇas always; for by brāhmaṇas in their wrath deeds of many kinds have been wrought, O king.

12.140.37 From their favor comes foremost glory, from their displeasure the reverse; for when pleased the brāhmaṇas are like nectar, and when enraged like poison.

12.141.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Grandfather, great in wisdom, versed in all the scriptures, tell me the dharma of one who protects a suppliant who has sought his shelter.

12.141.2 Bhīṣma said: Great is the dharma, O great king, in the protection of one who has come for refuge; and you indeed are worthy to ask this question, best of the Bhāratas.

12.141.3 Kings beginning with Nṛga, O king, having protected those who came to them for refuge, attained, O great monarch, the highest perfection.

12.141.4 For it is told how, by a dove, an enemy who had come for refuge was honored as was right and entertained with the bird's own flesh.

12.141.5 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How was it that long ago an enemy came for refuge to a dove and was fed with the bird's own flesh, and what destiny did that dove attain, O Bhārata?

12.141.6 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O king, a divine tale, destroyer of all sins, told to King Mucukunda by Bhārgava of old.

12.141.7 This very matter, O Pārtha, the king Mucukunda asked of Bhārgava in days gone by, bowing low, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.141.8 To him as he sat attentive, Bhārgava told the tale of how perfection was won by the dove, O lord of men.

12.141.9 A tale joined with the settled truths of dharma and bound up with desire and gain—hear it attentively, O king, mighty-armed, as I tell it.

12.141.10 A certain man of base conduct, reckoned as cruel as Death itself, ranged over the earth, sinful and dreadful, a fowler of birds.

12.141.11 Black-limbed as a raven, harsh, bent wholly upon evil, narrow at the waist, thin-necked, short-legged, and great of jaw.

12.141.12 He had no friend at all, no kinsman, no relation; for by all of these he had been cast off because of that dreadful trade of his.

12.141.13 Taking up his cage, he would forever kill the birds in the forest and make a trade of those winged creatures, O lord of men.

12.141.14 While that evil-souled man lived thus by his livelihood, a very long time passed, and yet he did not perceive his own unrighteousness.

12.141.15 To him, with his wife for sole companion, taking his constant pleasure, bewildered by the working of fate, no other way of life seemed good.

12.141.16 Then once, as he stood in the forest, there arose a great tumult of wind, as though casting down the very trees.

12.141.17 The sky grew thick with clouds, adorned with circling lightnings, and in a moment was wholly covered, like a harbor crowded with the ships of the sea.

12.141.18 And the god of a hundred sacrifices, rejoicing, with masses of streaming rain filled the earth with water in an instant.

12.141.19 Then, while the world was awhirl with the downpour, he wandered, his wits gone, tormented by the cold, all through that forest, his inmost soul in turmoil.

12.141.20 That slayer of birds could find neither low ground nor high; for the path through that forest was filled with the flood of waters.

12.141.21 The birds, struck down by the force of the wind, lay then huddled close; the deer, the lions, and the boars stood crowded upon the high ground.

12.141.22 Terrified by the mighty wind and rain, those dwellers of the forest, distressed by fear and tormented by hunger, wandered together through the wood.

12.141.23 But he, his limbs smitten by the cold, kept moving and did not halt; and amid the thickets of the wood he spied a great tree dark as a raincloud.

12.141.24 Seeing the heaven grown rich with stars, fair as the white lily, clear and freed of clouds, the fowler, undone by the cold,

12.141.25 that evil-souled man looked about him at the quarters of the sky and at the hour; and since the nearest village lay far from that spot, O lord, he made up his mind to dwell that night there in the forest.

12.141.26 Reverently folding his hands, he spoke to the tree: I go for refuge to whatever divinities dwell here in this place, O Bhārata.

12.141.27 Laying his head upon a stone and strewing leaves over the ground, that slayer of birds, overcome with great misery, then fell asleep.

12.142.1 Bhīṣma said: Now upon a branch of that tree, O king, a bird with his dear mate had long dwelt there, his plumage bright and varied.

12.142.2 His mate had gone forth at dawn to forage and had not returned; and seeing that night had come on, the bird grew sore distressed.

12.142.3 Great was the wind and rain, and my beloved does not come. What can be the cause that even now she has not returned?

12.142.4 May it be well with my beloved out there in the forest! For without her this home of mine is empty today.

12.142.5 If she of the red-cornered eyes, of dappled body and sweet voice, my darling, does not come to me today, then I have no use for life.

12.142.6 Devoted to the duty of a wife, virtuous, dearer to me than my own breath—that gentle creature knows when I am weary and tormented by hunger.

12.142.7 Loving and devoted to his good, tender and faithful to her lord—the man on earth who has such a wife is blessed indeed.

12.142.8 A wife is declared to be a man's highest protector here, the companion in life's journey for one who in this world is otherwise without help.

12.142.9 So too for a man overwhelmed by sickness and ever sunk in hardship, there is no medicine for one in distress like a wife.

12.142.10 There is no kinsman like a wife, no refuge like a wife; in all the world there is no helper like a wife for the accomplishing of dharma.

12.142.11 As the bird thus lamented there in his grief, his mate, who had been seized by the slayer of birds, heard his speech.

12.142.12 She whose husband is not content with her should not be called a woman at all; for, with the fire itself as witness, the husband is the refuge of a wife.

12.142.13 Reflecting thus, stricken with grief, the hen-dove then, held captive by the fowler, addressed her sorrowing husband with these well-weighed words.

12.142.14 Listen, I will tell you what is best for you; hear it, and act accordingly. Above all, my beloved, be a protector of one who has come to you for refuge.

12.142.15 This fowler lies here, having taken shelter in your dwelling, tormented by cold and afflicted by hunger; offer him due hospitality.

12.142.16 For whoever should slay a brāhmaṇa, or a cow—mother of the world—or one who has come for refuge: the sin of these is one and the same.

12.142.17 That mode of life ordained for us pigeons by the law of our kind is one to be ever followed in righteousness by a self-possessed creature such as you.

12.142.18 A householder who follows dharma to the best of his power attains, after death, the imperishable worlds—so we have heard.

12.142.19 You, O twice-born, are now blessed with offspring and have sons besides; therefore, casting off all tenderness for your own body and embracing dharma and its purpose, offer this man hospitality, so that his heart may be pleased.

12.142.20 Having spoken these words while caught in the snare-cage, the wretched hen-bird, overwhelmed with grief, gazed upon her husband.

12.142.21 Hearing his wife's words, charged with the reasoning of dharma, he was filled with great joy, his eyes brimming with tears.

12.142.22 Looking upon that fowler, the bird honored him diligently with the rites prescribed by ordinance—the bird honoring the one who lived by killing birds.

12.142.23 And he said: "Welcome to you. Tell me, what may I do for you? You must feel no distress; you are now within your own home."

12.142.24 "Speak quickly, sir—what shall I do, what do you desire? I say this to you out of affection, for you have come to us for refuge."

12.142.25 "Hospitality must be shown with care to one who has come for refuge, and most especially by a householder devoted to the five sacrifices."

12.142.26 "The householder who, through delusion, does not perform the five sacrifices wins, by the law, neither this world nor the next."

12.142.27 "So speak with full confidence; whatever you ask in words, all of it I shall do. Do not let your mind dwell in sorrow."

12.142.28 Hearing these words of the bird, the fowler replied: "The cold indeed torments me; let some protection against the frost be arranged."

12.142.29 Thus addressed, the bird, having carefully spread out such dry leaves as he could upon the ground for kindling a fire, swiftly went off.

12.142.30 Going to a charcoal-burner's place, he fetched fire and returned; then upon the dry leaves he kindled the flame into a blaze.

12.142.31 Having made a great, well-blazing fire, he said to the refuge-seeker: "Warm your limbs in full confidence and without any fear."

12.142.32 So addressed, the fowler said "So be it" and warmed his limbs; his life-breath restored by the fire, he then said to the bird:

12.142.33 "I wish for food to be given by you, for hunger torments me." Hearing his words, the bird answered:

12.142.34 "I have no store of wealth by which I might dispel your hunger, for we forest-dwellers live always upon whatever comes to hand."

12.142.35 "We keep no hoard, like the sages in the wood." Having spoken thus, the bird's face turned pale.

12.142.36 "How then is this to be done?"—sunk in this anxious thought, O best of the Bhāratas, he kept reproaching his own way of life.

12.142.37 But after a moment, regaining his composure, the bird said to the slayer of birds: "I shall satisfy you; wait but a moment."

12.142.38 Having said this, the pigeon, kindling the fire to a blaze with dry leaves, filled with great joy, spoke again:

12.142.39 "From the gods, from the sages, and from the great-souled ancestors I have heard before of the supreme dharma that lies in honoring a guest."

12.142.40 "Grant me this favor today—truly I tell you this: my resolve is fixed upon honoring my guest."

12.142.41 Then the bird, true to his vow, as if smiling, circumambulated that fire three times and entered into it, O lord of the earth.

12.142.42 Seeing the bird enter into the midst of the fire, the fowler reflected in his mind: "What is this I have brought about?"

12.142.43 "Alas, for me, a cruel man, contemptible by reason of my own deeds, a most great and terrible sin will surely come—there is no doubt."

12.142.44 In many ways and at great length the fowler lamented thus, reproaching his own deeds, as he beheld the twice-born bird come to such an end.

12.143.1 Bhīṣma said: Then the fowler, watching the pigeon fallen into the fire and overwhelmed with pity, spoke again these words:

12.143.2 "What a thing have I, a cruel and witless man, done! For as long as I live this sin will dwell forever in my heart."

12.143.3 Reviling himself, he said again and again: "Shame upon me, the dull-witted, ever bent upon treachery, who, abandoning every good deed, became a hunter of birds!"

12.143.4 "This is, beyond doubt, a rebuke to me, a cruel man—delivered by the great-souled pigeon who gave his own flesh."

12.143.5 "I shall give up my own dear life and forsake my children and wife, for dharma has been taught to me by that supremely righteous pigeon."

12.143.6 "From this day forth I shall dry up my own body, stripped of all enjoyments, as the scant water of summer is dried away."

12.143.7 "Enduring hunger, thirst, and heat, grown gaunt with veins drawn taut, I shall pursue, through fasts of many kinds, the way to the world beyond."

12.143.8 "Lo, by the offering of his body, the honoring of a guest has been shown! Therefore I shall practice dharma, for dharma is the supreme goal—I have seen what dharma is, such as the righteous practice it, in that best of birds."

12.143.9 Having spoken thus and made his resolve, the fowler of cruel deeds, taking up the Great Departure, set forth with a vow firmly fixed.

12.143.10 Then his staff, his sticks, his snare, and his cage—and the pigeons he had bound—he loosed and set free.

12.144.1 Bhīṣma said: When the fowler had gone, the grieving hen-pigeon, remembering her husband and weeping, fainting with sorrow, spoke:

12.144.2 "I cannot recall, beloved, that I ever once did anything to displease you. Every widowed woman, O sky-ranger, even one with many sons, becomes an object of pity to her kin—a noble-hearted woman bereft of her husband."

12.144.3 "Ever was I cherished by you and soothed with great regard, again and again, with words sweet, tender, and most delightful."

12.144.4 "In the caverns of the mountains, by the cascades of the rivers, and on the lovely crowns of the trees, I was made happy by you, my beloved."

12.144.5 "In our flights through the sky I knew happiness with you, my love; I sported with you—but now none of that is left to me at all."

12.144.6 "A father gives but a measured portion, a mother a measured portion, a son a measured portion; but a husband, who gives without measure—what woman would not honor him?"

12.144.7 "There is no protector like a husband, and no happiness like a husband; renouncing all her wealth and possessions, a woman's refuge is her husband alone."

12.144.8 "I have no use, my lord, for life in this world without you. What virtuous woman bereft of her husband could bring herself to live?"

12.144.9 Having lamented thus in many a piteous way, the deeply grieving, devoted wife entered the blazing fire.

12.144.10 Then she beheld her husband, clad in shining garments, seated in a celestial chariot, honored by the great-souled doers of good deeds.

12.144.11 He wore bright garlands and garments and was adorned with every ornament, surrounded by a hundred million celestial cars belonging to those of holy renown.

12.144.12 Then the bird, gone to heaven, was reunited with his wife; honored for that deed of his, he rejoiced there together with her.

12.145.1 Bhīṣma said: The fowler, O king, saw the pair seated in the celestial chariot; and seeing the husband and wife, he reflected, out of his grief, upon the good path.

12.145.2 "By what manner of austerity might I attain the supreme goal?" Having resolved this in his mind, he set out upon his journey.

12.145.3 Taking up the Great Departure, the fowler who had lived by killing birds became still, living on air alone, free of all sense of "mine," in longing for heaven.

12.145.4 Then he saw a broad and lovely lake, adorned with lotuses, thronged with flocks of many birds, its cool waters fair—a sight at which even one tormented by thirst would be satisfied, of this there is no doubt.

12.145.5 But the fowler, O king, grown exceedingly gaunt with fasting, gladly approached a forest inhabited by beasts of prey.

12.145.6 Having made his great resolve, the fowler entered in; and even as he entered the forest, he was caught fast by thorns.

12.145.7 His limbs torn by the thorns, his skin made wet with blood, he wandered through that desolate place teeming with all manner of wild beasts.

12.145.8 Then in that forest, from the friction of great trees driven by the wind, there arose a mighty fire, bearer of oblations.

12.145.9 That forest, dense with trees and tangled with creepers and boughs, the fire consumed in fury, blazing like the flame at the end of an age.

12.145.10 Attended by flaming sparks fanned up by the wind, it burned that dreadful forest thronged with beasts and birds.

12.145.11 Then, with a heart full of gladness, seeking the release of his body, the fowler ran toward that swelling fire.

12.145.12 Then, consumed by that fire, the fowler, his sins destroyed, attained the supreme perfection, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.145.13 Then, his anguish gone, he beheld himself established in heaven, shining like Indra amid the yakṣas, gandharvas, and siddhas.

12.145.14 Thus indeed the pigeon and the devoted hen-pigeon, together with the fowler, went to heaven through their meritorious deeds.

12.145.15 And whatever woman of such a kind follows after her husband, she too shines forth at once, dwelling in heaven like that hen-pigeon.

12.145.16 Thus did this come to pass of old: the righteous destiny, won through meritorious deeds, of the great-souled fowler and of the pigeon.

12.145.17 Whoever should ever hear this, and whoever should recite it, no misfortune befalls him, even should his mind grow heedless.

12.145.18 O Yudhiṣṭhira, great is this dharma, O best of the upholders of dharma. Even for slayers of cattle there may be expiation of their sinful deed; but there is no expiation for him who would slay one who has come to him for refuge.

12.146.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: One who commits a sin unknowingly, O best of the Bhāratas—how is he freed from that wrong? Tell me this.

12.146.2 Bhīṣma said: On this matter I shall relate to you an ancient tale—what Indrota the brāhmaṇa, son of Śunaka, said to Janamejaya.

12.146.3 There was a king of great valor, Janamejaya, son of Parīkṣit; unwittingly, the slaying of a brāhmaṇa came upon that lord of the earth.

12.146.4 All the brāhmaṇas, together with his household priests, forsook him; and the king, burning day and night, went off to the forest.

12.146.5 Abandoned by his subjects, he did great works of merit; he practiced austerity beyond all measure, burning the while with remorse.

12.146.6 On this I shall tell a tale that confirms and amplifies this dharma: burning with his evil deed, Janamejaya set forth.

12.146.7 Wishing to choose him as priest, he came to Indrota, son of Śunaka, of firm-fixed vows, and clasped him, pressing hard upon his feet.

12.146.8 Then the great sage, afraid, rebuked him most severely: "You who have wrought a great sin, slayer of an unborn child—why have you come here?"

12.146.9 "What is there for you to do with us? Touch me not, by any means whatever! Go, go—your presence here surely gives us no pleasure."

12.146.10 Your odor is as of blood, and the sight of you is as of a corpse; though resembling one who is wholesome, you are inauspicious, and you wander about, dead, as though alive.

12.146.11 Inwardly dead, your soul unpurified, brooding upon evil alone, you wake, you sleep, you live, you move about at ease.

12.146.12 Vain is your life, O king, and in torment you live; it is for evil that you were created, for the basest of deeds.

12.146.13 Desiring much good, fathers strive for sons through austerity, through sacrifices to the gods, through worship and through forbearance.

12.146.14 Behold this line of your fathers, gone to hell on your account; fruitless are all the bonds of hope they had set upon you.

12.146.15 Toward those Brāhmaṇas, by honoring whom men obtain heaven, long life, fame, and happiness, your hatred is ceaseless and without purpose.

12.146.16 Quitting this world, you will fall headlong, through your sinful deeds, for years uncounted and years without end.

12.146.17 Devoured there by creatures and vultures, white-necked and iron-beaked; and even thence, returning once more, you will pass into a sinful womb.

12.146.18 As for your thought, O king, that there is no world beyond this—whence then?—the messengers of Yama, in Yama's abode, shall make you remember it well.

12.147.1 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, Janamejaya answered that sage: 'What is blameworthy, you blame; what is censurable, you censure—do not so reproach me.'

12.147.2 You reproach me as one deserving reproach; therefore I seek your favor, for all this is my own doing, and I burn as though cast into the fire.

12.147.3 Looking back upon my own deeds, my mind takes no delight; surely a terror dreadful even beyond the son of Vivasvat has come upon me.

12.147.4 Without drawing out that barb, how shall I be able to live? Laying aside all your wrath, speak to me, O Śaunaka.

12.147.5 I shall again become the cook-house of the Brāhmaṇas, rich in offerings; let there be a remnant of this house, let not this line be undone.

12.147.6 For of us, cursed by the Brāhmaṇas, no remnant ought to remain—of us who cannot grasp the sacred texts, nor the knowledge that comes from sure certainty of the Veda.

12.147.7 Sorely afflicted, I shall speak yet again of what is fitting now; for again and again they perish, as men without dharma and without prayer.

12.147.8 And they sink down low, like the Pulindas and Śabaras; for those who offer no sacrifice can in no way attain that world beyond.

12.147.9 Without yet knowing my understanding, which is as a child's before the learned, O Brāhmaṇa, look kindly upon me, O Śaunaka, as a father upon his sons.

12.147.10 Śaunaka said: What wonder is it that a wise man should do much of what is fitting? Having become learned, he is not tormented on account of living beings.

12.147.11 Mounting the palace of wisdom, himself beyond sorrow, he grieves for the multitude, and with his wisdom looks down upon them as one upon a mountain looks upon those who stand upon the earth.

12.147.12 Yet he does not grasp it there, nor does he see the things that ought to be done—being weary of soul, or remote, or held in reproach among all the good.

12.147.13 Having known the power that lies on both sides, he knows the greatness that is in the scripture: attain here the great peace, and let Brahman be your refuge.

12.147.14 Fair indeed is that other-worldly reward for those who do not anger the Brāhmaṇas—if you grieve for your sins, and if you look toward dharma.

12.147.15 Janamejaya said: I grieve for my sin, and I practice no unrighteousness; and I in turn desire one who wishes me well and who serves me, O Śaunaka.

12.147.16 Śaunaka said: Cutting away both stubbornness and pride, I desire your gladness, O king; abide in the welfare of all beings, and keep dharma in remembrance.

12.147.17 Not from fear, nor from meanness, nor from greed do I call upon you; let the gods, together with the Brāhmaṇas, hear that my word is true.

12.147.18 I, who seek nothing from anyone, call upon you and upon dharma, while all beings cry out, 'Alas! Shame!'

12.147.19 Those who know not dharma will speak against me, and men who are no friends will speak against me; and my friends, hearing those words, will burn with great distress for me.

12.147.20 Only some, of great wisdom, will understand what must be done; know what I have done, dear one, toward the Brāhmaṇas, O descendant of Bharata.

12.147.21 So act that on my account they may obtain security; and promise that you will do no harm to the Brāhmaṇas, O lord of men.

12.147.22 Janamejaya said: Neither by word, nor by thought, nor ever again by deed shall I do harm to the Brāhmaṇas, O sage; I touch your very feet.

12.148.1 Śaunaka said: Therefore I shall declare to you, whose mind is turned back to it, the dharma—you who, prosperous, mighty, and content, now look toward dharma; and that, having first been harsh, is the more wondrous still.

12.148.2 Living beings show favor through their own conduct, O king; surely the whole world resolves what is good and what is bad accordingly—wherein you, having become such as you were, today look toward dharma.

12.148.3 That, forsaking most delicious food and enjoyments, one should take his stand in austerity—this too is a marvel among beings, O Janamejaya.

12.148.4 That a weak man should be a giver, or a wretched one rich in austerity—this they call no wonder, for it stands not far off.

12.148.5 For this very thing, when done wholly without reflection, is mere wretchedness; therefore let it be done with discernment, and thereby virtue will arise in it.

12.148.6 Sacrifice, giving, compassion, the Vedas, and truth, O lord of the earth—these five are purifiers, and well-performed austerity is the sixth.

12.148.7 That very thing is the supreme purifier of kings, O Janamejaya; by rightly laying hold of it, you shall attain the more excellent dharma.

12.148.8 Going to holy places is remembered as the supreme purifier; and indeed they recite these verses that were sung by Yayāti.

12.148.9 The mortal who would set out, or would live out his span of life once more—let him, having performed sacrifice with single devotion, then renounce it and practice austerity.

12.148.10 They call Kurukṣetra holy, and Pṛthūdaka upon the Sarasvatī, where, having bathed or drunk, one need not grieve over death on the morrow.

12.148.11 To Mahāsaras, to the Puṣkaras, to Prabhāsa and Uttaramānasa, and to Kālodaka indeed you shall go, having gained your span, to live again.

12.148.12 Resorting to the Sarasvatī and the Dṛṣadvatī, you should wander along them; devoted to the recitation of scripture, you should perform your ablutions at all the sacred sites.

12.148.13 He declared renunciation, the dharma of giving up, to be the highest of purifiers; and here too they recite these verses made by Satyavat.

12.148.14 Even as a child, in truth, is neither doer of merit nor doer of sin—for in all beings there is no abiding sorrow, whence then could there be happiness?

12.148.15 So it is for those who are by nature thus, who go through every kind of contact, and who for the most part give up life, when merit and sin alike lie open before them.

12.148.16 But that which is the greater among the duties of a king, that I declare to you: by strength and by sharing out gifts, conquer heaven and purify yourself.

12.148.17 The man who has such strength and vigor is the lord of dharma; for the welfare of the Brāhmaṇas, do you traverse this earth.

12.148.18 Even as you once cast them down, so now win their favor, though you be reproached, though you be forsaken in many ways.

12.148.19 Knowing the vision of the self, O learned one, be not angered with the thought 'I am not'; striving in your own duties, achieve the highest good.

12.148.20 One king there is who becomes dreadful as frost or fire; and another becomes like the plough or the thunderbolt, O scorcher of foes.

12.148.21 One must not think a man wholly lost, nor again as past all cure; nor should one ever cling, among the wicked, to the thought 'I am undone.'

12.148.22 Grieving over a wrong deed, one is freed from a quarter of the sin; resolving 'I shall not do this again,' he is freed from a second; resolving 'I shall practice dharma alone,' he is freed from a third.

12.148.23 The good is to be approved by a man who wishes to prosper: those who frequent fragrant things become fragrant accordingly, and those who frequent foul-smelling things become foul accordingly.

12.148.24 One devoted to the practice of austerity is at once freed from sin; tending the fire for a year, the accused man is released; tending the fire for three years, even the slayer of an embryo is wholly freed.

12.148.25 By delivering from death as many living beings of that same kind, by their own nature perishing, as he had slain, the slayer of an embryo is wholly freed.

12.148.26 Or he should plunge into the waters, reciting the Aghamarṣaṇa thrice; that is even as the final bath of the horse-sacrifice—so Manu declared.

12.148.27 Swiftly he drives away his sin, and likewise obtains honor; and toward him living beings grow gracious, even those dull and dumb.

12.148.28 The gods and demons all together, O king, came to Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the gods, and questioned him: 'You know the fruit in dharma, when done, O great sage, and likewise in the other, in hell, the world of sin.'

12.148.29 'But for one in whom both good deeds should be present, which of the two would there prevail in victory? Tell us, O great sage, the fruit of works: how does one of virtuous conduct drive away sin?'

12.148.30 Bṛhaspati said: Having first committed sin unwittingly, he who then performs meritorious deeds with deliberate purpose—such a one of virtuous conduct drives away that sin, as a soiled garment is cleansed by the use of lye.

12.148.31 Having done a sin, a man should not think 'I am undone'; rather, faithful and free of malice, he should ever wish to do good.

12.148.32 As one repairs the holes of a garment with good thread, so does the man who, having done a sin, takes up the doing of good.

12.148.33 As the sun, rising again, drives away all darkness, so one who practices good drives away all his sin.

12.148.34 Bhīṣma said: Having thus addressed king Janamejaya, Śaunaka of Indrota's line had him perform, according to rule, the horse-sacrifice.

12.148.35 Then that king, his stain removed, endowed with majesty in the likeness of blazing fire, entered his own kingdom, that wearer-down of foes, as the full-bodied moon enters the sky.

12.149.1 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O Pārtha, as it befell, an ancient tale—the dialogue of the vulture and the jackal that took place long ago at Vidiśā.

12.149.2 Certain grief-stricken people, taking up a child who had not yet reached his youth—the very all-in-all of their family—wept, overwhelmed with sorrow.

12.149.3 Having taken up the dead child, they stood facing the cremation-ground, and passing him from lap to lap, they wept then upon the ground.

12.149.4 At the sound of their weeping a vulture drew near and spoke these words: 'Leave this one whose single self has passed, and depart from the world of the living without delay.'

12.149.5 'Here thousands of men, and thousands of women too, have been brought together by Time; how then could these ever be without kinsmen?'

12.149.6 'Look upon the whole world, beset with pleasures and pains; union and separation are met with by turns.'

12.149.7 'Those creatures who take up the dead and carry them, and those who follow after them, they too depart, each according to the measure of his own life-span.'

12.149.8 'Enough of lingering in this cremation-ground, thronged with vultures and jackals, heaped with skeletons, dreadful, terrifying to all living beings.'

12.149.9 'No one who has met the law of Time lives again, whether dear or hated; such is the course of living beings.'

12.149.10 'Everyone who is born into the world of mortals must surely die; upon the path ordained by the Ender, who shall bring the dead to life?'

12.149.11 'In a world where labor draws to its close, and as the sun is going down, let each go to his own abode, casting off his love for the son.'

12.149.12 Then, having heard the vulture's words, those kinsmen, crying aloud, O king, set forth, abandoning the son upon the ground.

12.149.13 And then, having made their resolve, forsaking their own offspring, despairing of his life, they set out upon the road and went their way.

12.149.14 But a jackal, colored like a crow or a storm-cloud, coming forth from his hole, called out to them as they departed: 'Pitiless indeed are these mortals!'

12.149.15 "The sun yet stands in the sky, you fools — show your love and do not be afraid. The hour takes many forms; perhaps even now the child may yet revive."

12.149.16 "Having laid him upon the ground, stripped of all love for your son, why do you abandon the boy at the cremation ground and go away so pitilessly?"

12.149.17 "Have you no tenderness for this son, this sweet-spoken child, by the mere sound of whose speech you would melt into delight?"

12.149.18 "Do you not see how strong is the love for offspring even among beasts and birds, though from rearing them no profit ever comes to them?"

12.149.19 "For four-footed creatures, for birds and insects, for all beings bound by affection, this love is, in its bearing on the world beyond, like the sacrificial rites of sages."

12.149.20 "For these creatures that delight in their young, no advantage is seen either in this world or the next — and yet they go on sustaining their offspring."

12.149.21 "When they no longer behold their beloved young, no grief abides in them; nor, once grown, do those offspring ever nourish their mother and father in return."

12.149.22 "Whence then this love among men, in whom grief is destined to dwell? How will you forsake this son, the very perpetuator of your line, and go your way?"

12.149.23 "Long shed your tears, long gaze upon him with love; for things dear as these are, above all, hard to give up."

12.149.24 "Of one fallen low, hard-pressed, and facing the cremation ground, where the kinsmen take their stand, no stranger will stand beside him."

12.149.25 "To every creature its own life is dear, and every creature comes to know love; behold how strong is the love of the good even among the beasts of the wild."

12.149.26 "How can you abandon and go from this boy, with his long, lotus-restless eyes, adorned as for a fresh wedding, bathed and decked with garlands?"

12.149.27 Bhīṣma said: Having heard the jackal's words of piteous lamentation, all those people then turned back for the corpse's sake.

12.149.28 The vulture said: Ah, shame! Addressed by this cruel, dull-witted, base little jackal, O men of feeble resolve, why do you turn back?

12.149.29 "Forsaken by the five elements, empty, reduced to the state of a mere log and devoid of motion — why do you grieve for him? Why do you not rather grieve for your own selves?"

12.149.30 "Practice fierce austerity, by which you may be freed from sin. By austerity all things are won; what will lamentation accomplish?"

12.149.31 "Know that fortunes, with their embodied forms, are unwelcome too, whereby this world passes on, bequeathing grief that has no end."

12.149.32 "Wealth and cattle and gold, gems and jewels too, and offspring — all are rooted in austerity, and through the practice of austerity are won."

12.149.33 "As it has been wrought, so among beings is their measure of joy and sorrow attained; a creature is born already having taken up its sorrows and its joys."

12.149.34 "Not by the father's deeds does the son fare, nor the father by the son's; by separate paths they go, each leaving behind his own good and evil works."

12.149.35 "Practice righteousness with diligence, and likewise turn back from unrighteousness; and conduct yourselves, each in due season, toward the gods and toward the twice-born."

12.149.36 "Cast off grief and wretchedness, and turn back from love of your son. Let him be abandoned to the open air, and then return at once."

12.149.37 "Whatever good deed a man does, and whatever dreadful unrighteous deed, the doer alone reaps it; what part have kinsmen in this?"

12.149.38 "Having abandoned him here, the kinsmen do not remain beside their beloved kinsman; casting off their love, they go away, their eyes brimming and clouded with tears."

12.149.39 "Wise man or fool, rich man or poor — every one, endowed with his good and his evil, passes into the power of Time."

12.149.40 "What will you gain by grieving? Why do you mourn the dead? For Time is the lord of all, looking upon all alike according to the law."

12.149.41 "Those in the prime of youth, and children, and the aged, and even those yet in the womb — all of them death enters. Such is this world."

12.149.42 The jackal said: Ah, by this dull-witted vulture the love of you, who are overcome by tenderness for your son and grieve so sorely, has been made to grow cold!

12.149.43 "By words measured and well-marshalled, couched in courtesy, has he persuaded you to depart at the setting of the sun, casting off a love so hard to cast off?"

12.149.44 "Ah, in the loss of a son, in the tending of the dead and desolate, how grievous is the anguish of those who cry aloud — like cows bereft of their calves!"

12.149.45 "This day I learn the grief of men upon the earth; for beholding their piteous love, tears come even to my eyes."

12.149.46 "Effort must ever be made; once made, it is brought to fulfillment by destiny. Destiny and human exertion alike are wrought together by Fate."

12.149.47 "One must never yield to despair, for from despair whence comes happiness? By striving the object is attained; why then do you go away so heartlessly?"

12.149.48 "This body, sprung from your own flesh, formed of half your own frame, the continuer of the line of your fathers — having forsaken it in the forest, where will you go?"

12.149.49 "When the sun has set and twilight is come, then you may bear away your son, or else remain here."

12.149.50 The vulture said: Now a full thousand years and more have passed since I was born, O men, yet I have never seen one — woman, man, or eunuch — once dead come back to life.

12.149.51 "Some die in the womb; some are born and die the moment they are born; others die while striding forth in their strength, and yet others in the bloom of youth."

12.149.52 "Fortunes here are fleeting, for four-footed creatures and for birds; and for things that move and things that move not, life-span stands ever at its very end."

12.149.53 "Sundered from beloved wives, and stricken with grief for sons, men, ever burning with sorrow, go home day after day."

12.149.54 "Thousands of things unwished, and hundreds of things wished-for, the kinsmen here forsake and go their way, plunged in deep sorrow."

12.149.55 "Let this lifeless thing be abandoned, empty, reduced to the state of a log. For one whose self has passed into another body, the corpse is but a log to wait upon."

12.149.56 "For him whose life has wandered away, why do you not lay aside your tears and go? For this love is fruitless, and fruitless too is this clinging."

12.149.57 "Not with eyes, not with ears, does he hear or behold any longer; therefore abandon him and go quickly to your own homes."

12.149.58 "By words grounded in the law of liberation, well-reasoned and not unkind, I have spoken to you: go quickly, each to his own dwelling."

12.149.59 "With words endowed with wisdom and discernment, words that bring back understanding and reason, you, O men, have been told this hard truth: turn back!"

12.149.60 The jackal said: This boy, hued like burnished gold, adorned with ornaments — how, at a vulture's word, will you abandon a son who would offer the funeral rice to your fathers?

12.149.61 "There is no resisting the love that weeps and wails aloud; from abandoning this dead one, anguish will surely come to you."

12.149.62 "It is heard that when Śambūka, the Śūdra, was slain, a Brāhmaṇa's child was restored to life through righteousness, by Rāma whose valor is truth."

12.149.63 "And so too the child of the royal sage Śveta, who had reached his appointed end — at break of day, dead though he was, he was restored to life again by one ever devoted to righteousness."

12.149.64 "Even so, some perfected sage, or holy man, or even a deity, might take pity on you wretched ones weeping here."

12.149.65 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, the grieving folk, tender toward their son, turned back, and laying his head upon their laps, they wept long and without restraint.

12.149.66 The vulture said: Drenched with the fall of your tears, pressed by the touch of your hands, and by the working of the King of Righteousness, he has been led into a long sleep.

12.149.67 "Even one joined with austerity is not, before his time, struck down. This is that place where all loves come to their end — the city of the dead."

12.149.68 "Forsaking always thousands of children and aged ones, the kinsmen abide in sorrow upon the earth, through the days and through the nights."

12.149.69 "Enough of this stubbornness! Let the hindrance of grief be put away. There is no warrant for it: whence should this child have life again here today?"

12.149.70 "Not by the jackal's words will this one regain his life; for the dead, whose body has been cast off, there is no body again."

12.149.71 "Neither by the giving of a body, nor even by a hundred jackals, can this child be made to live — no, not in a hundred years."

12.149.72 "Were Rudra, or Kumāra, or Brahmā, or Viṣṇu himself to grant him a boon — then might this infant live."

12.149.73 "Not by the shedding of tears, not by any comforting, not by long weeping here, will he come to life again."

12.149.74 "I, and this jackal too, and you, his kinsmen — all of us, having taken up our righteousness and unrighteousness, are journeying here upon the road."

12.149.75 "From what is unkind and harsh, from injury to others and from another's wife, from unrighteousness and falsehood, let the wise man hold himself far aloof."

12.149.76 "Truth, righteousness, goodness, what is just, great compassion for living beings, uprightness and freedom from guile — seek these out with diligence."

12.149.77 "Those who, while their mother and father, their kinsmen and friends, are still alive, take no heed of them — for such men there is a perversion of duty."

12.149.78 "For one who no longer sees with his eyes, nor stirs in any way at all, who has reached the end of his appointed course — what will you accomplish by weeping?"

12.149.79 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, the kinsmen, leaving that son upon the ground, overwhelmed with grief and burning with love for their child, set out for their homes.

12.149.80 The jackal said: Dreadful is this world of mortals, the destroyer of all living things, with its parting from beloved kin, and life withal so brief.

12.149.81 "Full of falsehood and untruth, of contradiction and unwelcome speech — beholding this state of recurring birth, which swells the tide of pain and grief —"

12.149.82 "this world of men pleases me not even for a moment. Ah, shame, that at a vulture's word you turn away, O men!"

12.149.83 "Ablaze with grief for your son as you are, you are likewise become senseless. How can you, with your tenderness, go away, casting off love for your son, having heeded the words of that wicked, unrefined vulture?"

12.149.84 "Hard upon joy follows sorrow, and hard upon sorrow follows joy; in a world compounded of joy and sorrow, no single thing here is without an end."

12.149.85 "Having laid this comely child upon the ground — a son whose loss would be the wellspring of grief to your line — where, you fools, will you go, abandoning him?"

12.149.86 "Endowed with beauty and youth, as though shining with splendor — I see him living, with my mind's eye; of this there is no doubt."

12.149.87 "Destruction is not his desert; you shall yet find happiness, O men. For you, consumed by the fire of grief for your son, that he should even be dead would today be a mercy to you."

12.149.88 "Having brought sorrow upon yourselves, and holding fast to your own ease, where will you go this day, abandoning him, forsaking him like men of little wit?"

12.149.89 Bhīṣma said: And so, by the jackal — opposed to righteousness, brooding upon false endearments, a dweller in the cremation ground, ever ranging by night —

12.149.90 the kinsmen were brought to wavering irresolution by words that seemed like nectar; by the jackal, for his own ends, were they held fast there.

12.149.91 The vulture said: This dreadful tract of forest is thronged with ghosts, haunted by Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, and made to resound with the cries of owls.

12.149.92 "Fearful and most terrible it is, dark as a blue-black cloud. Lay down the corpse in this place and perform the rites for the dead."

12.149.93 "While the sun has not yet gone to its setting, and while the quarters of the sky are still clear, lay him down and attend to the funeral rites."

12.149.94 "Harshly the hawks are screaming, the dreadful jackals howl, the lions of the wild answer back in chorus — and the sun is going down to its setting."

12.149.95 The trees here are stained dark by the smoke of the pyres, and in this charnel-ground the creatures that haunt it, foodless and lean, rejoice at the prospect of a corpse.

12.149.96 All of them are bold in their might and most terrible in this place; misshapen flesh-eaters, they will fall upon you and overpower you.

12.149.97 This stretch of wilderness lies far off, and here danger will arise. Abandon this body that has become mere wood; do not heed the jackal's words.

12.149.98 If, with your judgment fallen away, you listen to the jackal's words, which are barren and false, then you will all be undone.

12.149.99 The jackal said: Stay here, and do not be afraid. So long as the sun still burns, abide here for love of your son, without despair.

12.149.100 Weep your fill, untroubled; gaze your fill with love upon him. Stay while the sun yet stands—what are the words of a flesh-eater to you?

12.149.101 If, your minds bewildered, you accept the vulture's words—harsh and headlong as they are—your son will be no more to you.

12.149.102 Bhīṣma said: The vulture said the sun had not yet set; the jackal said it had gone down. So those two, driven by hunger, spoke to the dead child's kin.

12.149.103 O king, both the vulture and the jackal, each shrewd in his own cause, worn out by hunger and thirst, kept arguing, each leaning upon scripture for support.

12.149.104 At the words—sweet as nectar—of those two learned in cunning, the jackal and the winged one, the people now made to set out, now turned to go.

12.149.105 Sunk in grief and misery, weeping, they then stood still, kept whirling this way and that by the practiced skill of those two who each pursued his own ends.

12.149.106 While those two cunning ones thus wrangled on, and the kinsmen stood there waiting, Śaṃkara drew near.

12.149.107 Then the Trident-bearer, granter of boons, said to those men, 'I am here to grant a boon.' Grieving, bowed low, they stood and answered him these words.

12.149.108 'We have all lost our only son and long to go on living; by giving life back to our son, you would be giving life to us.'

12.149.109 Thus addressed, the blessed Lord, with a palm full of water, granted that boy his life, to last a hundred years.

12.149.110 And to the jackal and the vulture the blessed bearer of the Pināka, ever devoted to the welfare of all beings, gave the boon of the ending of their hunger.

12.149.111 Then, O lord, bowing to that god, filled with joy at their good fortune, their purpose fulfilled, glad and at ease, they set out for home.

12.149.112 By unwavering, long-sustained perseverance, by firm resolve, and by the grace of the God of gods, the fruit is swiftly won.

12.149.113 See how the god's coming and the kinsmen's resolve together wiped away the tears of those wretched mourners.

12.149.114 And see how in a short time, through resolve and persistent seeking, those grieving ones, having won Śaṃkara's grace, attained their joy.

12.149.115 Amazed and overjoyed at the bringing back to life of their son, O best of the Bhāratas, they were made glad once more by the grace of Śaṃkara.

12.149.116 Then, O king, having known a grief born of calamity, they made haste and, taking up their son, entered the city with glad hearts. Such is the wisdom set forth for all men within the four orders of society.

12.149.117 By hearing this auspicious tale, bound up with dharma, worldly gain, and liberation, a man rejoices forever, both here and after death.

12.150.1 Bhīṣma said: On this too they tell an ancient tale, O best of the Bhāratas—the dialogue between the silk-cotton tree and the Wind.

12.150.2 On the slopes of the Himālaya there stood a mighty forest-lord, grown great over a host of years, rich in branches, trunk, and foliage.

12.150.3 There, O mighty-armed one, rutting elephants, oppressed by the heat and worn out with toil, would rest, and so too the other tribes of wild creatures.

12.150.4 A bowshot in girth, with dense shade, the forest-lord was loud with parrots and mynahs, laden with fruit and laden with flowers.

12.150.5 Caravan-folk and merchants, ascetics and forest-dwellers, travelers upon the road, would take their lodging in that loveliest, most excellent of trees.

12.150.6 Seeing its broad branches and its trunks on every side, Nārada drew near and addressed it, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.150.7 'Ah, how delightful you are, and ah, how you charm the heart! We take everlasting joy in you, O silk-cotton tree, foremost of trees.'

12.150.8 'Forever, dear one, the birds, and below the deer and the elephants, dwell about you full of delight, and grow the more charming for it.'

12.150.9 'Your branches, O great-branched one, and your broad trunk as well—nowhere do I see them broken by the wind in any way.'

12.150.10 'Is the wind, then, dear one, fond of you, or your friend, that the Breeze should always protect you so surely here in this forest?'

12.150.11 'For the wind, blowing in its force, shakes trees great and small from their place, and the very peaks of mountains.'

12.150.12 'The pure bearer of scents, blowing on, dries up the very netherworld—the deep pools, the rivers, and the seas as well.'

12.150.13 'Surely the wind protects you out of friendship, no doubt of it; and so you are thick with branches, full of leaves and full of flowers.'

12.150.14 'And this seems delightful in you, O forest-lord—that these birds, dear one, take their joy in you, glad at heart.'

12.150.15 'Sweet is the voice heard of them, each apart and all together, as they cry out most charmingly in the season of the rejoicing of the flowers.'

12.150.16 'And these glad elephants, the pride of their own herds and lineages, when reaching you in the torment of the heat, find their ease, O silk-cotton tree.'

12.150.17 'And likewise you are adorned by other tribes of wild creatures, and adorned by the dwelling of caravans, O tree—so that you shine like Meru.'

12.150.18 'With brahmins perfected in austerity, with ascetics and with wandering mendicants, I deem your abode the very equal of heaven.'

12.150.19 'Out of kinship or out of friendship, O silk-cotton tree—of this there is no doubt—the terrible, all-pervading wind ever protects you.'

12.150.20 'You have come, O silk-cotton tree, into the deepest submission to the wind, so that the wind, as though saying "I am yours," forever protects you.'

12.150.21 'I see no tree, nor any mountain however firm, that has not been broken upon the earth by the force of the wind—such is my conviction.'

12.150.22 'You, then, O silk-cotton tree, are surely protected for some cause; by the wind, with all your retinue, you stand secure beyond doubt.'

12.150.23 The silk-cotton tree said: The wind is no friend of mine, O brahmin, nor my kinsman, nor my well-wisher, nor my supreme lord, that the wind should protect me out of such regard.

12.150.24 My fiery strength, O Nārada—the wind, terrible though it is, does not by its blasts attain even an eighteenth part of mine.

12.150.25 When the mighty wind comes rushing on—shattering trees and mountains and whatever else there may be—I check it by my force.

12.150.26 That breaker of all things, the storm-wind itself, has often been broken by me; and so, O divine sage, I do not fear the wind, even in its wrath.

12.150.27 Nārada said: O silk-cotton tree, your view is perverse, of this there is no doubt; for in strength there is nowhere any being equal to the wind.

12.150.28 Indra, Yama, Vaiśravaṇa, and Varuṇa the lord of waters—not even they are equal to the wind; how much less you, O forest-lord?

12.150.29 Whatever living thing stirs here upon the earth, O silk-cotton tree—everywhere it is the blessed wind, the lord, that grants both motion and breath.

12.150.30 When rightly disposed, it sets living beings rightly in motion; when ill-disposed, it stirs again, working disorder, in men.

12.150.31 That you do not honor such a wind—best of all that sustains living things, worthy of honor as it is—what is this but lightness of wit?

12.150.32 You are without substance, O fool, and merely babble much; clouded over by anger and the like, you speak falsely, O silk-cotton tree.

12.150.33 Anger has risen in me at you, while you talk on like this; I shall myself report to the wind much of your evil speech.

12.150.34 By sandal and spandana trees, by śāla, by sarala and deodar, by reed and bandhana, and by others yet stronger still—

12.150.35 not even by these, O fool, those disciplined ones, is the wind thus reviled; for they know both the wind's strength and their own.

12.150.36 Therefore those best of trees do homage to the wind; but you, out of delusion, do not know the wind's strength, which has no end.

12.151.1 Bhīṣma said: Having thus spoken to the silk-cotton tree, O lord of kings, Nārada, best of the knowers of brahman, reported to the wind every word the tree had said.

12.151.2 'A certain silk-cotton tree, sprung on the slopes of the Himālaya, with a great following, of mighty root and mighty branch—he, O Wind, holds you in contempt.'

12.151.3 'Many insulting words he spoke of you, O Wind; yet it is not fitting for me to repeat them to you, O lord.'

12.151.4 'I know you, O Wind, to be the best of all that bears the breath of life, most excellent and most weighty, and in wrath like the son of Vivasvat himself.'

12.151.5 Hearing Nārada's words thus, the wind, drawing near to that silk-cotton tree, spoke in anger these words.

12.151.6 'O silk-cotton tree, as for that reviling of me which you uttered before Nārada—I, the Wind, shall show you my power, my own strength.'

12.151.7 'It is not that I do not know you—you are well known to me, O tree. At the creation of beings, the Grandfather, the lord, took his rest in you.'

12.151.8 'It is by that resting of his that the grace shown to you was granted; by that you are protected, O fool—not by your own valor, O basest of trees.'

12.151.9 'Since you despise me as though I were some common thing, I shall now show you myself, so that you shall come to know me for what I am.'

12.151.10 Thus addressed, the silk-cotton tree then said, as though laughing: 'O Wind, angered here in the forest, show your self by your own self.'

12.151.11 'Let your anger at me be set aside—what will you do to me in your wrath? I do not fear you, O Wind, even though you are your own master.'

12.151.12 So addressed, the wind spoke just this word—'Tomorrow'—'I shall show you my might'; and then the night drew on.

12.151.13 Then the silk-cotton tree, considering in its mind what the wind could do, and seeing that its own self was no match for Mātariśvan,

12.151.14 thought: 'What I declared to Nārada concerning the wind was false; for I am no match for the wind in strength—strong indeed is he.

12.151.15 The wind is forever strong, just as Nārada declared him; and I am weaker than the other trees, of this there is no doubt.

12.151.16 Yet in wit no forest-tree is my equal; so, resorting to wit, I shall free myself from the danger of the wind.

12.151.17 If the leaf-bearing trees of the forest were to act with that same wit, they would forever be unharmed by the angry wind, of this there is no doubt.

12.151.18 But here those foolish ones do not know, as I know, how the wind, when greatly enraged, may toss them about.

12.151.19 Then, having so resolved in its mind, the silk-cotton tree, deeply agitated, of its own accord cast down its branches, its boughs, and its lesser limbs.

12.151.20 Having shed its branches, its leaves, and its blossoms, the forest-lord awaited the coming of the wind at dawn.

12.151.21 Then the angry wind, roaring and casting down great trees, came on to that place where the silk-cotton tree stood.

12.151.22 Beholding it stripped of its leaves, its topmost branches fallen, its blossoms scattered, the Wind spoke this word, smiling, to the silk-cotton tree, its boughs now broken, that had once stood there flush with joy:

12.151.23 "I too, O silk-cotton tree, would have done to you in my wrath exactly this — the wholesale stripping away of your branches that you have now wrought upon yourself."

12.151.24 "Bereft now of blossoms and topmost boughs, your buds and foliage withered, by your own ill counsel you have here fallen under the sway of my might."

12.151.25 Hearing this speech of the Wind, the silk-cotton tree was then put to shame and tormented with regret, recalling the words that Nārada had once spoken to it.

12.151.26 Thus, O tiger among kings, the fool who, being weak, fastens enmity upon one stronger than himself comes to grief, even as the silk-cotton tree did.

12.151.27 Therefore let the weak man form no enmity with those of greater strength; for one who provokes such enmity will surely grieve, just as the silk-cotton tree grieved.

12.151.28 For the great-souled do not openly proclaim their enmity against those who wrong them; rather, O great king, little by little they reveal their power.

12.151.29 Let not the dull-witted man pick a quarrel with one who lives by his wits; the intellect of the wise man advances upon him as fire advances through cotton.

12.151.30 Nothing in a man, O king, is found to equal intellect; nor, O lord of kings, should one imagine that anything equals strength.

12.151.31 Therefore, O lord of kings, one should bear with the foolish, the dull, the deaf, and even with one of superior strength; that, O slayer of foes, has been seen in you.

12.151.32 Eleven akṣauhiṇīs, O you of great splendour, together with seven more, were not, O king, a match in strength for the great-souled Arjuna.

12.151.33 And they were slain and shattered by the illustrious son of Pāṇḍu, the son of Indra, slayer of Pāka's foe, as he ranged the field relying upon his might in battle.

12.151.34 The duties of kings and the duties for times of distress have been told you at length, O Bhārata; what more, O great king, shall I declare to you?

12.152.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That which is the seat of sin, the source from which sin springs forth — this I wish to know in its very truth, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.152.2 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O ruler of men, what the seat of sin is. Greed alone is the great devourer; from greed all sin proceeds.

12.152.3 From it come sin and unrighteousness and unsurpassed sorrow; this indeed is, through deceit, the very root whereby men become workers of evil.

12.152.4 From greed arises wrath; from greed desire is set in motion; from greed come delusion and guile, arrogant pride, and the destruction of others' lives.

12.152.5 Intolerance, the casting off of shame, the loss of prosperity, the ruin of righteousness, covetous brooding, and want of wisdom — all proceed from greed.

12.152.6 Injustice and want of discernment, and those deeds done amid forbidden acts, fraudulent learning and the like, and the intoxication of beauty and dominion —

12.152.7 distrust of all creatures, crookedness toward all creatures, malice toward all creatures, faithlessness toward all creatures, the seizing of others' wealth, and the violation of others' wives —

12.152.8 the urge of speech and the urge of the mind, and likewise the urge to slander, the urge of the loins and the belly, and the dread urge that drives toward death —

12.152.9 the mighty urge of envy, the urge to falsehood so hard to renounce, the urge of taste that none can ward off, and the urge of hearing so hard to bear —

12.152.10 contempt, boastfulness, jealousy, sin, the doing of what ought not to be done, and the commission of all rash and improper deeds —

12.152.11 In infancy, in childhood, in boyhood, and in youth alike, man does not abandon this conduct of his own — that which does not grow old even as he grows old.

12.152.12 This greed, O scion of Kuru, can never be filled by any gain, even as the ocean is never filled by ever-flowing rivers of deep waters; it rejoices not in acquisitions, and is sated by no enjoyments.

12.152.13 That greed, which is known in its true nature, O king, neither by the gods nor by the gandharvas, nor by the asuras nor by the great serpents, nor by all the hosts of beings — that greed, together with delusion, must be conquered by one who has mastered himself.

12.152.14 Hypocrisy, malice, slander, talebearing, and jealousy — these, O Kaurava, arise in the greedy whose souls are uncultivated.

12.152.15 The deeply learned bear in mind even the vastest treatises and resolve the doubts of others, yet here in this world the small-minded among them are tormented all the same.

12.152.16 Given over to hatred and wrath, cast out from the conduct of the cultured, knives within yet honeyed of speech, like wells hidden over with grass, these base men, snaring the world under the banner of righteousness, plunder it.

12.152.17 Relying on the force of specious reasonings, they devise many a path of their own, and so they tear up every righteous path, fixed as they are in greed and ignorance.

12.152.18 When righteousness is carried off by the wicked seized with greed, whatever established order is thereby corrupted, that corruption goes on spreading from it.

12.152.19 Insolence, wrath, intoxication, sloth, exultation, grief, and excessive pride — these, O Kaurava, are seen for that very reason in those whose minds are greedy. Know such men to be ill-bred and forever possessed of greed.

12.152.20 But of the cultured, of pure vows, whom I shall now describe to you, you should make inquiry — those in whom there is no fear concerning livelihood, nor fear concerning the next world,

12.152.21 in whom there is no clinging to sensual baits, nor to things pleasant or unpleasant, to whom the conduct of the cultured is dear, and in whom self-restraint is firmly established;

12.152.22 to whom the happiness and sorrow of others are their own, whose sole refuge is truth, who are givers and not takers, and who are likewise full of compassion;

12.152.23 who are devoted to ancestors, gods, and guests, and ever steadfast in exertion, doers of good to all, firm of mind, and upholders of every duty;

12.152.24 who seek the welfare of all beings and bestow on all, O Bhārata — such men, having reached the far shore of the practice of righteousness, cannot be swerved from their course.

12.152.25 The conduct laid down of old by the good is never broken in them; they are not given to terror, nor fickle, nor cruel, but stand firm upon the path of the righteous.

12.152.26 They are ever to be attended upon by the good — those in whom non-injury is firmly set, who are free from desire and wrath, free from possessiveness and from egotism, of excellent vows and steadfast bounds. Wait upon such men and question them.

12.152.27 Their righteousness, O Yudhiṣṭhira, is not for the sake of cattle nor for fame; and the offices of the body they perform only as things that must needs be done.

12.152.28 In them is found no fear, no rashness of wrath, no grief; they bear no false banner of righteousness, and they keep nothing hidden.

12.152.29 In those in whom there is freedom from greed and delusion, who delight in truth and uprightness, in whom the mind is made free of sloth — in such men, O son of Kuntī, may you find your joy.

12.152.30 Those who rejoice not in gains nor are troubled by their absence, who are without possessiveness, without egotism, established in goodness, and equal-eyed toward all —

12.152.31 those of steadfast valour, of awakened souls, abiding in goodness, to whom gain and loss, joy and sorrow, dear friend, the pleasant and the unpleasant, death and life are all alike —

12.152.32 such men of mighty splendour you should, with care and watchfulness, win over by what is pleasant and agreeable; for by destiny all become endowed with their qualities, even as utterances of speech turn out good or ill.

12.153.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Greed has been declared the seat of all calamities, O grandsire. Now of ignorance also, dear sire, I wish to hear the truth.

12.153.2 Bhīṣma said: He who does sin out of ignorance, who knows not what is fitting for himself, and who hates those of virtuous conduct — such a man becomes a thing of reproach in the world.

12.153.3 Through ignorance a man goes to hell, and through ignorance to an evil state; through ignorance he meets with affliction, and so sinks down into calamities.

12.153.4 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The arising of ignorance, its seat, its growth, its decline and its increase, its root, its means, its course, its time, its occasion, and its cause —

12.153.5 all this, O king, I wish to hear truly and just as it is; for this sorrow that is met with here springs from ignorance.

12.153.6 Bhīṣma said: Passion, hatred, and delusion, exultation, grief, and conceit, desire and wrath and insolence, drowsiness and sloth as well,

12.153.7 longing and aversion, and torment, the distress born of another's prosperity — this is declared to be ignorance, together with all the deeds of the sinful.

12.153.8 The activity that comes of this, and the growth and the rest about which you ask — hear that too at length, O mighty-armed lord of the people.

12.153.9 These two, O Bhārata, are alike in their fruit and alike in their fault; ignorance and excessive greed — know them, O king, to be in truth but one.

12.153.10 Ignorance, springing from greed, once grown waxes greater still; in stability it gains stability, in decline it meets with diminution, and so it follows many a course.

12.153.11 The root of great greed is the workings of time and of the self; whether greed be cut off or uncut, time alone is the cause thereof.

12.153.12 From its ignorance comes greed, and from greed comes ignorance again; thus all faults arise from greed, and therefore one should renounce greed.

12.153.13 Janaka and Yuvanāśva, Vṛṣādarbhi and Prasenajit, by the destruction of greed attained heaven, and so likewise did other lords of men.

12.153.14 Plainly, then, O best of the Kurus, renounce greed here and now by your own resolve; having renounced greed, you shall dwell in happiness in this world and after death as well.

12.154.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For a brāhmaṇa who has striven hard in the study of the Veda and who longs for righteousness, O righteous-souled grandsire, what is said to be the highest good here?

12.154.2 In a world where views are manifold, that which you hold to be the highest good, both in this world and in the next — that tell me, O grandsire.

12.154.3 Great is this path of righteousness, O Bhārata, and many are its branches; which then, among all the duties, is held to be the most worthy of being practised?

12.154.4 Of righteousness, O king, which is vast and many-branched, that which in truth is its supreme root — all that, dear sire, declare to me untiringly.

12.154.5 Bhīṣma said: Come then, I shall tell you that by which you shall attain the highest good; and like a wise man who has drunk of the nectar of immortality, you shall be sated with knowledge.

12.154.6 The ordinances of righteousness are not few; they have been declared, this one and that, by the great seers, each relying upon his own understanding — yet self-restraint is the highest aim of them all.

12.154.7 The elders, who see things with certainty, have called self-restraint the supreme good; and for a brāhmaṇa in particular self-restraint is the eternal duty.

12.154.8 For one who is unrestrained no proper accomplishment of works is found; self-restraint surpasses charity, and sacrifices, and the study of the Veda.

12.154.9 Self-restraint increases a man's spiritual energy; self-restraint is the supreme purifier; and the man who is free from sin and endowed with such energy attains the great goal.

12.154.10 We have heard of no other duty in the worlds that is the equal of self-restraint; for self-restraint is the supreme thing in the world, praised by all who follow righteousness.

12.154.11 And after death too, O lord of men, the self-restrained man attains supreme happiness; for joined with self-restraint he wins to the great reward of righteousness.

12.154.12 The self-restrained man sleeps in happiness and in happiness awakes; in happiness he ranges through the worlds, and his mind is serene.

12.154.13 The unrestrained man meets again and again with affliction, and brings upon himself many other calamities born of his own faults.

12.154.14 In all the four stages of life they call self-restraint the highest vow; and I shall declare its marks, whose sum and union is self-restraint.

12.154.15 Forbearance, steadfastness, non-injury, evenness of mind, truth, uprightness, mastery over the senses, skill, gentleness, modesty, and freedom from fickleness;

12.154.16 absence of meanness, freedom from agitation, contentment, kindly speech, freedom from craving, and freedom from spite — the union of all these is self-restraint.

12.154.17 Reverence for elders, O Kaurava, compassion toward all beings, freedom from talebearing, courteous discourse, truthful speech, and the shunning alike of flattery and of slander —

12.154.18 desire and wrath and greed, insolence, stubborn pride, and boastfulness, delusion, envy, and contempt — these the self-restrained man does not indulge.

12.154.19 Blameless, free of desire in soul, of few wants, and untouched by spite — such a man is like the ocean, and is never to be filled.

12.154.20 "I am yours, and you are mine; you are theirs, and I am theirs" — such attachments, born of former bonds of kinship and union, the self-restrained man does not cherish.

12.154.21 All the pursuits of the world, whether of the village or of the forest, and likewise both blame and praise — he who clings to none of these is set free.

12.154.22 The man who is friendly, endowed with good character, devoted to worthy companions, and freed from attachments of every kind—great is his reward in the world beyond.

12.154.23 Of good conduct, endowed with virtue, serene of soul, knower of the self, and wise—he wins honor here in this world and attains a happy course hereafter.

12.154.24 Whatever auspicious deed is practiced here by the good—that very dharma of the sage endowed with knowledge never fails him.

12.154.25 Having gone forth and taken up the forest, possessed of knowledge, his senses conquered, awaiting his hour and wandering thus, he becomes fit for union with Brahman.

12.154.26 He from whom no creature has anything to fear, and from whom creatures themselves have no fear—when he is released from the body, he has nothing whatever to dread.

12.154.27 He neither gathers up deeds nor heaps them together; impartial toward all beings, let him walk the path of universal friendship.

12.154.28 As the track of birds in the sky or of creatures that move through water cannot be seen, so too is his course—of this there is no doubt.

12.154.29 He who, O king, casts off his household and attains to liberation alone—for him radiant worlds are made ready for everlasting years.

12.154.30 Having renounced all works, having renounced austerity duly performed, having renounced the manifold branches of knowledge—having renounced, indeed, everything—

12.154.31 and turning back no more toward the objects of desire, serene of soul, knower of the self, and pure—he wins honor here in this world and attains to heaven.

12.154.32 And that station of the Grandsire, sprung from the mass of Brahman, hidden forever in the secret cave of the heart—that is reached through self-restraint.

12.154.33 For one whose delight is in knowledge, who is awakened, at enmity with no living being, there is no fear of return to birth here—whence then any fear in the world beyond?

12.154.34 In self-restraint there is but a single flaw; a second is not to be found: that people take a man endowed with forbearance to be weak.

12.154.35 Yet from this very flaw, O greatly wise one, springs a far greater merit: by forbearance vast worlds are easily won by the patient man.

12.154.36 What need has the self-restrained man of the forest, and what use is it to the unrestrained, O Bhārata? Wherever the self-restrained may dwell, that very place is forest and hermitage to him.

12.154.37 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard this speech of Bhīṣma, King Yudhiṣṭhira, as though sated with the nectar of immortality, became filled with joy.

12.154.38 And once more he questioned Bhīṣma, best of the upholders of dharma, concerning austerity; and he, O pride of the Kurus, told him all of it.

12.155.1 Bhīṣma said: All this, the seers declare, is rooted in austerity; for the fool who has practiced no austerity wins not the fruit of action.

12.155.2 By austerity alone the Lord Prajāpati brought forth all this creation, and even so did the seers attain the Vedas through austerity.

12.155.3 By the gradual course of austerity, those who feed on fruit, root, and air, perfected by austerity and deeply composed, behold the three worlds.

12.155.4 Healing herbs, antidotes and the rest, and the three refined branches of knowledge—all succeed through austerity alone, for austerity is the root of every means.

12.155.5 Whatever is hard to win, hard to learn, hard to overcome, hard to endure—all of it can be achieved through austerity, for austerity is not to be surpassed.

12.155.6 The drinker of liquor, the taker of what is not given, the slayer of an embryo, the defiler of his teacher's bed—by austerity well performed a man is freed even from such sin.

12.155.7 Austerity is of many forms, proceeding through this gate and that; yet for one who lives by withdrawal, there is no austerity higher than fasting.

12.155.8 Non-injury, truthful speech, generosity, and the curbing of the senses—even beyond these, O great king, there is no austerity higher than fasting.

12.155.9 There is nothing harder to do than giving, no order of life surpassing the householder's; beyond the threefold knowledge nothing is higher, and renunciation is the supreme austerity.

12.155.10 Men here guard the senses for the safeguarding of wealth and grain; therefore, for both prosperity and dharma, there is no austerity higher than fasting.

12.155.11 Seers, ancestors, gods, men, the best of beasts, and whatever other beings there are, unmoving or moving—

12.155.12 all of them, devoted to austerity, attain perfection through austerity; and thus by austerity the very gods won their greatness.

12.155.13 These cherished portions of reward are ever won through austerity; by austerity, assuredly, even godhood can be attained.

12.156.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Brahmins, seers, ancestors, and gods praise truth as the foundation of dharma. I wish to hear of truth; tell me of it, O Grandsire.

12.156.2 What are the marks of truth, O king, and how is it attained? Having attained truth, what comes of it, and how is it spoken of?

12.156.3 Bhīṣma said: The confounding of the duties of the four orders is not commended; truth, most unchanging of all, holds good among all the orders, O Bhārata.

12.156.4 Truth is ever the dharma of the good; truth is the eternal dharma. To truth alone should one bow, for truth is the supreme goal.

12.156.5 Truth is dharma, austerity, and yoga; truth is the eternal Brahman; truth is declared the highest sacrifice; in truth all things rest.

12.156.6 I shall set forth here the observances of truth duly and in order, and the marks of truth as well, each in its turn.

12.156.7 How truth is attained, that too you deserve to hear; truth is of thirteen kinds throughout all the worlds, O Bhārata.

12.156.8 Truthfulness, impartiality, self-restraint—of this there is no doubt—freedom from envy, forbearance, modesty, endurance, absence of malice,

12.156.9 renunciation, meditation, nobility, steadfastness ever firm, and non-injury, O lord of kings—these are the thirteen forms of truth.

12.156.10 Truth is imperishable, eternal, and likewise unchanging, and at variance with no dharma; this is attained through yoga.

12.156.11 Impartiality toward what is dear to oneself, toward what is hateful, and toward an enemy alike—this is gained by reaching the extinction of liking and loathing, and likewise the extinction of desire and wrath.

12.156.12 Self-restraint is the perpetual absence of craving for another's goods, together with constancy, depth of character, fearlessness, and the stilling of anger; this is attained through knowledge.

12.156.13 The wise call freedom from envy giving, and self-control in matters of dharma; by truth steadfastly maintained one becomes free from envy.

12.156.14 Between the pleasant and the unpleasant fruits of impatience and of forbearance, the good man forbears in every case; and the truthful man attains what is good.

12.156.15 The modest man does deep good yet never boasts of it; with speech and mind ever at peace—and modesty is won through dharma.

12.156.16 To forbear for the sake of dharma and gain is called endurance, which is patience; undertaken for the holding together of the world, it is won through steadfastness.

12.156.17 Renunciation is the giving up of affection and likewise of the objects of sense; for one who has cast off passion and aversion such renunciation comes about, and not otherwise.

12.156.18 Nobility is that whereby a man strives diligently to do auspicious works for living beings, without thought of self, and to attain freedom from passion.

12.156.19 Steadfastness is that by which one is not thrown into agitation in pleasure or in pain; let the wise man who desires his own welfare ever cultivate it.

12.156.20 In every way one should be forbearing, and likewise devoted to truth; freed from elation, fear, and wrath, the learned man attains steadfastness.

12.156.21 Doing no harm to any creature in deed, in thought, or in word, together with kindness and giving—this is the eternal dharma of the good.

12.156.22 These thirteen forms, though severally bearing the single mark of truth, partake of truth here and make it grow, O Bhārata.

12.156.23 No end can be told of the virtues of truth, O Bhārata; therefore the brahmins, with the ancestors and the gods, praise truth.

12.156.24 There is no dharma higher than truth, and no sin greater than falsehood; truth is the very ground on which dharma stands—therefore one should never break truth.

12.156.25 From truth proceed giving, and sacrifices duly furnished with their fees, the vows and the fire-oblation and the Vedas, and whatever other determinations of dharma there are.

12.156.26 A thousand horse-sacrifices and truth were once weighed in the balance; and truth outweighed the thousand horse-sacrifices.

12.157.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Whence arise anger and desire, O bull of the Bharatas, grief and delusion, the craving to know, the wish to take another's life, and pride,

12.157.2 greed, envy, and jealousy, contempt, malice, and likewise pity—all this, O greatly wise one, tell me as it truly is.

12.157.3 Bhīṣma said: These thirteen are remembered as the most powerful enemies of living beings; all together they wait upon men here, O great king.

12.157.4 Themselves never heedless, they assail the heedless man; like wolves they fall upon and rend men less than men the moment they spy them out.

12.157.5 From these springs suffering, from these springs sin—so let the mortal ever understand, O bull of the Bharatas.

12.157.6 Their rising, their seat, and their destruction, O best of men—come, I shall expound to you; listen as I declare it.

12.157.7 From greed arises anger; it is roused by the faults of others; through forbearance it is held in check, O king, and in a man of dignity it turns away.

12.157.8 From resolve is born desire; indulged, it grows; it departs at the sight of its baseness, and through knowledge of reality it departs from the wise.

12.157.9 Men of little understanding see the scriptures here at variance with one another; thereupon the craving to know is born, which turns back through knowledge of reality.

12.157.10 From love springs grief, at the parting from its object for the embodied one; when he knows it to be empty of purpose, then at once it perishes.

12.157.11 The wish to take another's life proceeds from anger and greed and from habit; through compassion toward all beings and through detachment it turns away.

12.157.12 From the abandonment of goodness springs envy, and it courts what is harmful; but this, dear son, is worn away by attendance upon the good.

12.157.13 From high birth, from learning, and from lordship comes the pride of embodied beings; but when these very things are rightly understood, pride at once perishes.

12.157.14 Jealousy arises from desire and from rivalry, O Bhārata; but in mortals of another sort it perishes through wisdom.

12.157.15 From the wanderings of those who stand outside the world, and from hateful, ill-fitting words, contempt is born, O king; through indifference it is stilled.

12.157.16 Toward a wrongdoer entrenched in power, against whom one is unable to retaliate, fierce malice is born; through compassion it turns away.

12.157.17 Seeing the wretched again and again, thereupon pity is born; but when one knows their steadfastness in dharma, then that pity is stilled.

12.157.18 These thirteen, they say, are conquered through tranquility; and these same thirteen faults were all those of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. By you, with your whole soul and ever, they have been conquered, and you shall conquer them still.

12.158.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I know gentleness by the constant sight of the good; the cruel I do not know, nor their deeds, O Bhārata.

12.158.2 As men shun thorns, a pit, and fire, so do men shun the man whose deeds are cruel.

12.158.3 For the cruel man is ever the lowest, both hereafter and here, O Bhārata; therefore, O Kaurava, tell me the settled judgment of dharma concerning him.

12.158.4 Bhīṣma said: He whose craving is hidden away yet betrayed by his deeds; who reviles and is reviled in turn, who binds others and is himself bound;

12.158.5 who proclaims his own gifts, who is crooked, mean, deceitful, treacherous; who shares nothing, is proud, attached, and boastful;

12.158.6 who suspects everyone, is harsh, foolish, and miserly; who forever flatters his own faction, who hates and confounds the orders of life—

12.158.7 He who takes his pleasure forever in cruelty, who draws no distinction between virtue and vice, who is full of falsehood, headstrong, exceedingly greedy, and a doer of pitiless deeds—such a one is known as cruel.

12.158.8 He takes a man of righteous conduct, endowed with virtues, to be wicked; judging others by the measure of his own disposition, he trusts no one at all.

12.158.9 Wherever there is a fault in others, that secret he makes public; and though their faults be no greater than his own, he ruins them for his own advantage.

12.158.10 He reckons one who has done him a kindness to be merely a dupe; and even after giving wealth in time of need, he grieves over it toward his benefactor.

12.158.11 He who would eat the things to be chewed, the things to be swallowed, the things to be licked, and whatever other goodly food, while others look on hungry—him they know to be cruel.

12.158.12 But he who first gives the choicest portion to the brāhmaṇas and then eats together with his friends—he gains heaven hereafter, and even here enjoys an unending abundance.

12.158.13 Thus, O best of the Bhāratas, has the cruel man been described to you; he is ever to be shunned by any man who wishes to fare well.

12.159.1 Bhīṣma said: One whose purpose is accomplished, who is about to perform sacrifice, who has mastered the whole of the Vedānta, and who seeks alms for the sake of his teacher, his ancestors, his wife, or for the sake of his own recitation of the sacred texts—

12.159.2 these are seen to be worthy brāhmaṇas who beg for the sake of righteousness; to them a gift should be given even from what is not one's own surplus, in proportion to their special learning.

12.159.3 Apart from these, O best of the Bhāratas, the sacrificial fee that is to be given is given to others outside the altar; but uncooked food is not ordained for them.

12.159.4 The king should bestow all manner of precious things, each as is fitting; and the brāhmaṇas and the sacrifices alike should be furnished with food and with sacrificial fees.

12.159.5 He whose store of food is sufficient for three years to maintain his dependents, or even more than that, is fit to drink the soma.

12.159.6 If the sacrifice of a sacrificer—especially of a brāhmaṇa—should be hindered in but a single one of its parts, while the king is a righteous one,

12.159.7 then, if there be a vaiśya rich in cattle who performs no rites and drinks no soma, the king may take from that man's household the wealth needed for the sacrifice.

12.159.8 He may take somewhat, if he wishes, from the dwelling and the goods of a śūdra; for in a śūdra's house there exists no possession that may not be taken.

12.159.9 From one who has not set up the sacred fires though he owns a hundred cattle, and from one who performs no sacrifices though he owns a thousand—from the households of both of these the king may take without hesitation.

12.159.10 From those who will not give, the king may ever take, O lord, after making his purpose known; for by acting thus the whole duty of a king is fulfilled.

12.159.11 Likewise one who, fasting through six meals, must eat at the seventh, may, by the rule of one who lays up no store for the morrow, take from the niggard who neglects his rites—from his field, from his house, or from wherever it may be had.

12.159.12 This should be declared to the king, whether he asks or asks not; and the king who knows the law should not, in accordance with righteousness, lay any punishment upon such a one.

12.159.13 If through the folly of a kṣatriya a brāhmaṇa is afflicted by hunger, the king, having learned of the man's learning and conduct, should provide him a livelihood, and should thereafter protect him as a father protects his own begotten son.

12.159.14 At the close of each year he should ever offer the Vaiśvānara oblation; the ancient law admits of no alternative, save only in the disputations of those who debate the law.

12.159.15 Yet by the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the brāhmaṇas, and the great sages, in seasons of distress, fearing death, a substitute that bears only the outward sign was sanctioned.

12.159.16 But he who, though capable of the primary rule, conducts himself by the secondary expedient—for that man of evil mind there is found no reward in the world to come.

12.159.17 No man should denounce brāhmaṇas before the king; one of little power, by such denouncing, would learn his own weakness, and one of great power his still greater strength.

12.159.18 Therefore the king must hold the splendor of those who expound the sacred word to be unbearable; the brāhmaṇa is called the deviser, the chastiser, and the ordainer—a very god; to him one should speak no unkind word, nor utter any bitter speech.

12.159.19 The kṣatriya crosses over his own calamity by the strength of his arms; the vaiśya and the śūdra by their wealth; and the twice-born by his sacred formulas and his oblations.

12.159.20 Neither a maiden, nor a young woman, nor one ignorant of the sacred formulas, nor a fool, nor an uninitiated man should be the server at the Agnihotra; for those who make the offering thus fall into hell, together with him whose rite it is.

12.159.21 He who, at the establishing of the fires, has not given a horse as the Prājāpatya sacrificial fee is declared by those who perceive the law to be one who has not set up the fires.

12.159.22 Faithful and master of his senses, let him perform other meritorious acts; but with sacrifices whose fees are not fully rendered let him by no means sacrifice.

12.159.23 A sacrifice without its fee destroys offspring, cattle, and heaven; it cuts away the senses, the renown, the fame, and the very life of him who offers it.

12.159.24 Those households where the women dwell in their courses unregarded, those that keep no sacred fires, and those families in which the Veda is not studied—all these follow the law of śūdras.

12.159.25 A brāhmaṇa who becomes the husband of a śūdra woman, dwelling for twelve years in a village whose only water is from a well, sinks here into the condition of a śūdra in his works.

12.159.26 He who keeps an ignoble woman in his bed, casting off and forsaking his brāhmaṇa wife, should, no longer accounting himself a brāhmaṇa, sit behind the others upon the grass; thus, O king, is he purified—and hear in this matter my words.

12.159.27 The sin which a brāhmaṇa commits in a single night by consorting with a woman of the black caste, he should expiate in three years, passing his time standing and seated by turns and bound by his vow, and so quell the sin of his soul.

12.159.28 A word spoken in jest does no harm, O king, nor one spoken to women, nor at the time of a marriage, nor for a teacher's sake, nor to save one's own life: these five untruths the wise declare to be no sins.

12.159.29 With faith one may receive auspicious knowledge even from a man of low birth, and gold even from filth—such is the settled doctrine.

12.159.30 A jewel of a woman may be taken even from a base family, and the nectar of immortality may be drunk even out of poison; for women undefiled are jewels, pure as water—so it is by the law.

12.159.31 For the welfare of cattle and brāhmaṇas, and when the castes are thrown into confusion, and for the saving of his own life, even a vaiśya may take up the bow.

12.159.32 The drinking of liquor, the slaying of a brāhmaṇa, and the defiling of a teacher's bed are deemed beyond all enumeration, and the doctrine holds them to be sins that endure to the very end of life.

12.159.33 The theft of gold, robbery, and the seduction of a brāhmaṇa's wife are grievous sins; so too is the open drinking of strong drink, and intercourse with women forbidden to a man.

12.159.34 And through union with brāhmaṇas who have fallen, and through alliance by marriage with them, O great king, a man very soon becomes such as they are.

12.159.35 By a year's association with a fallen man one becomes fallen—through officiating at his sacrifices, teaching him, or marriage ties with him, but not merely through riding, sitting, or eating with him.

12.159.36 These sins, and others besides, are held to be of the kind that can be defined and atoned; by the prescribed rule, in due time, and free from addiction to them, a man becomes purified.

12.159.37 Food should not be offered crosswise to the fire, nor at a funeral rite for one not yet fallen; but in those three former cases one should make no debate.

12.159.38 A righteous man may, in accordance with the law, forsake even ministers or teachers; with such men, who perform no expiation, he ought to hold no compact.

12.159.39 A doer of wrong destroys his guilt by righteousness and austerity; and he who calls a thief a thief incurs but so much guilt, while he who calls one who is no thief a thief incurs twice the sin.

12.159.40 A maiden who lets herself be defiled incurs a third part of the guilt of slaying a brāhmaṇa; but he who defiles her incurs the remaining portion of the sin.

12.159.41 To raise a weapon against a brāhmaṇa here is a sin, and to touch him with it is heavier still; for a hundred years the sinner finds no firm standing.

12.159.42 And he who actually strikes him down must dwell a thousand years in hell; therefore one should never even raise a weapon against him, nor ever strike him down.

12.159.43 As many specks of dust as the blood from a brāhmaṇa's wound takes up, for so many years, O king, does the offender turn round and round in hell.

12.159.44 The slayer of an embryo is purified by falling beneath weapons in the midst of battle; or he may offer himself up in the kindled fire, and by that he is cleansed.

12.159.45 The drinker of liquor is freed from his sin by drinking boiling spirituous liquor; his body burned away thereby, he is purified through death in the world beyond, and the brāhmaṇa thus wins the higher worlds, which otherwise he would not win.

12.159.46 The evil-souled, wicked-minded man who has defiled his teacher's bed is purified through death by embracing a blazing iron image of a woman.

12.159.47 Or else, taking his own organ and testicles in his cupped hands, let him face toward the southwest quarter and fall straight onward, never swerving, until he dies.

12.159.48 Or he may lay down his life for a brāhmaṇa's sake, and by that he is purified; or by duly performing the Horse Sacrifice, or the Cow Sacrifice, or the Agniṣṭoma, he is cleansed both here and hereafter.

12.159.49 Likewise the slayer of a brāhmaṇa may for twelve years bear a skull, and as a chaste and silent sage go begging his food, proclaiming aloud his own deed.

12.159.50 Thus, joined to austerity, the slayer of a brāhmaṇa may become fit for the sacrifice. And he who, unknowingly, approaches a woman of the line of Atri who is with child incurs twice the guilt of brāhmaṇa-slaying in the ruin of that Ātreyī.

12.159.51 The drinker of liquor, eating sparingly, chaste, and given to forbearance, may after three years sacrifice with the Agniṣṭut as the supreme rite; and by giving a thousand cows together with a bull he attains to blessedness.

12.159.52 For slaying a vaiśya, two years of penance and a gift of a hundred cows with a bull; for slaying a śūdra, but a single year, and eleven cows with a bull.

12.159.53 Having killed a dog, a barbarian, or an ass, he should perform the same vow as for a śūdra; and likewise for a cat, a blue jay, a frog, a crow, a vulture, or a mouse.

12.159.54 Thus has the rule been told, O king, for the killing of creatures, reckoning them as on a level with cattle; now I shall declare the other expiations in their order.

12.159.55 For approaching another's bed and for theft he should perform a year's penance for each; for the wife of a Veda-learned man three years are enjoined, and for another man's wife two.

12.159.56 Eating only at the fourth mealtime, let him become chaste and bound by his vow, passing his time standing and seated, and bathing thrice a day from sunrise on; so too is it for one who, having failed to rinse his mouth, casts away his sacred fires.

12.159.57 And he who, without cause, forsakes his father or his mother becomes a fallen man, O Kaurava; such is the settled rule in matters of law.

12.159.58 The teaching is that to a wife who has gone astray—and especially to one kept in confinement—he should grant ample food and clothing; and the same vow that men perform for going to others' wives, that vow he should cause her to perform.

12.159.59 The woman who, abandoning a worthier man in her bed, resorts to a baser one—her the king should have devoured by dogs in a public place thronged with people.

12.159.60 The wise king should bind the man upon a bed of heated iron, and should heap on logs beneath, so that the evildoer may be burned away thereon.

12.159.61 This, O great king, is the punishment for women who transgress against their husbands; for the wicked man so denounced for a year, it shall be doubled.

12.159.62 Two years for him, three years for one who has consorted thrice, four for him who has long kept such company; and the man of evil ways should beg his food for five years, bound by the vow of a silent sage.

12.159.63 The elder brother passed over in marriage, the younger who marries before him, she through whom he is so passed over, and the priest who joins their hands—all these, by the law, are accounted fallen.

12.159.64 All of these should perform the same vow as the slayer of a hero performs; for a month he should observe the lunar penance, or the kṛcchra, for the cleansing of his sin.

12.159.65 The younger brother who has married before should give over that bride to the elder who was passed over; but a younger brother who, with the elder's leave, marries next in turn gains release from the sin—both he and she and the elder alike, in accordance with the law.

12.159.66 As regards beasts other than the human kind—save only the cow—mere defilement entails no sin; for man is known to be the master and consumer of the animals.

12.159.67 Clad in a skin with the hair turned outward, and bearing a vessel of clay, let him go begging through seven houses, proclaiming aloud his own deed.

12.159.68 Eating only what is gained in that begging, he is purified after twelve days; or he may perform that vow for a full year, which is the rite of one cast out.

12.159.69 Thus among human cases the highest expiation comes to be; and for those given to liberality he may ordain a gift of any kind whatever; but for unbelievers the loss of even a single cow's life they reckon as enough.

12.159.70 He who has eaten the flesh, the urine, or the dung of a dog, a boar, a man, a cock, or an ass deserves the rite of purification.

12.159.71 A soma-drinking brāhmaṇa who has smelled the breath of one who has drunk liquor should drink hot water for three days, hot milk for three days, and hot clarified butter for three days, and then for three days more live upon air alone.

12.159.72 Thus has the eternal rule of expiation been set forth, especially for the brāhmaṇa; yet true purification arises from the knowledge of the truth.

12.160.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, finding a pause in the discourse, Nakula, who was skilled in combat with the sword, spoke thus to the grandsire as he lay upon his bed of arrows.

12.160.2 There is a saying, grandfather, that the bow is the finest of weapons; yet my own view, O knower of dharma, is that the keen-honed sword is best of all.

12.160.3 When the bow has been shattered, O king, and the horses have all been spent, with the sword a warrior may still guard himself well in battle.

12.160.4 Bearers of the bow, and those who wield mace and spear alike — a single hero armed with the sword is able to hold them all at bay.

12.160.5 On this point I have both a doubt and the keenest curiosity: which weapon, O king, is the finest in every kind of combat?

12.160.6 And how was the sword brought into being, for whose sake, and by whom? Tell me too, great-grandfather, who was the first teacher of the sword.

12.160.7 When he had heard this speech of the wise son of Mādrī — a speech full of all skill, fair, and rich with subtle and striking meaning —

12.160.8 then, in reply to the disciple of Droṇa who had asked, he framed an answer well-formed in accent and articulation, perfect in learning and reasoning.

12.160.9 Bhīṣma, knower of all dharma and master of the science of arms, lying upon his bed of arrows, spoke to the great-souled Nakula.

12.160.10 "Hear the truth, son of Mādrī, concerning all that you ask; by you I am roused, as a mountain rich in ore is wakened to its veins."

12.160.11 "Of old, dear child, all this was a single ocean of water, unstirred, without sky, its floor of earth beyond all designation."

12.160.12 "Wrapped in darkness, untouchable, fathomless to the gaze, soundless and immeasurable — and within it the Grandsire was born."

12.160.13 "He, the mighty one, created wind and fire and the radiant sun; he created the sky above, and below the earth in its southwestern quarter."

12.160.14 "The heavens with their moon and stars, the lunar mansions and the planets, the years, the days and nights, the seasons, the moments and the instants —"

12.160.15 "then, having set his own body within the world, the blessed Grandsire begot sons of surpassing splendour."

12.160.16 "The seer Marīci, and Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, both Vasiṣṭha and Aṅgiras, and Rudra the mighty lord —"

12.160.17 "and Dakṣa, son of Pracetas, who begot sixty daughters; and all those brahmin-seers received them for the sake of progeny."

12.160.18 "From them sprang all beings: the gods and the hosts of the ancestors, the gandharvas and apsarases, and demons of many kinds —"

12.160.19 "birds, beasts and fishes, monkeys and great serpents, and others of varied form and strength that move through water and over the land."

12.160.20 "Sprung from the soil, born of sweat, born of eggs and born of the womb — thus, dear child, came forth the whole world, moving and unmoving alike."

12.160.21 "Having wrought this creation of beings, the Grandsire of all the worlds then ordained as well the eternal dharma that the Vedas proclaim."

12.160.22 "Established in that dharma stood the gods together with their teachers and priests: the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Sādhyas, the Maruts and the Aśvins —"

12.160.23 "Bhṛgu, Atri and Aṅgiras, the Siddhas, and Kaśyapa rich in austerity, Vasiṣṭha, Gautama and Agastya, and Nārada and Parvata too."

12.160.24 "The seers, the Vālakhilyas, the Prabhāsas and the Sikatās, the Ghṛtācas, those born of Soma and of the wind, the Vaikhānasas and the Marīcipas —"

12.160.25 "the Akṛṣṭas and the Haṃsas, the seers born of the womb of fire, the forest hermits and the Pṛśnis — all abode within the rule of Brahmā."

12.160.26 "But the lords of the dānavas, transgressing that ordinance of the Grandsire, wrought the decay of dharma, possessed by wrath and greed."

12.160.27 "Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa, Virocana, Śambara and Vipracitti, Prahrāda, Namuci and Bali —"

12.160.28 "these and many others, daityas and dānavas with their hordes, broke through the dyke of dharma and revelled, resolved upon unrighteousness."

12.160.29 "'We are all of one birth: as the gods are, so are we' — taking their stand on such a claim, they contended with the gods and the seers."

12.160.30 "They showed neither kindness nor compassion toward living beings, O Bhārata; passing over the three milder means, they oppressed the people with the rod alone, and in their arrogance those foremost of asuras would make no compact with them."

12.160.31 "Then the blessed Brahmā, attended by the brahmin-seers, upon the most lovely ridge of Himavat, jewelled with lotuses and stars,"

12.160.32 "a hundred yojanas in breadth, heaped with gems and pearls — upon that noblest of mountains, my son, with its forests of flowering trees, Brahmā, foremost of the wise, took his stand to accomplish the welfare of the worlds."

12.160.33 "Then, at the close of a thousand years, the Lord spread out the sacrificial canopy, ordered by the rite revealed in the scriptures and furnished just as enjoined."

12.160.34 "By seers skilled in sacrifice, who duly performed each rite, by the Maruts spread all about, and by the blazing fires,"

12.160.35 "adorned with shining golden vessels of sacrifice, and ringed about by the hosts of gods, the sacrificial enclosure shone resplendent."

12.160.36 "Graced too by brahmin-seers serving as members of the assembly — and there, so I have heard from the seers, a most dreadful thing took place."

12.160.37 "As the moon and the rising stars adorn the cloudless sky, so, it is told, a being then rose up, rending the fire of the altar."

12.160.38 "Of hue like the blue lotus, with sharp fangs and lean of belly, tall and terrible to behold, and of surpassing brilliance withal —"

12.160.39 "as that being sprang forth, the earth trembled, and the great ocean was churned into a turmoil of waves and whirlpools."

12.160.40 "Meteors fell as great portents, the trees shed their boughs, all the quarters grew overcast, an evil wind blew, and again and again living creatures trembled with terror."

12.160.41 "Then, beholding that wondrous and tumultuous thing arisen before him, the Grandsire spoke thus to the great seers, the gods and the gandharvas:"

12.160.42 "'This being have I conceived; it is the Sword, mighty by name and nature, fashioned for the protection of the world and the slaying of the foes of the gods.'"

12.160.43 "Then, casting off that form, it shone forth as a sword indeed — bright, keen-edged, and uplifted like Death, the ender of time."

12.160.44 "Then to the blue-throated Rudra, whose banner bears the bull, Brahmā gave that blazing sword, the warding-off of unrighteousness."

12.160.45 "Then the blessed Rudra, praised by the hosts of brahmin-seers, the immeasurable one, grasped the sword and took on another form."

12.160.46 "Four-armed, though standing upon the earth he touched the vault of heaven with his head, his gaze turned upward, of mighty emblem, casting forth flames from his mouth and shifting his colour through many hues — blue, pale, and red."

12.160.47 "Wearing a black antelope-skin as his garment, starred with choice gold, with one great eye set in his forehead like the sun, while his two other eyes shone clear, black and tawny."

12.160.48 "Then the god Mahādeva, the trident-bearer, who once struck out Bhaga's eye, taking up that sword, bright as the fire of doomsday's sun,"

12.160.49 "and raising his three-pointed shield like a lightning-laced cloud, that one of mighty strength and prowess ranged through manifold movements, brandishing the sword in the air, eager to make an end of the dānavas."

12.160.50 "As he roared his war-cry and loosed a mighty laugh, the form of Rudra grew terrible to behold, O Bhārata."

12.160.51 "Seeing Rudra in that form and themselves bent on dreadful deeds, all the dānavas, exulting, rushed upon him together."

12.160.52 "They rained down stones, and blazing firebrands, and other dreadful weapons, sharp-edged and iron-tipped."

12.160.53 "Then that host of dānavas and its unfaltering leader, scattered by the might of Rudra's sword, reeled and swooned away."

12.160.54 "So wondrous and so swift was the sword-bearer's movement that all the asuras took that single one to be a thousand."

12.160.55 "Cleaving, piercing, crushing, slashing, rending and grinding, Rudra ranged through the throngs of daityas like fire amid dry grass."

12.160.56 "Broken by the rush of the sword, their arms and thighs and breasts hewn through, their heads sheared off, the great asuras fell upon the earth."

12.160.57 "Other dānavas, shattered and crushed by Rudra's blows, roaring at one another, fled to all the quarters."

12.160.58 "Some plunged into the earth, others into the mountains, some fled to the sky, and others entered the waters."

12.160.59 "When that great and most fearful battle had run its course, the earth, miry with blood, looked terrible to behold."

12.160.60 "Strewn with the huge bodies of the dānavas, drenched in gore, O mighty-armed one, it seemed like a range of hills clothed in flowering kiṃśuka trees."

12.160.61 "Soaked through with blood, the earth then shone like a dark woman, faint with drink, her garments soaked in red."

12.160.62 "Rudra, having slain the dānavas and set the world once more under the sway of dharma, swiftly cast off that terrible shape, and the Auspicious One assumed his gracious form.

12.160.63 "Then all the great seers and all the hosts of gods worshipped the God of gods with a hymn of victory of wondrous fashioning."

12.160.64 "Then the blessed Rudra, with all honour, gave the sword — still wet with the dānavas' blood, the guardian of dharma — into the keeping of Viṣṇu."

12.160.65 "Viṣṇu gave it to Marīci, and the blessed Marīci to the great seers, and the seers in turn gave the sword to Vāsava."

12.160.66 "Mahendra gave it to the guardians of the world, and the world-guardians, my son, gave the broad sword to Manu, the son of the Sun."

12.160.67 "And they said to him, who was the first lord of men: 'You are the ruler of mankind; with this sword, dharma's very womb, protect the people.'"

12.160.68 "'Those who overstep the dyke of dharma, for causes great or small, are to be kept in check by punishment apportioned according to dharma, never at random.'"

12.160.69 "'Reproof, restraint, fines heavy with gold, mutilation of the body, and — for no slight cause — death itself:'"

12.160.70 "'these, beginning with reproof, are to be reckoned the forms of the sword; and the very measures of the sword arise from the gravity of the offence.'"

12.160.71 "Then, having appointed his own son lord over the people, Manu, for the protection of the people, gave the sword to Kṣupa."

12.160.72 "From Kṣupa, Ikṣvāku received it, and from Ikṣvāku, Purūravas; from him Āyus obtained it, and then Nahuṣa upon the earth."

12.160.73 "From Nahuṣa, Yayāti, and from him Pūru obtained it; from him Āmūrtarayas, and after him King Bhūmiśaya."

12.160.74 "And Bharata, the son of Duḥṣanta, received the sword from Bhūmiśaya; and from him, O king, it passed to the dharma-knowing son of Iḍaviḍā."

12.160.75 "Then from the son of Iḍaviḍā, the king Dhundhumāra obtained it; from Dhundhumāra it passed to the Kāmboja, and thence Mucukunda received it."

12.160.76 "From Mucukunda, Marutta, and from Marutta, Raivata; from Raivata, Yuvanāśva, and from Yuvanāśva, then Raghu."

12.160.77 "From him, born of Ikṣvāku's line, the valiant Hariṇāśva; from Hariṇāśva, Śunaka received the sword, and from Śunaka in turn —"

12.160.78 "Uśīnara, the righteous-souled; from him the Bhojas together with the Yādavas; and from the Yadus, Śibi received it, and from Śibi, Pratardana."

12.160.79 "From Pratardana, Aṣṭaka, and from Aṣṭaka, Ruśadaśva; from Ruśadaśva, Bharadvāja, from him Droṇa, and after him Kṛpa; and then you, together with your brothers, have obtained that supreme sword."

12.160.80 "The Kṛttikās are the sword's lunar mansion, Agni is its presiding deity, Rohiṇī its lineage, and Rudra its supreme teacher."

12.160.81 "Now learn from me the eight secret names of the sword, O son of Pāṇḍu, by ever proclaiming which a man wins victory."

12.160.82 Sword, Slayer, Blade, Keen-edged, Hard-to-withstand, Womb-of-Fortune, Victory, and likewise Guardian-of-Dharma —

12.160.83 the sword, O son of Mādravatī, is foremost among weapons, fashioned by Maheśvara, and so established by decree in the ancient lore.

12.160.84 It was Pṛthu who brought forth the first bow, O subduer of foes; and by him, the son of Vena, this earth was protected of old.

12.160.85 This teaching of the seers, O son of Mādrī, you should hold as authoritative; and the sword must ever be honored by those skilled in war.

12.160.86 Thus this first rite has been expounded to you at full length, O bull of the Bhāratas — the origin and tradition of the sword, just as it is.

12.160.87 Hearing in every way this supreme discipline of the sword, a man attains fame in this world and, after death, partakes of the eternal.

12.161.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When Bhīṣma had spoken thus and fallen silent, Yudhiṣṭhira, finding the moment, drew aside and questioned his brothers, with Vidura the fifth among them.

12.161.2 "The conduct of the world rests upon dharma, artha, and kāma. Of these, which is the weightiest, which the middling, and which the least?

12.161.3 And in which of them should the self be governed, so as to master the threefold aim? Of one accord, you ought to speak the decisive word, just as it is."

12.161.4 Then Vidura, who knew the true workings of worldly gain and was ready of wit, spoke first, calling to mind the treatises of dharma.

12.161.5 "Wide learning, austerity, renunciation, faith, the performance of sacrifice, forbearance, purity of intent, compassion, truth, and self-restraint — these are the riches of the soul.

12.161.6 To this alone hold fast; let not your mind waver. On this dharma and artha are rooted; this is the one sure path to good.

12.161.7 By dharma the seers crossed beyond; on dharma the worlds are established; by dharma the gods reached heaven; and in dharma is artha contained.

12.161.8 Dharma, O king, is highest in worth; artha is called the middling; and kāma the least — so the wise declare. Therefore one should be self-controlled, holding dharma foremost."

12.161.9 When his speech was done, Pārtha — versed in the science of statecraft and knowing the true meaning of words — spoke without weariness:

12.161.10 "This is the field of action, O king, and here livelihood is praised — farming, trade, the herding of cattle, and the various crafts.

12.161.11 It is wealth that underlies all undertakings without exception. Without wealth neither dharma nor kāma can be pursued — so says the sacred word.

12.161.12 For the man of wealth, victorious, is able to honor the highest dharma and to pursue desire — both beyond the reach of those who have not mastered themselves.

12.161.13 Dharma and kāma are but the limbs of artha — so says the sacred word; for once wealth is secured, these two are brought to their fulfillment.

12.161.14 For the man whose fortune has risen, even those of nobler birth attend upon him without ceasing, as living creatures attend upon Brahmā.

12.161.15 Bearing matted locks and deerskins, self-disciplined, smeared with mud, their senses conquered, shaven, casting off the sacred thread — even such men dwell apart, each a seeker of gain.

12.161.16 Others, robed in ochre, bearded, well-cloaked in modesty, learned and serene, freed of all possessions —

12.161.17 some among them seek gain, others long for heaven, and some uphold the customs of their line — each following his own road.

12.161.18 Believers and unbelievers alike, bound and intent upon self-restraint — ignorance is a thing of darkness, but knowledge is light.

12.161.19 He who plies his servants with enjoyments and his foes with chastisement — he is the man of substance. This, O best of the wise, is my view, just as it stands. But now mark the words of these two whose speech is poised upon the throat."

12.161.20 Then, next in turn, the sons of Mādrī — Nakula and Sahadeva, skilled in dharma and artha — spoke their excellent word:

12.161.21 "Sitting, lying, moving about, or standing still, a man should pursue gain steadfastly, by means high and low alike.

12.161.22 For when this wealth — hard to win, most dear — is well secured, one attains all desires in this very world, plainly; of this there is no doubt.

12.161.23 Wealth joined to dharma, and dharma joined to wealth, are like honey blended with nectar; therefore both of these are esteemed in this world.

12.161.24 For the man without wealth there is no kāma; and whence comes wealth to him who lacks dharma? Therefore the world shrinks from one who is cast out from dharma and artha.

12.161.25 Therefore wealth should be sought by one who is self-controlled, holding dharma foremost; for among trusting creatures everything alike comes to fruition.

12.161.26 Let a man first practice dharma, then wealth conjoined with dharma, and only afterward pursue desire; for that is the fruit reserved for one whose purpose is accomplished."

12.161.27 When the two sons of the Aśvins had spoken these words and fallen silent, Bhīmasena then set himself to say this:

12.161.28 "Without desire none longs for wealth; without desire none wishes for dharma; without desire there is no one who craves at all — therefore kāma is supreme.

12.161.29 It is moved by desire that the seers are intent upon their austerities, feeding on leaves, fruits, and roots, living on air, well-restrained.

12.161.30 Others give themselves to the recitation of the Veda, masters of private study, and to the rites of śrāddha and sacrifice, and to giving and receiving gifts.

12.161.31 Merchants, farmers, herdsmen, craftsmen, artisans, and those who perform rites for the gods — all are driven by desire in their labors.

12.161.32 Still other men, urged by desire, plunge into the sea. For desire takes manifold forms; all things are strung through with desire.

12.161.33 There is not, was not, nor shall ever be a being greater than one whose essence is desire. This is the very pith of it, O great king; dharma and artha both rest within it.

12.161.34 As butter is the best of curds, so is kāma the best of wealth and dharma. Oil is better than oil-cake, and clarified butter better than buttermilk.

12.161.35 Flower and fruit are better than mere wood; so is kāma the choicest of dharma and artha. As nectar's sweetness is born from the flower, so from desire is happiness born.

12.161.36 With women fairly adorned, lavishly decked, flushed with passion and sweet of speech, draw near and take your pleasure at will; for desire, O king, swoops down with sudden force.

12.161.37 Such is my thought, set forth here in this assembly. Let there be no hesitation in you, O son of Dharma. May the word agreed upon, framed by the good and of no hollow substance, prove in the end the highest of all — compassion."

12.161.38 "Dharma, artha, and kāma should be cultivated equally. The man who serves but one of them is the lowest; him who is adept in two they call the middling; but he is highest who is devoted to all three."

12.161.39 Wise and kindly, anointed with sandal essence, decked in fair garlands and ornaments, Bhīma the younger, having spoken his word both in sum and in detail, then fell silent.

12.161.40 Then after a moment the Dharma King, having pondered well their words, spoke with a smile, in speech that was free of falsehood — he, the widely learned, the foremost of the upholders of dharma:

12.161.41 "Beyond doubt, you are all sure in the science of dharma and well versed in its standards. The decisive word you have spoken to me, who wished to understand — that I have heard. Yet now hear without distraction the word that I, in turn, must needs declare.

12.161.42 The man who clings neither to sin nor to merit, neither to wealth nor to dharma nor to desire, freed of all faults, to whom a clod and gold are alike — he is released from the whole pursuit of pleasure and pain.

12.161.43 All beings are bound up with birth and death, beset by age and decay, and roused again and again by these afflictions; they extol release — yet that release we do not know.

12.161.44 "For him who is not bound by attachment, these afflictions exist not" — so the Self-Existent Lord declared. And the wise, intent upon nirvāṇa, say the same; therefore one should make for oneself neither the dear nor the hateful.

12.161.45 This is the principal thing — not the willful following of desire. As I am ordained, so do I act. Ordinance appoints all beings to their tasks; know all of you that ordinance is the stronger.

12.161.46 By action one cannot win what is not to be won; whatever is to be, all of it comes to pass — know this. Even one bereft of the threefold aim may yet find his gain; therefore this mystery is set forth for the welfare of the world.

12.161.47 Then, when they had heard that foremost word, pleasing to the mind and abounding in reason, those gathered there raised their voices and rejoiced, and folded their hands in homage to the hero of the Kurus.

12.161.48 Having heard that speech of Pārtha — adorned with fair letters, syllables, and sounds, pleasing to the mind, cleansed of every thorn of language — the lords of men praised it, O king. Then once more, undiminished in spirit, he questioned the son of the great river concerning the further dharma.

12.162.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O grandsire, deeply wise, increaser of the glory of the Kurus, I shall put a certain question; this you ought to expound to me.

12.162.2 What manner of men are agreeable? With whom does the highest affection arise? Who are fit to be trusted, both for the long term and the present moment? Of these, tell me.

12.162.3 For neither abundant wealth nor kinsmen and relations avail there where true friends stand fast — such is my conviction.

12.162.4 Hard to find is a friend who will listen, and hard to find a friend who seeks one's good. All this, O best of the upholders of dharma, you ought to explain.

12.162.5 Bhīṣma said: The men with whom alliance may be made, O king, and those with whom it may not — hear of them truly, in full, from me as I speak, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.162.6 The greedy, the cruel, the man who has abandoned dharma, the deceitful and the crooked, the base, the man of evil conduct, the suspicious of all, and the sluggish;

12.162.7 the procrastinator, the dishonest, the harsh, the violator of an elder's wife, he who forsakes a friend in distress, the wicked-souled and shameless;

12.162.8 he who sees evil on every side, the unbeliever and reviler of the Veda, and the man who roves the world with senses scattered, given over to lust;

12.162.9 the false, the hated of the world, the man who keeps no covenant, the slanderer, the untrained in wisdom, the envious, the fixed in evil purpose;

12.162.10 the ill-natured, the undisciplined in self, the savage, the gambler, and he who ever exploits his friends for gain, intent on profit alone;

12.162.11 the dull-witted man who is never content though one serves him to the utmost of one's power, and who feeds upon a friend as though upon a foe, O bull among men;

12.162.12 he who is angered without cause and grows estranged for no reason, and the sinner who swiftly casts off well-meaning friends;

12.162.13 the fool who takes offense at the slightest wrong, even at one done in ignorance, who courts his friends only when he has need of them yet hates them at heart, O lord of men;

12.162.14 and the enemy who wears a friend's face, the man of crooked glance, the seducer who takes no delight in what is good — such a man one should forsake.

12.162.15 The drunkard, the hateful, the cruel, the pitiless and harsh, the tormentor of others, the betrayer of friends, and he who delights in the slaying of living things;

12.162.16 the ingrate, basest in the world — with such a one alliance may in no way be made; nor with the man who hunts for another's weaknesses. Now hear from me those with whom alliance may be made.

12.162.17 Men of good birth, gifted in speech, skilled in knowledge and discernment, faithful to friends and grateful, all-knowing and free of grief;

12.162.18 endowed with the grace of sweetness, true to their pledges, masters of their senses, ever diligent in effort, who maintain their sons and dependents, sprung from noble line;

12.162.19 comely, possessed of virtues, free from greed, conquerors of fatigue, untouched by the well-known faults — these, indeed, a king should embrace.

12.162.20 For the good, O lord, are content with service rendered to the best of one's power; they are not wrathful out of season, nor estranged without cause.

12.162.21 Even when estranged they harbor no anger, not even in mind, those skilled in worldly affairs; bent on a friend's cause even at cost to themselves, they no more lose their bond with friends than dye loses its hold upon wool.

12.162.22 Trusted and tender toward kin, they show no faults of greed and delusion and the like toward their friends, whether in matters of wealth or of women.

12.162.23 To whom a clod and gold are of equal worth, guileless of mind toward friends, who walk without conceit, freely lavishing wealth and adornments, sustaining their retinue, ever devoted to their master's good —

12.162.24 the king who makes alliance with such excellent men sees his realm spread wide, as the moonlight of the lord of planets spreads abroad.

12.162.25 Steadfast in the scriptures, masters of their anger, mighty, loving battle, patient, endowed with character and virtue — such are the best of men, fit for alliance.

12.162.26 And of those men endowed with faults whom I have named, O sinless one, the basest, O king, is the ingrate, the slayer of friends; that man of evil conduct must be forsaken by all — such is the settled conclusion.

12.162.27 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I wish to hear in full, O king, the matter and its connection. Tell me too of that man whom you have called a betrayer of friends and ungrateful.

12.162.28 Bhīṣma said: Come, I shall recount to you an ancient tale of what once came to pass in the northern region, among the barbarian peoples, O lord of men.

12.162.29 A brāhmaṇa from the Middle Country, dark of limb and devoid of sacred learning, spying a village thronged with people, entered it in hope of alms.

12.162.30 There dwelt a robber, rich in wealth, knowing well the distinctions of all the classes, devoted to brāhmaṇas, true to his word, and given to charity.

12.162.31 Coming to his dwelling, the brāhmaṇa then begged of him: a shelter to live in, and alms enough to last the year.

12.162.32 To that brāhmaṇa he gave fresh garments, fitting and fine, and also a woman in the bloom of her years, who was then bereft of her husband.

12.162.33 Having received all this from the robber, the twice-born one, glad at heart, then dwelt in that fine house, O king, and took his pleasure with her — this Gautama.

12.162.34 He even lent his aid to the robber in the affairs of his household, and so he dwelt there through the rains in that prosperous abode of the Śabaras; and Gautama applied himself with the utmost effort to piercing the mark with arrows.

12.162.35 And the crooked-limbed birds that came within range of his arrows, on every side, this Gautama slew without ceasing, O king, just as the robber band would do.

12.162.36 Bent on violence, void of pity, ever delighting in the slaughter of living things, Gautama, through his close company with the robbers, grew to be the equal of them.

12.162.37 As he dwelt thus at ease in the robbers' village, many months went by while he killed great numbers of birds.

12.162.38 Then on a certain day another twice-born one came to that country: matted of hair, clad in bark-cloth and deerskin, supreme in the study of the Veda, and pure.

12.162.39 Humble, restrained in his eating, devoted to the brāhmaṇas, master of the Veda to its far shore — a fellow student of Gautama, born of that same land, and his very dear friend — he came to that robbers' village where Gautama had settled.

12.162.40 Seeking out the house of a brāhmaṇa, shunning the food of Śūdras, he wandered in every direction through that village crowded with robber folk.

12.162.41 Then that best of the twice-born entered Gautama's house, and Gautama too returned, and the two were brought together once more.

12.162.42 He saw Gautama come to the door of the house, his hands laden with crooked-limbed birds, his bow in his grip, a doer of sinful deeds, his limbs spattered with blood —

12.162.43 and seeing him, like a man-eating fiend, fallen and ruined as he came to his dwelling, the twice-born one knew him, and was overcome with shame, and spoke these words:

12.162.44 "What is this you do in your folly? You are a brāhmaṇa, sprung of a noble line, well known in the Middle Country. How have you sunk to the ways of a robber?

12.162.45 Remember those foremost of brāhmaṇas, your forebears, renowned, masters of the Veda, in whose line you were born — you, such a disgrace to your family!

12.162.46 Come to know your own self by yourself, and calling to mind truth, good conduct, sacred learning, self-restraint, and compassion, abandon this dwelling, O twice-born one."

12.162.47 Thus addressed by his friend, who sought his good, he then answered, O king, having made up his mind, and as one in distress:

12.162.48 "I am without wealth, O best of the twice-born, nor am I a knower of the Veda. Know me, O finest of brāhmaṇas, to have come here for the sake of a livelihood.

12.162.49 But by the sight of you, O sage among brāhmaṇas, I count my purpose fulfilled, O twice-born one. We shall go forth together; only stay here this night, and tomorrow we depart."

12.163.1 Bhīṣma said: When that night had passed away and the best of the twice-born had gone, Gautama set out and made his way toward the sea, O descendant of Bharata.

12.163.2 Then he saw seafaring merchants halted along the road, and with that caravan he journeyed on toward the ocean.

12.163.3 But that caravan, O great king, in a certain mountain ravine was set upon by a rutting elephant and very nearly destroyed.

12.163.4 The brāhmaṇa, freed somehow from that caravan, bewildered and clinging to his life, fled away to the north.

12.163.5 Cut off on every side — from caravan, from the country, and from his goods — he ran on there alone through the forest, like a wild Kiṃpuruṣa.

12.163.6 Then, lighting upon a path that ran down toward the sea, he came at last to a lovely, vast forest with trees in flower.

12.163.7 It was made beautiful by groves of mango trees blossoming in every season — like a tract of Nandana itself, haunted by Yakṣas and Kiṃnaras.

12.163.8 It was graced with woods of śāla and tāla, of dhava and aśvattha, of cinnamon-bark and aloe, and with trees of the finest sandalwood, upon lovely, fair, and sweetly fragrant mountain slopes.

12.163.9 On every side the noblest of birds sang there sweetly; and others, with the faces of men, were known as Bhāruṇḍas; and still others, the Bhūliṅga birds, were all about the sea.

12.163.10 Listening to those most charming and delightful songs of the birds, the brāhmaṇa Gautama went onward.

12.163.11 Then he beheld, in a most lovely spot — a level, varied stretch of land strewn with golden sand, bright as a region of heaven —

12.163.12 a great tree endowed with splendor, a banyan, perfectly rounded, adorned with shapely branches, and shaped like a parasol.

12.163.13 Its root was well sprinkled with water scented by the finest sandal, decked with divine flowers, glorious — like the very court of the Grandsire.

12.163.14 Seeing that tree — peerless, dear to the sages, holy, like the dwelling of a god, and ringed by flowering trees — Gautama was glad, and coming up to it with joy, he sat down beneath it.

12.163.15 As Gautama sat there, O Kaurava, a pure breeze, soft and kindly, having touched the flowers, blew gently, refreshing all the limbs of Gautama, O king.

12.163.16 And the brāhmaṇa, weary and touched by that hallowed wind, finding ease, fell asleep; and the sun went down to its setting.

12.163.17 Then, when the sun had set and the hour of twilight had come, the best of birds came home to his own abode from the world of Brahmā.

12.163.18 He was renowned as Nāḍījaṅgha, the beloved friend of Brahmā, a king among cranes, vast in wisdom, sprung from the very being of Kaśyapa.

12.163.19 Famed as Rājadharma, he was without equal upon the earth — the son of a daughter of the gods, glorious, learned, and radiant as the lord of the gods.

12.163.20 Covered with burnished gold, adorned upon all his limbs with ornaments bright as the sun, born of divine seed, he blazed with splendor.

12.163.21 Seeing that bird arrive, Gautama was filled with wonder; yet, his spirit overcome by hunger and thirst, he looked upon him with intent to kill.

12.163.22 Rājadharma said: Welcome to you, O brāhmaṇa! By good fortune you have come to my home. The sun has gone to its setting, and this twilight is now upon us.

12.163.23 You have come to my dwelling, a welcome and blameless guest; honored with rites as the ordinance prescribes, you shall go your way in the morning.

12.164.1 Bhīṣma said: Hearing that sweet speech, Gautama then was amazed, and filled with curiosity, O king, he gazed upon Rājadharma.

12.164.2 Rājadharma said: Sir, I am the son of Kaśyapa, and my mother is a daughter of Dakṣa. You are my guest, endowed with virtues — welcome to you, O bull among the twice-born!

12.164.3 Bhīṣma said: Having paid him honor with rites as the ordinance prescribes, he made ready for him a divine seat fashioned of śāla blossoms.

12.164.4 And he procured for him great fishes — such as range the regions watered by the Gaṅgā, the tracts once traversed by Bhagīratha's chariot.

12.164.5 A well-kindled fire, too, and fishes good and plump did the son of Kaśyapa set before Gautama, his guest.

12.164.6 And when the brāhmaṇa had eaten and was content at heart, the great-souled bird, to take away his weariness, fanned him with his two wings.

12.164.7 Then, as the brāhmaṇa sat rested, the bird asked him the question of his lineage; and he said only, "I am of the Gautama gotra," and gave no other account of himself.

12.164.8 For him he made ready a divine couch of leaves, perfumed with heavenly flowers and rich with fragrance; and there indeed he lay at ease.

12.164.9 Then, as Gautama sat upon the couch, the king of cranes, the eloquent son of Kaśyapa, asked him the reason for his coming.

12.164.10 Then Gautama answered him: "I am a poor man, O great-minded one. I long to go to the sea for the sake of wealth, O descendant of Bharata."

12.164.11 The son of Kaśyapa, well pleased, said to him: "You ought not to be troubled. Your end accomplished, O best of the twice-born, and laden with wealth, you shall return to your home.

12.164.12 For the winning of wealth is fourfold, according to the teaching of Bṛhaspati: by inheritance, by fate, by one's own effort, and by a friend, O lord.

12.164.13 I have shown myself to be your friend, and my heart is friendly toward you. I shall so strive that you will come to be a man of wealth."

12.164.14 Then, at the hour of dawn, having asked after his rest, the bird spoke thus: "Go, gentle sir, by this path, and you shall attain your purpose.

12.164.15 Go three yojanas from here, and you will find a great lord of the Rākṣasas, renowned as Virūpākṣa, my friend, of mighty strength.

12.164.16 Go to him, O chief of the twice-born, prompted by my word; he will grant you the desires of your heart — of this there is no doubt."

12.164.17 Thus addressed, Gautama set forth, O king, his weariness gone, eating at his pleasure fruits that were like the nectar of immortality.

12.164.18 Passing along that road, O great king, amid groves of sandal and aloe and the choicest cinnamon-bark and leaf, he went swiftly on.

12.164.19 Then he came to a city named Meruvraja, with gateways of rock, with ramparts and bulwarks of rock, and barred with engines and bolts of rock.

12.164.20 And he became known to that wise lord of the Rākṣasas — sent by a friend, O king, a welcome guest to be cherished.

12.164.21 Then that lord of the Rākṣasas said to his own servants, O Yudhiṣṭhira: "Let Gautama be brought in swiftly from the city gate."

12.164.22 Then from that fair city men with white turbans came to the city gate, calling out, "Gautama! Gautama!"

12.164.23 Those servants of the Rākṣasa lord said to the brāhmaṇa, O great king: "Make haste, come quickly, the king wishes to see you.

12.164.24 The lord of the Rākṣasas, the hero known as Virūpākṣa, is eager to see you; therefore let it be done at once."

12.164.25 Then the brāhmaṇa hurried forward, his weariness gone in his wonder, gazing in utter amazement upon the splendor of that city.

12.164.26 In their company he hastened swiftly to the king's palace, that brāhmaṇa then longing for the sight of the lord of the Rākṣasas.

12.165.1 Bhīṣma said: Then, announced to the king, he entered that noble palace and, honored by the lord of the Rākṣasas, sat down upon an excellent seat.

12.165.2 And being asked of his lineage and observance, his Vedic study and his life of chastity, the brāhmaṇa there said nothing beyond his gotra alone.

12.165.3 Of him who was bereft of the lustre of sacred learning and had ceased from Vedic study, who knew only his gotra, the king then inquired about his dwelling-place.

12.165.4 "Where is your dwelling, good sir? And of what gotra is your brāhmaṇa wife? Tell me the truth, you need have no fear; rest at your ease."

12.165.5 Gautama said: "I was born in the Middle Country; my dwelling is in an abode of the Śabaras. My wife is a Śūdra woman, once wedded before — this truth I tell you."

12.165.6 Bhīṣma said: Then the king pondered: "How is this matter to be handled? And how may a good deed be wrought by me?" — so he considered in his mind.

12.165.7 "This man is a brāhmaṇa by birth, the friend of that great-souled one, and he has been sent to my presence by that son of Kaśyapa.

12.165.8 I shall do what is dear to him, for he has ever leaned upon me; he is my brother, my kinsman, and a friend who has won my heart."

12.165.9 "On this day of the full moon of Kārttika a thousand of the finest twice-born shall dine with me; among them this man too shall eat, and to him I shall give wealth."

12.165.10 Then a thousand brāhmaṇas, learned and finely adorned, freshly bathed and clad in unworn linen garments, arrived together.

12.165.11 As those foremost of the twice-born came, O lord of peoples, Virūpākṣa received each according to his due with rites prescribed by ordinance.

12.165.12 By command of the lord of the rākṣasas seats of grass were laid out for them, spread with choice coverlets upon the ground by his servants, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.165.13 Honored by the king and seated upon them, those most excellent of the twice-born shone forth, O great king, like the lords of the constellations.

12.165.14 Then he gave to the brāhmaṇas vessels of fine gold, marked with diamonds, spotless and lovely, brimming with choice food drenched in honey and clarified butter.

12.165.15 At his court, ever on the full moon of Āṣāḍha and of Māgha, many twice-born regularly received the choicest fare they desired, always with honor.

12.165.16 But on the full moon of Kārttika in particular, at the close of autumn, he bestowed jewels upon the twice-born—so the sacred report has it—on that day of the full moon.

12.165.17 Gold and silver, gems and pearls, and diamonds of great worth, lapis lazuli, hides, and woolen rugs—

12.165.18 having heaped up these masses of treasure to serve as priestly gifts, O Bhārata, the far-famed Virūpākṣa then spoke to those foremost of the twice-born:

12.165.19 "Take these jewels, according to your wish and as much as your eagerness allows; and whatever vessels you have eaten from, O most excellent of the twice-born, take those very vessels too and depart to your own homes," O Bhārata.

12.165.20 When that high-souled lord of the rākṣasas had spoken these words, those bulls among brāhmaṇas took up the jewels as they pleased.

12.165.21 Then, all honored with those costly and beautiful jewels, the brāhmaṇas in their spotless garments became greatly content.

12.165.22 Then the lord of the rākṣasas, having restrained the rākṣasas who had come from every quarter, O king, again addressed those twice-born with these words:

12.165.23 "For this one day, O brāhmaṇas, you have nothing whatever to fear here from the rākṣasas. Rejoice, and go where you please without delay."

12.165.24 Then all the throngs of brāhmaṇas hastened away in every direction; and Gautama too, taking up a load of gold, set out in haste.

12.165.25 Bearing it with much labor, O hero, he came to a banyan tree and sat down, worn out, weary, and hungry.

12.165.26 Then, O king, Rājadharman, that finest of birds, came up to him and, fond of his friend, welcomed Gautama with greetings of "You are welcome."

12.165.27 By the fanning of his wing-tips the bird drove away his fatigue; and the wise one paid him honor and made ready food for him as well.

12.165.28 Having eaten and well rested, Gautama then reflected: "This is a very great load of fine gold that I have taken up out of greed and delusion, and my journey is far.

12.165.29 And there is nothing on the road to eat that might sustain my life. By what means, then, might I keep my life going?"—so he pondered.

12.165.30 Then, seeing nothing whatever along the road to eat, that ingrate, O tiger among men, thought this within his mind:

12.165.31 "This lord of cranes stands at my side, a very heap of flesh. Having killed him and taken him, I shall go on my way in all haste."

12.166.1 Bhīṣma said: Now a great blazing fire, with the wind for its charioteer, had been kindled there nearby by the lord of birds for his protection.

12.166.2 And the king of cranes too slept trustingly at his side; but that ingrate, the wicked-souled one, eager to slay him, lay awake.

12.166.3 Then with a blazing firebrand he struck down the trusting bird; and having slain him, filled with glee, he did not foresee the consequence.

12.166.4 Having plucked him bare of feathers, he cooked him then upon the fire; and taking both the bird and the gold, the brāhmaṇa went away in greater haste.

12.166.5 Then, when the next day had come, Virūpākṣa said to his son: "I do not see Rājadharman today, my son, that finest of birds.

12.166.6 He always goes at the morning twilight to pay homage to Brahmā, and never once does that bird go to his home without first seeing me.

12.166.7 For two nights now, at both twilights, he has not come to my dwelling; therefore my heart is not at ease. Let it be learned how that friend fares.

12.166.8 That basest of the twice-born, bereft of his sacred recitation and void of brahmanic luster—I fear that, having gone to him there, he may have slain him.

12.166.9 Of evil conduct and evil mind, I marked him by his gestures—idle, of cruel aspect, swarthy, base as a marauding outlaw.

12.166.10 That Gautama has gone there, and at that my mind is troubled. My son, go swiftly from here to Rājadharman's abode, and let it be learned whether that pure-souled one yet lives—and waste no time."

12.166.11 Thus addressed, he went in haste, accompanied by rākṣasas, and there at the banyan tree he beheld the skeleton of Rājadharman.

12.166.12 Weeping, the son of the wise lord of the rākṣasas went on, hastening with all his might to seize Gautama.

12.166.13 Then, not far off, the rākṣasas seized Gautama, and with him the body of Rājadharman, stripped of its wings, bones, and feet.

12.166.14 Taking him up, the rākṣasas went swiftly to the dwelling on Meru and showed the king the body of Rājadharman, and that ungrateful man Gautama of sinful mind.

12.166.15 At the sight the king wept, together with his ministers and his household priest, and a very great cry of anguish arose in his dwelling.

12.166.16 The whole city, with its women and children, grew sick at heart; and the king said to his son, "Let this evildoer be put to death."

12.166.17 "Let all these feast upon his flesh at their pleasure. Of evil conduct, evil deeds, evil soul, and evil resolve, this man is to be slain—such is my judgment, O rākṣasas; let it be carried out by you."

12.166.18 Thus addressed by the lord of the rākṣasas, the rākṣasas of dreadful prowess did not wish to devour him, saying, "This man is a doer of evil."

12.166.19 "It were well that this basest of men be given over to the outlaws this very day"—so, O great king, the night-roamers said to the lord of the rākṣasas.

12.166.20 And touching the ground with their heads, they said to the lord of the rākṣasa hosts: "You ought not to give us this sinner to eat."

12.166.21 "So be it," the lord of the rākṣasas said to those night-roamers; "let this ingrate be given over to the outlaws this very day, O rākṣasas."

12.166.22 When this was said, his servants, spears and maces in hand, cut that sinner into pieces and then gave him over to the outlaws.

12.166.23 But the outlaws too did not wish to eat that doer of evil; even flesh-eating beasts, O lord of kings, do not feed upon an ingrate.

12.166.24 For the slayer of a brāhmaṇa, the drinker of liquor, the thief, and the breaker of vows, an expiation is ordained, O king; but for the ingrate there is no expiation.

12.166.25 The betrayer of a friend, the cruel man, and the ingrate—basest of men—such men are not fed upon even by carrion-beasts, by worms, or by any other creatures.

12.167.1 Bhīṣma said: Then the rākṣasa had a funeral pyre made ready for the lord of cranes, adorned with jewels, with many perfumes, and with garments.

12.167.2 Having there set the king of cranes ablaze, O king, the mighty lord of the rākṣasas performed the funeral rites in due form.

12.167.3 At that very moment the goddess Surabhī, lovely daughter of Dakṣa, appeared above him, abounding in milk.

12.167.4 From her mouth there fell foam mingled with milk, O sinless one, and it dropped upon that pyre of Rājadharman.

12.167.5 By this the king of cranes was restored to life, O sinless one, and the lord of cranes, springing up, came to meet Virūpākṣa.

12.167.6 Then the king of the gods came to Virūpākṣa's city and said this to Virūpākṣa: "By good fortune this one lives!"

12.167.7 And Indra made known to Virūpākṣa the ancient tale—how a curse had once been laid upon Rājadharman by Brahmā:

12.167.8 When once, O king, the lord of cranes failed to approach Brahmā, the Grandsire in anger spoke this to the lord of cranes:

12.167.9 "Since that base crane in his folly has not come to my assembly, therefore that wicked-souled one shall meet his death before long."

12.167.10 So it was that, by that word, this crane was slain by Gautama; and by that same word, sprinkled with the nectar, he was restored to life again.

12.167.11 Then Rājadharman, bowing before Purandara, said: "If your mind is set on showing me favor, O Purandara, then restore to life my dear, beloved friend Gautama."

12.167.12 Heeding his words, Vāsava, O bull among men, brought Gautama back to life and gave him then to his friend.

12.167.13 O king, the lord of cranes, coming upon him with his vessels and his goods, embraced his friend, filled with the highest affection.

12.167.14 Then Rājadharman, lord of cranes, having sent away that doer of evil deeds together with his wealth, entered his own abode.

12.167.15 And the crane, as was fitting, then went to the assembly of Brahmā; and Brahmā honored that high-souled one with the rites of hospitality.

12.167.16 And Gautama too, returning again to that dwelling of the Śabaras, begot upon his Śūdra woman sons who became doers of evil.

12.167.17 And a most grievous curse was then laid upon him by the hosts of the gods: "Having begotten sons after long delay in the womb of his remarried wife, this ingrate shall at last attain a great hell," O lord.

12.167.18 All this Nārada told me long ago, O Bhārata, recalling that very great tale; and I too, O bull among men, have recounted the whole of it to you just as it was.

12.167.19 Whence is there glory for an ingrate, whence a standing, whence happiness? For the ingrate is not to be trusted; for the ingrate there is no expiation.

12.167.20 The betrayal of a friend should never be done by any man; the betrayer of a friend attains a dreadful and endless hell.

12.167.21 One should ever be grateful and desirous of friends, O sinless one; from a friend springs truth, from a friend springs strength. The discerning man should honor a friend with the highest marks of respect.

12.167.22 The wise should wholly forsake the sinful ingrate, the shameless one, the betrayer of friends—a disgrace to his line, a doer of evil deeds, basest of men.

12.167.23 Thus, O best of the upholders of dharma, I have declared to you this sinner, the betrayer of friends, the ingrate. What more do you wish to hear?

12.167.24 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing these words then spoken by the high-souled Bhīṣma, Yudhiṣṭhira became glad at heart, O Janamejaya.

12.168.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The auspicious duties pertaining to the dharma of kings have been declared by the Grandsire. Now, O lord, be pleased to speak of the highest dharma of those who dwell in the orders of life.

12.168.2 Bhīṣma said: Dharma is ordained everywhere, and leads to heaven; austerity has truth for its fruit. Of dharma, which has many gateways, no act here is fruitless.

12.168.3 Whatever discipline a man comes to settle upon, that very one he acknowledges and no other, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.168.4 And the more one comes to grasp how the fabric of the world is without substance, the more does dispassion toward it arise—of this there is no doubt.

12.168.5 Since the world is found to be thus full of faults, O Yudhiṣṭhira, a man of understanding should strive for the sake of the liberation of his self.

12.168.6 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When wealth is lost, or a wife, or when a son or a father has died, by what understanding may one drive away grief? Tell me that, O Grandsire.

12.168.7 Bhīṣma said: When wealth is lost, or a wife, or when a son or a father has died, brooding "Ah, the sorrow of it!"—thus one should work toward the wearing away of grief.

12.168.8 On this point too they relate this ancient tale of how a certain brāhmaṇa spoke these words to Senajit.

12.168.9 Seeing the king scorched by grief for his son, overwhelmed by sorrow, his face downcast, the brāhmaṇa spoke these words.

12.168.10 Why are you so deluded? You yourself are a thing to be grieved for—why do you grieve? For those who mourn you, themselves to be mourned, will pass to that same destination.

12.168.11 You and I, O king, and all the others who attend upon you—all of us shall go there, to the very place from which we came.

12.168.12 Senajit said: What is your wisdom, O brāhmaṇa, what is your austerity, what your contemplation, O you whose wealth is penance? What knowledge, what scripture have you attained, that you do not despair?

12.168.13 The brāhmaṇa said: Behold all beings, bound up with suffering on every side. This self even is not mine—or else the whole earth is mine.

12.168.14 "As it is mine, so it is others'"—with this understanding I feel no anguish. Having attained this insight, I neither rejoice nor grieve.

12.168.15 As two logs of driftwood come together upon the great ocean, and having met, drift apart again—just so is the meeting of beings.

12.168.16 So it is with sons and grandsons, with kinsmen and relations: no attachment should be formed toward them, for separation from them is certain.

12.168.17 From the unseen he came forth, and to the unseen he has returned again. He does not know you, nor do you know him—being who, do you grieve for whom?

12.168.18 Suffering springs from the torment of craving; pleasure springs from the torment of suffering. From pleasure is suffering born again and again; suffering follows hard upon pleasure, and pleasure hard upon suffering.

12.168.19 From pleasure you have fallen into suffering; again you will come upon pleasure. None attains suffering forever, nor does any attain pleasure forever.

12.168.20 Friends do not suffice for happiness, nor do enemies suffice for sorrow; wisdom does not suffice to win wealth, nor does wealth suffice for happiness.

12.168.21 Intelligence does not secure the gaining of wealth, nor does dullness ensure poverty. The wise man alone knows the turning course of the world's affairs—not the other.

12.168.22 The wise and the foolish, the brave and the timid, the dull and the learned, the weak and the strong—happiness attends upon whoever is destined for it.

12.168.23 A milk-cow may belong to its calf, to the herdsman, to the owner, or to a thief; but the certainty is this: the cow belongs to whoever drinks her milk.

12.168.24 Those who are most deluded in the world, and those who have passed beyond intellect—these men prosper in happiness; it is the people in between who suffer.

12.168.25 The steadfast take their delight in the extremes; they do not delight in the middle states. They call the attainment of an extreme a happy thing, and the region between the two extremes a misery.

12.168.26 But those who have attained the happiness of wisdom, who have passed beyond the dualities and are free of envy—neither gains nor losses ever trouble them.

12.168.27 But those who have not attained wisdom, yet have passed beyond utter folly—they rejoice beyond all measure, and likewise fall into anguish.

12.168.28 The deluded are ever exultant, like the hosts of gods in heaven, swollen with great conceit and bereft of understanding.

12.168.29 Idleness is a pleasure that ends in pain; diligence is a pain whose outcome is pleasure. Prosperity, together with fortune, dwells in the diligent man and not in the slothful.

12.168.30 Whether it be pleasure or pain, the hateful or the dear, let a man meet each thing as it comes, with a heart that is never overcome.

12.168.31 Thousands of occasions for grief and hundreds of occasions for joy assail the fool day after day, but not the wise man.

12.168.32 Sorrow does not touch the man who is wise, of ripened understanding, eager to learn and free of malice, self-controlled and master of his senses.

12.168.33 Holding fast to this understanding, with a guarded mind let the wise man go his way; for sorrow has no right to touch one who knows the rising and the setting of all things.

12.168.34 Whatever is the cause of grief, of terror, of pain itself, or of toil—from whatever root these spring, let a man renounce it, though it be a very limb of himself.

12.168.35 Whatever of his desires a man renounces, by just so much is he filled with happiness. The man who runs after his desires perishes in the wake of those desires.

12.168.36 Whatever pleasure of desire there is in this world, and whatever great pleasure there is in heaven—these are not worth a sixteenth part of the happiness that comes from the extinction of craving.

12.168.37 The deed done in a former body, whether good or evil, attends upon the wise man, the fool, and the brave alike, according to the nature of what was done.

12.168.38 Even so do these things—the dear and the unwelcome, the sorrows and the joys—revolve and recur among living beings.

12.168.39 Therefore, taking his stand on this understanding, let the man of virtue live in happiness. Let him shun all desires and put attachments behind him; for this swelling tide within the heart is Death himself, fashioned of the mind.

12.168.40 When a man draws in his desires from every side, as a tortoise draws in its limbs, then the self, become its own light, finds peace within the self alone.

12.168.41 Whenever anything at all is appropriated with the thought "this is mine," that very thing then becomes, in its entirety, an occasion for torment.

12.168.42 When a man fears nothing, and nothing fears him, when he neither craves nor hates—then he attains to brahman.

12.168.43 Casting off both truth and falsehood, both sorrow and joy, both fear and fearlessness, and abandoning the dear and the hateful, you shall become a soul wholly at peace.

12.168.44 When the steadfast man works no evil toward any living being, in deed, in thought, or in word, then he attains to brahman.

12.168.45 That craving which the foolish-minded find so hard to abandon, which does not age though the body ages, that disease which ends only with life's breath—happy is he who casts it off.

12.168.46 On this matter, O king, are heard the verses sung by Piṅgalā, telling how she, even in her hour of distress, attained the eternal dharma.

12.168.47 At the appointed trysting-place the courtesan Piṅgalā was left bereft by her lover; then, fallen into distress, she fixed her mind upon a serene resolve.

12.168.48 Piṅgalā said: I, a madwoman, long pursued a lover who was no madman. Though my true beloved was near at hand, until now I never found him.

12.168.49 This little house with its single pillar and nine doors I shall now bolt shut. What woman, when a lover comes to her, would still think, "this is my beloved"?

12.168.50 Loveless rogues in the guise of lovers, hell-shaped deceivers—they shall cheat me no more. I am awakened now; I am awake.

12.168.51 Even calamity becomes a blessing, by fate or by deeds done before. I am awakened, free of all longing; no longer am I one whose senses are unmastered.

12.168.52 He who is without hope sleeps in peace; hopelessness is the highest happiness. Having turned hope into the absence of hope, Piṅgalā sleeps in peace.

12.168.53 Bhīṣma said: By these and other reasoned utterances of the brāhmaṇa King Senajit was set firmly at rest, and he rejoiced in happiness.

12.169.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: As this time slips away, bringing destruction to all beings, what good should a man pursue? Tell me that, O grandfather.

12.169.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale, a dialogue of a son with his father. Mark it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.169.3 To a certain brāhmaṇa, O Pārtha, who was devoted to the recitation of the Veda, there was born a son of keen mind, Medhāvin by name.

12.169.4 That son, skilled in the meaning of the dharma of liberation and discerning in the true nature of the world, spoke to his father, who was absorbed in the recitation of the Veda.

12.169.5 What should a steadfast and discerning man do, dear father, seeing that the lifespan of men slips swiftly away? Tell me this in accord with the truth, father, so that, in due order, I may practise the dharma.

12.169.6 The father said: Having studied the Vedas in chastity, my son, let a man desire sons for the purifying of his ancestors; then, having duly established the sacred fires and offered sacrifice, let him enter the forest and seek to become a sage.

12.169.7 The son said: When the world is thus stricken and beset on every side, when the unerring shafts are falling, how can you speak as though you were a man of calm wisdom?

12.169.8 The father said: How is the world stricken? By what is it beset? What unerring shafts are falling here? Why do you seek, as it were, to frighten me?

12.169.9 The son said: The world is stricken by death and beset by old age; these days and nights are the falling shafts. How is it you do not understand?

12.169.10 When I know this—that death never stands still—how, then, shall I wait, moving about as I am with the net cast over me?

12.169.11 When with every passing night the span of life grows ever shorter, who could find any joy, like a fish in shallowing water? Let the discerning man know that very day to be barren and lost.

12.169.12 While his desires are yet unfulfilled, death comes upon a man as he gathers his pleasures like tender shoots, his mind set elsewhere; like a she-wolf seizing a lamb, death takes him and departs.

12.169.13 This very day do what is good; let not this moment slip past you. For while one's tasks are still undone, death drags a man away.

12.169.14 Let a man do tomorrow's task today, and the afternoon's work in the morning; for death does not wait to ask whether one's work is done or undone. Who knows upon whom the army of death will descend this very day?

12.169.15 While still young let a man be devoted to dharma, for life is uncertain and without warning. When dharma is practised, there is renown here and, after death, happiness as well.

12.169.16 For a man possessed by delusion, toiling for the sake of wife and children, doing what ought and what ought not to be done, devotes himself to their nourishment.

12.169.17 That man, intoxicated with sons and cattle, his mind ensnared—death takes him and departs, as a great flood carries off a sleeping tiger.

12.169.18 While he is still heaping up the objects of his desire, unsated, all alone, death takes him and departs, as a tiger seizes its prey.

12.169.19 "This is done, this remains to be done, this other thing is half-finished"—the man so caught up in the pleasure of striving, fate brings under its sway.

12.169.20 Before he has gained the fruit of deeds already done, while he still clings to that fruit, attached to field and shop and house, death takes him and departs.

12.169.21 Death and old age and disease, and suffering with its many causes, cling fast to the body—why, then, do you stand as though you were safe and at ease?

12.169.22 From the very moment of its birth, the destroyer pursues the embodied being toward its end, and old age follows after it. By this pair are all things bound, the moving and the unmoving alike.

12.169.23 The delight a man takes in dwelling in the village is nothing but the very house of death; the wilderness, says the sacred tradition, is the meeting-ground of the gods.

12.169.24 The delight a man takes in dwelling in the village is the rope that binds him fast. The doers of good cut it through and go free; the doers of evil do not cut it.

12.169.25 He who does no harm to living creatures by thought, word, or body, nor by deeds that would strip another of life and livelihood—that man is not bound.

12.169.26 None can ever turn back the oncoming army of death, save by truth, which must never be forsaken; for in truth the immortal abides.

12.169.27 Therefore let a man, keeping the vow and practice of truth, devoted to the discipline of truth, taking his delight in truth, even-minded and self-controlled, conquer the destroyer by truth alone.

12.169.28 Both the immortal and death are established within the body. Through delusion one comes upon death; through truth one comes upon the immortal.

12.169.29 And so I, harmless, seeking truth, having cast out desire and anger, the same in suffering and in pleasure, secure in peace, shall leave death behind me like one who is immortal.

12.169.30 Delighting in the sacrifice of peace, self-controlled, a sage established in the sacrifice of brahman, performing the sacrifice of word, mind, and deed, I shall become such a one in the northward course of the sun.

12.169.31 How could a wise man such as I fittingly worship with cruel animal sacrifices, whose fruit is perishable—or, like a flesh-eating demon, with the sacrifices of warriors?

12.169.32 He whose speech and mind are always rightly composed, who has austerity, renunciation, and yoga—he indeed shall attain everything.

12.169.33 There is no eye equal to knowledge; there is no strength equal to knowledge. There is no suffering equal to passion; there is no happiness equal to renunciation.

12.169.34 Born of the self by the self alone, established in the self, even though I be without offspring, I shall abide in the self alone; no offspring delivers me.

12.169.35 No wealth such as this belongs to a brāhmaṇa—oneness, even-mindedness, and truthfulness, steadfastness in good conduct, the laying down of the rod of violence, uprightness, and, beyond all these, withdrawal from action.

12.169.36 What use to you are riches, what use your kinsmen? What use to you a wife, O brāhmaṇa, you who must die? Seek out the Self that has entered the cave of the heart. Where has your grandfather gone, and where your father?

12.169.37 Bhīṣma said: Having heard these words of his son, the father did accordingly, O king. So should you too conduct yourself, devoted wholly to truth and dharma.

12.170.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Those who live as their own masters, whether rich or poor — how does happiness and sorrow come upon them, and in what manner, O grandfather?

12.170.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recite an ancient tale — what was sung by Śamyāka, a man set free, who had attained tranquillity.

12.170.3 A certain brāhmaṇa, established in renunciation, once spoke to me — a man afflicted by a poor wife, by ragged clothing, and by hunger.

12.170.4 Once a man is born into this world, from the very moment of birth manifold sorrows and joys come crowding upon him.

12.170.5 If either of these two should lead him onto its road, let him not exult on gaining happiness, nor burn with anguish on meeting sorrow.

12.170.6 You do not pursue what is truly best for the Self, nor what you strive after; yet even desireless you forever take up the yoke and bear it.

12.170.7 Owning nothing, wandering free, you shall taste happiness; the man who owns nothing sleeps in peace and rises in peace as well.

12.170.8 Possessionlessness is happiness in this world — wholesome, blessed, free of disease, and free of enemies; hard for most to win, yet easily won by the good.

12.170.9 Surveying the three worlds, I see nothing to equal the man who owns nothing, who is pure and complete in every way.

12.170.10 I weighed possessionlessness and kingship together in the balance, and poverty outweighed kingship, richer still in virtue.

12.170.11 Between possessionlessness and kingship the difference is vast indeed: the wealthy man is forever in dread, like one held in the very jaws of death.

12.170.12 Neither fire nor the sun, neither death nor robbers can prevail against the man who is free of the ruin that wealth brings and free of all craving.

12.170.13 Him the dwellers in heaven ever praise — the man who roams at will, who lies down on no spread bed, his arm for a pillow, abiding in stillness.

12.170.14 The wealthy man, possessed by anger and greed, his wits undone, looks askance with a dry mouth, malign, his face contorted in a scowl.

12.170.15 Biting his lower lip in his rage, harsh in his speech — who would wish even to look upon such a man, though he offered to grant the whole earth?

12.170.16 Constant fellowship with Fortune deludes the man without discernment; she carries off his mind as the wind sweeps away an autumn cloud.

12.170.17 Then pride of beauty and pride of wealth take hold of him: "I am nobly born, I am accomplished, I am no mere mortal" — by these three causes his mind is overflowed and swept away.

12.170.18 His mind thus carried off, he squanders the enjoyments his fathers had heaped up, and once reduced to want, he thinks it fitting to seize the goods of others.

12.170.19 As he oversteps all bounds, snatching from this side and that, the kings hold him back, the greedy man, as huntsmen check a beast with their arrows.

12.170.20 Thus do these sorrows, and those, of many kinds, come upon a man in this life, and with them too the pains born of the body's contact with things.

12.170.21 For those supreme sorrows let a man apply the remedy of wisdom, having well understood the way of the world — that the lasting goes mingled with the fleeting.

12.170.22 Without renouncing, one wins no happiness; without renouncing, one attains not the highest; without renouncing, one sleeps not free of fear — so renounce all and be happy.

12.170.23 Thus was this set forth to me long ago in Hāstinapura by the brāhmaṇa Śamyāka; and therefore renunciation is held by me to be supreme.

12.171.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: If a man, straining at his ventures, fails to gain wealth, and is overborne by the thirst for wealth — by what conduct might he yet find happiness?

12.171.2 Bhīṣma said: Even-mindedness toward all, freedom from striving, truthful speech, O Bhārata, dispassion and the absence of craving to know — the man who has these is the happy one.

12.171.3 These five steps, the elders say, lead to tranquillity; and this is heaven, this is dharma, and this the unsurpassed happiness of the good.

12.171.4 On this too they recite an ancient tale — what Maṅki sang out of his dispassion; hear it now, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.171.5 Maṅki, striving after wealth, his efforts broken again and again, with the last remnant of his money bought a pair of young oxen for the yoke.

12.171.6 The two untrained beasts, well harnessed, set out to be broken in, and all at once they rushed straight past a camel that sat in their path.

12.171.7 As the two reached its shoulders, the camel, enraged, sprang up, hoisted the pair of young oxen aloft, and bolted away at great speed.

12.171.8 Seeing his two young oxen carried off by that furious camel, and dying as they were carried, Maṅki spoke these words then and there:

12.171.9 Wealth that fate has not ordained cannot be won even by the able man — even by one diligent, full of faith, pursuing his effort rightly.

12.171.10 Though I labored beforehand, beset by misfortunes, and toiled on still, behold by what chance my fate has overtaken me with calamity!

12.171.11 Heaving up my two young beasts again and again, it makes off as over rough ground, tossing them by sheer chance — as a jackal is crushed by a falling palm-fruit.

12.171.12 My two dear young bullocks dangle like the two pendants at a camel's neck. This is fate, pure and simple; here there is no human effort at all.

12.171.13 And even if what is called human effort should somewhere come to bear, when one searches it out, that too rests upon fate alone.

12.171.14 Therefore the man who longs for happiness must come to dispassion in this world; the dispassionate sleeps in peace, having given up hope of gaining gain.

12.171.15 Ah, how rightly it was spoken by Śuka, who set himself free from everything, departing from Janaka's dwelling into the great forest!

12.171.16 Of him who might obtain all desires and him who would utterly renounce them, the renunciation of all desires surpasses the gaining of them all.

12.171.17 No one has ever yet reached the end of all his cravings to know; for the dull-witted man, thirst only swells — thirst for the body and for life itself.

12.171.18 Turn back, O my own self, from your cravings to know; grow calm, grow weary of them. Time and again you have been thwarted, and still, my dear body, you take no disgust at it.

12.171.19 If I am not to be your ruin, if you would still take your delight in me, then do not yoke me to greed in vain, you craver of riches!

12.171.20 Heaped up and heaped up, your goods have been lost again and again. When will you let go, you fool, your longing for wealth, you craver of wealth?

12.171.21 Ah, what folly is mine, that I have been your plaything! Should a man ever sink into bondage as the servant of others?

12.171.22 Neither those of old nor those of later times have ever reached the end of desires. Forsaking all my ventures, I am awakened now — I am awake!

12.171.23 Surely your heart, O Desire, is hard and made of the very essence of adamant, that, beset by a hundred miseries, it is not split into a hundred shards.

12.171.24 I renounce you, Desire, and all that is dear to you. Seeking your happiness, I now find happiness instead within my own Self.

12.171.25 Desire, I know your root: it is from willful imagining that you are born. I shall imagine you no longer, and so, root and all, you shall cease to be.

12.171.26 The striving for wealth is no happiness; once gained, the anxiety only grows. To lose what is gained is like death, and whether it stays gained or not remains uncertain.

12.171.27 For him who exerts himself and gains nothing — what is more painful than that? And he who gains is not content with what he has gained, but only seeks for more.

12.171.28 Wealth only breeds fresh thirst, sweet as the water of the Gaṅgā; yet this is what undoes me. I am awakened now — let it go!

12.171.29 Whatever throng of elements has taken shelter in this body of mine — let it depart hence as it pleases, or dwell on as it finds ease.

12.171.30 I take no delight in you here, you that run after desire and greed; therefore, casting you all off, I take refuge in truth alone.

12.171.31 Beholding all beings within my body and within the mind of the Self, fixing my intellect on yoga, my being on sacred lore, and my mind on Brahman —

12.171.32 I shall wander free of attachment, happy and untroubled through the worlds, so that you, Desire, may never again plunge me thus into sorrows.

12.171.33 For driven on by you, I find no other course; for you, O Desire, are forever the wellspring of thirst, of grief, and of toil.

12.171.34 The loss of wealth I count the greater grief, greatest of all; for kinsmen and friends alike despise the man fallen from his riches.

12.171.35 In poverty the troubles are harsher, with a thousand humiliations; and what little fraction of happiness lies in wealth, that too is meted out only through sorrows.

12.171.36 "This man has wealth" — and at once robbers strike him down, torment him with manifold punishments, and harry him without end.

12.171.37 That the dull man's covetousness is misery I have understood at long last: whatever you fasten upon, O Desire, to that very thing you bind yourself.

12.171.38 You know not the truth of things, you are a child, hard to satisfy, a fire never to be filled. You know not what is easy to win, nor what is hard.

12.171.39 Hard to fill as the netherworld, you wish to yoke me to sorrows; but no longer, Desire, can you wrap me round again.

12.171.40 Having come, by the chance loss of my goods, to dispassion, and having reached the highest peace, I no longer give a thought to desires.

12.171.41 I have borne extreme afflictions here, witless and unawakened; brought low by the loss of wealth, I lay with every limb burning with fever.

12.171.42 I cast you off entirely, O Desire, abandoning every wandering of the mind. No more, Desire, will you make sport with me as with a beast led by a nose-rope.

12.171.43 I shall forgive those who do not forgive; though injured, I shall do no injury; spoken to with hatred, I shall answer kindly, paying no heed to that unkindness.

12.171.44 Content, my senses ever at rest within themselves, living on whatever comes to hand, I will not let you have your way, you who are the enemy of my Self.

12.171.45 Know that I have taken refuge in dispassion, in repose, in contentment, in peace, in truth, in self-restraint, in forbearance, and in compassion for all beings.

12.171.46 Therefore let desire and greed, thirst and wretchedness, all forsake me as I take my stand; for now I am established in pure being.

12.171.47 Having cast away desire and greed, anger and harshness, no longer fallen under the sway of greed shall I, an undisciplined man, come to grief.

12.171.48 Each desire that a man renounces, by just so much is he filled with happiness; but he who is forever in thrall to desire walks straight into sorrow.

12.171.49 Casting aside desires, a man shakes off whatever passion clings to him — the sorrow born of desire and anger, and shamelessness, and discontent as well.

12.171.50 Here am I, entered into Brahman as into a cool lake in the heat of summer; I grow still, I am wholly quenched, and I abide in pure happiness alone.

12.171.51 Whatever happiness of desire there is in the world, and whatever great happiness is divine — these are not worth a sixteenth part of the happiness that is the extinction of thirst.

12.171.52 Having slain Desire — the seventh enemy, counting the Self — as one slays a foremost foe, and reached the unassailable city of Brahman, I shall be happy as a king.

12.171.53 Taking his stand upon this insight, Maṅki came to dispassion, and forsaking all desires, attained Brahman, the great happiness.

12.171.54 Through the loss of his young oxen, it is said, Maṅki attained immortality; he cut away the root of desire, and thereby won the great happiness.

12.171.55 On this too they recite an ancient tale — what was sung by Janaka, king of the Videhas, as he attained tranquillity.

12.171.56 Boundless indeed is my wealth, I who possess nothing at all! Though Mithilā burn, nothing of mine is consumed in the fire.

12.171.57 On this very point they recite this collection of sayings of Bodhya, set forth concerning detachment. Heed it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.171.58 King Nahuṣa questioned the seer Bodhya, the self-restrained, who through detachment had attained peace—serene and contented in wisdom.

12.171.59 "O greatly wise one, teach me the instruction in tranquility. Reflecting upon what insight do you wander serene and at rest?"

12.171.60 Bodhya said: I live by instruction, yet I instruct no one here. I will declare its mark; let it be pondered for oneself.

12.171.61 Piṅgalā, the osprey, the serpent, the questing bee in the forest, the arrow-maker, and the maiden—these six are my teachers.

12.172.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: By what conduct, O knower of conduct, may one wander the earth free of sorrow? And by doing what does a man in the world attain the supreme goal?

12.172.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recite this ancient tale, the dialogue of Prahrāda and the sage of the python's vow.

12.172.3 O king, a certain brāhmaṇa was wandering, sound of mind and free of ailment, when the intelligent Prahrāda, honored among the wise, questioned him.

12.172.4 "At ease, capable, gentle, self-restrained, without craving to know, free of malice, fair of speech, highly esteemed in the world and wise—yet you wander like a child.

12.172.5 You do not seek after gain, nor do you grieve at not gaining; as though ever content, O brāhmaṇa, you despise nothing at all.

12.172.6 While creatures are swept along by the current, you seem untroubled; amid the affairs of dharma, desire, and gain you appear immovable as an anvil.

12.172.7 You pursue neither dharma nor wealth, nor do you occupy yourself with desire; disregarding the objects of the senses, you wander free, like a mere witness.

12.172.8 What then is your wisdom, what your learning, what your way of life, O sage? Tell me quickly, O brāhmaṇa, what you here hold to be the highest good."

12.172.9 Thus questioned, that sagacious one, knower of the world's ways and ordinances, replied to Prahrāda in gentle speech that did not stray from its purpose.

12.172.10 Seeing, O Prahrāda, the arising of beings without apparent cause, and their decline, growth, and destruction, I neither rejoice nor am I distressed.

12.172.11 Seeing that all activities proceed by their own nature and are bound up wholly with their own nature, I am tormented by nothing.

12.172.12 Seeing, O Prahrāda, that unions end in separations and that accumulations end in ruin, I fix my mind upon nothing.

12.172.13 For one who sees that beings, endowed with their qualities, are perishable, and who knows their origin and their end—what task remains to be done?

12.172.14 For even of the creatures born of the water I perceive the end in due succession—of great bodies and of small alike within the great ocean.

12.172.15 And of beings moving and unmoving, O lord of the asuras, and of those of the earth as well, I plainly behold death on every side.

12.172.16 And of the birds that move through the sky, O foremost of the dānavas, death arises in its due time, even for the strong.

12.172.17 And the lights that move across the heavens, both small and great, I observe falling in their due time.

12.172.18 Thus seeing all beings pursued by death, knowing it the common lot of all, I, my task fulfilled, sleep at ease.

12.172.19 A very great mouthful, if it comes to me by chance, I swallow; and again, eating nothing, I lie down for many days together.

12.172.20 Food flows to me sometimes abundant and of many kinds, sometimes meager and of few, and sometimes it does not come at all.

12.172.21 Sometimes I eat broken grains, and sometimes I swallow oil-cake; again I partake of fine rice and meat, and of foods of every degree.

12.172.22 Sometimes I lie on a couch, and again I lie on the bare ground; and sometimes a bed in a palace is mine.

12.172.23 I wear rags, hempen cloth, linen, and hides; and at another time I wear garments of great worth.

12.172.24 What lawful enjoyment falls to me by chance I do not refuse; yet neither do I cling to it, however hard it be to obtain.

12.172.25 Unshakable, deathless, blessed, free of grief, pure, unequalled, established in the esteem of the wise—not approved, not practiced by the foolish: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.26 Steadfast of mind, never fallen from my own dharma, restrained in my wanderings, knower of the high and the low, freed of fear, taint, greed, and delusion: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.27 With fruit, food, fare, and drink unfixed, with place and time apportioned by the turning of fate, a delight to the heart, unpracticed by the miserly: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.28 Having keenly observed, with insight into truth, mankind overwhelmed by craving—"this, and this"—failing to win wealth and sinking in despair: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.29 Having seen in many ways how, for the sake of gain, the noble man here resorts wretchedly to the ignoble—taking delight in calm, self-possessed and serene: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.30 Pleasure and pain, loss and the winning of gain, delight and aversion, death and life—seeing all of these in truth ordained by fate: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.31 Freed of fear, passion, delusion, and pride, endowed with steadfastness, judgment, and intellect, serene—having marked those given over to the enjoyment of results: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.32 My couch and seat unfixed by nature, possessed of restraint, observance, vow, truth, and purity, freed of the hoarding of results, and glad: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.33 Having come to understand, and seeing how striving for gain brings on misery, abiding in the self, to rein in the thirsting, unsteady mind: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.34 Neither heart nor mind clings, as I keep in view the rareness of what is dear and pleasant and its impermanence—observing both of these together: this python's vow I follow in purity.

12.172.35 Much indeed has this been told by intelligent seers, by poets seeking to spread their own renown—"this, and this," here and there, that and that—who reasoned out a thicket of their own and others' doctrines.

12.172.36 Having observed all this—divided, severally embraced here by men of no understanding, unsettled, its shore a boundlessness of faults—I move among men, my anger and craving subdued.

12.172.37 Bhīṣma said: That great-souled man who here would follow the python's vow and course, with passion subdued, freed of fear, wrath, greed, and delusion—he indeed would pass through this sojourn in happiness.

12.173.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Kinsmen, action, wealth, or wisdom—which here, O grandsire, is a man's true foundation? Being asked this, tell it to me.

12.173.2 Bhīṣma said: Wisdom is the foundation of beings; wisdom is held the highest gain. Wisdom leads to the supreme good in the world; wisdom is reckoned heaven by the good.

12.173.3 For by wisdom Bali attained his end even at the ruin of his sovereignty, as did Prahrāda, Namuci, and Maṅki. What is found that surpasses it?

12.173.4 On this too they recite this ancient tale, the dialogue of Indra and Kāśyapa. Learn it, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.173.5 A certain vaiśya, my son, prosperous and arrogant, struck down with his chariot the seer Kāśyapa, an ascetic firm in his vows.

12.173.6 Struck down, suffering and enraged, ready to renounce his own life, he then said: "I shall die. For one without wealth here, there is no purpose in living."

12.173.7 As he sat thus wishing to die, uttering no sound and senseless, his mind full of wrath, Indra in the form of a jackal addressed him.

12.173.8 "All beings everywhere long for birth in the human womb; and within humanity, all rejoice at the state of a brāhmaṇa.

12.173.9 You are a human, and a brāhmaṇa, and learned in the Veda, O Kāśyapa. Having won this most rare estate, free of blemish, you wish to die?

12.173.10 "All gains breed conceit"—true indeed is that saying! You are one whose lot ought to content you, yet out of greed you set such store by more.

12.173.11 Ah, how fulfilled are they who have hands in this world! We long for those who possess hands, just as you long for wealth.

12.173.12 No gain whatever is greater than the gaining of hands. Lacking hands, O brāhmaṇa, we cannot even pull out the thorns from our flesh.

12.173.13 But those to whom the gods have given two hands with ten fingers pull worms from their bodies and scratch the spots that itch.

12.173.14 They contrive their protection against cold, rain, and heat, and enjoy clothing, food, comfort, a bed, and shelter from the wind.

12.173.15 Mastering the ox in the world they live off it and make it draw their loads, and by many devices they bring others under their sway.

12.173.16 Those wretched ones who are tongueless, weak of breath, and without hands endure such miseries; by good fortune, O sage, you are not so.

12.173.17 By good fortune you are no jackal, no worm, no mouse, no serpent, no frog, nor any other born of a wretched womb.

12.173.18 With even so much for your portion you ought to be content, O Kāśyapa—how much more, you who are, among all creatures, the foremost of brāhmaṇas!

12.173.19 These worms here are devouring me, and to pull them off I have no power, for I lack hands. Behold this plight of mine!

12.173.20 Yet, knowing it a thing not to be done, I do not cast off this self of mine, lest from here I fall into some other, still more wretched womb.

12.173.21 This jackal's birth I have come to lies in the midst of wretched births; far more numerous than this are other, still more wretched wombs.

12.173.22 By birth alone some are happier, while others are sorely afflicted; nowhere here do I see unmixed happiness for anyone.

12.173.23 For men, having gained wealth, next desire a kingdom; from a kingdom they desire godhood, and from godhood even the rank of Indra.

12.173.24 Though you were to become rich, you would be neither king nor god; and even gaining godhood and the rank of Indra, you would still not be content.

12.173.25 There is no satiety in winning what one loves; thirst is not quenched by waters—it blazes up again the more, like fire fed with fuel.

12.173.26 In you there is indeed grief, and joy as well is in you; both pleasure and pain are there—so why this lamenting?

12.173.27 Cutting off the very root of all desires and all deeds, restrain the host of the senses, as birds are confined within a cage.

12.173.28 For in one who knows no relish, desire is nowhere born; it arises from touch, or from sight, or from hearing.

12.173.29 You do not recall the taste of spirituous liquor or of the laṭvā birds, and yet there is found nowhere any food more delectable than these.

12.173.30 And as for those other foods and dishes in distant lands, O Kāśyapa, which you have never tasted before—of them there is for you not even a memory.

12.173.31 Not tasting, not touching, and not even looking upon—this self-restraint, I think, is a man's higher good; of that there is no doubt.

12.173.32 Men possessed of hands, endowed with wealth and strong—of this there is no doubt—are yet by their fellow men reduced to slavery.

12.173.33 They are afflicted again and again with the torments of slaughter, bondage, and distress; and yet even they take pleasure, and rejoice, and laugh.

12.173.34 Others, mighty of arm, accomplished in learning and high of spirit, take up a despised, abject, and sinful manner of life.

12.173.35 And though they are able to follow some other way of life, what is ordained by their own past deeds must come to pass even so.

12.173.36 Neither the pulkasa nor the caṇḍāla wishes to cast off his own life, though discontented with his own birth—behold what manner of illusion this is!

12.173.37 Seeing men maimed, palsied, and diseased, you are fully blessed in your own birth, and one who has won every gain, O Kāśyapa.

12.173.38 If, O brāhmaṇa, your body is free of dread and free of disease, your limbs all whole, and you are nowhere scorned among the worlds,

12.173.39 and not by any rumor, however true and damaging — then rise up for the sake of dharma, O sage among the twice-born; you ought not to cast your self away.

12.173.40 If, O brāhmaṇa, you hear this and place your trust in my words, you will win the foremost fruit of the dharma declared in the Vedas.

12.173.41 Vigilantly maintain your recitation of scripture and your tending of the sacred fire; uphold truth, self-restraint, and giving, and contend in rivalry with no one.

12.173.42 Whoever are devoted to their own study and have attained to sacrificing and to officiating at sacrifice — how should they ever grieve, or brood upon anything unworthy?

12.173.43 Seeking their delight, they would attain great happiness — born, moreover, under an auspicious constellation, at a holy ford, in a favorable hour.

12.173.44 Others, born under demonic constellations, at unholy fords, in an evil hour, fall into a demonic womb, bereft of the begetting of sacrifice.

12.173.45 I myself was a petty pundit, a hairsplitting rationalist, a reviler of the Vedas, attached to the science of logic and the empty art of argument.

12.173.46 I was a proclaimer of disputatious doctrines, a speaker who argued with seeming reason in assemblies, a reviler and a contradicter of the twice-born at the offerings to Brahman.

12.173.47 A denier, doubting everything, a fool who fancied himself learned — and this, O twice-born one, is the ripening of that fruit for me: my jackal-state.

12.173.48 Might it ever come to pass, even after a hundred hundreds of days and nights, that I, a jackal, should attain the human womb again?

12.173.49 Then, content and vigilant, delighting in sacrifice, giving, and austerity, I would become a knower of what should be known and one who shuns what should be shunned.

12.173.50 Then the sage Kāśyapa rose up and said to him, marveling, "Ah, truly you are skilled and wise!"

12.173.51 The brāhmaṇa looked upon him with the far-reaching eye of knowledge, and beheld him to be Indra, lord of the gods, the consort of Śacī.

12.173.52 Then Kāśyapa did honor to the god borne by bay steeds, and, dismissed by him, he entered his own hermitage.

12.174.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: If there be giving, or sacrifice, or austerity practiced, and likewise the service of one's elders — tell me of this, grandfather.

12.174.2 Bhīṣma said: Of itself, joined to ruin, the mind settles into evil; and that man, having wrought a defiled deed, is plunged into great affliction.

12.174.3 From famine to famine, from affliction to affliction, from fear to fear, from the dead to deeper death — so the poor and the evildoers pass on.

12.174.4 From festival to festival, from heaven to heaven, from joy to joy they pass — the faithful, the self-restrained, the wealthy, the doers of good.

12.174.5 Through fastnesses of beasts of prey and rutting elephants, amid perils of serpents and thieves, the deniers go — bound at the wrists. What worse than this?

12.174.6 But those dear to gods and guests, openhanded, friends of the good, have taken to the safe road of the self-possessed, where the right hand gives.

12.174.7 Like blighted grains among the wholesome, like winged ants among the birds, such are they among men for whom dharma is not the governing cause.

12.174.8 Though a man run very swiftly, ordained destiny runs after him; it lies down beside him who lies down — in whatever manner each deed was wrought.

12.174.9 It stands beside him who stands, it follows him who goes, it acts upon him who acts — like a shadow it conforms to his deed.

12.174.10 By whatever means, in whatever manner, whatever deed a man has amassed before, just that he forever undergoes, ordained by his own self.

12.174.11 Scattered by the fruit of its own deeds, hedged about by ordinance, this host of beings Time drags onward from every side.

12.174.12 As flowers and fruits, all unurged, do not overrun their proper season, so too the deed done long ago does not exceed its time.

12.174.13 Honor and dishonor, gain and loss, decline and rise — once set in motion, they turn back again and again as their ordinance runs out.

12.174.14 Sorrow is appointed by oneself, joy is appointed by oneself; from the very bed of the womb onward, the deeds of a former body are undergone.

12.174.15 Whatever good or evil a man does as child, as youth, or as elder, that he undergoes in each such condition, birth after birth.

12.174.16 As among thousands of cows the calf finds out its mother, so the deed done before goes after the one who did it.

12.174.17 A cloth, first soaked, is afterward made clean by labor; so for those purified by fasting there is happiness long and without end.

12.174.18 Through long-cultivated austerity in the penance-grove, for those whose evil has been shaken off by dharma, the heart's desires come to fulfillment.

12.174.19 As the track of birds in the sky cannot be seen, nor that of fishes in the water, so is the course of those who know the truth.

12.174.20 Enough of further reproaches and of transgressions recounted: what is fitting and seemly and good for the self — that is to be done.

12.175.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Whence was this whole universe created, the world of things unmoving and moving, and into what does it pass at the dissolution? Tell me this, grandfather.

12.175.2 With its oceans, with its sky, with its mountains, with its clouds, with its earth, with its fire and wind — by whom was this world fashioned?

12.175.3 How were the beings created? How came the distinctions of the social orders? And how their purity and impurity, and how their right and wrong?

12.175.4 Of what nature is the life-soul of the living, and whither go those who die? From this world to that world — let your honor declare it all to us.

12.175.5 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount an ancient tale — the excellent teaching spoken by Bhṛgu to Bharadvāja, who questioned him.

12.175.6 On the peak of Kailāsa, seeing the great sage Bhṛgu seated and blazing, as it were, with splendor, Bharadvāja questioned him:

12.175.7 With its oceans, with its sky, with its mountains, with its clouds, with its earth, with its fire and wind — by whom was this world fashioned?

12.175.8 How were the beings created? How came the distinctions of the social orders? And how their purity and impurity, and how their right and wrong?

12.175.9 Of what nature is the life-soul of the living, and whither go those who die? Of this world and the next alike — let your honor declare it all to us.

12.175.10 Thus questioned in his doubt by Bharadvāja, the blessed great sage, like Brahman in his radiance, then declared it all to him.

12.175.11 There is a god renowned by the name of Mānasa (the Mind-born), of whom the great sages have heard of old — without beginning or end, indivisible, ageless and undying;

12.175.12 renowned as the Unmanifest, eternal, imperishable, undecaying — from whom the created beings are born and die.

12.175.13 That god first created what is called by name the Great One — renowned as Space (ākāśa) — the Lord who upholds all beings.

12.175.14 From space arose the waters; from the waters, fire and wind; and from the union of fire and wind there then came to be the earth.

12.175.15 Then a divine lotus, made of splendor, was created by the Self-existent; and from that lotus arose Brahmā, the treasure-store made of the Vedas.

12.175.16 Brahmā, of exceeding splendor, is known as the I-principle (ahaṃkāra), maker of the inmost being of all creatures; and these are the five elements.

12.175.17 The mountains are called his bones, and the earth his marrow and his flesh; the oceans are his blood, and space, likewise, his belly.

12.175.18 The wind is his breath, fire his bodily heat, the rivers his veins; the moon and the sun, Agni and Soma, are renowned as his two eyes.

12.175.19 The sky on high is his head, the earth his feet, the quarters his arms; hard to be known, because of his endlessness, even by the perfected ones — of this there is no doubt.

12.175.20 That very one is the blessed Viṣṇu, renowned as the Endless (Ananta), dwelling as the inmost self of all beings, hard to be known by those of unperfected soul.

12.175.21 He is the creator of the I-principle, for the coming-to-be of all beings; from him the universe arose — this is what you have asked of me here.

12.175.22 Bharadvāja said: Of the sky and of the quarters, of the earth's surface and of the wind — what are their measures here? Cut away my doubt, truly and to the point.

12.175.23 Bhṛgu said: Endless is this space, frequented by Siddhas and Cāraṇas, delightful, crowded with manifold abodes, whose end is not to be reached.

12.175.24 Above the range of their motion, beneath which the moon and the sun are not seen, there dwell gods self-luminous, shining, with the radiance of fire.

12.175.25 Yet even they, of famed splendor, do not behold the end of the heavens, by reason of its impassability and its endlessness — know this from me, O bestower of honor.

12.175.26 Yet higher and higher still, by self-luminous blazing ones, this space is barred — immeasurable even by the gods.

12.175.27 At the earth's end are the oceans; at the oceans' end darkness is held to be; at the end of darkness they declare there is water, and at the end of the water, fire.

12.175.28 At the end of the nether deep is water; at the water's end, the lord of serpents; beyond that again is space, and at space's end again water.

12.175.29 Thus the end and the measure of the Blessed One, and of the waters too, drawn from fire, wind, and water, is hard to be known even by the gods.

12.175.30 The colors of fire, wind, and water, and of the earth's surface — these are like space itself, and are distinguished only by the seeing of truth.

12.175.31 And the sages recite in their various scriptures the measure ordained for the three worlds and for the ocean; but for that which is unseen and unattainable, who could set forth a measure?

12.175.32 Since the course of the Siddhas and the gods is bounded, the name Ananta of the Endless One is renowned as figurative — fitting the title of the great-souled Mānasa whose appellation suits him.

12.175.33 But when that divine form shrinks and again grows great, who else is able to know it, even were there another of like nature?

12.175.34 Then from the lotus was created the all-knowing, embodied Lord, Brahmā — made of dharma, the first, the Lord of creatures, unsurpassed.

12.175.35 Bharadvāja said: If he came to be from the lotus, then the lotus is the elder; yet your honor calls Brahmā the firstborn. Herein is my very doubt.

12.175.36 Bhṛgu said: That form of the Mind-born which here attained the state of Brahmā — for the purpose of providing it a seat, the earth is called the lotus.

12.175.37 The pericarp of that lotus is Meru, towering into the sky; established in its midst, the Lord of the world brings forth the realms.

12.176.1 Bharadvāja said: How does that Lord bring forth the manifold emanation of creatures — Brahmā, established in the midst of Meru? Tell me that, O best of the twice-born.

12.176.2 Bhṛgu said: The Mind-born brought forth the manifold emanation of creatures by his mind; and for the kindling-into-life of beings, water was created first of all.

12.176.3 That by which the life-breaths of all beings thrive, and by which creatures, once forsaken of it, perish — by that is all this enveloped.

12.176.4 The earth, the mountains, the clouds, and whatever else has form — all that is to be known as born of the waters; for the waters then congealed.

12.176.5 Bharadvāja said: How was the water brought forth, and how the fire and the wind, and how was the earth created? Herein is my great doubt.

12.176.6 Bhṛgu said: Of old, O brāhmaṇa, in the age of Brahmā, at an assembly of the great-souled brahmin-sages, there arose a doubt concerning the world's origin.

12.176.7 They remained, taking up meditation and holding to silence, unmoving — those twice-born ones, foregoing food and drinking only the wind, for a divine hundred years.

12.176.8 To the hearing of them all there came a voice made of dharma; there the divine Sarasvatī came into being out of the vault of heaven.

12.176.9 In the beginning space was motionless and soundless, like a mountain at rest; with moon, sun, and wind alike extinguished, it seemed as though asleep.

12.176.10 Then water came into being, like one darkness arising within another darkness; and from the pressure of that swelling water the wind sprang up.

12.176.11 Just as an unbroken vessel appears to be silent, yet when it is being filled with water the moving air within makes a sound,

12.176.12 so too, when the unbroken vault of the firmament was wholly shut in by water, the wind, breaking through the floor of the ocean, surged upward with a roar.

12.176.13 This wind, born of the churning pressure of the ocean, ranges abroad; though it reaches the region of space, it finds no rest there.

12.176.14 In that friction of wind and water there appears a being of blazing splendor and mighty power, its flames leaping upward, making the heavens free of darkness.

12.176.15 Fire, joined with the wind, draws water up out of the sky; and that fire, through its union with the wind, comes to take on density.

12.176.16 The other unctuous residue of it that falls and remains within space, having attained solidity, passes into the state of earth.

12.176.17 Earth is to be known here as the womb of all flavors, all scents, all unctuous things, and of all living creatures; in her all things are brought forth.

12.177.1 Bharadvāja said: These are the five elements which Brahmā created of old, by which these worlds are enveloped, and which are designated the great elements.

12.177.2 Since that great-minded one created creatures by the thousands, how is it that elemental nature belongs to these five alone?

12.177.3 Bhṛgu said: From these the countless beings, vast in their reach, come into existence; therefore this name, the great elements, rightly belongs to them.

12.177.4 Motion is wind; the void is space; heat is fire; the fluid is water; and the solid mass here is earth — thus the body is composed of the five elements.

12.177.5 Thus all that moves and all that is fixed is joined of these five elements; and hearing, smell, taste, touch, and sight are what we call the senses.

12.177.6 Bharadvāja said: If both the moving and the unmoving are joined of the five elements, why are the five elements not seen in the bodies of unmoving things?

12.177.7 In trees, which in truth are without heat, without motion, and dense, the five elements are not perceived within their bodies.

12.177.8 They do not hear, they do not see, they perceive neither smell nor taste, and they do not know touch; how then are they composed of the five elements?

12.177.9 Being without fluidity, without fire, without earthiness, without wind, and since space is immeasurable in them, trees seem to have no elemental composition at all.

12.177.10 Bhṛgu said: Even in dense trees there is space, without doubt; its manifestation is ever observed in their flowers and fruits.

12.177.11 From heat, in trees whose leaves are wilting, the bark, fruit, and flower wither, and again in cold they fade; so it is not the case that touch is absent in them.

12.177.12 By the buffeting of wind, fire, and lightning their fruit and flower fall away; sound is grasped by the organ of hearing, and therefore trees do hear.

12.177.13 A creeper coils about a tree and goes everywhere over it; but for one without sight there is no way to find its path, therefore trees do see.

12.177.14 By scents both pure and impure, and by various fragrant smokes, trees grow healthy and come to bloom; therefore trees do smell.

12.177.15 By its roots a tree drinks water, and it shows signs of sickness too; and since it can be treated for disease, the sense of taste exists in the tree.

12.177.16 Just as one might draw water upward through the mouth of a lotus-stalk, so the tree, joined with the wind within it, drinks through its roots.

12.177.17 From their capacity to feel pleasure and pain, and from the resprouting of what has been cut, I perceive that trees possess life; insentience is not their condition.

12.177.18 That water which is thus drawn up is digested by the fire and wind within, and from the transformation of this nourishment arise sap and growth.

12.177.19 In the bodies of all moving creatures the five elements are present and are each severally distinguished, by which the body is set in motion.

12.177.20 Skin, flesh, bones, marrow, and sinew as the fifth — these are reckoned here to be the earthy portion in the body.

12.177.21 Vital heat, fire, anger, the eye, and bodily warmth, and the fire that digests as well — these five are the fiery elements in embodied beings.

12.177.22 The ear, the nose, the mouth, the heart, and the belly's hollow — these five constituents arise from space in the bodies of living creatures.

12.177.23 Phlegm, bile, sweat, fat, and blood — thus water is present fivefold in the body of living beings at all times.

12.177.24 By the prāṇa breath the living being is sustained; by the vyāna it exerts itself; the apāna passes downward and out; and the samāna abides in the heart.

12.177.25 By the udāna one breathes out, and by its distinct workings one speaks; these are the five vital airs that set the embodied being in motion here.

12.177.26 The embodied one knows the property of scent from earth, and flavor from water; it sees light with its eyes, and knows touch by means of wind.

12.177.27 Of that scent I shall declare the qualities set forth in full: the pleasant and the unpleasant scent, the sweet, and likewise the pungent,

12.177.28 the penetrating, the compact, the unctuous, the dry, and the clear — thus the range of earthly scent is to be known as ninefold.

12.177.29 Sound, touch, form, and flavor are held to be the qualities of water; now I shall declare the knowledge of flavor — hear it from me as I speak.

12.177.30 Flavor is declared to be of many kinds by the wise of renowned mind: sweet, salty, bitter, astringent, sour, and pungent; this is the sixfold range of flavor, held to consist of water.

12.177.31 Light is said to have three qualities: sound, touch, and form; by light one sees forms, and form is held to be of many kinds.

12.177.32 Short, long, large, square, minute, round; white, black, red, blue, yellow, and tawny — thus the quality of form belonging to light is held to be twelvefold.

12.177.33 Wind is said to have two qualities, which are to be known as sound and touch; the quality proper to wind is touch, and touch is held to be of many kinds.

12.177.34 Hard, smooth, sleek, slimy, soft, rough, hot, cold, pleasant, painful, unctuous, and clear — thus the quality belonging to wind is said to be twelvefold.

12.177.35 Among these, space has but a single quality, which is held to be sound alone; of that sound I shall declare the manifold range.

12.177.36 Ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha and gāndhāra, madhyama and pañcama, and dhaivata likewise are to be known, and so too the niṣāda.

12.177.37 This quality, the mark of space, is declared to be sevenfold; yet through its three registers it abides everywhere, even in drums and the like.

12.177.38 Sound, they say, is born of space together with these qualities of wind; one becomes aware of it when the airs come unobstructed, but knows it not when they come awry.

12.177.39 These constituents are ever nourished by those constituents; and water, fire, and wind are ever awake within embodied beings.

12.178.1 Bharadvāja said: Resting upon the earthy element, how does the fire of the body come to be? And by what distinct apportionment of space does the wind carry on its work?

12.178.2 Bhṛgu said: O brāhmaṇa, O sinless one, I shall recount to you the movement of the wind, and how the mighty air sets the bodies of living creatures in motion.

12.178.3 Fire, resting in the head, guards over the body; and the prāṇa breath, moving in the head and in that fire, sets all in motion.

12.178.4 That living being is the Self of all beings; he is the eternal Person; he is mind, intellect, and ego-sense, the elements, and their objects.

12.178.5 Thus here he is everywhere sustained by the prāṇa, and by the samāna from behind, each air abiding in its own proper course.

12.178.6 Resting upon the base of the bladder, the rectum, and the digestive fire, the apāna circulates, bearing away urine and excrement.

12.178.7 That single one which operates in the three — in effort, in action, and in strength — they who know the inner Self call the udāna.

12.178.8 And the air that is set within all the joints in the bodies of men is taught to be the vyāna.

12.178.9 The fire diffused throughout the bodily constituents, driven on by the samāna, abides there, setting the chyles, the constituents, and the humors in their course.

12.178.10 Between the apāna and the prāṇa, joined together with prāṇa and apāna, well established in its own seat, the digestive fire thoroughly cooks the food.

12.178.11 The mouth is joined with the anal passage, which at its end is called the rectum, the channel; from this arise all the channels of embodied beings.

12.178.12 And from the meeting together of the vital airs their concourse arises; what is to be known as heat and fire is that which cooks the food of embodied beings.

12.178.13 The prāṇa, borne on the rush of fire, is checked at the end of the rectum; then, coming back upward, it again casts up the digestive fire.

12.178.14 The seat of the digested food lies below the navel, the seat of the undigested above it; in the midmost navel of the body all the vital airs are gathered.

12.178.15 Spread out from the heart, sideways, upward, and downward, the ten vessels, impelled by the vital breath, carry the chyle of food.

12.178.16 This is the path of the yogins, by which they reach that supreme station; steadfast, with weariness conquered and posture mastered, they have placed the Self within the head.

12.178.17 Thus the fire is set within all the prāṇas and apānas of embodied beings, abiding there forever, as one gathered within a cooking-pot.

12.179.1 Bharadvāja said: If it is the wind that breathes, the wind alone that moves, that breathes and that speaks, then the soul is of no purpose at all.

12.179.2 If the state of heat is of fire, if it is by fire that the food is cooked, and if it is fire that digests, then the soul is of no purpose at all.

12.179.3 When a creature is dying, no soul is found to be present; the wind alone forsakes it, and its state of warmth perishes.

12.179.4 If the soul were like the wind, if it were but conjunction with the wind, it would be visible like a whirl of air and would go off together with the troops of winds.

12.179.5 And if it is a conjunction with the wind, and if for that reason it perishes — then it is like another vessel of water poured out from the great ocean.

12.179.6 Or as water poured into a well, or a lamp cast into the fire, is swiftly lost when thrown in, even so does that soul perish.

12.179.7 In this body, which is the common ground of the five, whence comes life — when, by the loss of any one of them, there is no holding together of the remaining four?

12.179.8 Water perishes from want of food, the wind from the stopping of breath; space perishes from the breaking of the body's cavity, and fire perishes from lack of nourishment.

12.179.9 And the earthy element wastes away through disease, wounds, and afflictions; when any one of these is injured, the aggregate breaks apart fivefold.

12.179.10 When that body has dissolved into its five elements, what does the soul run after? What does the soul feel, or what does it hear or speak?

12.179.11 "This cow will carry me across when I am in the world beyond" — but when the creature who gives her dies, whom shall that cow carry across?

12.179.12 When the cow, the receiver, and the giver alike go to their dissolution here in this very world, whence shall there be any meeting of them again?

12.179.13 For one consumed by birds, or fallen from a mountain peak, or devoured by fire, whence shall there be any coming back to life again?

12.179.14 If, when a tree is felled, the root does not sprout again, yet its seeds carry on — but the dead man, where shall he come again?

12.179.15 Only the seed, created in the beginning, is what carries on; the dead, once dead, utterly perish — from seed alone does seed proceed.

12.180.1 Bhṛgu said: There is no perishing for living beings, nor for what is given and what is done. The living creature passes into another body, while only the body wastes away.

12.180.2 The living soul, though housed in the body, does not perish when the body is destroyed—just as fire does not perish when the firewood is burnt up.

12.180.3 Bharadvāja said: If the soul knows no destruction, just as fire does not, then why, when the fuel has been wholly consumed, is that fire no longer to be found?

12.180.4 I take it that a fire grown quiet for want of fuel has perished, for neither its course, nor its measure, nor its abiding form can any longer be seen.

12.180.5 Bhṛgu said: When the fuel is spent, the fire, though still existing, is not seen; for, having passed into the ether and being without support, it is hard to grasp.

12.180.6 So too, when the body is forsaken, the soul abides like the ether and cannot be grasped, by reason of its extreme subtlety—exactly as the fire is not grasped. Of this there is no doubt.

12.180.7 It is fire that upholds the vital breaths; know that fire to be the living soul. Sustained by the breath, that fire is extinguished when respiration is checked.

12.180.8 When that bodily fire is extinguished, the body, now bereft of consciousness, falls and returns to the state of earth; for earth is its final resting place.

12.180.9 In all things that move and likewise in all that are fixed, the wind merges into the ether and the fire follows after it. Therein lies the oneness of these three, while the remaining two are established in the earth.

12.180.10 Where there is space, there is wind; where there is wind, there is fire. These are to be understood as formless, whereas water and earth possess form.

12.180.11 Bharadvāja said: If fire and wind, earth, ether, and water are present in embodied beings, then what are the marks of the soul within them? Declare this to me, O sinless one.

12.180.12 The body of living beings is made of the five elements, delights in the five objects, and is joined with the five forms of perception. Of what nature is the soul within it? This I wish to know.

12.180.13 When the body—a compound of flesh and blood, a heap of fat, sinew, and bone—is cleft open, the soul is nowhere to be found within it.

12.180.14 If the body, though endowed with the five elements, is itself without a soul, then who is it that feels the pang, whether the pain be bodily or of the mind?

12.180.15 It is the soul that hears what is spoken; the ears do not hear it of themselves—for when the mind is distracted, nothing is heard. Hence, O great seer, the soul would seem to serve no purpose.

12.180.16 With the eye joined to the mind one sees all that is to be seen; but when the mind is troubled, one looks yet does not truly see.

12.180.17 Again, one overcome by sleep neither sees nor speaks, neither hears nor smells, nor knows touch and taste.

12.180.18 Who is it that rejoices and grows angry, that grieves and is dismayed? Who is it that desires, reflects, and hates, and who is it that utters speech?

12.180.19 Bhṛgu said: Here nothing belongs in common to the five elements; the inner Self alone, being one, bears the body. It it is that knows smells and tastes and sound, and touch and form, and whatever other qualities there are.

12.180.20 Within the fivefold frame, perceiving the five qualities and pervading every limb, dwells the inner Self. It it is that knows the pains and pleasures here; but once parted from it, the body knows nothing.

12.180.21 When the fire has neither form nor touch nor the quality of warmth, then, the bodily fire being quenched, the Self forsakes the body and passes from sight.

12.180.22 All this is made of water; water is the very substance of embodied beings. Therein dwells the Self—Brahmā born of mind, the world-maker present in all creatures.

12.180.23 Know that Self to be the very ground of the welfare of all the worlds—the one who dwells within this body as a drop of water rests upon a lotus leaf.

12.180.24 Know him to be the Knower of the Field, ever devoted to the good of the world; and know these—darkness (tamas), passion (rajas), and goodness (sattva)—to be the qualities of the living soul.

12.180.25 The wise call consciousness a quality of the soul; it acts and sets all things in motion. Beyond it they speak of the Knower of the Field—he who set in motion the seven worlds.

12.180.26 There is no destruction of the soul when the body is sundered; falsely do the unknowing call a man dead. The soul, passing into another body, journeys on; the breaking of the body is but the dispersal of its five elements.

12.180.27 Thus, hidden and enveloped, the soul moves within all beings; yet by the foremost, subtle intellect it is beheld by those who perceive the truth.

12.180.28 The wise man who, in the first and last watches of the night, ever yokes himself in concentration, eating but little and pure in soul, beholds the Self within the self.

12.180.29 For through the serenity of his mind, having abandoned action both good and evil, the man of tranquil soul, abiding in the Self, attains imperishable bliss.

12.180.30 The fire born of mind within bodies is what is called the living soul. Such is the creation of Prajāpati, set forth in this inquiry into the elements and the Self.

12.181.1 Bhṛgu said: First of all, Brahmā the Lord of creatures brought forth the brāhmaṇas alone, fashioned from his own radiance and shining like the sun and fire.

12.181.2 Then the Lord ordained, for the sake of heaven, truth and dharma, austerity and the eternal sacred lore, right conduct, and purity.

12.181.3 The gods, dānavas, gandharvas, daityas, asuras, and great serpents; the yakṣas, rākṣasas, and nāgas; the piśācas, and likewise human beings;

12.181.4 the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, and śūdras, O best of the twice-born, and whatever other hosts among the multitudes of beings there are—all these too he fashioned.

12.181.5 White was the color of the brāhmaṇas, red that of the kṣatriyas, yellow the color of the vaiśyas, and black that of the śūdras.

12.181.6 Bharadvāja said: If the four orders are to be distinguished by color, then surely among all the orders a mingling of colors is to be seen.

12.181.7 Desire, anger, fear, greed, grief, anxiety, hunger, and weariness arise in all of us alike; by what mark, then, is the order distinguished?

12.181.8 Sweat, urine, and dung, phlegm, bile, and blood—the body of every man oozes with these; by what, then, is the order distinguished?

12.181.9 Countless are the kinds of moving creatures and of fixed; among these, of so many varied colors, whence comes any fixed determination of order?

12.181.10 Bhṛgu said: There is in truth no distinction among the orders; this whole world is Brahman. Created of old by Brahmā, it came through deeds to its division into orders.

12.181.11 Those twice-born who, loving desire and pleasure, fierce, prone to wrath, and delighting in bold deeds, forsook their own dharma and turned ruddy of limb—these passed into the state of kṣatriyas.

12.181.12 Those who, taking up a livelihood among cattle and living by the plow, turned yellow and did not keep to their own dharma—these twice-born passed into the state of vaiśyas.

12.181.13 Those who, loving violence and falsehood, greedy, living by every kind of work, turned black and fell from purity—these twice-born passed into the state of śūdras.

12.181.14 Thus, sundered by these several deeds, the twice-born passed into other orders; yet dharma and the performance of sacrifice are never forbidden them.

12.181.15 These four orders, for whom the sacred speech of Brahman was ordained by Brahmā of old, through greed fell into a state of ignorance.

12.181.16 The brāhmaṇas who abide in the discipline of dharma—their austerity does not perish, for they ever uphold the sacred lore, the vows, and the restraints.

12.181.17 This sacred lore was brought forth of old, yet those who do not know it, being unlearned in it—from them arise, here and there, manifold other kinds of beings.

12.181.18 Piśācas, rākṣasas, and pretas, and the barbarian races in their many forms—their knowledge and discernment lost, given over to conduct and pursuits of their own willful choosing.

12.181.19 Those creatures who bear the consecrations of the brāhmaṇas and are resolved upon their own dharma are brought forth by the seers through their own austerity, while others again are created by other beings.

12.181.20 Sprung from the First God, rooted in Brahman, imperishable and undecaying—that creation is called the mind-born, wholly devoted to the discipline of dharma.

12.182.1 Bharadvāja said: By what does one become a brāhmaṇa, or a kṣatriya, O best of the twice-born, or a vaiśya, or a śūdra, O brāhmaṇa-sage? Declare this, O best of speakers.

12.182.2 Bhṛgu said: He who is consecrated and purified by the rites that begin with the birth-ceremony, accomplished in the study of the Veda, and established in the six duties;

12.182.3 who stands firm in purity and right conduct, eats only what remains after offering, holds his teacher dear, is constant in his vows, and devoted to truth—he indeed is called a brāhmaṇa.

12.182.4 In whom are seen truth, charity, self-restraint, freedom from malice, kindliness, forbearance, compassion, and austerity—he is remembered as a brāhmaṇa.

12.182.5 He who follows the work befitting a kṣatriya, is devoted to the study of the Veda, and takes delight in giving and receiving—he indeed is called a kṣatriya.

12.182.6 He who, pure, devotes himself unceasingly to farming, the tending of cattle, and trade, and is accomplished in the study of the Veda—he is named a vaiśya.

12.182.7 He who takes pleasure in eating all things, does every kind of work, is impure, has forsaken the Veda, and is without right conduct—he indeed is remembered as a śūdra.

12.182.8 If this mark be found in a śūdra and be lacking in one twice-born, then in truth the śūdra is no śūdra, nor is the brāhmaṇa a brāhmaṇa.

12.182.9 The curbing of greed and of anger by every means—this is to be known as the true purifier, and likewise the mastery of oneself.

12.182.10 One should ever guard one's austerity from anger, one's prosperity from envy, one's learning from honor and dishonor alike, and one's very self from heedlessness.

12.182.11 He whose every undertaking here is free from the bond of craving, and who has offered up everything in renunciation—he is the true renouncer, and he alone is wise.

12.182.12 Doing harm to no living being, let him walk in the way of friendliness toward all. Where there is no trust one should not go; where there is trust, let him fix his mind.

12.182.13 Casting off all possessions, let him through wisdom subdue his senses; thus he shall attain that sorrowless state, free from fear both here and hereafter.

12.182.14 The sage who is constant in austerity, self-controlled and self-restrained, desiring to conquer what is yet unconquered, must remain unattached amid all attachments.

12.182.15 Whatever is grasped by the senses—that is the manifest; such is the settled truth. But that which lies beyond the senses, to be apprehended only by inference through its marks, is to be known as the unmanifest.

12.182.16 Let him restrain the mind within the breath and hold the breath fixed in Brahman; passing from extinction into extinction itself, let him think upon nothing whatsoever. Brahman is bliss for the brāhmaṇa, and thereby indeed he attains it.

12.182.17 Ever joined to purity, endowed with right conduct, and full of compassion toward all beings—such is the mark of the twice-born.

12.183.1 Bhṛgu said: Truth is Brahman, truth is austerity; truth it is that brings forth all creatures. By truth the world is upheld, and by truth one goes to heaven.

12.183.2 Falsehood is the very form of darkness, and by darkness a man is led downward. Those seized by darkness do not behold the light, for it is veiled by darkness.

12.183.3 Heaven, they say, is light, and hell is darkness; both of these are reached by the wayfarers of the world according to their truth and falsehood.

12.183.4 In this world, then, the manner of life is of this twofold kind, mingled of truth and falsehood—dharma and its opposite, light and darkness, sorrow and likewise joy.

12.183.5 Therein, what is truth is dharma; what is dharma is light; what is light is joy. And therein, what is falsehood is unrighteousness; what is unrighteousness is darkness; what is darkness is sorrow.

12.183.6 Of the pains, bodily and mental, and of the pleasures whose end is yet pain, it is here spoken; and the discerning, beholding the creation of the world, are not deluded.

12.183.7 Therefore let the discerning man strive for release from sorrow; for the happiness of beings is fleeting, both in this world and in the next.

12.183.8 As the moonlight of the moon seized by Rāhu no longer shines, so for beings overwhelmed by darkness all happiness slips away.

12.183.9 That happiness, then, is said to be of two kinds—bodily and mental. Here and in the world beyond, all undertakings and exertions are declared to have happiness for their aim; for there is no fruit of the threefold ends of life more excellent than this. This is the desirable, the supreme good; the undertaking of dharma and of wealth is its cause, and its arising has happiness for its purpose.

12.183.10 Bharadvāja said: As for what you have declared—that women are the highest of pleasures—this we do not accept. For to these seers, established in greatness, this supreme good is not beyond reach, and yet they do not crave it. It is heard, moreover, that the Lord Brahmā, maker of the three worlds, abides alone, chaste, and does not give himself over to the pleasures of desire. And the Lord Umā's consort, the Sovereign of the universe, when Desire assailed him, brought him to quietude by rendering him bodiless. Therefore we say that this is not embraced by the great-souled, and that it is not, after all, so excellent a good. I cannot accept this from your honored self, though your honor has indeed said that women are the highest of pleasures.

12.183.11 Bhṛgu said: From falsehood, indeed, darkness arose; those seized by darkness follow after unrighteousness alone, and not dharma. Enveloped by anger, greed, delusion, pride, falsehood, and the like, they win no happiness, neither in this world nor in the next. They are strewn over by the torments of manifold diseases, and afflicted by killing, bondage, sickness, distress, and the like; they are tormented by the pains born of hunger, thirst, and weariness, and by the terrors born of fierce winds, excessive heat, and bitter cold. By bodily pains they are tormented, and by mental griefs born of the destruction and loss of kin and wealth, and by yet others born of old age and death, they are overcome.

12.183.12 But he who is untouched by these pains, bodily and mental, knows true happiness. These ills do not arise in heaven; there, indeed, it comes to pass that—

12.183.13 in heaven the breeze blows full of ease and the fragrance is sweet; there is no hunger, thirst, or weariness, no old age, and nothing evil.

12.183.14 In heaven there is unbroken happiness; here below both happiness and sorrow; in hell, they say, there is sorrow alone—but the supreme state is poised beyond them all, in perfect equanimity.

12.183.15 The earth is the mother of all beings, and women are of her nature; the male is Prajāpati, the lord of creatures, and in him they know the seed to be a thing made of radiant fire.

12.183.16 Such is the fashioning of the worlds, ordained of old by Brahmā; and creatures revolve through their births, each one enveloped by its own deeds.

12.184.1 Bharadvāja said: What fruit do they declare for giving, for the practice of dharma duly performed, for austerity well undergone, for recitation of the Veda, and for oblation offered into fire?

12.184.2 Bhṛgu said: By oblation sin is allayed; in recitation of the Veda is the highest peace; by giving, they say, comes enjoyment; and by austerity a man may attain all things.

12.184.3 Giving, they declare, is of two kinds: for the next world and for this. Whatever is given to the good awaits its giver in the world beyond.

12.184.4 But the gift that is given to the unworthy yields its enjoyment here below; for as a gift is given, so is the fruit obtained.

12.184.5 Bharadvāja said: What is the practice of dharma, and for whom? What is the mark of dharma? And of how many kinds is dharma? This you ought to tell me.

12.184.6 Bhṛgu said: Those wise ones who are devoted to the practice of their own dharma obtain the fruit of dharma; but he who does otherwise falls into bewilderment.

12.184.7 Bharadvāja said: As for this system of the four stages of life, ordained of old by the brahmin sages—the observances proper to each of them you ought now to tell me.

12.184.8 Bhṛgu said: Of old, by the Blessed One who acts for the welfare of the worlds, the four stages of life were appointed for the protection of dharma. Among these they name first the stage of dwelling in the teacher's house: there, rightly disciplined in purity, rite, modesty, and restraint, his self subdued, the student should at both twilights wait upon the sun, the fire, and the gods; casting off sloth and torpor, with his inmost being purified by salutation to the teacher, by study and the hearing of the Veda, he should touch water at the three sacred junctures of the day, ever devoted to the vow of chastity, to the tending of the sacred fire, and to service of his teacher; offering up to his teacher all that he gathers by begging and the rest, never adverse to carrying out the teacher's word and command, and intent upon that recitation which he wins by his teacher's grace.

12.184.9 The twice-born who, propitiating his teacher, attains the Veda—of him there is this verse: he wins the fruit of heaven, and his heart's desire is fulfilled.

12.184.10 The householder's life, indeed, they call the second stage; all the marks of its proper conduct we shall expound. For those who have completed their studentship and taken wives, who seek the fruit of practising dharma together, the household stage is ordained. Here is the attainment of dharma, wealth, and desire—the means to the threefold aim. With regard to that, taking wealth by blameless action—wealth won through eminence in Vedic recitation, or made by brahmin sages, or drawn from the heart of the mountains, or gained by the grace of the gods through the practice of oblation and restraint—the householder should carry on his household life. For this, they declare, is the root of all the stages of life; for from it alone do the shares of alms and offering proceed even to those who dwell in the teacher's house, to wandering mendicants, and to all others who keep their vows, restraints, and resolved observances of dharma.

12.184.11 And there is the furnishing of goods to the forest-dwellers. For the most part these are holy men, beholders of the good and wholesome path, devoted to recitation of the Veda, who roam the earth to visit the sacred fords and to behold its regions; toward them are owed the rising up to greet them, salutation, freedom from envy, gracious speech, a kindly face, and the honour, according to one's means, of a seat, a bed, and food.

12.184.12 From whose house a guest turns away, his hope broken—of this there is a verse: that guest, leaving his own ill deed behind for the host, departs taking the host's merit with him.

12.184.13 Moreover, in this stage the gods are gladdened by the rites of sacrifice, the ancestors by funerary offerings, the seers by the study, hearing, and retention of the Veda, and Prajāpati by the begetting of offspring.

12.184.14 Tender toward all beings, one should speak words pleasant to the ear; and here there are two verses on this: slander and injury, and harshness too, are here condemned.

12.184.15 Contempt, egotism, and hypocrisy are blamed; but non-violence, truth, and freedom from anger are the austerity that belongs to every stage of life.

12.184.16 And in this stage too there is the having of garlands, ornaments, garments, unguents, and perfumes; the delights of dancing, song, and music; sights that ravish the ear and please the eye; the enjoyment of foods of every kind—to be chewed, eaten, drunk, licked, and sucked; the contentment of dalliance with one's own wife; and the attainment of the pleasures of desire.

12.184.17 He in whose household life the qualities of the threefold aim are ever fulfilled—he, having known its joys here, attains the destiny of the virtuous.

12.184.18 The householder who lives by gleaning, delighting in the practice of his own dharma, who has renounced the pursuit of sensual pleasure—for him heaven is not hard to win.

12.185.1 Bhṛgu said: The forest-dwellers, following the dharma of the seers, roam practising austerity by the holy fords, the rivers and their springs, in well-secluded forests thronged with deer, buffalo, boar, wild antelope, and elephant. Having renounced the garments, food, and enjoyments of the village, they keep a measured, varied, and regulated diet of wild herbs, roots, fruit, and leaves. They stand or sit at their stations, sleeping on bare earth, on stones, gravel, sand, grit, or ashes, their bodies clad in kāśa and kuśa grass, in skins and bark, wearing their hair, beard, nails, and body-hair uncut. They touch water at the appointed times and perform without lapse the rites of oblation and offering at their due hours; their rest is won amid the gathering of fuel, kuśa grass, and flowers, the offering of oblations, and the cleansing for it. Their skin everywhere scorched and cracked by cold, heat, and wind, their flesh and blood worn away by the performance of dharma ordained in manifold restraints, disciplines of yoga, and observances, reduced to skin and bone yet supreme in steadfastness, they bear up their bodies by the power of their inner being.

12.185.2 And he who, self-restrained, follows this course of conduct ordained by the brahmin sages would burn away his faults as fire consumes, and would conquer the worlds that are hard to conquer.

12.185.3 Again, such is the conduct of the wandering mendicants: loosing themselves from attachment to fire, wealth, wife, and retinue, and shaking off the bonds of their own affection, they go forth as wanderers. To them a clod, a stone, and gold are all alike; their minds unattached to undertakings aimed at the threefold worldly aim, they bear themselves equally toward foe, friend, and the indifferent. By word, thought, and deed they do no harm to any beings—those born from the womb, from eggs, from sweat, those that sprout from the ground, or those that stand unmoving. Homeless, frequenting the mountains, the river-sands, the roots of trees, and the shrines of the gods, they go for lodging to a town or a village—five nights in a town, a single night in a village—and entering it, only to sustain their breath of life, they wait at the dwellings of the twice-born whose works are unmixed, taking such alms as fall unasked into their bowl, having turned away from desire, anger, pride, delusion, greed, meanness, hypocrisy, slander, conceit, and violence.

12.185.4 The sage who goes his way having granted freedom from fear to all beings—of him there is this verse: from no beings whatsoever does fear ever arise for him.

12.185.5 Having made the fire-offering reside within his own body, he who pours oblations into the fire of the body through his own mouth, with the offerings gathered in his round of begging, surpasses the worlds of those who tend the fire of the altar.

12.185.6 The twice-born who keeps the stage of liberation as it has been declared—pure, endowed with a well-resolved understanding—comes to rest in the world of Brahman, serene like a flame with no fuel to feed it.

12.185.7 Bharadvāja said: A world beyond this world is heard of, yet is not seen. That world I wish to know; this you ought to tell me.

12.185.8 Bhṛgu said: On the northern slope of the Himavat, a holy region endowed with every excellence, there lies a land that is holy, secure, and lovely—it is called the most blessed of worlds.

12.185.9 For there the people are free of sinful deeds, pure, utterly spotless, abandoned by greed and delusion, and untouched by any affliction.

12.185.10 That land is like heaven, for there, it is said, are auspicious qualities: death prevails only in its due time, and diseases do not touch them.

12.185.11 There is no coveting of others' wives; each man delights in his own wife. There is no slaying of one another, and no greed for goods; no dharma performed merely for show exists there, nor does doubt ever arise.

12.185.12 There the fruit of what is done is obtained before one's very eyes: some, furnished with couches, vehicles, and seats, dwelling in palaces and mansions, are surrounded by all that they desire, adorned with ornaments of gold.

12.185.13 To some there falls but enough to sustain the breath of life; and some, with great toil, manage barely to keep themselves alive.

12.185.14 Here below some men are devoted to dharma, others are deceitful; some are happy, some are wretched; some are without wealth, while others are rich.

12.185.15 Here arise toil, fear, delusion, and sharp hunger, and the greed of men bred of wealth, by which even the wise are led astray.

12.185.16 Here is anxiety of many kinds over deeds of dharma and of unrighteousness; the wise man who understands them both is not stained by sin.

12.185.17 Fraud with concealed design, deceit, theft, slander, fault-finding, the injuring of others, violence, calumny, and falsehood—

12.185.18 he who indulges in these, his austerity wastes away; but the learned man who does not commit them, his austerity grows ever greater.

12.185.19 This world is the field of action; having done here what is good or evil, by good deeds one attains good, and by doing evil, the opposite.

12.185.20 Here of old Prajāpati, and the gods together with the hosts of seers, having sacrificed and offered up their austerity, were purified and took their refuge in the world of Brahman.

12.185.21 The northern region of the earth is the holiest and most blessed of all; there are born those people of this world who are doers of meritorious deeds.

12.185.22 But others, doing evil deeds, are born in the wombs of beasts; and yet others, their span of life run out, perish upon the face of the earth.

12.185.23 Bent on devouring one another, possessed by greed and delusion, they revolve here below alone; they do not go to that northern quarter.

12.185.24 Those wise ones who, self-restrained and chaste, wait upon their teachers—they come to know the path to all the worlds.

12.185.25 Thus has this dharma, fashioned by Brahmā, been told by me in brief; for he who truly knows the dharma and the unrighteousness of the world, he is the wise one.

12.185.26 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by Bhṛgu, O king, the valiant Bharadvāja, that soul of highest dharma, in wonder paid homage to Bhṛgu in return.

12.185.27 This, O king, is the origin of the world, declared to you in full, O greatly wise one. What more do you wish to hear?

12.186.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The rule of right conduct, dear father, as you would set it forth, I wish to hear, O sinless one who knows the dharma; for in my judgment you are the knower of all things.

12.186.2 Bhīṣma said: Men of evil conduct, of evil deeds, of corrupt understanding, fond of reckless ventures—these are known abroad as the wicked; the good are marked by their right conduct.

12.186.3 Those men who pass neither dung nor urine on the king's highway, among cattle, or amid the grain—they are the virtuous.

12.186.4 Having performed the required cleansing and the satisfying of the gods with libations—this they call the dharma of men—one should touch water and so cross the river.

12.186.5 One should ever wait upon the sun, and should not sleep at the rising of the day-maker; murmuring the twilight prayer at evening and at dawn, one should keep both the first and the latter junctures of the day.

12.186.6 Moistened in the five places, facing east and keeping silence, one should take one's meal; one should not disparage food and victuals, but should eat both the savoury and the unsavoury.

12.186.7 One should not rise up with wet hands, nor sleep at night with wet feet—this mark of right conduct was declared by the divine seer Nārada.

12.186.8 A draught-ox that loves cleanliness, a temple-stall of the gods, a crossing of four roads, and a righteous brahmin—about these one should ever make the rightward circuit of reverence.

12.186.9 To share food in common with all guests, with servants, with one's own kin, and with dependants—this is praised in a man.

12.186.10 At evening and at dawn is the eating ordained by the gods for men; no meal between these is sanctioned, and so one becomes as a faster.

12.186.11 Offering oblation at the time of oblation, and approaching his wife at her fertile season, the wise man who has no traffic with any other woman becomes thereby as a celibate.

12.186.12 The leavings of a brahmin's meal are as nectar, made as it were the very heart of one's mother. Let a man wait upon truth; truth it is that the good revere.

12.186.13 Flesh consecrated with the sacrificial formula one who has turned away from the eating of flesh may take; but he should not eat flesh slain in vain, and should shun the flesh of the back.

12.186.14 Whether in one's own land or in another's, one should not let a guest go fasting; having won the fruit of voluntary rites, one should render it up to one's elders.

12.186.15 To one's elders a seat should be given, and salutation should be made; those who honour their elders are blessed with long life, with fame, and with fortune.

12.186.16 One should not gaze upon the rising sun, nor upon another's wife unclothed; and the lawful union one should practise in its proper season and in secret.

12.186.17 The holy ford of fords is the heart; the pure thing among pure things is the heart. All purification is that wrought by the noble, even down to the touching of a hair.

12.186.18 At every meeting one should ever utter a kindly inquiry after another's welfare; and to the brahmins, at evening and at dawn, salutation is prescribed.

12.186.19 In the temple-stall of the gods, among cattle, in the course of the brahmins' rites, in Vedic recitation, and in eating, one should keep the right hand uplifted.

12.186.20 Of wares one should praise the goodly ware; of tillage, that the ploughing prospers; of crops, that they yield abundantly; and of cattle, that the draught-beast draws well.

12.186.21 At a meal one should always say it is well-furnished; of the drink, that it satisfies; of the milk-rice, gruel, and pottage of sesame and rice, that they are well-cooked.

12.186.22 When the trimming of the beard is undertaken, when one sneezes, at bathing, and at eating, and for all the sick, a blessing of long life is the fitting greeting.

12.186.23 One should not make water facing the sun, nor look upon one's own ordure; and one should shun lying upon the same couch with a son's wife, and eating together with her.

12.186.24 The familiar "thou" and the calling by name one should avoid toward elders; toward inferiors and equals, with both alike, there is no fault in it.

12.186.25 The heart of those of sinful conduct betrays their sin by its disturbance; knowingly concealing it before the assembled people, they come to ruin.

12.186.26 The little-learned conceal the sin they have knowingly committed; men do not see them, but the dwellers in heaven see them.

12.186.27 For the sin done by the sinner follows after him as sin alone; and the dharma wrought by the righteous man follows after its doer.

12.186.28 The fool here remembers not the sin he has done; yet as the doer passes through his rebirths, it overtakes him—just as Rāhu comes upon the moon, so does the sinful deed come upon the witless man.

12.186.29 Wealth heaped up in hope, that is not enjoyed here in its season—the wise do not commend it; for death does not wait.

12.186.30 The wise declare that the dharma toward all beings is of the mind; therefore toward all beings one should bear oneself benevolently in mind.

12.186.31 Alone, each by himself, should one practise dharma; in dharma there is no fellowship. Once one has met one's appointed lot, what can a companion do?

12.186.32 The gods are the source of men, and the nectar of the gods is in heaven; in the state after death, the happiness that springs from dharma is enjoyed by them everlastingly.

12.187.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That which is here pondered concerning a man and bears the name of adhyātma, the inner self — what that adhyātma is, and from what it arises, tell me, grandfather.

12.187.2 Bhīṣma said: Since you ask me, O Pārtha, about this thing called adhyātma, I shall expound it to you, my child — that happiness which is the surest path to good.

12.187.3 Knowing which, a man finds joy and well-being in the world; its fruit is attained at once, and it works the welfare of all beings.

12.187.4 Earth, wind, ether, water, and fire as the fifth — these are the great elements, the source and the dissolution of all created things.

12.187.5 Sprung from them, into them again and again all things return — the great elements within beings, as the waves return into the sea.

12.187.6 As a tortoise stretches forth its limbs and draws them in again, so the Self of all beings, having sent forth the elements, withdraws them once more.

12.187.7 The maker of beings set the five great elements within all creatures, and made their unequal proportion among them; this the living soul beholds within itself.

12.187.8 Sound, the ear, and the bodily orifices — these three are born of ether; from wind come skin, touch, motion, and speech, these four.

12.187.9 Form, the eye, and digestion — this threefold is called the property of fire; taste, moisture, and the tongue are remembered as the three qualities of water.

12.187.10 Smell, the organ of smell, and the body — these three are the qualities of earth. The great elements are five, but the mind is called the sixth.

12.187.11 The senses together with the mind are its faculties of knowing, O Bhārata; the intellect they call the seventh, and the knower of the field is the eighth.

12.187.12 The eye serves only for seeing, the mind creates doubt, the intellect serves for determination, and the knower of the field stands by as a witness.

12.187.13 What lies above the soles of the feet, and what one sees below and above — know that by this all this inner expanse is pervaded.

12.187.14 In a man the senses are to be wholly understood; and know tamas, rajas, and sattva to be the states that rest upon them.

12.187.15 Having grasped this by the intellect, and considering little by little the coming and going of beings, a man attains the highest peace.

12.187.16 The intellect guides the qualities, and the intellect too guides the senses with the mind as their sixth; in the absence of intellect, whence the qualities?

12.187.17 Thus all this, the moving and the unmoving, is made of that; it dissolves and arises again, and therefore is so declared.

12.187.18 That by which one sees is called the eye, that by which one hears the ear; that by which one smells they call the nose, and by the tongue one knows taste.

12.187.19 By the skin one touches objects of touch; the intellect is again and again transformed; that by which one resolves upon some object — that is the mind.

12.187.20 The seats of the intellect, with their several objects, are fivefold; the five senses which they name — over these the Unseen presides.

12.187.21 The intellect, presided over by the soul, moves among three states: at times it gains delight, at times it grieves,

12.187.22 and at times it abides neither in pleasure nor in pain. Thus, established in three states, it dwells in the minds of men.

12.187.23 This intellect, whose very nature is these states, does not pass beyond the three of them — as the wave-bearing ocean, lord of the rivers, does not pass beyond its great shore.

12.187.24 When the intellect passes beyond a state, it comes to rest in another within the mind; for rajas, once stirred into motion, follows after that state.

12.187.25 For it ever sets all the senses to work. Delight is sattva, grief is rajas, and delusion is tamas — these are the three.

12.187.26 Whatever states there are in this world, they all lie within these three. Thus has the whole course of the intellect been expounded to you, O Bhārata.

12.187.27 All the senses are to be conquered by the wise; sattva, rajas, and tamas ever cleave to living creatures.

12.187.28 And a threefold sensation is seen in all beings — the sāttvika, the rājasa, and the tāmasa, O Bhārata.

12.187.29 The touch of pleasure is the quality of sattva, the touch of pain the quality of rajas; when joined with the quality of tamas, both become beyond the reach of ordinary dealing.

12.187.30 Whatever is joined with delight, arising in body or in mind, there the sāttvika state prevails — so let one then regard it.

12.187.31 And whatever is joined with pain and breeds discontent of the self — let one calmly reflect that rajas has been set in motion.

12.187.32 And whatever is joined with delusion, that which is as if unmanifest, beyond reasoning and not to be known — let one mark that as tamas.

12.187.33 Exultation, delight, joy, happiness, tranquillity of mind — these, however they may arise, are the sāttvika qualities.

12.187.34 Discontent, torment, grief, greed, and impatience — these are the marks of rajas, seen with cause and without cause.

12.187.35 Conceit, delusion, heedlessness, sleep and drowsiness — these, however they may arise, are the manifold tāmasa qualities.

12.187.36 The mind ranges far, runs many ways, and is the very seat of craving and doubt; he whose mind is well restrained is happy, both in the hereafter and here.

12.187.37 Behold this distinction between the subtle pair, the mind-stuff and the knower of the field: the one sends forth the qualities, the other sends forth no qualities.

12.187.38 As the gnat and the fig are forever conjoined, yet are each other's other, so is the conjunction of those two.

12.187.39 Distinct by nature, yet ever conjoined — as fish and water are conjoined, even so are those two.

12.187.40 The qualities know not the Self, but he knows the qualities in every way; he is the beholder of the qualities, yet he ever thinks himself their author.

12.187.41 With the senses, of which the intellect is the seventh — motionless and unknowing — the Supreme Self performs the office of a lamp, like a lamp itself.

12.187.42 For the mind-stuff sends forth the qualities, and the knower of the field looks on; this is the abiding conjunction of those two, the mind-stuff and the knower of the field.

12.187.43 There is no resting-place for the mind-stuff, nor any for the knower of the field; the mind-stuff sends forth the mind, but never the qualities.

12.187.44 When by the mind he rightly reins in their rays, then his Self shines forth, like a lamp burning within a jar.

12.187.45 The sage who, abandoning the works of nature, takes constant delight in the Self, and becomes the very self of all beings — he attains the highest goal.

12.187.46 As a water-ranging bird, though it dips, is not stained, even so the man of perfected wisdom moves among beings.

12.187.47 Knowing such to be its very nature, let a man move through life with his own understanding, neither grieving nor exulting, and act free of envy.

12.187.48 By the working of its own nature it constantly sends forth the qualities, fully formed, as a spider sends forth its thread; the qualities are to be understood as like that thread.

12.187.49 Once destroyed, they do not return, yet their cessation is not directly perceived; what is beyond the senses is established by inference from what is seen.

12.187.50 Thus some conclude, while others hold that there is cessation; weighing both these views, let one decide according to one's own understanding.

12.187.51 Loosing thus the hard knot of the heart, woven of the divisions of the intellect, let one dwell in ease; with doubt cut away, let one grieve no more.

12.187.52 As stained men, plunging into a brimming river, attain purity, so, O wise one, know this knowledge to be.

12.187.53 As one who knows the farther shore is not distressed in crossing a great river, even so are they who know the adhyātma, that highest knowledge which is absolute oneness.

12.187.54 Having grasped all this, and considering little by little, with the intellect, the coming and going of all beings, a man thereby attains the supreme peace.

12.187.55 He to whom the threefold aim is known, who is a light foregoing all, is set free; seeking with the mind, disciplined, a seer of truth, free of longing.

12.187.56 And the Self cannot be seen divided among the senses, scattered here and there, hard to conquer for those whose selves are unperfected.

12.187.57 Having understood this, one becomes awakened; what other mark of the awakened is there? Knowing it, the wise reckon themselves to have done all that is to be done.

12.187.58 For the wise there is none of that fear which would be the great fear of the ignorant; for no one has any goal beyond it, though, where a quality is present, men speak of inequality.

12.187.59 What a man does without forethought of aim wipes out what was done before; that twofold deed is neither hateful — whence then pleasing? — for him who acts thus, it bears its fruit here.

12.187.60 Behold in the world the afflicted folk, crying out and grieving much over this and that; and behold there the skilled who grieve not, who ever know that twofold state.

12.188.1 Bhīṣma said: Come, I shall declare to you, O Pārtha, the fourfold yoga of meditation, knowing which the supreme sages attain everlasting perfection.

12.188.2 Even as meditation is rightly to be practised, so do the yogins practise it — the great sages, content in knowledge, their minds gone to nirvāṇa.

12.188.3 They return no more, O Pārtha, freed from the flaw of rebirth; the taint of birth worn away in them, they are established in their own true being.

12.188.4 Beyond the pairs of opposites, abiding ever in purity, liberated, ever taking refuge in things unattached, undisputed, and bringing peace to the mind.

12.188.5 There let the sage hold his mind one-pointed, cleaving to sacred study; gathering the host of the senses into one, let him sit motionless as a log.

12.188.6 Let him not catch sound with the ear, nor feel touch with the skin, nor perceive form with the eye, nor tastes with the tongue.

12.188.7 All objects of smell too let the knower of yoga abandon through meditation; the strong man should not desire these things that torment the fivefold band of senses.

12.188.8 Then, the discerning one, having dissolved the fivefold band into the mind, should compose the wandering mind together with the five senses.

12.188.9 The mind, ranging abroad, without support, five-gated, ever shifting — in the first path of meditation let the steadfast one bring it inward and compose it.

12.188.10 When this man gathers the senses and the mind into one, this is the first path of meditation, which I have described.

12.188.11 That mind of his, restrained at the first, with the senses as its sixth, will soon quiver and start up bewildered, as lightning flashes in a thunder-cloud.

12.188.12 As a drop of water, restless upon a leaf, trembles on every side, even so does his thought become upon the path of meditation.

12.188.13 Composed for a brief moment, it rests upon the path of meditation; then again the wandering mind takes the road of the wind, restless as the wind.

12.188.14 Undespairing, his distress gone, his drowsiness gone, free of envy, let the knower of the yoga of meditation again compose his thought through meditation.

12.188.15 Reflection, reasoning, and discernment arise in the sage who composes himself — this is the first meditation, from the beginning.

12.188.16 Though tormented by the mind, let him still bring about composure; let the sage not fall into despair, but work the welfare of his own self.

12.188.17 As heaped-up piles of dust, ashes, and dung, suddenly drenched with water, do not yield to thorough soaking,

12.188.18 and as dry, unmoistened powder may grow but a little damp, yet step by step, slowly, all of it comes to be thoroughly soaked,

12.188.19 even so let him slowly steep the host of the senses, and draw it in step by step; thus will it be rightly stilled.

12.188.20 The mind itself, O Bhārata, and the fivefold band, having reached the first path of meditation, are stilled by constant practice of yoga.

12.188.21 Neither by human effort nor by any working of fate does such happiness come to a man—that happiness belongs only to him whose self is thus restrained.

12.188.22 United with that happiness, he delights in the labor of meditation; for thus the yogins go to that nirvāṇa which is free from all affliction.

12.189.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: You have expounded the four stages of life and likewise the duties of kings, and many ancient narratives of diverse kinds, resting on various themes.

12.189.2 From you, O great-minded one, I have heard discourses joined with dharma; yet one doubt remains in me, and you should resolve it.

12.189.3 I wish to hear, O descendant of Bharata, the reward attained by those who practice recitation. What fruit is declared for those who murmur the sacred words, and in what abode do such reciters dwell?

12.189.4 And you should tell me, O blameless one, the whole rule of recitation. What is this matter of the reciters—is it the practice of Sāṃkhya, or of Yoga, or of ritual action?

12.189.5 Is this merely a rite of sacrifice, or what is it that is called the muttered prayer? Declare all this to me, for in my judgment you are the knower of all things.

12.189.6 Bhīṣma said: On this too they relate an ancient tale—what once befell of old between Yama, and Kāla, and a certain brāhmaṇa.

12.189.7 In the Vedānta, renunciation alone governs the practice of recitation; the peace that arises from the teaching of the Vedas rests in Brahman. Both these paths abide there—and yet are not so wholly abiding.

12.189.8 As it is heard among men, O king, so the reason shall be set forth here; and herein concentration of the mind, as also the conquest of the senses, is taught.

12.189.9 Truthfulness, the tending of the sacred fire, the frequenting of solitary places, meditation, austerity, self-restraint, patience, freedom from envy, and moderate eating—

12.189.10 the withdrawal from objects of sense, sparing speech, and tranquility—this is the dharma of active engagement; now hear of the dharma of withdrawal.

12.189.11 As action ceases for the celibate who practices recitation, so should he abandon all this without remainder, just as it has been taught, having reached the threefold path—the manifest, the unmanifest, and that which has no support.

12.189.12 Seated upon a heap of kuśa grass, kuśa in hand, his crown of hair bound with kuśa, wrapped in bark garments, and there in the midst veiled about with kuśa—

12.189.13 he should make obeisance to the objects of sense yet dwell upon them no longer; having brought the mind to evenness, he should set the mind upon the mind alone.

12.189.14 With the intellect he meditates upon Brahman, murmuring the salutary sacred text; or else, established in deep absorption, he lays even that text aside.

12.189.15 Here he generates meditation through the support and power of the sacred text—pure of self, subdued by austerity, freed from hatred and desire,

12.189.16 without passion or delusion, beyond the pairs of opposites, he neither grieves nor clings; he is no doer of deeds that ought not to be done, nor of deeds that ought—such is his abiding.

12.189.17 He should never set the mind in motion through the working of egoism, nor be intent upon grasping at the self; he is neither contemptuous nor wholly inactive.

12.189.18 Devoted to the practice of meditation, disciplined, full of meditation, resolute in meditation, having generated deep absorption within meditation, he by degrees relinquishes even that.

12.189.19 In that very state, having renounced all things, happy and without striving, he gives up his vital breaths and takes refuge in the body of Brahman.

12.189.20 Or else, if he desires not the dwelling in the body of Brahman, he ascends, abiding on the path, and is born no more anywhere at all.

12.189.21 Established in the knowledge of the Self, become tranquil and free from affliction, he attains the Self—immortal, stainless, and pure.

12.190.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The highest of attainments among destinies has been told for the reciters here. Is this their one and only goal, or do they go to another as well?

12.190.2 Bhīṣma said: Listen attentively, O king and lord, to the destiny of the reciters, how they go to many a hell, O bull among men.

12.190.3 The reciter who does not perform this as it was taught before, but practices it only in part, descends here into hell.

12.190.4 He who performs it with contempt, who feels neither contentment nor remorse—such a reciter goes to hell; of this there is no doubt.

12.190.5 And all who are made of egoism are bound for hell; the man who despises others shall become one who descends into hell.

12.190.6 He who, deluded, performs his recitation with covetous longing—wherever he directs that longing, to that very hell he comes.

12.190.7 And the reciter who turns toward lordly power takes delight therein; that very thing becomes his hell, and from it he is not released.

12.190.8 The reciter who, deluded, performs his recitation out of passion—wherever his passion falls, there and there again he is born.

12.190.9 The man of evil mind, his wisdom unformed, who abides in a wavering mind, goes to a wavering destiny, or else attains hell.

12.190.10 The reciter who is a fool, his wisdom unformed, falls into delusion; through that delusion he goes to hell, and having gone there, he grieves.

12.190.11 The reciter who, clinging stubbornly with the thought "I am the doer," murmurs his prayer—neither perfected nor disciplined—attains hell.

12.190.12 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That supreme, causeless, unmanifest reality abides in Brahman; the reciter who has become real—why then should he enter a body again?

12.190.13 Bhīṣma said: Through false understanding many hells have been declared; the office of the reciter is praiseworthy, yet these faults belong to its very nature when misused.

12.191.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What manner of reciter goes to hell? Describe this to me, for curiosity has arisen in me, and you should tell it.

12.191.2 Bhīṣma said: You are born as a portion of Dharma, and by your very nature you are most righteous; listen attentively, O blameless one, to a discourse whose root and refuge is dharma.

12.191.3 Those abodes yonder of the gods, the supreme-souled ones, of manifold forms and colors and of manifold shapes and fruits—

12.191.4 the celestial palaces that move at will, and the assembly halls, and the varied pleasure-gardens, O king, and the lotus-ponds of unsullied waters—

12.191.5 the abodes of the four guardians of the worlds, of Śukra and of Bṛhaspati, of the Maruts, the Viśvadevas, the Sādhyas, and the Aśvins as well,

12.191.6 and of the Rudras, the Ādityas, the Vasus, and the other dwellers in heaven—all these, my son, are but hells compared with the abode of the Supreme Self.

12.191.7 That state is free from fear and without cause, not enveloped in the dread of affliction—freed from the two, freed from the three, from the eight and again from the three.

12.191.8 It is devoid of the four marks and free from the four causes, without elation, without rejoicing, without sorrow, its weariness wholly gone.

12.191.9 There Time itself is ripened; there Time holds no dominion. That Self, O king, is the lord of Time and likewise the ruler even of heaven.

12.191.10 Having reached the absolute aloneness of the Self and gone there, one grieves no more. Such is that supreme abode, and such are those hells beside it.

12.191.11 All these hells have been declared to you exactly as they are; compared with that highest abode here, all are reckoned as hells.

12.192.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The dispute among Kāla, Mṛtyu, and Yama, and the brāhmaṇa, O most excellent one, was mentioned before; you should now relate it.

12.192.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they relate an ancient tale—what befell Ikṣvāku, the son of the Sun, and a brāhmaṇa.

12.192.3 And of Kāla and Mṛtyu likewise—learn from me what befell them: how that converse of theirs came about, and in what place it took place.

12.192.4 There was a certain brāhmaṇa, a reciter, of righteous conduct and great renown, knower of the six Vedāṅgas, exceedingly wise—a Kauśika of the Paippalāda line.

12.192.5 His knowledge of the six Vedāṅgas was direct and immediate, and he was deeply versed in the Vedas as well; he dwelt at the foot of the Himālaya.

12.192.6 He performed the supreme austerity proper to Brahman, restrained, murmuring the sacred text; and so a thousand years passed for him under that vow.

12.192.7 To him the Goddess showed herself in person, saying, "I am pleased"; yet he, still murmuring his recitation, kept silent and said nothing to her at all.

12.192.8 Out of compassion for him the Goddess became gladdened then; and so the Mother of the Vedas honored that recitation of his.

12.192.9 Then, his recitation completed, the righteous-souled one rose and bowed his head at the feet of the Goddess, and spoke these words:

12.192.10 "By good fortune, O Goddess, you are gracious to me and have come into my sight; and if indeed you are pleased, let my mind delight in recitation."

12.192.11 Sāvitrī said: What do you seek, O sage among brāhmaṇas? What desired thing shall I do for you? Speak, O best of those who recite, and all that shall be yours.

12.192.12 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by the Goddess, the brāhmaṇa, knower of dharma, then said: "Let my desire toward recitation grow stronger again and again.

12.192.13 And may the concentration of my mind increase day by day, O auspicious one." "So be it," the Goddess then answered him sweetly.

12.192.14 And the Goddess, wishing to do him a further kindness, spoke this besides: "You shall never go to that hell to which other bulls among the twice-born have gone.

12.192.15 You shall go to the abode of Brahman—the causeless, the blameless. I shall accomplish this, since you have entreated me here."

12.192.16 "Recite, restrained and single-minded, and Dharma will come to you. Kāla, Mṛtyu, and Yama too shall come into your presence, and there shall be a dispute, in accordance with dharma, between you and them."

12.192.17 Having spoken thus, the blessed Goddess went to her own abode; and the brāhmaṇa too remained reciting then for a celestial hundred years.

12.192.18 When that vow of the wise brāhmaṇa was completed, Dharma, well pleased, then showed himself in person to that twice-born one.

12.192.19 Dharma said: O twice-born one, behold me—I am Dharma, come to look upon you. Hear from me too what fruit of recitation you have attained.

12.192.20 All the worlds have been won by you, both the celestial and the human; transcending all the hells of the gods, O virtuous one, you shall go beyond.

12.192.21 Give up your vital breaths, O sage, and go to the worlds you desire; abandoning your own body, you shall then attain those worlds.

12.192.22 The brāhmaṇa said: Enough of the worlds for me, O Dharma; go you wherever you please. I will not cast off this body, lord, with all its many sorrows and joys.

12.192.23 Dharma said: Inevitably, sir, your body must be relinquished, O bull among sages. Let heaven be ascended, O brāhmaṇa—or what else, O blameless one, is your pleasure?

12.192.24 The brāhmaṇa said: I take no pleasure in dwelling in heaven apart from this body, lord. Go, Dharma; I have no wish to go to heaven without my own self.

12.192.25 Dharma said: Cease to set your mind upon the body; cast off the body and be happy. Go to the stainless worlds, where, once gone, you grieve no more.

12.192.26 The brāhmaṇa said: I delight in reciting, O illustrious one; enough of the eternal worlds. Either I shall go to heaven with my body, lord, or not at all.

12.192.27 Dharma said: If you do not wish to give up your body, then behold, O twice-born one—here are Kāla, and Mṛtyu, and Yama, come to you.

12.192.28 Bhīṣma said: Then the son of Vivasvat, and Kāla, and Mṛtyu—these three, O lord—approaching that illustrious brāhmaṇa, spoke thus:

12.192.29 "Of this austerity, well performed and well conducted, the attainment of fruit is supreme for you. I am Yama, and I speak to you.

12.192.30 Duly have you attained the highest fruit of this recitation; the time has come for you to ascend to heaven. I am Kāla, and I have come to you.

12.192.31 Know me to be Mṛtyu, O knower of dharma, come in person in embodied form, urged on by Kāla, O brāhmaṇa, to lead you hence this very day."

12.192.32 The brāhmaṇa said: Welcome to the son of the Sun, and to the great-souled Kāla, and to Mṛtyu, and to Dharma. What service shall I render you?

12.192.33 Bhīṣma said: Having offered them the welcome-water and water for the feet at that meeting, he, exceedingly pleased, said: "By my own power, what may I do for you?"

12.192.34 At that very time, O lord, having undertaken a pilgrimage to the sacred fords, Ikṣvāku came there, to the place where those sages were assembled.

12.192.35 That royal sage, the best of kings, honored them all and bowed before them, and inquired after the welfare of every one of them.

12.192.36 Then the brāhmaṇa, having offered him a seat, water for his feet, and the guest-offering, and having exchanged greetings of welfare, spoke these words.

12.192.37 "Welcome to you, great king. Tell me whatever you desire here. What may I do for you according to my power? Let your honor declare it to me."

12.192.38 The king said: "I am a king, and you are a brāhmaṇa, established in the six prescribed duties. I shall give you some wealth; tell me what you would ask of me."

12.192.39 The brāhmaṇa said: "Brāhmaṇas, O king, are of two kinds, and dharma too is held to be twofold—the path of engagement and the path of withdrawal. I have withdrawn from the acceptance of gifts."

12.192.40 "Give your gifts, O ruler of men, to those who follow the path of engagement; I do not accept them. What is your wish? What may I give you? Tell me, O best of kings—what shall I accomplish for you by my austerity?"

12.192.41 The king said: "I am a kṣatriya; I know not anywhere the word 'give to me.' 'Grant me battle'—such is the speech we are wont to utter, O best of the twice-born."

12.192.42 The brāhmaṇa said: "You are content with your own dharma, and so, O king, are we content with ours. Neither has the upper hand over the other; do then as you wish."

12.192.43 The king said: "You said before, 'I shall give according to my power.' I beg of you: let the fruit of this japa of yours be given to me, O twice-born one."

12.192.44 The brāhmaṇa said: "You boasted that your speech ever asks only for battle. Yet there is no battle between you and me—why, then, do you now ask of me at all?"

12.192.45 The king said: "Brāhmaṇas are said to be armed with the thunderbolt of speech, while kṣatriyas live by the strength of their arms. This, O sage, is a fierce war of words between you and me."

12.192.46 The brāhmaṇa said: "That same pledge of mine still stands even now. What shall I give you according to my power? Tell me, O lord of kings, and I shall give it without delay, so far as my means allow."

12.192.47 The king said: "That fruit which you have won by reciting your prayer through a full hundred years—give that to me, if your honor is minded to give."

12.192.48 The brāhmaṇa said: "Then let the highest fruit of what I have recited be taken. Receive, without hesitation, half the fruit thereof."

12.192.49 "Or rather, O king, take the whole fruit of my recitation as you wish, if it is everything that you desire here."

12.192.50 The king said: "I have no need of the whole—blessings upon you. I asked only for the prayer's fruit. May it be well with you; I shall go. But tell me, what is that fruit?"

12.192.51 The brāhmaṇa said: "I know not what fruit I have won; I have given what I recited. Let Dharma here, and Time, and Yama, and Death be witnesses to this."

12.192.52 The king said: "What use to me is the fruit of this merit, when its measure is unknown? Let the sage keep that fruit; I do not wish for what is uncertain."

12.192.53 The brāhmaṇa said: "I shall not take back what I have given; the fruit has been given by my word, and a word once given may not be gainsaid. The spoken word is binding, O royal sage—upon me and upon you alike."

12.192.54 "Never in any way did I make a calculation of gain in my recitation. O tiger among kings, how then should I know its fruit?"

12.192.55 "'Give to me,' was said by you, and 'I give,' was said by me in answer. I shall not falsify my word; guard the truth, and stand firm."

12.192.56 "If now you will not honor my word, spoken thus, a great unrighteousness will fall upon you, O king, wrought by your own falsehood."

12.192.57 "It is not fitting for you to utter a false word, O subduer of foes; and still less can I bring myself to speak falsely."

12.192.58 "I promised before, without reservation, 'I shall give.' Take it, then, without hesitation, if your honor stands in truth."

12.192.59 "For having come here, O king, you begged of me the fruit of my recitation. Take, then, what I have surrendered, and stand firm in truth."

12.192.60 "For the man addicted to falsehood there is neither this world nor the next; he cannot deliver his forefathers—how much less, O king, his descendants?"

12.192.61 "Neither sacrifice, nor Vedic study, nor giving, nor the vows can deliver a man in the world beyond, O bull among men, as truth can."

12.192.62 "The austerities you have already performed, and the austerity you shall yet perform through hundreds and thousands of years—none of it surpasses truth."

12.192.63 "Truth is the single-syllabled brahman; truth is the single-syllabled austerity; truth is the single-syllabled sacrifice; truth is the single-syllabled sacred lore."

12.192.64 "Truth keeps watch within the Vedas; the highest fruit is held to lie in truth. From truth come dharma and self-restraint; all things rest upon truth."

12.192.65 "Truth is the Vedas and their auxiliary sciences; truth is the sacrifice and its ordinance; truth too is the practice of vows; and truth is the very syllable Oṃ."

12.192.66 "Truth is the birth of living beings, and truth is their continuance. By truth the wind blows on its course; by truth the sun gives forth its heat."

12.192.67 "By truth the fire burns; heaven is established upon truth. Truth is the sacrifice, the austerity, the Vedas, the chants, the sacred verses, and the goddess Sarasvatī."

12.192.68 "Dharma and truth, so we have heard, were once set upon a balance; and while the two held the scale even, truth proved the weightier."

12.192.69 "Where there is dharma, there is truth; all things grow by truth. Why, then, O king, do you wish to do an act of untruth?"

12.192.70 "Set your heart firmly upon truth; commit no falsehood, O king. Why do you make of your inauspicious word, 'give to me,' a thing of untruth?"

12.192.71 "If you will not receive the fruit of the recitation given by me, O king, then, fallen from your own duties, you will wander through the worlds in misery."

12.192.72 "He who, having promised, will not give, and he who, having begged, will not receive—both these are men of untruth. You ought not to make yourself false."

12.192.73 The king said: "To fight and to protect—such, indeed, is the dharma of the kṣatriya, O twice-born one. Kṣatriyas are called givers; how, then, should I take from you?"

12.192.74 The brāhmaṇa said: "I did not solicit you, O king, nor did I come to your house. You it was who came here and begged of me; how, then, will you now refuse to receive?"

12.192.75 Dharma said: "Let there be no dispute between you two. Know me to be Dharma, come hither in person. The brāhmaṇa is endowed with the fruit of giving, and the king with the fruit of truth."

12.192.76 Heaven said: "Know me, O lord of kings, to be Heaven, come here in embodied form. Let there be no dispute between you two; you both are equal in the fruit you have earned."

12.192.77 The king said: "I have no business with heaven; go, O Heaven, as you please. If the sage wishes to give, then let him in turn accept my wealth."

12.192.78 The brāhmaṇa said: "If in my childhood, through ignorance, I once stretched out my hand to receive, yet now I follow the dharma marked by withdrawal, reciting the sacred text."

12.192.79 "Me, a brāhmaṇa long withdrawn from the world, why, O king, do you seek to tempt? I shall accomplish my purpose by my own means; I desire no fruit from you, O king. Devoted to austerity and to sacred study, I have ceased from the acceptance of gifts."

12.192.80 The king said: "If, O sage, the highest fruit of your recitation has been surrendered by you, then whatever fruit belongs to us two, let it here be held by us together."

12.192.81 "The twice-born are appointed to receive, and those born of royal lineage to give. If dharma has been truly heard by us, O sage, then let the fruit be shared by us both."

12.192.82 "Or else, let there be no sharing between us: take then the fruit that is mine. Accept the merit I have wrought, if you would show me your grace."

12.192.83 Bhīṣma said: Then two men of strange demeanor appeared, ill-clad, clutching and clinging to each other, and spoke these words.

12.192.84 "You owe me nothing," said the one; "I do owe you," said the other. "This is the dispute between us; let this king be our judge."

12.192.85 "I speak the truth in this: you owe me nothing." "It is you who speak falsely here; I do owe a debt to you."

12.192.86 The two of them, both sorely troubled, said this to the king: "Let the matter be examined, so that we two may not stand here in disgrace."

12.192.87 Virūpa said: "O tiger among men, I owe to Vikṛta here the fruit of a cow; yet though I would pay it, Vikṛta will not accept it from me, O lord of earth."

12.192.88 Vikṛta said: "This Virūpa owes me nothing at all, O ruler of men. He speaks falsely, and it is to you, O king, that he makes this false appearance."

12.192.89 The king said: "Virūpa, what is it that you owe to him? Tell me, and having heard it I shall act accordingly—such is the resolve of my mind."

12.192.90 Virūpa said: "Listen attentively, O king, how it is that I owe this to Vikṛta here, in its entirety, O royal sage, O bull among men."

12.192.91 "Long ago, O sinless one, this man, for the sake of gaining merit, gave a fine milk-cow, O royal sage, to a brāhmaṇa devoted to austerity and sacred study."

12.192.92 "And I, O king, came to Vikṛta and begged of him the fruit of that gift; and Vikṛta gave it to me with a wholly purified inner heart."

12.192.93 "Thereafter I did a meritorious deed for my own purification: I bought two tawny cows, fond of their calves and abundant in milk."

12.192.94 "And those two, O king, I bestowed, as was prescribed and with full faith, upon one who lived by gleaning. That same merit, O lord, I would now once more render back to him."

12.192.95 "Having received that, I would now repay it here twofold for the one cow. O tiger among men, who in this matter is in the right, and who at fault?"

12.192.96 "Thus disputing, we two have come before you here, O king. Do what is right or what is wrong, but settle us in due conduct and resolve our quarrel."

12.192.97 "If he will not accept my gift, even as this man once gave to me, then let your honor, standing firm in this, set us upon the right path, O lord."

12.192.98 The king said: "Why do you not accept the debt now offered to you? Even as it has been granted to you, so receive it without delay."

12.192.99 Vikṛta said: "'Let it be given,' was said by him, and 'I give,' was said by me. He owes me nothing in this matter; let him go wherever he wishes."

12.192.100 The king said: "You do not accept it though he offers—this seems to me unjust. You, I judge, deserve punishment; of that there is surely no doubt."

12.192.101 Vikṛta said: "I gave it to him, O royal sage; how then should I take it back again? If herein lies my offense, decree my punishment, O lord."

12.192.102 Virūpa said: "If you will in no wise accept what is offered by me, then this king, the upholder of dharma, will restrain and chastise you."

12.192.103 Vikṛta said: "What was my own I gave here when begged of me; how should I take it back again today? Go, your honor—I grant you leave to depart."

12.192.104 The brāhmaṇa said: "You have heard, O king, what these two have related. Take, then, without hesitation, what I promised to you."

12.192.105 The king said: "A weighty matter is here laid before us two, deep as a thicket. How shall this firm resolve of the reciter be carried through?"

12.192.106 "If, then, I do not accept what the brāhmaṇa has surrendered, how shall I not today be tainted with a grievous fault?"

12.192.107 Bhīṣma said: And that royal sage said to the two: "Your purpose accomplished, you may now depart. Let it not be, now that you have come to me, that the dharma of kings should prove false."

12.192.108 "One's own dharma must be upheld—such is the firm conclusion for kings. Yet the dharma of the brāhmaṇa weighs heavy; it has entered me, who am no longer master of myself."

12.192.109 The brāhmaṇa said: "Take it; I owe it to you. I have heard your request. If you will not receive it, O king, I shall surely curse you—of that there is no doubt."

12.192.110 The king said: "Shame upon the dharma of kings, which decides such a matter thus! For this reason I must accept it—how else might the scales be made even?"

12.192.111 "Behold, O sir, this hand of mine is stretched out as never before, to receive the deposit. What you owe me, O sage, let it now be given."

12.192.112 The brāhmaṇa said: "Whatever merit I have gained by reciting the sacred text—receive it all, if indeed any merit of mine exists."

12.192.113 The king said: "This water has fallen upon my palm, O best of the twice-born. Let it be shared, let it be held in common—and let your honor too accept it."

12.192.114 Virūpa said: Know us two to be Desire and Wrath; it was by us that you were made to act. And as for the equality of which you spoke, your worlds and his are indeed equal.

12.192.115 This brāhmaṇa holds nothing back from you; this testing was done for your sake. Time, Dharma, and Death, Desire and Wrath — such are you two.

12.192.116 All has been rubbed together upon the touchstone of mutual proof, as you have seen. Go now to the worlds you have won by your own deeds, wherever you wish.

12.192.117 Bhīṣma said: I have fully proclaimed to you the attainment of fruit by the reciters — the course, the abode, and the worlds, and how they are won by the reciter.

12.192.118 He who studies the saṃhitā goes forth to Brahmā the Supreme; or else he draws near to Agni, or enters into the Sun.

12.192.119 If, through his fiery nature, he takes delight there, then, deluded by attachment, he assumes the qualities of those realms.

12.192.120 So too in Soma and in Vāyu; clothed in the body of earth and ether, still bound by attachment, he dwells there, partaking of their qualities.

12.192.121 But if there he becomes free of attachment, he passes beyond all uncertainty; longing for the supreme and imperishable, he enters into That alone once more.

12.192.122 Having passed from the immortal to the immortal, grown cool, freed of self-clinging, become Brahman, beyond all pairs of opposites — he is happy, at peace, and untouched by ill.

12.192.123 He attains that abode of Brahman from which there is no returning, the One named the Imperishable — that station free from sorrow, free from age, and serene.

12.192.124 Transcending the Puruṣa that is marked off by four signs, by six, and by sixteen, he attains the ether-like Absolute.

12.192.125 But if, his nature still passionate, he desires, he presides over all that; and whatever he prays for, that he attains by the mind alone.

12.192.126 Or else, free of craving and released from all things, he looks upon all the worlds set forth before him as in a hall, and rejoices there in happiness.

12.192.127 Such, great king, is the course of the reciter. All this I have declared to you. What further do you wish to hear?

12.193.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When that had been spoken, what answer did the two then make — the brāhmaṇa, or else the king? Tell me that, grandfather.

12.193.2 Or did the two then depart to that place of which you have spoken? What dialogue passed between them, and what did they do there?

12.193.3 Bhīṣma said: Having assented, saying "So be it," and having honored Dharma, O lord, and reverenced the worthy ones — Yama, Time, Death, and Heaven —

12.193.4 and having bowed his head to all the bulls among brāhmaṇas, those of old and the others assembled there, the brāhmaṇa spoke these words to the king:

12.193.5 "Endowed with this fruit, O royal sage, go to your holy reward; and with your leave I would recite once more."

12.193.6 "For long ago, O mighty one, the goddess granted me a boon, O lord of peoples: 'Faith shall be ever yours as you recite.'"

12.193.7 The king said: "If thus your perfection bears no fruit, yet you have faith to recite, then come, brāhmaṇa, along with me, and obtain the reciter's reward."

12.193.8 The brāhmaṇa said: "A very great effort has been made here in the presence of all. Equal in fruit, let us two go together to wherever our course leads."

12.193.9 Bhīṣma said: Knowing the resolve of the two, the lord of the thirty gods drew near, together with the gods and likewise with the guardians of the worlds.

12.193.10 The Sādhyas, the Viśvedevas, the Maruts, and the mighty luminaries, the rivers, mountains, and oceans, and the many places of pilgrimage —

12.193.11 the austerities, the rule of ritual conjunction, the Vedas, the chanted syllables, Sarasvatī, Nārada, and Parvata, Viśvāvasu, Hāhā and Hūhū —

12.193.12 the gandharva Citrasena with his retinue of attendants, the nāgas, the siddhas, and the sages; the God of gods, Prajāpati; and Viṣṇu the thousand-headed, the inconceivable deity — all came together.

12.193.13 In the midspace, O lord, kettledrums and trumpets sounded; divine showers of blossoms fell upon those great souls, and troops of apsarases danced everywhere on every side.

12.193.14 Then Heaven himself, in visible form, spoke these words to the brāhmaṇa: "You are perfected, O blessed one; and you too are perfected, O king."

12.193.15 Then, O king, the two together, each in due order, both performed the withdrawal of the senses from their objects.

12.193.16 Prāṇa and apāna, udāna, samāna, and vyāna — having fixed these breaths in the mind, they then placed the mind upon the vital breaths.

12.193.17 Steady in their posture there, the two slowly held the mind, with eyes upon the tip of the nose, below the brows, fixed upon the seat within.

12.193.18 With bodies wholly motionless, gaze unwavering, deep in concentration, masters of their seat, they fixed the very self within the crown of the head.

12.193.19 Then, bursting through the region of the palate of the great-souled brāhmaṇa, a vast flame of light went up to the third heaven.

12.193.20 Then a great cry of wonder arose in all the quarters; and that light, hymned with praise, entered then into Brahmā.

12.193.21 Then the Grandfather, rising to meet that radiance — the Puruṣa no larger than a span — said "Welcome," O lord of peoples.

12.193.22 And further he spoke another word, a sweet one: "The yogins have a fruit equal to that of the reciters — herein is no doubt."

12.193.23 "For yoga the fruit, in comparison with these, is direct vision; but for the reciters the rising-up to meet them is a greater distinction still."

12.193.24 Saying "Let him dwell in me," he then restored him to awareness once more; and the brāhmaṇa, his fever of passion gone, entered into His mouth.

12.193.25 The king too, by this same method, entered then into the blessed Grandfather, just as the tiger among brāhmaṇas had done.

12.193.26 Then the gods, having saluted the Self-Existent, spoke: "This effort was for the reciter's sake, and for that we have come."

12.193.27 "These two have been honored alike by you, and alike in their fruit. The fruit of the yogin and of the reciter has this day been seen to be very great. Let these two pass beyond all the worlds and go wherever they wish."

12.193.28 Brahmā said: "Whoever recites the Mahāsmṛti, and likewise the auspicious Anusmṛti — those two also, by this method, would attain to a shared world with me."

12.193.29 "And whoever is devoted to yoga — he too, of this there is no doubt, would by this method attain my worlds at the body's end. Let it be so; I shall bring it about, that each may reach his proper station for perfection."

12.193.30 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken thus, the god then vanished on the spot; and the gods, taking their leave of him, departed each to his own dwelling.

12.193.31 And all those great souls, having honored Dharma there, followed after, O king, all of them with hearts well pleased.

12.193.32 This is the fruit of the reciters, and their course has been proclaimed, just as I have heard it, great king. What further do you wish to hear?

12.194.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What is the fruit of the yoga of knowledge, of the Vedas, and of self-restraint? And how is the Self of beings to be known? Tell me that, grandfather.

12.194.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recite an ancient story — the discourse between Manu the Lord of creatures and the great sage Bṛhaspati.

12.194.3 Bṛhaspati, the great sage, foremost of the host of divine seers, bowing as a disciple to his teacher, asked this ancient question of Prajāpati, the most excellent upon the earth:

12.194.4 "For what cause is the rite of sacred formulas set in motion? What fruit do the brāhmaṇas declare to lie in knowledge? And that which is not made manifest by the words of the formulas — let it be told to me truly, O blessed one."

12.194.5 "That great fruit which is sought by those versed in the treatises, the scriptures, and the formulas, through many sacrifices and gifts of choice cattle — what is it, and how, and where shall it come to be?"

12.194.6 "The earth and earth-born things, the wind and the midspace, the water-dwellers and the water, the heaven and the heaven-dwellers — that ancient source from which they sprang, let it be told to me, O blessed one."

12.194.7 "Since a man longs for knowledge, his striving is directed to that end. Yet I do not know the supreme and ancient One — and how then should I undertake a striving that is false?"

12.194.8 "Though I have studied the Ṛc and the bodies of Sāman and the Yajus chants, the meters, the course of the constellations, etymology, grammar with the ritual codes, and phonetics — still I do not know the primordial nature of beings."

12.194.9 "Let your honor declare to me all this: what fruit there is in knowledge or in action; and how the embodied one falls away from the body, and how it comes again to a body."

12.194.10 Manu said: Whatever is dear to a man they call his pleasure; that very same thing, when unwished-for, they call his pain. "May the wished-for be mine, and may the other not be" — for this the rule of action is set in motion. "May neither the wished-for nor the unwished-for come upon me" — for this the rule of knowledge is set in motion.

12.194.11 The works of ritual action in the Vedas are rooted in desire; freed from these, a man may attain the Supreme. The man who, seeking happiness, has set out upon the manifold path of action does not reach the Supreme; for the Supreme stands apart from the path of action — free of all petition, given over wholly to Brahman.

12.194.12 Creatures are brought forth by mind and by action; both these are good paths, frequented by the world. Seeing that action is everlasting yet also has an end, the renunciation of the mind is the cause of release — there is no other.

12.194.13 At the passing of night, the self enveloped in darkness is its own guide, as the eye is a guide; but knowledge, joined with the quality of discernment, sees that evil action is to be shunned.

12.194.14 Knowing them for what they are, men avoid serpents, the sharp points of kuśa grass, and the open well; but the deluded, through ignorance, fall into them. See how distinguished is the fruit that lies in knowledge.

12.194.15 The whole formula duly employed, the sacrifices as prescribed, the priestly fees, the giving of food, and the concentration of the mind — fivefold, they say, is the fruit of action.

12.194.16 The Vedas declare action to consist of the qualities; therefore the formulas, and the formula is the root of action; the rule is to be carried out, and its fulfillment is by the mind. But the enjoyer of the fruit is the embodied self.

12.194.17 Sounds and forms and pleasant tastes, touches and fragrances likewise auspicious — and a man may become a lord, dwelling among them: this is the fruit that is won in the world of action.

12.194.18 Whatever action one does with the body, being joined to a body one enjoys it; the body is the very seat of pleasure, and the body is the seat of pain as well.

12.194.19 Whatever action one does by speech, by speech one fully enjoys it all; and whatever action one does by the mind, abiding in the mind one enjoys that.

12.194.20 As, seeking fruit, this self performs its host of deeds according to the qualities, intent upon the fruit of action, so, conjoined with those very qualities, it enjoys the good and evil fruit of action.

12.194.21 As a fish darts along, following the current, so one comes upon the action one did before. In the good deed the embodied one is content, but in the ill-done deed the supreme embodied one finds no content.

12.194.22 That from which this whole world is brought forth, which the masters of self come to know and pass beyond, that which is not made manifest by the words of the formulas — hear from me as I tell it, the Supreme:

12.194.23 Devoid of tastes and of the various fragrances, soundless, touchless, and without form, ungraspable, unmanifest, colorless, One — it brought forth the fivefold creation of beings.

12.194.24 It is neither woman, nor man, nor neuter; neither being nor non-being, nor yet both being and non-being. That which the men who know Brahman behold — know it to be the Imperishable, for it does not perish.

12.195.1 Manu said: From the Imperishable comes ether, from ether wind, from wind fire, and from fire water; from water the earth is brought forth, and upon the earth the world is born.

12.195.2 These, with their bodies, pass into water, and from water into fire, into wind, into the midspace; those not destined for the Supreme turn back from the ether, but those who are destined attain the Supreme.

12.195.3 Neither hot nor cold, neither soft nor sharp, neither sour, astringent, sweet, nor bitter; neither possessed of sound nor of fragrance, nor of form — such is That, the supreme essence.

12.195.4 The body knows touch, the tongue taste, the nose fragrances, the ears sounds, the eye forms; but that which is supreme beyond these — the men who do not know the inner Self cannot grasp it.

12.195.5 Having drawn back the tongue from tastes, the nose from fragrance, the ears from sound, the body from touch, and the eye from the quality of form — beyond that he beholds his own essence.

12.195.6 That from which one takes hold and acts, and that in which one begins one's activity; that in which, that which, that by which, and the one who is the doer — that they call the cause and the means.

12.195.7 That which is sovereign, effecting and all-pervading, which is hymned in the world as in the formulas; He who is the cause of all and works the highest end — that is the Cause; whatever is other than it is effect.

12.195.8 As a man, by his good deeds, attains the good and the ill without conflict, so within bodies good and ill this knowledge is bound fast, born of one's own deeds.

12.195.9 As a lamp kindled before one, blazing, gives light to another, so here the five senses, lamp-trees set ablaze by knowledge, are yet dependent on another.

12.195.10 For just as the many ministers of a king, each in his appointed office, pronounce their judgment separately, so within bodies are the five senses; but the supreme one, the single seat of knowledge, stands above them all.

12.195.11 As the flames of fire, the gusts of the wind, the rays of the sun, and the waters in the rivers come forth and pass away, ever streaming on, even so do the bodies of embodied beings come and go.

12.195.12 And as a man who takes up an axe sees neither smoke nor fire within the wood, so when they cleave open the body—its trunk, hands, and feet—they do not perceive that other thing which dwells within.

12.195.13 But as one who churns those very logs together would, by the proper means, see both smoke and flame, so the man of keen and disciplined intellect, gathering the senses into equipoise, perceives the Supreme, his own true nature.

12.195.14 As in dream a man, while his own limbs lie fallen upon the earth, beholds another self of his own, so the man of clear mind and disciplined intellect, endowed with hearing and the other faculties, passes from one subtle body to another subtle body.

12.195.15 That supreme embodied one is not touched by birth, growth, decay, or dissolution; yet by this subtle body, unseen, he passes to another subtle body through the working of rebirth's bond.

12.195.16 With the eye he does not behold the form of the Self, nor does he come into any contact with it; nor does he accomplish his ends through the senses. They do not perceive him, yet he perceives them.

12.195.17 As in a burning lamp the flame takes on some form born of its own heat, yet bears within no inner quality of visible form, even so is the form of this Self beheld.

12.195.18 As a man, casting off his body, enters another, unseen body, so the embodied one, surrendering the body into the great elements, takes on a form that rests upon them.

12.195.19 Space, wind, fire, water, and earth—the embodied one enters into them on every side; and abiding in their several seats, engaged in their works, the five faculties beginning with hearing take hold of the five sense-qualities.

12.195.20 Hearing arises from space, smell from earth; form is made of light, and so too is digestion; sweat and taste are declared to rest upon water; and the quality born of touch is of the nature of wind.

12.195.21 The five sense-objects dwell within the great elements, and the senses within those objects; all of these follow the mind, the mind follows the intellect, and the intellect follows its own essential nature.

12.195.22 Whatever deed, good or evil, has been done by him, that very deed he takes back upon himself in his own body; and high and low alike follow after the mind, as a creature of the water follows the favoring current.

12.195.23 As a moving thing, though minute, enters the path of sight and appears like some great form, and the eye discerns its own proper shape, so the Supreme passes into the path of the intellect.

12.196.1 Manu said: That which long remembers the sense-qualities once gathered and presented by the faculties before, even after those faculties have afterward been destroyed—that is the Supreme, whose nature is intellect.

12.196.2 Since one does not apprehend all the sense-objects together at once, in their entirety and in equal time, but the knowing one moves among them according to his capacity, therefore the supreme embodied one is one alone.

12.196.3 He passes through rajas, tamas, and sattva as the third—the varied qualities pertaining to knowledge; and the embodied one enters into the senses as the wind enters the fire lodged in fuel.

12.196.4 With the eye he does not behold the form of the Self, nor does the inner sense of the senses perceive touch, nor is the mark of hearing found within the act of hearing; whatever is so apprehended perishes.

12.196.5 The faculties beginning with hearing do not perceive their own selves by themselves; but the all-knowing, all-seeing Knower of the Field perceives them all.

12.196.6 As the far side of the Himālaya, or the hidden face of the moon, has never been seen before by men—yet it does not therefore cease to exist—

12.196.7 so too the Self of beings, dwelling within all beings, subtle and possessed of the nature of knowledge, though never before seen by the eyes, does not therefore cease to exist.

12.196.8 As the world, though it sees the mark upon the moon, does not comprehend it, so the question whether this Self is or is not cannot be settled—yet it is not for that reason no refuge.

12.196.9 The wise, intent upon it, though it is formless, behold with the understanding as endowed with form, at rising and at setting, the course of the sun.

12.196.10 Even so, by the lamp of the intellect, the truly discerning seek to bring near that which stands afar—the object of knowledge, fully gathered up within knowledge itself.

12.196.11 For surely no end is attained without the proper means, as men net the fish, those creatures of the water, with snares of corded mesh.

12.196.12 As deer are caught by deer, and birds by birds, and elephants by elephants, so the object of knowledge is grasped by knowledge.

12.196.13 It is shown by the saying that only a serpent can see the feet of a serpent; even so, by knowledge one perceives the knowable that abides within embodied forms.

12.196.14 As the senses cannot, even with the senses, contrive to know one another, so here the higher intellect does not behold the Supreme by intellect alone.

12.196.15 As the moon, on the night of its dark phase, is not seen because it shows no mark, and yet suffers no destruction—so know the embodied Self to be.

12.196.16 On the night of the dark moon, its sheath worn away, the moon does not shine forth; even so the embodied one, when parted from his bodily form, is not apprehended.

12.196.17 As the moon, gaining a fresh sheath, shines forth once more, so the embodied one, gaining another subtle body, shines forth again.

12.196.18 Birth, waxing, and waning of it are apprehended by direct perception; but that is the manifest appearance of the moon, not of the embodied Self.

12.196.19 As, through its arising, waxing, and waning, it is grasped as 'the moon,' so the moon, even on the dark night, remains the same possessor of form.

12.196.20 The darkness, whether creeping upon or releasing the moon, is not seen as it withdraws or as it approaches; behold the embodied Self in just this way.

12.196.21 As that darkness is apprehended when joined to moon or sun, so the Self, when joined to a body, is apprehended as 'the embodied one.'

12.196.22 As Rāhu, once released from moon and sun, is no longer apprehended, so the embodied one, once freed from the body, is no longer apprehended.

12.196.23 As the moon, gone into its dark phase, is still joined with the constellations, so the Self, though freed from one body, is joined with the fruits of its deeds.

12.197.1 Manu said: As in sleep this manifest body lies still while the conscious knower roves abroad in dream, so, after death, knowledge joined with the senses passes through being and non-being.

12.197.2 As in clear water one beholds a reflection with the eye, so he whose senses are serene perceives the knowable through knowledge.

12.197.3 But as that same man, when the water is troubled, does not behold the reflection, so when the senses are agitated, one does not perceive the knowable within knowledge.

12.197.4 Want of understanding is wrought by ignorance; by want of understanding the mind is defiled; and when the mind is defiled, the five mental faculties are wholly corrupted.

12.197.5 He who is sated with ignorance, plunged deep in the objects of sense, does not behold the Self; but the man of purified soul turns back from those objects without having beheld it.

12.197.6 No cutting-off of thirst comes to a man here so long as his defilement remains; but when his sin has come to its end, then his thirst likewise ceases.

12.197.7 Through clinging to the objects of sense, and through failing to take refuge in the Eternal, and through hankering with the mind after something other, a man does not attain the Supreme.

12.197.8 Knowledge arises in men through the wearing-away of sinful deeds; and then, as in the surface of a mirror, one beholds the Self within the self.

12.197.9 With the senses let loose a man is wretched; with those same senses restrained he is happy. Therefore let him, by the self, draw the self back from the forms presented to the senses.

12.197.10 Higher than the senses is the mind; higher than that is the intellect; higher than the intellect is knowledge; and higher than knowledge is the Supreme.

12.197.11 From the Unmanifest knowledge streams forth; from it the intellect, and from that the mind; and the mind, joined with hearing and the other faculties, rightly perceives sound and the rest.

12.197.12 He who forsakes sound and the rest, and likewise all manifest things, and lets go the whole host of forms—he, once freed of them, partakes of the immortal.

12.197.13 As the sun, rising, sends forth its orb of rays, and that same sun, going to its setting, withdraws them back into itself,

12.197.14 so the inner Self, entering the body with the rays of the senses, and laying hold of the five sense-qualities, withdrawing them, goes to its own setting.

12.197.15 Led again and again along the path laid out by his deeds, this self-possessed one attains the fruit of his works—dharma grown abundant.

12.197.16 For the embodied one who abstains, the objects of sense turn away, save for the relish of them; but even that relish departs once he has beheld the Supreme.

12.197.17 When the intellect, stripped of the qualities born of action, abides within the mind, then Brahman is attained, dissolved into that very state.

12.197.18 Touching nothing, hearing nothing, tasting nothing, seeing nothing, smelling nothing, and without deliberation—thus the being enters the Supreme.

12.197.19 Forms are merged into the mind; the mind has passed beyond into the understanding; the understanding has passed beyond into knowledge; and knowledge has gone over into the Supreme.

12.197.20 Through the senses the mind achieves its work, yet the mind does not know the intellect; the intellect does not know the Unmanifest; but the Subtle One perceives them all.

12.198.1 Manu said: Know that knowledge is brought to completion by the knowable; the mind has knowledge for its quality; and from the mind, joined with the instrument of wisdom, the intellect proceeds.

12.198.2 When the intellect, endowed with the qualities of action, abides within the mind, then Brahman is discerned through the deep absorption of meditative yoga.

12.198.3 This intellect, possessed of the qualities, moves ever among the qualities, as water streaming down in descent from a mountain peak.

12.198.4 When the meditation that arose first within the mind attains the quality-less state, then Brahman is discerned, as gold is tested upon the touchstone.

12.198.5 But the mind, which has carried off the intellect and which is fixed upon the objects of sense, intent upon the qualities, cannot directly behold that which is without qualities.

12.198.6 Closing fast all these gates, and standing firm within the mind, having made the mind one-pointed, one attains that Supreme.

12.198.7 As the great elements turn back when their qualities are spent, so the intellect, taking up the senses, abides within the mind.

12.198.8 When that intellect, moving within, abides in the mind, endowed with the quality of resolve, then the mind is fully formed.

12.198.9 When the mind, endowed with the qualities through the qualified faculties and possessing the quality of meditation, then forsakes all qualities, it attains the quality-less.

12.198.10 For the discernment of the Unmanifest there is here no comparable illustration; where there is no setting down of a foot, who could reach that domain?

12.198.11 By austerity and by inference, by good qualities, by birth, and by sacred learning, let a man, with wholly purified inner self, seek to draw near that supreme Brahman.

12.198.12 He who lacks the qualities follows that path only from without; for through the absence of qualities and through nature itself, the knowable is beyond reasoning, measured only against itself.

12.198.13 Through quality-lessness one attains Brahman; through having qualities one is turned back; for the intellect spreads out among the qualities as fire spreads through fuel.

12.198.14 As the five senses are released from their own functions, so that supreme Brahman stands released, beyond Nature.

12.198.15 Thus from Nature all embodied beings arise; and when they turn back at the cessation, they no longer come into creation.

12.198.16 The Spirit, Nature, the intellect, the particulars and the senses, the ego-sense and self-conceit—all this, come into being, bears the name of the elemental world.

12.198.17 The first activity of the One proceeds forth from Primal Matter; the second governs the manifestation of pairs out of the undifferentiated.

12.198.18 From dharma the good is drawn forth, and likewise the ill from unrighteousness; the man of passion goes back to Nature, while the dispassionate becomes possessed of knowledge.

12.199.1 Manu said: When your five faculties, together with the mind, are released by the five, then you shall behold that Brahman, like a thread strung through a gem.

12.199.2 And as that same thread runs again through gold, through pearls, through corals, through what is made of clay, and through what is made of silver,

12.199.3 so it runs through cattle and through men, through elephants, deer, and the rest, through worms and moths—the Self bound fast by its own deeds.

12.199.4 By whatever body this one performs whatever deed, by that very body he reaps that very fruit.

12.199.5 For as the earth, single in its savor, conforms itself to the nature of each plant, so the intellect follows after one's deeds, attentive to the inner Self.

12.199.6 Desire arises preceded by knowledge; intention is preceded by desire; action is preceded by intention; and the fruit, in turn, has action for its root.

12.199.7 Let one know that fruit has the nature of action, and that action in turn has the nature of the knowable; let one know that the knowable has the nature of knowledge, and that knowledge has the nature of both being and non-being.

12.199.8 When knowledges, fruits, knowables, and actions have all come to their end, that fruit which remains is the divine knowledge, firmly grounded in the knowable.

12.199.9 That supreme Great Being the disciplined yogins behold; but the unwise do not see it, dwelling within themselves yet bound by an understanding ruled by the qualities.

12.199.10 Greater than the form of earth is the form of the waters here; greater than the waters is fire, and greater than fire is the wind.

12.199.11 Greater than the wind is ether, and beyond that is mind; greater than mind is the intellect, and greater than the intellect, it is taught, is Time.

12.199.12 Greater than Time is the Lord Viṣṇu, to whom belongs all this world; of that God no beginning, no middle, and no end can be known.

12.199.13 Because he is without beginning, without middle, and without end, he is imperishable; he transcends all sorrows, for sorrow is said to be that which has an end.

12.199.14 That is declared the supreme Brahman, that is remembered as the supreme abode; reaching it, men are freed from the domain of Time and find their refuge in liberation.

12.199.15 By these qualities things are made manifest; beyond that is the qualityless, which transcends them. The dharma marked by withdrawal likewise leads to the infinite.

12.199.16 The Ṛc verses, the Yajus formulas, and the Sāman chants, taking refuge in bodies, issue forth upon the tips of tongues—achieved by effort, and perishable.

12.199.17 But Brahman is not held to be of such a kind, arising from dependence on a body; that Brahman is not to be won by effort, has no beginning nor middle, nor is it subject to an end.

12.199.18 A beginning of the Ṛc verses, of the Sāmans, and of the Yajus is spoken of; and an end is seen for whatever has a beginning. But no beginning of Brahman is taught.

12.199.19 Because it is without beginning and without end, it is infinite and imperishable; and because it is imperishable it is free of all pairs of opposites, and through the absence of opposites it is the Supreme beyond.

12.199.20 Because it cannot be seen, because there is no means to it, and because of their deliberate intent upon action, mortals do not behold that by which they might reach the Supreme.

12.199.21 Through contact with sense-objects, and through gazing upon the eternal while yet longing in his mind for something else, a man does not attain the Supreme.

12.199.22 Whatever men perceive here in the realm of the qualities, that other people desire; they do not long for the Supreme at all, for, being seekers of the qualities, they shun its qualityless nature.

12.199.23 But how shall one who is bound by the lower qualities come to know these very qualities? Only by inference are they to be approached, together with the qualities as their constituent parts.

12.199.24 By a subtle mind we know it, but by speech we are unable to utter it; for mind is grasped only by mind, and sight only by sight.

12.199.25 Having purified the intellect by knowledge, and the mind by the intellect, and the host of the senses by the mind, one attains the Infinite.

12.199.26 He who is bereft of intellect, ill-endowed in mind, and devoid of all desire enters into the state of the qualities; lured astray, such men abandon the Supreme here, as the wind abandons the fire that lies within the fuel.

12.199.27 In the taking up of the qualities and in the parting from them, the mind is ever drawn by the higher and lower workings of the intellect; set in motion by this very ordinance, in taking up the qualities it comes to embodiment in Brahman.

12.199.28 The Person whose self is unmanifest and whose actions are unmanifest passes into the unmanifest at the time of the end; clad in the form of his deeds, he abides among these very senses, whether they wax in strength or wither away.

12.199.29 Joined with all the senses, this body, once attained, comes to rest upon the five elements; through its incapacity it does not pass on here by action alone, deprived of that supreme imperishable One.

12.199.30 A man does not see the end of this earth, yet know that an end of it there shall be; the lures of the world carry the man who is enticed astray, as the wind drives a raft adrift upon the sea.

12.199.31 As the maker of day, though qualityless, takes on a quality, and may then become an orb stripped of its rays, so too that sage here, having become free of all distinctions, enters the qualityless and imperishable Brahman.

12.199.32 The state of no-return, the supreme goal of those rich in good deeds, the self-existent, the imperishable source and resting-place of all that arises—the eternal, deathless, imperishable abode: meditating upon it, one attains peace and immortality.

12.200.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O grandsire of vast wisdom, of the lotus-eyed, unfallen Acyuta—Viṣṇu, the maker who is himself unmade, the origin and dissolution of all beings—

12.200.2 of Nārāyaṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa, Govinda the unconquered—O best of the Bhāratas, I wish to hear of Keśava in his very truth.

12.200.3 Bhīṣma said: This matter I have heard as it was spoken by Rāma, son of Jamadagni, and by the divine sage Nārada, and by Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana,

12.200.4 and by Asita Devala, my child, and by Vālmīki of great austerities, and by Mārkaṇḍeya, who tells of Govinda a great and wondrous tale.

12.200.5 Keśava, O best of the Bhāratas, is the Lord, the sovereign, the master; that he is the Person who is all, the all-pervading One, is heard told in many ways.

12.200.6 Yet hear now, O mighty-armed Yudhiṣṭhira, those greatnesses of the wielder of the Śārṅga bow which the brāhmaṇas in the world know of.

12.200.7 And those things which the men learned in the ancient lore declare, O lord of men—all of them concerning Govinda I shall recount in full.

12.200.8 The great-souled Supreme Person, the very Self of beings, fashioned the great elements—wind, fire, and likewise water, ether, and earth.

12.200.9 And beholding the earth, that lord and sovereign of all beings, the great-souled Supreme Person, made his couch upon the waters.

12.200.10 Composed wholly of radiance, reclining there upon that fair couch, he meditated upon Saṃkarṣaṇa, the firstborn of all beings.

12.200.11 We have heard that the Self of beings holds within his mind the refuge of all creatures, and bears up both that which has been and that which is to come.

12.200.12 Then, O mighty-armed one, when that great-souled being had manifested, a divine lotus, rivaling the sun, was born from his navel.

12.200.13 There upon that lotus, my child, the divine Lord, illumining the quarters, came into being as Brahmā, the grandsire of all beings.

12.200.14 And when that great-souled one too had been made manifest, O mighty-armed one, there was born of the darkness, before all others, a great demon named Madhu.

12.200.15 That fierce one, fierce in his deeds, set upon a fierce intent, the Supreme Person slew, thereby rendering a service to Brahmā.

12.200.16 Because of his slaying, my child, all the gods, demons, and men called him Madhusūdana, the bull among all the Sātvatas.

12.200.17 And Brahmā created sons born of his mind, seven with Dakṣa: Marīci, Atri and Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, and Kratu.

12.200.18 Marīci, my child, brought forth Kaśyapa as his eldest son, a mind-born and radiant one, most excellent in sacred knowledge.

12.200.19 From his thumb Brahmā created one even prior to Marīci; he became, O best of the Bhāratas, the lord of creatures named Dakṣa.

12.200.20 To that lord of creatures, O Bhārata, there were first born thirteen daughters; the eldest among them was Diti.

12.200.21 Kaśyapa, son of Marīci, knower of all the particulars of dharma, of holy renown and great fame, my child, became the husband of them all.

12.200.22 Having begotten ten more daughters younger than those, the illustrious Dakṣa, lord of creatures and knower of dharma, gave them to Dharma.

12.200.23 The sons of Dharma are the Vasus and the Rudras of measureless splendor, and the Viśvedevas and the Sādhyas and the Marutvats, O Bhārata.

12.200.24 And there were other daughters, twenty-seven younger than these; the illustrious Soma became the husband of them all.

12.200.25 And other daughters brought forth the gandharvas, horses, birds, cattle, the kiṃpuruṣas, fishes, and the sprouting plants and forest trees.

12.200.26 Aditi gave birth to the Ādityas, foremost of gods and of great strength; among them Viṣṇu became the Dwarf, and the Lord Govinda came to be.

12.200.27 By that very striding of his the fortune of the gods increased, and the dānavas were overthrown, along with the demonic offspring of Diti.

12.200.28 Danu brought forth the dānavas led by Vipracitti, while Diti gave birth to all the asuras, beings of great might.

12.200.29 Day and night, and Time, and the seasons in their turn, the forenoon and the afternoon—all of it Madhusūdana fashioned.

12.200.30 By his intelligence he created the waters and the clouds, and likewise things moving and unmoving; he created the whole earth, joined together, by his abundant splendor.

12.200.31 Then the mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the Lord, brought forth once more from his mouth a hundred excellent brāhmaṇas.

12.200.32 From his arms a hundred kṣatriyas, from his thighs a hundred vaiśyas, and from his feet a hundred śūdras did Keśava bring forth, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.200.33 Having thus brought forth the four classes, that Lord of great fame made the Ordainer the overseer of all beings.

12.200.34 For just so long as men had the will to sustain their bodies, just so long did they live; and there was no fear wrought by Yama.

12.200.35 Nor was there among them the custom of sexual union, O bull of the Bhāratas; their offspring came into being by mere will.

12.200.36 There in the age of the Tretā, offspring were born by will; nor was there among them either the custom of sexual union, O ruler of men.

12.200.37 In the Dvāpara the custom of sexual union arose among creatures, O king; and so in the Kali age, O monarch, people came under the sway of the pairs of opposites.

12.200.38 Thus is proclaimed this lord of beings, his own overseer, my child; but now, O son of Kuntī, I shall recount those peoples who are without an overseer.

12.200.39 Born in the southern region are all the Talavaras and Āndhrakas, the Utsas, the Pulindas, the Śabaras, and the Cūcupas, together with the Maṇḍapas.

12.200.40 Now I shall recount also those born in the northern region: the Yaunas, the Kāmbojas, the Gāndhāras, and the Kirātas, together with the Barbaras.

12.200.41 These evildoers, my child, roam this earth, sharing the nature of dogs, crows, vultures, and the strong birds of prey, O ruler of men.

12.200.42 These did not roam this earth in the Kṛta age, my child; only from the Tretā onward do those peoples exist, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.200.43 Then in that most terrible twilight time at the ending of an age, kings clashed together, falling each upon the other.

12.200.44 Thus, O best of the Kurus, did the divine sage Nārada, beholder of all worlds, declare this manifestation of the great-souled one.

12.200.45 And Nārada too, O ruler of men, deemed the eternity of Kṛṣṇa supreme, rightly so, O mighty-armed bull of the Bhāratas.

12.200.46 Thus is this mighty-armed Keśava, of true valor, the inconceivable, the lotus-eyed one; he is no mere mortal man.

12.201.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Who were the lords of creatures in former times, O bull of the Bhāratas? And who are the illustrious sages remembered for each of the several quarters of the sky?

12.201.2 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O best of the Bhāratas, that which you ask of me—who were the lords of creatures remembered for each of the several quarters.

12.201.3 There is one self-existent Lord, the primeval and eternal Brahmā; and of that self-existent Brahmā there are seven great-souled sons.

12.201.4 Marīci, Atri and Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and the illustrious Vasiṣṭha—they are indeed the equals of the Self-existent One.

12.201.5 "The seven Brahmās"—such is the settled conclusion arrived at in the ancient lore. Beyond this I shall now declare all the lords of creatures.

12.201.6 Sprung from the line of Atri, born of Brahman, eternal, was the Lord Prācīnabarhis; and from him came the ten Prācetasas.

12.201.7 Of those ten there was a single son, the lord of creatures named Dakṣa; he has two names in the world—he is called Dakṣa, and also Ka.

12.201.8 Kaśyapa was the son of Marīci; of him two names are heard—one is Ariṣṭanemi, and the other they know as Kaśyapa.

12.201.9 And there was Aṅga, the glorious son begotten of his own loins, and the valiant king Bhauma, who attended through a thousand divine ages.

12.201.10 And the lord Aryaman too, and whatever other sons there were, O mighty one — these have been declared the regions and the fashioners of the worlds.

12.201.11 And of Śaśabindu there were ten thousand wives, O undecaying one, and from each one of them there were then a thousand sons.

12.201.12 Thus that great-souled one had a hundred times a hundred thousand sons, and they would acknowledge no other as Lord of Creatures.

12.201.13 The wise call that ancient progeny the Śāśabindava line; that great lineage of the Lord of Creatures became the source of the Vṛṣṇi race.

12.201.14 These illustrious ones have been recounted as the Lords of Creatures; now hereafter I shall declare the gods, the sovereigns of the three worlds.

12.201.15 Bhaga and Aṃśa, and Aryaman, and Mitra, and Varuṇa likewise, and Savitṛ, and Dhātṛ, and the mighty Vivasvant —

12.201.16 Pūṣan, Tvaṣṭṛ, and likewise Indra — and Viṣṇu is called the twelfth: these are the twelve Ādityas, sprung from the very self of Kaśyapa.

12.201.17 Nāsatya and Dasra too are remembered as the two Aśvins; these two are the sons of Mārtāṇḍa, the eighth Lord of Creatures.

12.201.18 And the glorious, far-famed Viśvarūpa was the son of Tvaṣṭṛ; then Ajaikapād, Ahirbudhnya, Virūpākṣa, and Raivata —

12.201.19 And Hara, and Bahurūpa, and Tryambaka the lord of gods, and Sāvitra, and Jayanta, and the bow-bearing Aparājita: these are the Rudras. And earlier the eight illustrious Vasus were proclaimed.

12.201.20 These gods of such a kind are sprung from Manu, the Lord of Creatures; and the Ancestors are remembered as twofold — the former ones, and the gods as well.

12.201.21 Some others delight in virtue and beauty, and others belong to the Siddhas and Sādhyas; and the Ṛbhus and the Maruts too are reckoned hosts of the gods.

12.201.22 Thus have these been enumerated — the Viśvedevas and likewise the Aśvins. Among them the Ādityas are the warriors, and the Maruts the commoners.

12.201.23 The two Aśvins are held to be Śūdras, intent upon fierce austerity; and the Āṅgirasa gods are remembered, by settled judgment, to be Brāhmaṇas. Thus the fourfold order of all the gods has been proclaimed.

12.201.24 Whoever, rising at dawn, glorifies these gods is released from every sin — both that done by himself and that done by another.

12.201.25 Yavakrīta, and Raibhya, and Arvāvasu and Parāvasu, and Auśija, and Kakṣīvant, and Nala — these are sons of Aṅgiras.

12.201.26 Kaṇva, the son of the sage Medhātithi, and likewise Barhiṣad — these, my son, are fashioners of the three worlds, the seven seers in the eastern quarter.

12.201.27 Unmuca and Vimuca, and the valiant Svastyātreya, and Pramuca, and Idhmavāha, and the lord of firm vows —

12.201.28 And the majestic Agastya, son of Mitra and Varuṇa — these are the Brahman-seers, forever stationed in the southern quarter.

12.201.29 Ruṣadgu, Kavaṣa, Dhaumya, and the valiant Parivyādha, and Ekata, and Dvita, and Trita — these are the great seers.

12.201.30 And the lord, the son of Atri, and likewise the mighty Sārasvata — these nine great-souled ones are stationed in the western quarter.

12.201.31 Ātreya, and Vasiṣṭha, and Kaśyapa the great seer, and Gautama, with Bharadvāja, and Viśvāmitra the Kauśika —

12.201.32 And likewise the lord Jamadagni, son of the great-souled Ṛcīka — these seven are stationed in the northern quarter.

12.201.33 All these, of keen splendour, have been recounted in each quarter — great-souled ones who stand as witnesses and as fashioners of the worlds.

12.201.34 Thus these great-souled ones are stationed, each in their several quarters; by uttering praise of them a man is released from all his sins.

12.201.35 In whatever quarter these dwell, the man who takes refuge in that quarter is freed from all his sins, and may go home in safety and well-being.

12.202.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O grandsire, deeply wise, whose valour in battle is unfailing as truth, I wish to hear in full of Kṛṣṇa, the undecaying Lord.

12.202.2 His most vast splendour, and his deeds of old — tell me all of that as it truly is, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.202.3 How did Hari come to bear a form born in the animal womb, and for the accomplishing of what task? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.202.4 Bhīṣma said: Long ago, having gone out hunting, I halted at the hermitage of Mārkaṇḍeya; there I beheld hosts of sages seated by the thousand.

12.202.5 Then they did me honour with the madhuparka offering; and having accepted that honour, I in turn greeted the seers with gladness.

12.202.6 There this tale was told by the great seer Kaśyapa — a divine tale that gladdens the heart; hear it now with single mind.

12.202.7 In olden times the foremost of the Dānavas, filled with wrath and greed, drunk with might by the hundred — great Asuras led by Naraka —

12.202.8 and likewise many other Dānavas, mad for battle, could not endure that unsurpassed prosperity of the gods.

12.202.9 Tormented by the Dānavas, the gods and the divine seers found no refuge, O king, but scattered hither and thither.

12.202.10 And the dwellers of heaven beheld the earth in the very shape of anguish — overrun by mighty Dānavas of dreadful form, oppressed by her burden, dragged down, suffering, and sinking away.

12.202.11 Then the sons of Aditi, sore afraid, spoke thus to Brahmā: How, O Brahman, can we endure this crushing by the Dānavas?

12.202.12 The Self-Born said this to them: The ordinance has been set forth here by me. They are drunk with their boon, with their might, and with their arrogance;

12.202.13 in their utter delusion they will not perceive Viṣṇu, whose vision is hidden — the god in the form of a boar, unassailable even by the immortals.

12.202.14 Going swiftly to where those vilest of Dānavas, dreadful ones, dwell by the thousand deep within the earth, he will quell them. Hearing this, those best of the gods rejoiced.

12.202.15 Then Viṣṇu, of vast splendour, assuming the form of a boar, entered deep within the earth and went forth against the sons of Diti.

12.202.16 And beholding that more-than-mortal being, all the Daityas together, bewildered by destiny, rose up at once with sudden force and made their stand.

12.202.17 And all together they rushed upon the boar and seized him as one, and in their fury they dragged that boar this way and that on every side.

12.202.18 Those lords of the Dānavas, of huge frame, mighty valour, and towering strength, were yet unable to do him any harm at all, O mighty one.

12.202.19 Then those lords of the Dānavas fell into wonder, and then, from fear, by the thousand they deemed their own selves brought to peril.

12.202.20 Then that foremost god of gods, whose self is yoga, the charioteer of yoga, the Lord, taking his stand in yoga, O best of the Bhāratas —

12.202.21 roared out a mighty roar, throwing the Daityas and Dānavas into turmoil — a roar by which all the worlds and all the ten quarters were made to resound.

12.202.22 By the sound of that roar the worlds were thrown into commotion, and all the quarters were confounded, and the gods with Śakra at their head.

12.202.23 And the whole universe then became utterly without motion, all that is fixed and all that moves alike, stupefied by that roar.

12.202.24 Then all those Dānavas, terrified by that sound and overwhelmed by the splendour of Viṣṇu, fell down with their breath gone out of them.

12.202.25 And those foes of the gods who had fled to the nether world the boar tore apart with his hooves — their heaped-up mass of flesh and fat and bone.

12.202.26 By that mighty roar he came to be remembered as the Eternal — the lotus-naveled, the great yogin, the teacher of beings, the king of beings.

12.202.27 Then all the hosts of gods spoke to the grandsire: What manner of roar is this, O god? We do not know it, O mighty one. Who is he, or whose is this roar, by which the universe is thrown into distress?

12.202.28 In that very interval Viṣṇu, abiding in his boar-form — the great god — rose up, being praised by the great seers.

12.202.29 The grandsire said: Having slain the lords of the Dānavas, this god of vast frame and mighty strength — the great yogin, the Self of beings, the begetter of beings —

12.202.30 is the lord of all beings, the yogin, the womb and the Self even of the Self. Be steadfast: this is Kṛṣṇa, the destroyer of all sin.

12.202.31 Having done this most excellent deed that none could do, he of boundless radiance, illustrious and of great brilliance, has returned into his own Self — the lotus-naveled, the great yogin, the Self of beings, the begetter of beings.

12.202.32 No grief, no fear, no sorrow should be felt, O best of the gods; this is the ordinance and the power, and Time the worker of dissolution. By this great-souled one, who upholds the worlds, the roar was let forth.

12.202.33 For he indeed is the illustrious one, adored by all the worlds — the undecaying, the lotus-eyed, the origin of all beings.

12.203.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Tell me, my father, the supreme yoga of liberation, O scion of Bharata; I wish to know it in its truth, O best of those who speak.

12.203.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount this ancient tale — a dialogue concerning liberation between a pupil and his teacher.

12.203.3 A certain pupil, of supreme intelligence, seeking the highest good and fully composed, having clasped the feet of a Brāhmaṇa, his teacher and the best of seers, who sat there, stood with joined palms and spoke.

12.203.4 If, O lord, you are pleased with my service, there is a certain great doubt of mine; this you ought to explain to me.

12.203.5 Whence am I, and whence are you? Tell me rightly that which is highest; and how, O best of the twice-born, among all beings that are alike, do their rightly-ordered courses turn back, and their decline and rise prove contrary?

12.203.6 And the word that is in the Vedas, and that which is worldly and all-pervading — all this, O learned one, you ought to expound as it truly is.

12.203.7 The teacher said: Hear, O pupil of great wisdom, this supreme mystery of Brahman — the inmost Self of all beings, and that which is the treasure of the scriptures.

12.203.8 Vāsudeva is all this; he is the mouth of Brahman, the universe. Truth, giving, and sacrifice, forbearance, self-restraint, and uprightness —

12.203.9 That which the knowers of the Veda know as the eternal Person, Viṣṇu — the maker of creation and dissolution, the unmanifest, the everlasting Brahman — this Brahman is of the Vṛṣṇi; hear from me the tale of it.

12.203.10 The greatness of Viṣṇu, the god of gods, of measureless splendour, should be made to be heard by Brāhmaṇas for a Brāhmaṇa, and by Kṣatriyas for one of royal birth. You, O blessed one, are worthy of it; hear that which is supreme, the tale of the Vṛṣṇi.

12.203.11 The wheel of Time, without beginning or end, marked by being and non-being, turns round like a wheel through the three worlds among all beings.

12.203.12 That which is the imperishable, the unmanifest, the immortal, the everlasting Brahman — that they declare to be Keśava, the tiger among men, the bull among men.

12.203.13 The supreme, the undecaying, creates the Ancestors, the gods, and the seers, and likewise the Yakṣas and Dānavas, the Nāgas, Asuras, and human beings.

12.203.14 And likewise the Vedas and the sciences, and the everlasting laws of the world — these, at the dissolution, having reached primordial Nature, the Lord creates again at the dawn of the age.

12.203.15 As in the seasons the marks of the seasons, in their various forms, are seen — those very same ones again in their turning — so it is in the days and nights of Brahmā.

12.203.16 Now whatever is to come to be, by the conjunction of Time, at the beginnings of the ages — that very knowledge arises, born of the ordering of the world's course.

12.203.17 The Vedas, vanished at the age's end, together with the histories, the great seers regained of old through austerity, permitted thereto by the Self-Born.

12.203.18 The lord, the knower of the Veda, knows the Veda; Bṛhaspati declared the limbs of the Veda; and the Bhārgava declared the science of statecraft, for the good of the world.

12.203.19 Nārada declared the lore of the Gandharvas, Bharadvāja the wielding of the bow, Gārgya the deeds of the divine seers, and Kṛṣṇātreya the art of healing.

12.203.20 Many systems of reasoning were set forth by various disputants; what is propounded in accordance with logic, scripture, and right conduct — that is held in honour.

12.203.21 That supreme Brahman, which is without beginning, neither the gods nor the seers comprehend; the Lord Nārāyaṇa alone, the Ordainer, the Sovereign, knows it.

12.203.22 From Nārāyaṇa the hosts of seers, the foremost gods and demons, and the royal sages of old received that supreme remedy for sorrow.

12.203.23 Presided over by the Person, Nature ever brings forth existence; bound up with cause, the whole world thereby revolves on.

12.203.24 As from one lamp other lamps are kindled by the thousands, so Nature creates, yet, being infinite, is never diminished.

12.203.25 From the Unmanifest, born of action, arises the intellect; the intellect brings forth the I-sense; from the I-sense comes ether, and from ether arises wind.

12.203.26 From wind comes fire, from fire the waters, and from the waters the earth springs up; these are the eight root-natures, and in them the world abides.

12.203.27 From these come the five organs of knowledge, the five organs of action, and the five objects of sense; and the mind is the one and sixteenth among the modifications.

12.203.28 Ear, skin, the two eyes, tongue, and nose—these are the five sense-organs; and the feet, the anus, the generative organ, the two hands, and speech are the organs of action.

12.203.29 Sound, touch, then form, taste, and likewise smell—these are to be known; and the pervading consciousness, the mind, is present in all of them.

12.203.30 In the knowledge of taste it is the tongue, and likewise speech in utterance; joined with the manifold organs, the mind is distributed throughout them all.

12.203.31 One should know these sixteen divinities each in its own division; in the bodies they wait upon and worship the Knower, the maker of knowledge, seated within.

12.203.32 Thus the tongue has the quality of Soma, and smell is the quality of earth; the ear has sound for its quality, and the eye is the quality of fire; and touch one should know as the quality of wind, in all beings and at all times.

12.203.33 The mind, they say, has goodness for its quality, and goodness too is born of the Unmanifest, abiding as the self in all beings; therefore let the wise man understand it so.

12.203.34 These existences bear up the whole world with all that moves and is unmoving, resting upon that passionless God whom they call the supreme abode.

12.203.35 The holy city of nine gates, furnished with these existences, the great Self pervades and there reposes; and therefore is it called the Person who dwells in the city (puruṣa).

12.203.36 Ageless is He and deathless, expounded as both manifest and unmanifest, all-pervading, endowed with qualities, subtle, the support of the qualities of all beings.

12.203.37 As a lamp is luminous by nature, whether it be small or great, so should one know the Person, whose essence is knowledge, present in all creatures.

12.203.38 It is He who here knows what is to be known, He who hears, He who sees; this body is His instrument, and He is the doer of all actions.

12.203.39 As the fire latent in wood is not seen until the wood is split, so the Self abiding in the body is perceived here only through yoga.

12.203.40 As the waters are bound up in rivers, as the rays belong to the sun, streaming forth as they flow on, so are the bodies of embodied beings.

12.203.41 As in the state of dream the Self, gathered together with the five senses, casts off the body and wanders forth, even so is it to be apprehended here.

12.203.42 By action it is first overspread, by action it comes into being, and by action—by the deeds it has wrought, mightier than all else—it is led elsewhere.

12.203.43 And how, abandoning one body, it passes from body to body and takes on another—of this aggregate of beings, born of their own action, I shall now fully speak to you.

12.204.1 The teacher said: Beings are of four kinds, both unmoving and moving; they have the Unmanifest for their source and the Unmanifest for their dissolution, they say. Let one know that the mind, whose nature is dissolution into the Unmanifest, has the Unmanifest for its very self.

12.204.2 As the mighty fig-tree, lying hidden within the tiny seed of the aśvattha, is seen to come forth full-grown, so does the manifest arise from the unmanifest.

12.204.3 The lodestone draws the iron toward itself, though both are without consciousness; even so existences arise from causes inherent in their own nature, and so too is it with whatever else is of this kind.

12.204.4 Even so the existences born of the Unmanifest, marked as the instruments of the doer, though themselves unconscious, are bound together by cause for the sake of the conscious one.

12.204.5 Neither earth nor space nor heaven, neither the elements nor the seers, neither gods nor demons, nor anything else existed apart from the living soul; nor had they yet come together in combination.

12.204.6 By every reckoning it is all-pervading, having mind for its cause and bearing its own mark; the action of ignorance is what is pointed to here—this is the character of the cause.

12.204.7 Conjoined with its causes, it is the gatherer-together of effects, by which this great wheel, without beginning or end, turns on.

12.204.8 The wheel whose hub is the Unmanifest, whose spokes are the manifest, whose rim is the round of modifications, presided over by the Knower of the field, turning upon a well-oiled axle, revolves unceasingly.

12.204.9 Because of its oiliness the whole world is crushed in this wheel like sesame, pressed down, as it were, by oil-pressers, by enjoyments born of ignorance.

12.204.10 Out of craving, action lays hold of the I-sense as its possession; in the conjunction of cause and effect that craving has been shown to be the determining ground.

12.204.11 The effect does not surpass its cause, nor the cause its effect; but in the bringing-about of effects, time becomes the operative ground.

12.204.12 Joined to their causes, the primary natures and the modifications move toward one another, each upon each, ever presided over by the Person.

12.204.13 Fallen away through existences full of passion and darkness, driven on by the force of causes, it follows after the Knower of the field, as dust is borne along by the wind; yet that essence is not touched by them, nor are they touched by that great Self.

12.204.14 As the wind may be either laden with dust or free of dust, so let the wise man know the difference between the field and the Knower of the field; and being thus disciplined through practice, he would not return again to Nature.

12.204.15 This doubt, once it arose, the blessed seer cut away; and so let one regard the matter, weighed by the marks already established.

12.204.16 As seeds scorched by fire do not sprout again, so, with its afflictions burnt away by knowledge, the Self is not bound again.

12.205.1 The teacher said: As for the dharma marked by engagement in action, how it comes to be observed—to those steadfast in true knowledge no other principle is pleasing than this.

12.205.2 Rare are the knowers of the Veda who stand firm in what the Veda enjoins; and so, with an end in view, men here desire the path that is held in honor.

12.205.3 Because it has been practiced by the good, this conduct is beyond reproach; this is the one understanding, and there is that other by which one reaches the supreme goal.

12.205.4 The embodied being, out of delusion, takes on all possessions, beset by the impulses of desire, anger, and the rest, born of passion and darkness.

12.205.5 Therefore let him who seeks to sustain the body do nothing impure; for one who leaves an opening in his conduct would not attain the auspicious worlds.

12.205.6 As gold alloyed with base metal, even when refined, does not shine forth, so knowledge whose dross is unburnt away does not shine.

12.205.7 And he who, drifting after desire and greed, practices unrighteousness through delusion, though he has set foot upon the path of dharma, perishes together with all his kin.

12.205.8 Therefore let him pass through the objects of sense—sound and the rest—without attachment; for anger, elation, and dejection arise one from another.

12.205.9 In this body made of the five elements, compounded of goodness, passion, and darkness, whom does one praise, at whom does one rail, and what is there to say?

12.205.10 In touch, form, taste, and the rest the foolish form attachment; through want of discernment they do not grasp that the earthy quality is sprung from their own selves.

12.205.11 As a dwelling made of clay is plastered over with clay itself, so this earthen body is smeared over with the modifications of clay.

12.205.12 Honey, oil, milk, clarified butter, flesh, salt, jaggery, grains, fruits and roots—these, together with water, are modifications of clay.

12.205.13 As one who is crossing a wilderness should give way to no longing, but in his weariness take food merely to sustain himself, though it be unsavory—

12.205.14 even so, crossing the wilderness of worldly existence, intent on his labor, let him take food only for the journey's sake, as a sick man takes medicine.

12.205.15 By truth, purity, uprightness, and renunciation, by good repute and by valor, by patience, by steadfastness, by understanding, by the mind, and by austerity—

12.205.16 let him dwell among all states of being as they come, each in its due order; and desiring peace, with undejected soul, let him also restrain the senses.

12.205.17 Bewildered by goodness, by passion, and by darkness, creatures turn round and round as on a wheel, sorely, through ignorance.

12.205.18 Therefore let him rightly examine the faults that spring from ignorance, and ever cast off the I-sense, which has ignorance for its source.

12.205.19 The great elements, the senses, the qualities—goodness, passion, and darkness—and the threefold world with its Lord: all this is established upon the I-sense.

12.205.20 As here time, in its fixed course, displays the marks of the seasons, so let one know the I-sense within beings to be the impeller of beings.

12.205.21 Let one know darkness, the bewilderer, as black and sprung from ignorance; and learn now these three qualities together, bound up with pleasure and pain—those of goodness, of passion, and of darkness.

12.205.22 Lack of confusion, joy-born delight, freedom from doubt, steadfastness, and memory—these one should know as the qualities of goodness; and these others as belonging to passion and darkness:

12.205.23 desire and anger, heedlessness, greed and delusion, fear and weariness, dejection and grief, discontent, pride and arrogance, and ignobility.

12.205.24 Having examined the gravity and lightness of such faults as these, which abide within the self, let him reflect on each one in turn, continuously.

12.205.25 The pupil said: Which faults are cast off by the mind, which are loosened by the understanding, which return again and again, and which, through delusion, are as if without fruit?

12.205.26 Of which should the wise man weigh the strength and weakness with the understanding, by reasoned grounds? Declare all this to me, O master, so that I may know it.

12.205.27 The teacher said: When the faults are cut off at the root, the purified soul is set free; as a thing of iron destroys what is brought against it, so too the unperfected soul perishes through the inborn faults that spring from passion.

12.205.28 That which is of passion and that which is of darkness, arising from action—for the pure soul, all this is the seed of embodied beings, and for one who is master of himself it is all alike.

12.205.29 Therefore by the self-possessed man both passion and darkness are to be shunned; goodness, set free from passion and darkness, would attain to stainlessness.

12.205.30 Or else they might declare, in the manner of sacred formula, that the taking of flesh is sanctioned by the Yajus; that same ground holds also for not taking it, in the keeping of the pure dharma.

12.205.31 Through passion one may accomplish even works conjoined with dharma and bound up exceedingly with gain; and one pursues all desires as well.

12.205.32 Through darkness one pursues deeds joined to greed and born of anger, delighting in the sport of violence, beset by sloth and sleep.

12.205.33 He who abides in goodness, taking refuge therein, beholds the pure states of goodness; that embodied one is stainless, glorious, pure, and endowed with knowledge.

12.206.1 The teacher said: By passion and by darkness, O bull among men, delusion is wrought, and anger, greed, fear, and arrogance; by the conquering of these one becomes pure.

12.206.2 They enter into the supreme One, the Supreme Self, the imperishable, undecaying God, Viṣṇu, who abides in the Unmanifest, the best of the gods.

12.206.3 But men whose limbs are scorched by His illusion, fallen from knowledge, bereft of hope, through the bewildering of their knowledge thereupon pass on indeed to desire.

12.206.4 From desire men attain to anger, and to greed and delusion; from pride and arrogance comes the I-sense, and from the I-sense thereupon come actions.

12.206.5 From actions comes the bond of affection, and from affection follows sorrow forthwith; from the undertaking of pleasure and pain men are made fit for birth and rebirth.

12.206.6 And from birth comes the dwelling in the womb, arising from seed and blood, foul with the oozings of dung and urine, sprung from blood.

12.206.7 Overcome by craving, bound by these things and drifting after them, let one there understand women to be the bearers of the loom of worldly existence.

12.206.8 By their nature they are as the field, while men bear the mark of the Knower of the field; therefore let the discerning man pass beyond these in particular.

12.206.9 For these women are dread enchantments that bewilder the undiscerning; the eternal embodiment of the senses lies hidden within passion (rajas).

12.206.10 From craving-natured desire, as from a seed, creatures are born. As a man casts off the worms bred from his own body, knowing them as no part of himself, so should he renounce those worms called 'sons'—deeming them his own yet truly not his own.

12.206.11 Creatures are born from seed, from sap, and from affection, whether by nature or by the conjunction of past deeds; the wise man should regard them with detachment.

12.206.12 Passion (rajas) is overlaid upon darkness (tamas), and goodness (sattva) too abides in darkness; ignorance, founded upon knowledge, is marked by intellect and the sense of 'I.'

12.206.13 This, they declare, is the seed of embodied beings; this seed is named the living self (jīva), which, through action joined to time, keeps the wheel of saṃsāra turning.

12.206.14 As one disports in a dream by the mind alone, as though possessed of a body, so the embodied self, through the qualities that hold the germ of his deeds, comes to be lodged within a womb.

12.206.15 Whatever sense is impelled by deed grown into a seed, that sense arises out of the sense of 'I,' through a mind charged with desire.

12.206.16 From his craving for sound, the ear of this self that has been shaped by desire is born; from craving for form, the eye; and the nose, from the wish to seize upon scent.

12.206.17 From the cravings for touch arises the vital air, resting upon prāṇa and apāna; and vyāna, udāna, and samāna—fivefold, sustaining the body in its course.

12.206.18 With limbs thus born, sprung from deeds and enveloped by Brahman, the man comes into being—amid sufferings of body and mind, sorrowful at their beginning, their middle, and their end.

12.206.19 Let him know that suffering arises from grasping, and grows through self-conceit; by renouncing these there comes its cessation, and he who knows that cessation is set free.

12.206.20 Both the rising and the dissolution of the senses lie within passion alone; having examined this, let the wise man move through the world rightly, with the eye of scripture.

12.206.21 The organs of knowledge do not draw their objects toward the man free of craving; and once their causes are understood, the embodied self need take on a body no more.

12.207.1 The teacher said: Herein I shall declare the means, rightly, with the eye of scripture; the wise man who walks by that understanding may attain the supreme goal.

12.207.2 Of all beings, man is said to be the highest; above men they place the twice-born, and above the twice-born, the reciters of the sacred mantras.

12.207.3 Surpassing all beings, all-knowing and all-seeing, are the Brāhmaṇas who know the truth of the Vedas, sure in their grasp of the meaning of reality.

12.207.4 As a man bereft of eyes meets hardship upon the road, so does the man bereft of knowledge in the world; therefore the knowers of wisdom stand above the rest.

12.207.5 Those who long for righteousness honor these several duties according to scripture; yet for them there is no common attainment of their aim apart from these virtues.

12.207.6 Purity of speech, body, and mind; patience, truth, steadfastness, and mindfulness—amid all duties the knowers of righteousness proclaim these to be the virtues.

12.207.7 That form of Brahman which is remembered as chastity (brahmacarya) is the highest of all things; by it men go to the supreme goal.

12.207.8 That which is free from the union of the sexes, devoid of bodily contact—as well as the hearing done by the ear and the seeing done by the eye—

12.207.9 and the tasting done by the tongue—when all this too is renounced, then, through the intellect's firm resolve, chastity becomes stainless.

12.207.10 He of perfect conduct attains the world of Brahman; he of middling conduct, the gods; and the learned one who holds to the least of these courses is born a foremost twice-born.

12.207.11 Most arduous is chastity; hear from me the means thereto: the twice-born should restrain his mind whether it has merely stirred or has fully risen up.

12.207.12 Talk of women should not be listened to, nor should they be gazed upon unclothed; for at the mere sight of them passion may at some moment enter the weak.

12.207.13 Should desire arise, let him perform the penance of hardship, entering the water three times in a day; and if submerged within a dream, let him recite the Aghamarṣaṇa thrice in his mind.

12.207.14 Thus let the discerning man burn away the evil dwelling within, made of passion, with a mind joined to knowledge and unbroken in its effort.

12.207.15 As a vessel without flaw is bound up with what is foul and corpse-like, so let him know the self that has entered the body to be bound fast to that body.

12.207.16 Through their network of channels the bodily fluids of men nourish the wind, bile, and phlegm, the blood, the skin and flesh, the sinew, the bone, and the marrow.

12.207.17 Let him know that there are ten great vessels here, carrying the properties of the five senses; from these, other subtle vessels spread out by the thousands.

12.207.18 Thus these vessel-rivers, bearing the bodily fluids, nourish the ocean of the body in due season, as the rivers nourish the sea.

12.207.19 And in the midst of the heart is one vessel, the bearer of the mind, which releases through all the limbs the seed of men born of intention (saṃkalpa).

12.207.20 The vessels that follow from it, spreading through all the limbs, reach the two eyes, carrying the fiery quality.

12.207.21 As the butter hidden within milk is churned forth by the churning-sticks, so is the seed churned forth by the churning-sticks born of the body's intentions.

12.207.22 Even in dream, just as the passion born of the mind's intention comes upon him, so do the mind-bearing vessels release from his body the seed that arose without any touch.

12.207.23 The great sage, the blessed Atri, knew that origin of the seed: threefold in its source and presided over by Indra; for that reason it is called indriya (sense).

12.207.24 Those who know the course of the seed, which works the commingling of beings, being free of passion and having burned away their faults, would take on no further birth in a body.

12.207.25 Having reached the equipoise of the guṇas, by the mind alone driving off the mind-borne breaths and the body's activity, a man is set free at the hour of his end.

12.207.26 Knowledge will arise within the mind, and from the mind alone it spreads forth—radiant, free of passion, and divine; this, for the great-souled, is the accomplishment attained here.

12.207.27 Therefore, to keep that knowledge unhindered, let him perform stainless action; and casting off passion and darkness in this life, he shall not pass into the state of beasts.

12.207.28 The knowledge gained in youth, though it has passed into the feebleness of age, is in time received anew as strength of mind by one whose understanding has ripened.

12.207.29 When, having crossed the bondage of the guṇas as one crosses a most difficult road, he beholds the faults for what they are, then, transcending them, he tastes the deathless.

12.208.1 The teacher said: Clinging to the objects of sense, whose end is grievous, creatures sink down; but the great-souled who do not cling go to the supreme goal.

12.208.2 Beholding this world held continuously in the grip of birth, death, old age, sorrow, disease, and the mind's weariness, let the wise man strive for liberation (mokṣa).

12.208.3 Pure in speech, mind, and body, free of the sense of 'I,' tranquil and possessed of knowledge, let the mendicant move through the world happily, expecting nothing.

12.208.4 Or, should he perceive an attachment of the mind arising out of compassion for living beings, in this too let him practice detachment, knowing the world to be the fruit of action.

12.208.5 Whatever deed was done before, whether good or evil, that he must reap; therefore let him do good deeds with speech, mind, and act.

12.208.6 Non-violence, truthful speech, uprightness toward all beings, patience, and vigilance—he in whom these dwell shall be happy.

12.208.7 And he who knows this supreme dharma, the bringer of happiness to all beings and the way out of suffering, that knower of truth shall be happy.

12.208.8 Therefore, his mind composed by the intellect, let him hold it steady toward all beings; let him not brood with malice, nor crave, nor dwell unmoored upon what is false.

12.208.9 Through the practice of silence the mind grows agreeable; or, when one wishes to speak good words, regarding the subtle nature of dharma, let him utter speech that is true, harmless, and free of slander.

12.208.10 Free of guile, ungentle never, without cruelty and without backbiting—such speech, and that but little, should be uttered with an undistracted mind.

12.208.11 For if one roused to speech were to speak out of strong passion or out of aversion, then, with a mind ungoverned by the intellect, he undertakes an action steeped in darkness; through organs grown full of passion he is bound by his deed.

12.208.12 Having met with sorrow in this world, he goes on to hell; therefore let him practice the self-mastery of his own being through mind, speech, and body.

12.208.13 As a scattered burden of sheep might be driven off by robbers, so are the unknowing carried along through saṃsāra, mistaking the contrary direction for the right.

12.208.14 And as one might cast off those very robbers and go toward the auspicious quarter, so, abandoning the works of passion and darkness, a man may attain to bliss.

12.208.15 Free of doubt, without longing, released from all possessions, walking in solitude, eating sparingly, austere, and of disciplined senses—

12.208.16 his afflictions burned away by knowledge, delighting in the practice, and self-possessed—he attains, through a mind grown still, to that Supreme.

12.208.17 Steadfast and self-possessed, without doubt let him restrain the intellect; let him restrain the mind by the intellect, and the objects of his senses by the mind.

12.208.18 For him whose senses are restrained and who brings his mind under his sway, those deities shine forth; rejoicing, they approach him as their lord.

12.208.19 To him whose mind is joined with them, it shines forth as Brahman itself; and when all of these have departed, he is fitted to become one with Brahman.

12.208.20 Or else, should he not so proceed, let him set out by the disciplines of yoga; whatever course of practice would yield him a way of life made up of such discipline, that let him follow.

12.208.21 Broken grain, oil-cake, sour gruel, herbs, barley-meal, and parched grain, and likewise roots, fruit, and alms—let him take these in turn.

12.208.22 And food that is measured, suited to place and time, and pure (sāttvika)—having tested it, let him keep to that which sustains his right activity.

12.208.23 Let him not check what has begun, but kindle it slowly as one kindles a fire; then knowledge, fed by knowledge, shines forth like the sun.

12.208.24 Ignorance, founded upon knowledge, stands over the three worlds; but knowledge, attended by discernment, is drawn out from ignorance.

12.208.25 Through their separateness and their conjunction the man free of envy knows the eternal; knowing the deliverance from both, freed of passion, he is released.

12.208.26 Passed beyond his years, having conquered old age and death, he attains the eternal Brahman, that deathless, imperishable, and unchanging.

12.209.1 The teacher said: He who wishes ever to practice stainless chastity, mindful of the faults of dreaming, must utterly forsake sleep with his whole being.

12.209.2 For in dream the embodied self is overcome by passion and by darkness, and, as though it had entered another body, wanders about with its memory gone.

12.209.3 By the practice of knowledge he keeps awake at once for the sake of inquiry; and through his fixed devotion to discernment he keeps awake without rest, always.

12.209.4 Here one may ask: what is this state, wherein in dream the embodied self, with its senses dissolved, yet moves as though amid sense-objects and as though it had a body?

12.209.5 To this it is replied: even as Hari, the lord of yoga, knows this, so do the great sages set it forth with reasoned meaning.

12.209.6 The wise declare that dream, which pervades all, comes from the weariness of the senses; and because the mind is then absorbed, they call this and that within it mere appearance.

12.209.7 As for one whose mind clings to its tasks there is intention even while awake, so the sovereignty of his desires that is present in the mind appears likewise in dream.

12.209.8 The man whose self is made of desire would attain that, amid countless rounds of existence; but he who is the supreme person knows all that lies hidden within the mind.

12.209.9 Whatever work of the guṇas he knows to be at hand, that very thing living beings foretell, according as the mind has been made disposed.

12.209.10 Then there come upon him the qualities, whether of passion and darkness or of goodness, each as it fits, with its fruit arising in unbroken sequence.

12.209.11 Then he beholds incoherent things, dominated by wind, bile, and phlegm; and that too, arising from states born of passion and darkness, they call hard to follow.

12.209.12 Whatever the mind intends through senses grown serene, that very thing, even in dream when activity has ceased, the mind's eye beholds.

12.209.13 All-pervading, unobstructed, the mind moves within every being; hidden within the mind is its doorway, the mental seat that abides within the body.

12.209.14 That unmanifest which is both being and non-being sleeps within this body—the proof of it lies here; abiding as the inner self of all creatures, the wise know it as the quality of the supreme Self.

12.209.15 Whoever would attain by mind, through resolve, the lordly power, let him know it springs from the Self's own might—for all the deities dwell within the Self.

12.209.16 Thus the embodied one, joined to austerity, shines beyond darkness like the sun; the very source of the three worlds, through austerity he becomes that Great Lord.

12.209.17 Austerity is upheld by the gods, while darkness, the slayer of austerity, is upheld by the asuras; this contest, guarded by gods and demons alike, they call the mark of true knowledge.

12.209.18 Goodness, passion, and darkness—these they know as the qualities of gods and demons; let one know goodness (sattva) as the divine quality, and the other two as the demonic ones.

12.209.19 That supreme Brahman is to be known—the deathless light, the imperishable; those of perfected self who know it attain the highest goal.

12.209.20 Only this much, grounded in reason, can be set forth by the eye of knowledge; yet through the withdrawal of the senses the unmanifest Brahman too can be known.

12.210.1 The teacher said: He does not know the supreme law who does not know the fourfold scheme, and that truth concerning the manifest and the unmanifest which was attained by the supreme seer.

12.210.2 Let one know the manifest as the mouth of death, and the unmanifest as the deathless state; the seer Nārāyaṇa proclaimed the law marked by engagement in action.

12.210.3 Within this very realm rests the whole triple world, with all that moves and is still; the law marked by withdrawal is the unmanifest, the eternal Brahman.

12.210.4 The law marked by engagement Prajāpati then declared: engagement is rebirth again and again, while withdrawal is the supreme goal.

12.210.5 That supreme goal the sage attains who is devoted above all to withdrawal, ever intent on the truth of knowledge, discerning the good and the evil.

12.210.6 Thus these two are to be understood—the Unmanifest and the Spirit, both; yet whatever may be greater than the Unmanifest and the Spirit—

12.210.7 that distinction let the discerning one observe with discernment; both of these are without beginning or end, and both alike are without mark.

12.210.8 Both are eternal, subtler than the subtle, and greater than the great; this is what they hold in common—and thus is their difference also.

12.210.9 Primordial Nature has the property of creation and is of threefold disposition; opposite to this, let one know, is the mark of the Knower of the field.

12.210.10 He is the witness of Nature and her transformations, untouched by the qualities; these two—Spirit and Nature—are imperceptible, and being without mark, they remain unconjoined.

12.210.11 Their union has the mark of an origination born of action, grasped through the instruments brought into being by action; whatever the agent does through these, it is named by words and conceptions—'Who am I? This one too, that one—'

12.210.12 As a man wearing a turban is wrapped in three garments, so this embodied one is enveloped by the qualities of goodness, passion, and darkness.

12.210.13 Therefore the fourfold scheme is to be known, heaped together by these causes; for he who rightly understands its conception is not bewildered at the hour of death.

12.210.14 He who longs for the divine splendor of Brahman, pure in speech and mind, should practice spotless austerity through fierce bodily disciplines.

12.210.15 The three worlds are pervaded by austerity, the radiant power dwelling within; both the sun and the moon shine in the heavens by virtue of austerity.

12.210.16 The glow of austerity is knowledge—austerity is renowned throughout the world; that action which destroys passion and darkness is the very mark of austerity.

12.210.17 Chastity and non-injury are called bodily austerity; the restraint of speech and mind, and equanimity, are called mental austerity.

12.210.18 Food to be received from twice-born men who know the ordinances is held to be best; by restraint of his diet the evil born of passion is destroyed.

12.210.19 His faculties grow averse to their objects; therefore let him take only so much as is needed for the purpose here.

12.210.20 At the close of life, with advancing age, let him do this gradually, untroubled; thus, with a mind so disciplined, that knowledge arises in him.

12.210.21 Even amid passion this embodied one, while he bears a body, should move as sound moves through it; his judgment unimpaired by his tasks, fixed in Nature through dispassion, by vigilance until the body's end he is wholly freed when the body ends.

12.210.22 Joined to its cause, the dissolution of beings is a constant letting-go; yet in a creation dependent on another's cognition, he assuredly does not transgress the appointed bound.

12.210.23 Those whose wisdom reaches to the end and the origin of becoming dwell amid this confusion, sustaining their bodies by firmness, their minds drawn inward by intellect; though falling away from their stations, they revere those subtle truths by reason of their subtlety.

12.210.24 All this, though pursued according to scripture, is not truly grasped by the intellect; one of perfected self, dependent on nothing, attends upon the body's end; another, joined in concentration, and yet others revere pure Being.

12.210.25 They practice meditation on the supreme God, the Imperishable proclaimed as lightning; drawing near him at the hour of death, their sins burnt away by austerity—

12.210.26 all these great souls go to the supreme goal; their subtle distinction one should observe with the eye of scripture.

12.210.27 Let one know the supreme body as liberated and free of possessions; the mind fastened upon concentration is set apart, as it were, from the very air.

12.210.28 Those whose minds are joined to knowledge are released from the world of mortals; become Brahman, freed of passion, they then go to the highest goal.

12.210.29 Those in whom unshakable knowledge, void of every stain, arises go to the supreme worlds, growing purified each according to his strength.

12.210.30 The pure ones, content in knowledge and free of all longing, attain through devotion the blessed Lord Viṣṇu—the unborn, the divine, called the Unmanifest.

12.210.31 Having known Hari dwelling within the Self, those imperishable ones return no more; reaching that supreme abode, they rejoice in the deathless, the unfailing.

12.210.32 This is the whole of that knowledge: this both is and is not; the entire world, bound fast by craving, revolves like a wheel.

12.210.33 Just as this fiber runs within the lotus-stalk, present throughout it on every side, so the thread of craving, without beginning or end, runs ever through the embodied being.

12.210.34 As the weaver, with his needle, draws the thread through the cloth, so the thread of transmigration is stitched together by the needle of craving.

12.210.35 He who rightly understands transformation, Nature, and the eternal Spirit becomes free of craving and is liberated.

12.210.36 This illumination, this deathless truth, the blessed seer Nārāyaṇa proclaimed out of compassion for living beings, for the welfare of the world.

12.211.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: By what conduct did Janaka, the lord of Mithilā, learned in conduct and knowing the law, attain liberation, casting off the pleasures of mortals?

12.211.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale—the conduct by which that knower of conduct attained the great happiness.

12.211.3 Now Janaka, called Janadeva, the ruler of men in Mithilā, was engaged in reflecting upon the duties concerning the soul's life after death.

12.211.4 In his house a hundred teachers dwelt continually, setting forth diverse doctrines, the upholders of many heretical creeds.

12.211.5 Though firmly grounded in their scriptures regarding the state after death and the rebirth that follows, he found, for the most part, no satisfaction in the truth of the Self.

12.211.6 Now there was a great sage named Pañcaśikha, of Kapila's line, who, roaming the whole earth, came at last to Mithilā as well.

12.211.7 In the determination of the true knowledge of all the laws of renunciation he had reached the perfect end of his purpose—beyond the pairs of opposites, his every doubt destroyed.

12.211.8 Him they call the one among the seers who, of his own will, had settled among men; seeking the eternal, the utmost happiness, that one most hard to win.

12.211.9 Whom the followers of Sāṃkhya call Kapila, the supreme seer, Prajāpati—he, I think, in that very form amazes them by his own self.

12.211.10 Whom they call Āsuri, the first disciple, the long-lived one, who at the Five-Streams kept a sacrificial session lasting a thousand years—

12.211.11 approaching him as he sat within the great circle of Kapila's teaching, Kapila made known to him the supreme truth: the Unmanifest abiding as the Spirit.

12.211.12 Perfected by his sacrificial session and further by austerity, that sage, beholder of the gods, came to comprehend the distinction between the Field and the Knower of the Field.

12.211.13 That single imperishable Brahman which appears in manifold forms—that unfailing reality Āsuri attained within that circle of teaching.

12.211.14 His disciple was Pañcaśikha, nourished by the milk of a human woman; there was a certain brāhmaṇa matron named Kapilā, a householder's wife.

12.211.15 Coming to be as a son to that woman, he drank at her breasts; thereby he gained the name Kāpileya and an unwavering, perfected understanding.

12.211.16 This origin of the name Kāpileya the blessed one told to me; that title 'Kāpileya' of his meant an unsurpassed omniscience.

12.211.17 Kapila, knowing the common ground, supreme among the knowers of the law, approached the hundred teachers and confounded them with his arguments.

12.211.18 And Janaka, won over by his beholding of Kāpileya, forsook the hundred teachers and followed close behind him.

12.211.19 To him, supremely fit and bowed low according to the law, Kapila declared the supreme liberation, that which is ordained as the Sāṃkhya teaching.

12.211.20 Having spoken of disillusion with birth, he spoke of disillusion with action; and having spoken of disillusion with action, he spoke of disillusion with all things.

12.211.21 That for the sake of which there is engagement in action, and the rising of action's fruits—that is unreliable, empty, perishable, unstable, impermanent.

12.211.22 With destruction seen plainly before the eyes, witnessed by all the world, even he who says 'beyond this, on scriptural authority, something exists' stands defeated.

12.211.23 For the non-self is the death of the self—affliction is death, and so are old age and disease; out of delusion one takes this for the Self, and that is held to be the foremost error.

12.211.24 But suppose there be such a thing as does not arise within the world—'this one is ageless and deathless'—and the king too thinks so:

12.211.25 yet this very 'it is' and 'it is not'—when no mark of it can be found, upon what could one rest in declaring the settled course of worldly life?

12.211.26 For direct perception is the root of both—of doctrine and of tradition alike; perception is one with scripture, undivided, and apart from it doctrine is nothing at all.

12.211.27 Wherever there is inference, whether one posits a thing as done or imagines it so, a living principle distinct from the body is, in the view of the deniers, held to be remembered.

12.211.28 The seed within the banyan's tiny grain, the lingering fragrance from the cooking of ghee, the memory of past births, the loadstone, the sunstone, the drinking of water—

12.211.29 the passing of beings after death, the supplication of deities, and the ceasing of action when one is dead—these, it is concluded, are the proofs.

12.211.30 But these grounds, whatever they be, hold only for things fixed in bodily form; for the immortal can have nothing in common with the mortal.

12.211.31 Some declare that for ignorance, action, and striving there is rebirth; and that the cause is greed and delusion, and the indulgence of faults.

12.211.32 For they call ignorance the field, and action thus performed the seed; attachment is what engenders craving—such, for them, is rebirth.

12.211.33 When that mind, subject to death, has been dispersed and burnt away, another body is born from another; this they call the dissolution of the being.

12.211.34 When the new one is other in form, in birth, in learning, and in substance, how could there be the relation 'this is the same as that,' when there is no real connection?

12.211.35 And this being so, what joy is there in the powers of gift-giving, learning, and austerity, when all the action performed by one is reaped by another?

12.211.36 For when this one here is made to suffer by other natural beings, whether they be happy or themselves in pain, the verdict upon him is plain to see.

12.211.37 For though one should batter this body with clubs, it would arise again; and the knowing self is distinct, something other—that by which this body is not apprehended.

12.211.38 As men behold the season, the year, the lunar days, cold and heat, the pleasant and the unpleasant, all as things gone by—of such a kind is the dissolution of a living being.

12.211.39 For when one is beset by old age or by perishing death, what is weakest perishes first, just as the weakest part of a house gives way before the rest.

12.211.40 The senses, the mind, the breath, the blood, the flesh, and the bone perish each in its order and return into their own elements.

12.211.41 The ordering of the world's affairs, the coming of the fruits of giving and of duty, the very purpose for which the words of the Veda exist, and the customs of common life—

12.211.42 thus, when rightly weighed in the mind, these many grounds for doubt are present; and saying 'this exists, that exists,' one arrives at no certainty at all.

12.211.43 For those who ponder thus, running after this conclusion and that, the understanding settles somewhere at last, and there it grows old like a rooted tree.

12.211.44 Thus all creatures, made wretched by gains and by losses, are dragged about by the scriptures as elephants are dragged about by their drivers.

12.211.45 Coveting riches and the things that bring boundless pleasure, these many men squander all and, falling into a still greater misery, let go the bait and pass into the power of death.

12.211.46 For one who perishes, whose life is unstable, what use are kinsmen and the keeping of friends?—for he who departs leaves all behind, and once gone in an instant, returns no more.

12.211.47 For earth, ether, water, fire, and wind forever sustain the body; perceiving this, whence should delight arise?—for one who is perishable, no lasting refuge is to be found.

12.211.48 Beholding this speech, free of guile, without deceit, supremely sound, attested by the self, the king was amazed, and set himself once more to inquire thus.

12.212.1 Bhīṣma said: But Janaka, lord of his people, having been instructed by the supreme sage, inquired yet again concerning being and non-being in the world beyond.

12.212.2 Reverend one, if it be that after death some consciousness arises for someone, then in that case what will ignorance avail, or what will knowledge accomplish?

12.212.3 All would end in annihilation—consider this too, O best of the twice-born: what difference will it make whether a man be heedful or heedless?

12.212.4 For if there is no contact among the elements, or contact only among perishable things, for whose sake should one strive after a rule? What here is certain in truth?

12.212.5 To him, veiled in darkness, bewildered as it were, and distressed, the sage Pañcaśikha, calming him once more with his words, spoke.

12.212.6 There is here no ending in annihilation, nor is there any abiding in fixed existence; for this aggregate too—of body, senses, and mind—operates, each part resting upon the other in their several works.

12.212.7 The elements are this fivefold branching—ether, wind, fire, water, earth; by their own nature they hold together, and by their own nature they fall apart.

12.212.8 Ether, wind, heat, moisture, and whatever is earthen—this fivefold gathering is called the body, manifold in nature; knowledge, heat, and wind make up the threefold sum of action.

12.212.9 The senses and their objects, the inherent nature, consciousness, the mind, the outbreath and inbreath, the modifications, and the elements—all these issue forth here.

12.212.10 Hearing, touch, the tongue, sight, and the nose as well—these five are called the senses, qualities led on by the mind.

12.212.11 Therein, joined with discernment, is the abiding threefold feeling, which they call pleasure, pain, and that which is neither pain nor pleasure.

12.212.12 Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell, and then bodily shape—these five, six-qualitied, persist until death for the accomplishing of knowledge.

12.212.13 In them lies the issuing of action and the determining of the meaning of all truths; that they call the supreme radiance, the understanding, imperishable and great.

12.212.14 For one who beholds this aggregate of qualities as though it were the self, the endless misery born of false views does not subside.

12.212.15 And when it is seen as 'not the self,' then neither 'I' nor 'mine' holds sway: upon what foundation can the clinging stream of misery then rest?

12.212.16 Here there is right-mindedness, the supreme teaching of renunciation: hear it, as it is spoken, for it shall be for your liberation.

12.212.17 For renunciation alone is the way; of all the works that are enjoined, when wrongly practiced, the constant toil is held to be but a bringer of pain.

12.212.18 In the renouncing of wealth lie ritual acts; in the renouncing of enjoyment, the vows; in the renouncing of pleasure, the discipline of austerity; but in the renouncing of all, fulfillment.

12.212.19 This path of all-renunciation, free of duality, has been shown for the casting off of misery; otherwise an evil course would be the lot of man.

12.212.20 Having named the five organs of knowledge, with the mind as the sixth in consciousness, I shall now declare the five organs of action, the mind again being the sixth.

12.212.21 The two hands are to be known as the organ of action, the two feet as the organ of motion, the generative member for begetting and for pleasure, and the anus as the organ of excretion.

12.212.22 And speech, for the sake of particular sounds, they know as the fifth, attended by the others; thus the mind, with the understanding, should set free these eleven.

12.212.23 The two ears, sound, and the mind—these three make up the grasping of what is heard; so too in touch, in form, and likewise in taste and smell.

12.212.24 Thus these qualities are five triads for the apprehending of their objects, whereby each threefold state arises in its turn.

12.212.25 The sāttvika, the rājasa, and the tāmasa—these are the three, in which the threefold feeling, with all its means, is brought forth.

12.212.26 Elation, fondness, joy, happiness, a wholly tranquil mind—arising from no cause or from some cause within the mind—this is the sāttvika quality.

12.212.27 Discontent, anguish, grief, greed, and impatience—these are the marks of rajas; they are seen to arise with cause or without.

12.212.28 Want of discrimination, delusion, heedlessness, sleep, and torpor—however they come to be, these are the manifold tāmasa qualities.

12.212.29 Therein, whatever arises in body or in mind joined with delight, one should regard as the working of the sāttvika state.

12.212.30 But whatever is joined with affliction and unpleasing to the self, one should reflect that rajas has there come into play.

12.212.31 And whatever arises in body or mind joined with delusion, beyond reasoning and beyond knowing, that one should understand to be tamas.

12.212.32 For that being which rests upon the ear—sound abides in the ear; yet neither of the two suffices, by itself, for the cognition of sound, nor for any other cognition.

12.212.33 So too the skin, the two eyes, the tongue, and the nose as the fifth—in touch, form, taste, and smell—these, together with awareness and the mind.

12.212.34 The simultaneous functioning of their own activities resides in these ten; know awareness to be the eleventh, and understanding shall be the twelfth.

12.212.35 When these do not function together, there is no tāmasic annihilation; but when they rest in simultaneous action, that is the ordinary commerce of the world.

12.212.36 Even having released the senses, having earlier seen what was heard from tradition, one who reflects does not roam astray, being attended by these three qualities alone.

12.212.37 When the mind, stricken by darkness, swiftly makes an unsteady wandering and comes to rest in time, that they call the tāmasa pleasure.

12.212.38 Whatever, joined to scriptural lore, does not wholly come to rest—there too it takes on darkness, manifest like untruth.

12.212.39 Thus has this quality been enumerated, conditioned by its own activity; in some it functions rightly, in some it functions not at all.

12.212.40 Thus the ponderers of the inner self call this aggregate the field; and the conscious state that abides in the mind is called the knower of the field.

12.212.41 This being so, what annihilation is there, or how should there be anything eternal, when all beings act from their own nature, each by its proper cause?

12.212.42 As rivers that have entered the ocean abandon their distinct forms and their names, yet do not surrender their own substance—of such a kind is the dissolution of a being.

12.212.43 This being so, whence should consciousness arise again in the state after death, when the living self is wholly commingled and is grasped only midway?

12.212.44 But he who knows this insight of release, and unwearying seeks the self, is not stained by the unwished-for fruits of action, as a lotus-leaf is not by the water poured upon it.

12.212.45 Freed from the many firm bonds—those of offspring and of the gods—when he abandons both pleasure and pain, then, liberated and without mark, he attains the highest course; and beyond the proofs of scripture, the lore of tradition, and its rites of blessing, he reposes, passed beyond the fear of old age and death.

12.212.46 When merit is spent and sin has departed, and the fruit that springs from these has perished, the unattached, taking their stand upon the stainless, markless ether, behold the great.

12.212.47 As the spider, turning round and round, abides though let fall when its thread is spent, so the liberated one casts off misery, which is shattered as a clod that strikes against a mountain.

12.212.48 As the ruru deer leaves behind its old horn, or as the serpent in due course casts its skin, and goes without a backward glance, so the liberated one abandons misery.

12.212.49 As a bird, forsaking a tree that is falling into the water, flies off unattached, so this one, abandoning pleasure and pain, liberated and without mark, attains the most exalted course.

12.212.50 And there is too this verse sung by the king of Mithilā, who, beholding his city set ablaze with fire, said himself, so it is told—'Truly, not even a husk of mine is burning here.'

12.212.51 This station of immortality the king of Videha, having himself been here instructed by Pañcaśikha, surveyed in its entirety and with its meaning made certain; and supremely happy, freed of grief, he went his way.

12.212.52 For he who recites this teaching, sure of liberation, never falls away and ever beholds it thus; he does not suffer calamities, free of grief, and is released, as the king of Mithilā was upon coming to Kapila.

12.213.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Doing what does a man attain happiness, doing what does he meet with misery, and doing what does he move through the world fearless and perfected, O descendant of Bharata?

12.213.2 Bhīṣma said: The elders, grounded in the sacred lore, praise self-restraint above all—self-restraint for every one of the social orders, and for the Brāhmaṇa most especially.

12.213.3 For one who is not self-controlled, the due accomplishment of rites is not obtained; rite, austerity, and the Vedas—all rest upon self-restraint.

12.213.4 Self-restraint increases one's spiritual power; self-restraint is called the purifier; the self-restrained man, free of sin and fearless, attains the great.

12.213.5 The self-restrained man sleeps in ease and awakens in ease; he moves through the world in ease, and his mind grows serene.

12.213.6 Spiritual power is upheld by self-restraint; the harsh man does not attain it, and forever he sees within himself a host of separate enemies.

12.213.7 As from beasts of prey, so from the unrestrained there is ever fear for living beings; for their restraint the king was created by the Self-Existent.

12.213.8 In all the stages of life self-restraint is held supreme; and whatever fruit there is in the duty of those stages, a greater is declared to lie in self-restraint.

12.213.9 I shall tell the marks of those whose sum is self-restraint: absence of meanness, freedom from agitation, contentment, and a trusting heart;

12.213.10 freedom from anger, constant uprightness, no overbearing speech, no conceit, honoring of elders, freedom from envy, compassion toward beings, and absence of slander;

12.213.11 the shunning of gossip, of falsehood, of praise and of blame; desiring the good and coveting nothing, such a man wins the trust of men.

12.213.12 Stirring no enmity, of gracious conduct, equable in blame and praise, of good ways, endowed with character, serene in spirit, master of himself, and wise—he gains honor in the world and, after death, goes to heaven.

12.213.13 Devoted to the welfare of all beings, he hates no man out of pride; unshakable as a great deep lake, sated with wisdom, he abides serene.

12.213.14 Since from him there is no fear to any being, and security to all, the self-restrained and wise man becomes one worthy of the homage of all creatures.

12.213.15 He neither exults in great gain nor grieves in calamity; he, of measured wisdom, is called the self-restrained, O twice-born one.

12.213.16 Endowed with sacred learning and with good and auspicious deeds practiced by the virtuous, ever joined with self-restraint, such a man enjoys a great reward.

12.213.17 Freedom from envy, patience, tranquillity, contentment, gentle speech, truthfulness, charity, and freedom from restlessness — this is not the path of the wicked of soul.

12.213.18 Having mastered desire and anger, chaste and conquering his senses, the brāhmaṇa of stern vows, striving valiantly in dread austerity and awaiting his hour, should walk the worlds self-possessed, as one beyond all harm.

12.214.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When the twice-born, devoted to their vows, eat this oblation, this food intended for the brāhmaṇas — how is that, grandfather?

12.214.2 Bhīṣma said: Those who, observing vows not enjoined by the Veda, eat thus are merely doers of deeds; and those who eat while bound by vows the Veda enjoins are breakers of their vows, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.214.3 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That which the common folk call austerity — namely fasting — is this austerity, O great king, or what truly may austerity be?

12.214.4 Bhīṣma said: That which people deem austerity — fasting for a month or a fortnight — is but the ruin of one's own self-discipline; it is not austerity, so the good hold. Renunciation and humility — these are taught to be the highest austerity.

12.214.5 One should ever be a faster and ever a celibate; the wise man should ever be a sage and should ever worship the deity.

12.214.6 A householder devoted to dharma, ever wakeful, O Bhārata, should ever abstain from flesh and should ever recite the sacred texts.

12.214.7 He should ever eat what is like nectar and never feed on what is like poison; he should ever be one who eats the leavings of the offering, and ever cherish his guests.

12.214.8 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How is one ever a faster, how a celibate, how an eater of the offering's leavings, and how ever a cherisher of guests?

12.214.9 Bhīṣma said: He who never eats anything at all between the morning meal and the evening meal — he is the perpetual faster.

12.214.10 The brāhmaṇa who approaches his wife only in her season is a celibate; and that man is so who is ever truthful in speech and ever devoted to knowledge.

12.214.11 He who does not eat flesh taken in vain becomes an abstainer from flesh; ever charitable and pure, and wakeful even though he sleep by day.

12.214.12 He who eats only after his dependants and guests have eaten — know, Yudhiṣṭhira, that such a one wholly partakes of nectar.

12.214.13 That twice-born one who never eats until others have eaten — by such abstention is heaven won by him.

12.214.14 He who eats only what remains after the gods, the ancestors, the dependants, and the guests have been served — him they call an eater of the leavings of the offering.

12.214.15 For such men there are worlds without end in the abode of Brahmā; attended by apsarases, they move about as dwellers of heaven.

12.214.16 Those who partake of food together with the gods and the ancestors, and who delight in their sons and grandsons — theirs is the most surpassing destiny.

12.215.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Whatever deed is done in this world, whether good or evil, surely binds a man to the yoking of its fruit, O Bhārata.

12.215.2 Is man indeed the doer of that deed, or is he not? — such is my doubt. This I wish to hear from you in its truth, grandfather.

12.215.3 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount an ancient tale, the dialogue between Prahrāda and Indra, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.215.4 Unattached, his sins shaken off, nobly born and deeply learned, free of rigidity, free of self-conceit, established in goodness, devoted to right conduct —

12.215.5 holding blame and praise alike, self-controlled, dwelling in an empty house, knowing the rising and the passing-away of beings both moving and unmoving —

12.215.6 never angered, never elated amid things unwelcome or welcome, looking with an even eye on both gold and a clod of earth —

12.215.7 steadfast in the knowledge of the soul's highest good, firm in resolve, knowing the higher and lower of beings, all-knowing, looking on all alike —

12.215.8 Śakra, desiring to understand that wisdom of his, approached Prahrāda — seated apart, his senses restrained — and spoke thus.

12.215.9 Whatever qualities make a man esteemed among men in this world — all those qualities, never departed from you, do we observe in you.

12.215.10 And yet your mind seems here level with that of the simple folk. Regarding yourself as you do, what do you hold to be the good in this world?

12.215.11 Bound in fetters, fallen from your station, brought under the power of your foes, bereft of fortune — Prahrāda, in a plight to be mourned, you do not mourn.

12.215.12 Is it through the attainment of wisdom, O Daitya, or through firmness of resolve, that you remain serene in form, Prahrāda, even as you behold your own calamity?

12.215.13 Thus urged by him, the steadfast one, firm in his resolve, spoke in gentle words, setting forth his own wisdom.

12.215.14 He who does not understand the arising and the ceasing of beings — in him there is rigidity born of folly; but for one who perceives truly there is no rigidity.

12.215.15 From their own nature all states of being arise and likewise cease, both the existent and the non-existent; human effort has no place therein.

12.215.16 And in the absence of human effort there is no agent of one's own; but for him who fancies he acts of himself, conceit may sometimes arise here.

12.215.17 He who deems himself the doer of good and of ill — his wisdom is flawed, ignorant of its own true form: such is my judgement.

12.215.18 If man were truly the doer for his own welfare, O Śakra, then surely his undertakings would all succeed, and he would never meet defeat.

12.215.19 For even among those who strive, the coming-to-pass of the undesired and the not-coming-to-pass of the dear is seen; whence, then, is human effort efficacious?

12.215.20 We see, for some men, the coming-about of the undesired and the gaining of the desired without any effort at all — that comes of their nature.

12.215.21 Some comely of form and most excellent in intellect are seen craving the gain of wealth from men ill-formed and of little intellect.

12.215.22 When all the qualities, fair and foul, settle upon a man, driven by his own nature — then what cause is there for his pride therein?

12.215.23 All this proceeds from nature alone — such is my settled conviction. My wisdom rests within the self; for me there is nothing otherwise.

12.215.24 Yet here I hold the yoking of fruit, fair or foul, to be born of deeds; the whole domain of deeds I shall declare — hear it.

12.215.25 As a crow by its cawing makes known its boiled rice, even so are all deeds but the mark of one's own nature.

12.215.26 He who knows only the modifications and knows not the supreme primal nature — in him there is rigidity born of folly; but for one who perceives truly there is no rigidity.

12.215.27 For one who, in firm conviction, understands that all states of being arise here from nature — what can arrogance or conceit do to him?

12.215.28 I know the whole ordinance of dharma and the impermanence of beings; therefore, O Śakra, I do not grieve, for all this is bound to come to an end.

12.215.29 Free of mine-ness, free of self-conceit, free of craving, released from bondage, serene and undeparted from myself, I behold the rising and the passing-away of beings.

12.215.30 For one whose wisdom is perfected, who is self-controlled, free of thirst and free of craving, who sees through the knowledge of the world — no toil of mind remains, O Śakra.

12.215.31 In primal nature and in its modifications I have neither attachment nor aversion; nor do I see any foe who today claims me as his own.

12.215.32 Not above, not below, not athwart, nor anywhere, O Śakra, do I desire aught; neither in knowing, nor in the knowable, nor in not-knowing is any refuge found.

12.215.33 Śakra said: By what is this wisdom won, by what is peace attained? Declare to me that means, Prahrāda, rightly, as I ask.

12.215.34 Prahrāda said: By uprightness, by vigilance, by serenity, by self-possession, and by service to the elders, O Śakra, a man attains the great.

12.215.35 From nature he gains wisdom, by nature he comes to peace; from nature alone is all that whatsoever you behold.

12.215.36 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by the lord of the Daityas, Śakra fell to wonder; and well-pleased then, O king, he honoured those words.

12.215.37 Then the sovereign lord of the three worlds, having honoured the Daitya chief, took leave of the lord of the Asuras and departed to his own abode.

12.216.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: With what understanding should a king, fallen from his fortune, crushed by the rod of Time, wander over the earth? Tell me that, grandfather.

12.216.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recount an ancient tale, the dialogue between Vāsava and Bali, the son of Virocana.

12.216.3 Having conquered all the Asuras, Vāsava approached the Grandsire, bowed down with hands joined in reverence, and asked about Bali.

12.216.4 He whose wealth, however much he gave, was never once diminished — that Bali I cannot find. O Brahmā, tell me where Bali is.

12.216.5 It was he who set as the sun, he who illumined the quarters, he who, unwearying, poured down the rains in their season. That Bali I cannot find. O Brahmā, tell me where Bali is.

12.216.6 He was the Wind and Varuṇa, he the Sun and the Moon; he was Agni who warms all beings, and he the very Earth. That Bali I cannot find. O Brahmā, tell me where Bali is.

12.216.7 Brahmā said: This is not seemly in you, O Maghavan, that you ask this; yet one questioned should not utter falsehood — therefore I shall tell you of Bali.

12.216.8 Among camels, or among cattle, among asses, or again among horses, that creature shall come to dwell, the best of his kind, in an empty house, O lord of Śacī.

12.216.9 Śakra said: If, O Brahmā, I should meet with Bali in that empty house, should I slay him or not slay him? Instruct me in this, O Brahmā.

12.216.10 Brahmā said: Do not, O Śakra, harm Bali; Bali does not deserve to be killed. Yet you may, Vāsava, question him on points of right, as you please.

12.216.11 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by the Blessed One, great Indra then ranged over the earth, mounted upon the shoulder of Airāvata and girt with majesty.

12.216.12 Then he beheld Bali, cloaked in the form of an ass, having made his dwelling in an empty house, just as the Blessed One had foretold.

12.216.13 Śakra said: Fallen into the womb of an ass, you feed now on chaff, O Dānava. This birth of yours is the lowest — do you grieve, or do you not grieve?

12.216.14 What never was seen, that, alas, I now behold: you come under the power of your foes, bereft of fortune and of friends, your might and valour fallen away.

12.216.15 Once, surrounded by your kinsmen with a thousand chariots, you would go scorching all the worlds, holding us as nothing.

12.216.16 With you at their head, the Daityas stood obedient to your command, and under your sovereignty the earth yielded harvests untilled. And now this calamity is yours — do you grieve, or do you not grieve?

12.216.17 When you stood upon the eastern shore of the ocean, licking your lips as you distributed wealth to your kinsmen — how then was your mind?

12.216.18 When women of the gods, gathered in their thousands, danced for you through many a span of years in your pleasure-garden, you blazing with splendour —

12.216.19 all of them garlanded with lotuses, all of them gleaming like gold — how is your mind now and how was it then, O lord of the Dānavas?

12.216.20 Yours was a great parasol of gold, adorned with gems, beneath which the gandharvas danced, six thousand of them in seven bands.

12.216.21 Yours, as you sacrificed, was a vast sacrificial post all of gold, where you gave away ten myriads of thousands of cattle.

12.216.22 And when, as sacrificer, you ranged over the whole earth by the rite of casting the yoke-pin — what then was in your heart?

12.216.23 I do not see your golden vessel, nor your parasol, nor your fan; nor do I see the garland given you by Brahmā, O sovereign of the Asuras.

12.216.24 Bali said: You do not see my golden vessel, nor my parasol, nor my fan; nor shall you see the garland given me by Brahmā, O Vāsava.

12.216.25 You ask after my jewels, but they are laid away in a hidden cavern; when my time shall come again, then you shall behold them.

12.216.26 Yet this does not befit either your renown or your lineage—that you, whose ends are fulfilled, should wish to taunt me, whose ends are unfulfilled.

12.216.27 For in sorrows they do not grieve, nor in prosperities do they exult—those wise and good men whose insight is perfected, who are satisfied in knowledge and patient of heart.

12.216.28 But you, Puraṃdara, boast with a common mind; when you shall come to be as I now am, then you will speak no longer in this fashion.

12.217.1 Bhīṣma said: Then once more, O Bhārata, Śakra, laughing, spoke thus to him—who was hissing forth speech like a serpent—provoking him to answer.

12.217.2 Once, encircled by your kinsmen with a thousand chariots, you would ride forth scorching all the worlds, holding us as nothing—

12.217.3 and now, O Bali, beholding this most pitiable condition of your own, forsaken by kinsmen and friends—do you grieve, or do you not grieve?

12.217.4 Having of old won matchless delight and held the worlds within your sway, do you now grieve at this downfall, or do you not grieve?

12.217.5 Bali said: Perceiving this turning of Time upon myself to be impermanent, therefore, Śakra, I do not grieve; for all this surely has its end.

12.217.6 These bodies of living beings have an end, O lord of the immortals; for that reason, Śakra, I do not grieve, nor is this state of mine the fruit of any wrongdoing.

12.217.7 Life and the body, departing hence, are born together; together the two grow, and together the two perish.

12.217.8 Having come, helpless, merely to such a state of being as this—if I understand it thus, what anguish can there be for me who knows?

12.217.9 Destruction is the appointed end of beings, as the ocean is the end of rivers; men who rightly understand this are not bewildered, O wielder of the thunderbolt.

12.217.10 But those who do not so understand, given over to passion and delusion, sink down on meeting hardship, they whose discernment is destroyed.

12.217.11 For on attaining wisdom a man casts off all his taint; freed from evil he gains purity of being, and abiding in that purity he grows wholly serene.

12.217.12 But those who fall back from it, or are born again and again, the wretched ones, are tormented, driven on by misfortunes.

12.217.13 Success and failure, life and likewise death, and whatever yields the fruit of pleasure or of pain—I neither hate nor desire.

12.217.14 The man who slays anyone slays one already slain, and himself is already slain; neither of those two understands—neither he who slays nor he who is slain.

12.217.15 Whoever, O Maghavan, plays the man by slaying and conquering, is in truth no doer at all; rather it is the Doer alone who does that deed.

12.217.16 For who brings about, for the world, both its destruction and its arising? What is done is done by that very doing, and even of that doer there is another beyond.

12.217.17 Earth, wind, ether, water, and fire as the fifth—from these elements all creatures spring; over that, what room is there for lamentation?

12.217.18 The man of great learning and the man of little, the strong and the weak, the fair to look upon and the misshapen, the fortunate and the luckless—

12.217.19 Time, profound, gathers all to itself by its own power; when one has come under Time's dominion, what anguish can there be for me who knows?

12.217.20 It burns only what is already burned, and slays only what is already slain; only what is already lost is lost, and a man obtains only what was beforehand his to obtain.

12.217.21 It has no island—how then a farther shore?—nor is any nearer bank to be seen; pondering it, I behold no end to this divine ordinance.

12.217.22 If, while I looked on, Time did not destroy created beings, then there might be in me joy and pride and wrath, O lord of Śacī.

12.217.23 But knowing me a husk-eater in a house emptied of people, wearing the form of an ass, you point me out and revile me.

12.217.24 Yet were I to wish it, I could fashion my own self into many shapes—shapes so terrifying that, at the mere sight of them, it is you who would flee from me.

12.217.25 Time takes all to itself, Time bestows all; by Time is everything ordained—do not make a show of manly prowess, Śakra.

12.217.26 Of old, when I was wrathful, O Puraṃdara, all things trembled; yet I know, Śakra, the eternal law that governs this world.

12.217.27 Do you too consider this, and do not yield to self-conceit; neither origin nor might ever rests within oneself.

12.217.28 Your mind is still that of a boy, as much today as it was before; reflect, O Maghavan, and attain the wisdom that is final and resolved.

12.217.29 Gods, men, the fathers, gandharvas, serpents, and rākṣasas—all were once within my sway; all that you know well, O Vāsava.

12.217.30 "Homage be even to that quarter wherein dwells Bali Vairocana"—thus they would approach me, bewildered by their grudging minds.

12.217.31 I do not lament for that, nor for my own downfall, O lord of Śacī; so settled is my conviction—I abide in the power of the Ruler.

12.217.32 For one is seen, born of high family, comely and full of valor, living in misery together with his ministers—because it was destined so to be.

12.217.33 And one of mean family, a fool, ill-born, is seen, O Śakra, living in happiness together with his ministers—because it was destined so to be.

12.217.34 A woman fair and graced with beauty is seen unfortunate, O Śakra; while one without auspicious marks and ill-formed is seen fortunate, O Śakra.

12.217.35 This was not wrought by me, Śakra, nor was this wrought by you, O Śakra—that you have come to such a state, O wielder of the thunderbolt, or that we have come to such a state as this.

12.217.36 It is no deed of yours, nor of others—how then of mine, O Śatakratu? Prosperity, or want of prosperity, is wrought merely by the turning of Time.

12.217.37 I see you shining in splendor, the king of the gods established in your place, glorious and radiant, and thundering over me.

12.217.38 And were it not that Time stands thus, having overpowered me, I would this day strike you down with my fist—thunderbolt and all.

12.217.39 But this is no time for valor; this is the time of forbearance that has come. Time establishes all; Time, even so, ripens all to its consummation.

12.217.40 If Time has come upon me, the mighty lord of the dānavas, thundering and scorching—upon whom else will it not come?

12.217.41 For the splendors of all twelve of you great-souled Ādityas were once carried off by me single-handed, O king of the gods.

12.217.42 It was I who drew up the waters and I who poured them down, O Vāsava; I who scorched the three worlds, and I alone who gave them light.

12.217.43 I guarded and I plundered, I gave and I took away, I bound and I restrained—lord and master over all the worlds.

12.217.44 All that dominion of mine has now departed, O lord of the immortals; overwhelmed by the armies of Time, nothing of it shines forth for me any more.

12.217.45 I am not the doer, nor are you, nor is any other the doer, O lord of Śacī; for the worlds are enjoyed in their turn, Śakra, just as it chances.

12.217.46 Those who know the Veda call it the dwelling of months and fortnights, enclosed by day and night, having the seasons for its doors and the year for its mouth.

12.217.47 Some men, by their reflection, declare all this to be a matter for meditation; and of this fivefold meditation I shall make my inquiry in five ways.

12.217.48 Brahman is profound and unfathomable, vast as the ocean of waters; and they declare it to be without beginning or end, the imperishable, the supreme.

12.217.49 Having entered into creatures as their distinguishing mark, it is yet in itself without mark; the men who perceive the truth hold it to be ever-abiding and eternal.

12.217.50 One thinks, "it has departed," mistaking the transformation of beings for that; but it could not be a thing to be reached merely thus, since it is beyond Nature itself.

12.217.51 For it is the goal of all beings; not having reached it, where will you go? It cannot be outrun by one who runs, nor left behind by one who stands still; and the five senses, in any of their five ways, do not perceive it.

12.217.52 Some call it Agni, some call it Prajāpati, and others the seasons, the months, the fortnights, the days, and likewise the moments.

12.217.53 Others call it the forenoon, the afternoon, the midday; yet others call it the muhūrta—calling that which is one by many names. Know that to be Time, in whose power all this lies.

12.217.54 Many thousands of Indras have passed away, O Vāsava, endowed with strength and valor even as you are, O lord of Śacī.

12.217.55 And you too, O Śakra, exceedingly strong, king of the gods, towering in might—when the hour comes, mighty Time will lay to rest.

12.217.56 It is that which seizes all this to itself; therefore, Śakra, be steadfast. By me, by you, and by those before us, it could never be overpassed.

12.217.57 This unsurpassed royal Fortune that you have won and think, "she abides in me"—that is false; for she stays nowhere in one place.

12.217.58 She has dwelt with thousands of Indras far more distinguished than you; and the fickle one, abandoning me, has gone over to you, O lord of the wise.

12.217.59 Do not act thus again, Śakra; it behooves you to be at peace. Forsaking you too when you have come to such a state, she will swiftly pass on to another.

12.218.1 Bhīṣma said: Then Śatakratu beheld the radiant Fortune of the great-souled Bali, in her own embodied form, even then departing from his body.

12.218.2 Seeing her shining with such brilliance, the blessed Pākaśāsana, the lord Vāsava, his eyes wide with wonder, questioned Bali.

12.218.3 "O Bali, who is this crested one, gleaming and beautiful, who has stepped forth from you and stands there, adorned with armlets, blazing with her own splendor?"

12.218.4 Bali said: I know her neither as an asura-woman, nor divine, nor human; question her yourself, or do not—do as you please, O Vāsava.

12.218.5 Śakra said: Who are you, O crested and gleaming one, who have stepped forth from Bali? Tell me, who do not know it, your name, O you of bright smile.

12.218.6 Who are you that stand there like an apparition, blazing with your own splendor, having forsaken the lord of the daityas, O fair-browed one? Tell me that in truth.

12.218.7 Śrī said: Neither Virocana knew me, nor Bali Vairocana; they call me Duḥsahā, the Unendurable, and they know me too as Vidhitsā, the Will-to-ordain.

12.218.8 They call me Bhūti and Lakṣmī, and Śrī as well, O Vāsava; you, Śakra, do not know me, and all the gods know me not.

12.218.9 Śakra said: Why is this, O Duḥsahā—is it for my sake, or is it for Bali's sake that you forsake him, you who have dwelt with him so long?

12.218.10 Śrī said: Neither the Ordainer nor the Disposer disposes of me in any way; it is Time, Śakra, working through its turnings. Do not, O Śakra, despise him for this.

12.218.11 Śakra said: How was Bali forsaken by you, and for what cause, O crested one? And how would you not forsake me too? Tell me that, O you of bright smile.

12.218.12 Śrī said: I rest in truth, in giving, in the keeping of vows, in austerity, in valor, and in dharma; but Bali has turned away from these—therefore I have left him.

12.218.13 Having ever been devoted to the brahmans, truthful of speech, his senses subdued, he came to spite the brahmans, and, defiled by leavings, he touched the clarified butter.

12.218.14 Having of old been devoted to sacrifice, this man, his soul deluded and oppressed by Time, declared to the worlds, "Worship me alone."

12.218.15 Cast off from him, then, O Śakra, I shall dwell in you, O Vāsava; but I must be upheld by one ever-heedful, through austerity and through valor.

12.218.16 Śakra said: Is there among gods and men, or among all beings, any single man able to bear you alone, O dweller in the lotus?

12.218.17 Śrī said: Neither god, nor gandharva, nor asura, nor rākṣasa—there is none, O Puraṃdara, who is able to bear me alone.

12.218.18 Śakra said: Tell me, O blessed one, in what manner you might abide in me forever; that word of yours I shall fulfill—and it behooves you to speak the truth.

12.218.19 Śrī said: I shall abide with you forever, O lord of the gods, in the manner you desire. Mark this well: by the ordinance ordained in the Veda, divide me fourfold.

12.218.20 Śakra said: I shall indeed set you in place to the best of my power and strength; yet let there never be any overstepping by me, O Lakṣmī, while I remain near you.

12.218.21 Among men it is the Earth herself, the all-bearing, the mother of beings, who can endure your foot, for she is able—so I hold.

12.218.22 Śrī said: Here is one foot of mine set down, this one that rests upon the Earth. Now, O Śakra, set my second foot firmly in its place.

12.218.23 Śakra said: It is the Waters among men, flowing and ministering to all, that shall endure your foot; the Waters are equal to enduring it.

12.218.24 Śrī said: Here is one foot of mine set down, this one that rests upon the Waters. Now, O Śakra, set my third foot firmly in its place.

12.218.25 Śakra said: He in whom the gods and the sacrifices, in whom the Vedas are established—Agni—shall bear your third foot, held firm and secure.

12.218.26 Śrī said: Here is one foot of mine set down, this one that rests upon the Fire. Now, O Śakra, set my fourth foot firmly in its place.

12.218.27 Śakra said: Those who among men are the good, devoted to brahman and speakers of truth—let them endure your foot; the good are equal to enduring it.

12.218.28 Śrī said: Here is one foot of mine set down, this one that rests upon the good. Thus deposited, O Śakra, dispose me among living beings.

12.218.29 Śakra said: Whoever among living beings here should assail you, who have been duly set in place by me, that one shall be my enemy—so let them hear my word.

12.218.30 Bhīṣma said: Then Bali, the king of the Daityas, forsaken by Śrī, spoke thus: As far as the sun blazes in the east, so far also over the southern quarter,

12.218.31 and so far too the maker of day shall blaze over the west and over the north; when at midday the Sun shall reach his setting—then once more shall come the war of gods and Asuras, and then I shall be your conqueror.

12.218.32 When the Sun, standing in a single place, shall scorch all the worlds, then in the war of gods and Asuras I shall be your conqueror, O Śatakratu.

12.218.33 Śakra said: By Brahmā I have been instructed that you are not to be slain; therefore, O Bali, I do not loose my thunderbolt upon your head.

12.218.34 Go where you will, O lord of the Daityas; may it be well with you, O great Asura. The Sun shall never scorch from a station fixed at the zenith.

12.218.35 For his appointed course was ordained from of old by the Self-existent: ceaselessly he wheels about, warming the creatures with truth.

12.218.36 His course is of six months, the northern and likewise the southern, by which the Sun travels through the worlds, dispensing cold and heat.

12.218.37 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by Indra, O Bhārata, Bali the lord of the Daityas went to the southern region, while Purandara went to the north.

12.218.38 Having heard this utterance sung by Bali, known as 'the discourse free of egotism,' the Thousand-eyed One then ascended into the sky.

12.219.1 Bhīṣma said: On this very theme they recount an ancient tale, the colloquy of Śatakratu and Namuci, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.219.2 To Namuci, bereft of fortune yet seated unshaken like the ocean, knowing the rising and the passing of all beings, Purandara spoke thus:

12.219.3 Bound in fetters, fallen from your station, brought into the power of your foes, and stripped of fortune—O Namuci, do you grieve, or do you not grieve?

12.219.4 Namuci said: Nothing is gained by grief, and the body is wasted by it, while one's enemies rejoice; there is no help in grieving.

12.219.5 Therefore, O Śakra, I do not grieve, for all this is bounded by an end; through anguish both beauty and dharma fall away, O lord of the gods.

12.219.6 Having truly subdued that sorrow born of dejection when it comes, the discerning one should turn his mind upon what is pleasing to the heart and wholesome.

12.219.7 For in the very measure that a man sets his mind upon the good, in that measure do all his aims grow favorable—of this there is no doubt.

12.219.8 One alone is the Ruler; there is no second ruler. The Ruler governs the man lying yet in the womb. Directed by him, like water down a slope, even as I am appointed, so do I move along.

12.219.9 Discerning well both being and non-being, I know the better course, yet I do not pursue it; fulfilling well the fond hopes of friends—even as I am appointed, so do I move along.

12.219.10 In whatever measure a thing is to be attained by him, in just that measure he attains it; and as whatever is to come to pass, so exactly does it come to pass.

12.219.11 Wherever the Ordainer joins the embryo, again and again, there alone does it dwell, and not where it itself would wish.

12.219.12 He whose conviction is ever this—'This state that has befallen me was destined to be mine'—such a one is never bewildered.

12.219.13 For those struck down by the turns of fate there is found no real assailant; this alone is the suffering—that the hater thinks, 'I am the doer.'

12.219.14 Upon whom in this world do calamities not press—the seers and the gods and the great Asuras, the elders learned in the threefold lore, and the sages in the forest? Yet those who know the higher and the lower are not thrown into confusion.

12.219.15 The wise man neither rages nor clings, neither sinks into despair nor exults, nor grieves amid the straits and ruin of his fortunes; by his very nature he stands unmoved, like the Himālaya.

12.219.16 He whom the highest success of his aims does not elate, and whom, when its hour comes, calamity does not bewilder, who meets pleasure and pain and the state between them all alike—that man is a true bearer of the yoke.

12.219.17 Whatever condition a man may come into, in that let him find contentment, untormented; thus would he drive from his body the swelling anguish born of the mind, the bringer of toil.

12.219.18 That man of understanding who, having come into the assembly, the council, the company of its members, feels no dread of the assembly, who has plunged into the truth of dharma and stands by it—he is a bearer of the yoke.

12.219.19 The deeds of the wise are hard to trace; surely the wise man is not bewildered in the hour of bewilderment. Even when fallen from his station, the aged Gautama was not bewildered, though he had met with such grievous calamity.

12.219.20 Not by the power and might of counsel, nor by wisdom, nor by manly effort, does a mortal gain what is not to be gained—so what cause for lament is there in that?

12.219.21 Whatever the Ordainers appointed of old for one born thus—that very thing shall I undergo; what can death do to me?

12.219.22 What is to be obtained, that alone he obtains; where he is to go, there alone he goes; what is to be reached, that alone he reaches—both the sorrows and the joys.

12.219.23 That man who, knowing this in its fullness, is not bewildered, skilled amid pleasures and pains—he indeed is lord of all riches.

12.220.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For a man sunk in grievous calamity, in the loss of his kin, O guardian of the earth, or again in the loss of his kingdom—what is the better course?

12.220.2 For you are our highest expounder in this world, O bull of the Bhāratas; this I ask of you, and you should declare it to me here.

12.220.3 Bhīṣma said: For one parted from sons and wife, from comforts and from wealth, sunk in grievous calamity, steadfastness is the better course, O king.

12.220.4 For one who is endowed with firmness the body does not waste away, and through the body's soundness he wins back his fortune once more.

12.220.5 That king, dear son, whose men hold to a sattvic way of conduct—his are stability and firmness and resolve in his undertakings.

12.220.6 On this very theme they recount once more an ancient tale, the colloquy of Bali and Vāsava, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.220.7 When the war of gods and Asuras was over, and the Daityas and Dānavas destroyed, when the worlds had been measured out by Viṣṇu's stride, and Śatakratu was king of the gods,

12.220.8 when the gods were being worshipped with sacrifice and the four orders were established, when the triple world was flourishing and the Self-existent was content,

12.220.9 the lord, attended by the Rudras, the Vasus, the Ādityas, and by the two Aśvins and the seers, by the Gandharvas and the lords of serpents and the Siddhas and others,

12.220.10 mounting Airāvata, the four-tusked and well-tamed lord of elephants, decked with splendor, Śakra ranged throughout the triple world.

12.220.11 Once, by the shore of the ocean, in a certain mountain cavern, the wielder of the thunderbolt beheld Bali the son of Virocana, and drew near to him.

12.220.12 Beholding him, Indra the lord of the gods, seated on Airāvata's brow and surrounded by the hosts of heaven, the lord of the Daityas neither grieved nor trembled.

12.220.13 Seeing Bali standing unmoved and unafraid, Śatakratu, mounted upon the best of elephants, spoke thus:

12.220.14 O Daitya, you do not tremble—whether from valor, or from service to your elders, or from being purified by austerity; in any case this is most hard to do.

12.220.15 Brought into the power of your foes, fallen from a station unsurpassed—O son of Virocana, upon what do you rely that, when there is cause for grief, you do not grieve?

12.220.16 Having gained supremacy over your own kind and enjoyed pleasures unsurpassed, now robbed of your own host and kingdom—tell me, why do you not grieve?

12.220.17 For having once been lord in the seat of your fathers and forefathers, why do you not grieve to see it today carried off by your rivals?

12.220.18 Bound by Varuṇa's fetters and smitten by the thunderbolt, your wife taken, your wealth taken—tell me, why do you not grieve?

12.220.19 That you do not grieve, fallen from fortune and stripped of majesty, is hard indeed; for at the loss of the kingdom of the three worlds, who else would have the heart to live?

12.220.20 Having heard him speak these words and other harsh ones besides, Bali the son of Virocana, contemning him, calmly and unflustered replied:

12.220.21 When I am thus utterly subdued, O Śakra, what use is this boasting of yours? I see you standing with the thunderbolt upraised, O Purandara.

12.220.22 Formerly you were powerless; somehow you have come into power. Who other than you would deign to utter these most cruel words?

12.220.23 But he who, though able, shows mercy to a foe in his power, to a hero fallen into his very hands—him they account a true man.

12.220.24 For in battles between two contending parties there is no certainty: one attains victory, and one attains defeat.

12.220.25 And let this not be your settled persuasion, O bull among the gods—that the lord of all beings was conquered by your valor through main strength.

12.220.26 This was not done by us, O Śakra, nor was this done by you, O Śakra—that you have come to such a state, O wielder of the thunderbolt, or that we have come to such a state.

12.220.27 What you are today, that I once was; and what we now are, that you shall become. Do not despise me, thinking, 'It is by some evil deed of his own doing.'

12.220.28 For a man comes upon pleasure and pain by turns; by the turning of fate you have attained the lordship of Śakra, O Śakra, and not by your own deed.

12.220.29 Time leads me on in its time, and this same Time leads you on as well; therefore I am not now as you are, nor are you as we are.

12.220.30 Neither dutiful service to mother and father, nor worship of the gods, nor any other practice of virtue, brings happiness to a man on its own.

12.220.31 Not learning, not austerity, not giving, not friends, not kinsmen are able to rescue a man oppressed by Time.

12.220.32 For the misfortune that is to come, men cannot ward off even with a hundred counterstrokes, save by the strength of their understanding.

12.220.33 For those struck down by the turns of fate there is found no deliverer; but this is the suffering, O Śakra—that one thinks, 'I am the doer.'

12.220.34 If the doer were truly the doer, he would never himself be acted upon; but since the doer too is acted upon, therefore even the doer is not sovereign.

12.220.35 By Time I once conquered you, and by Time I have been conquered by you; Time is the mover of all that moves, Time impels all creatures onward.

12.220.36 O Indra, prattling with your common understanding, you do not comprehend; some hold you in high esteem, deeming you to have won supremacy by your own deed.

12.220.37 How should one such as I, who knows the workings of the world, grieve when struck down by Time, or be bewildered amid the upheaval of his fortunes?

12.220.38 For one ever encompassed by Time—be it I or one of my kind—the intellect, having met with calamity, sinks like a foundering ship.

12.220.39 I and you, and whatever others shall become lords of the gods—all of them, O Śakra, shall travel the road already trodden by a hundred Indras.

12.220.40 Even you, so unassailable, blazing with supreme splendor—when the appointed time has ripened, Time shall drive you on as it has driven me.

12.220.41 Many thousands of Indras of the Daiteyas have passed away through Time, age after age; for Time is hard to transcend.

12.220.42 Yet having gained this station, you hold yourself in high regard, as though you were the eternal god Brahmā, the source of all beings.

12.220.43 But this station is neither unshakable nor endless for anyone; you, with a childish mind, think, 'This is mine.'

12.220.44 You trust in what is not to be trusted, and you deem the impermanent permanent; out of delusion you covet this royal fortune, thinking, 'This is mine.'

12.220.45 She is held to abide steadfast neither with you, nor with us, nor with others; having passed by many another, she rests for now with you.

12.220.46 Having lingered with you for a little while, O Vāsava, this fickle one will forsake you and pass on to another, as a cow forsakes a drinking-trough.

12.220.47 For the worlds of kings that have passed away are more than I can dare to number, and others, far more numerous than you, shall yet come to be, O Puraṃdara.

12.220.48 This earth, with her trees and herbs and jewels, her rivers, mountains, and mines—I no longer see those who once enjoyed her of old.

12.220.49 Pṛthu, Aila, Maya, Bhauma, Naraka, and Śambara likewise, Aśvagrīva and Pulomā, Svarbhānu of boundless banner,

12.220.50 Prahrāda, Namuci, Dakṣa, Vipracitti, Virocana, Hrīniṣedha and Suhotra, Bhūrihan, Puṣpavān, Vṛṣa,

12.220.51 Satyeṣu, Ṛṣabha, Rāhu, Kapilāśva, Virūpaka, Bāṇa, Kārtasvara, Vahni, Viśvadaṃṣṭra, and then Nairṛta,

12.220.52 Riṭṭha and Huṭṭha, Vīra and Tāmra, Varāhāśva, the mighty Ruci, Viśvajit and Pratiśauri, Vṛṣāṇḍa, Viṣkara, Madhu,

12.220.53 Hiraṇyakaśipu as well, and the Dānava Kaiṭabha, and the Daityas and the Kālakhañjas—all of them, together with the Nairṛtas.

12.220.54 These, and many others, those of former times and of times yet earlier, lords of the Daityas and lords of the Dānavas, and still others of whom we have heard in tradition—

12.220.55 many former lords of the Daityas have abandoned the earth and departed, all of them struck down by Time; for Time is the stronger.

12.220.56 By all of them were hundreds of sacrifices offered—you are not the only one of a hundred rites; all of them were devoted to dharma, all unceasing in their sessions of sacrifice.

12.220.57 All ranged through the sky, all fought facing the foe, all were endowed with firm-knit frames, all had arms like iron bludgeons.

12.220.58 All wielded a hundred wiles, all of them roamed at will; of none of them, having joined battle, is it heard that he was vanquished.

12.220.59 All were intent on the vow of truth, all moved at their pleasure, all were devoted to the vows of the Veda, and all were deeply learned.

12.220.60 All those mighty ones attained sovereignty entire and unbroken, yet in those great-souled ones there was never of old any intoxication with their power.

12.220.61 All gave according to desert, all were free of envy, all conducted themselves rightly toward all beings.

12.220.62 All were sons of Dakṣa's daughters, of the lineage of Prajāpati, of mighty strength, blazing and scorching with heat—and all were gathered up by Time.

12.220.63 And you too, when you have enjoyed this earth and must let her go again, you will not then be able, O Śakra, to master the grief within yourself.

12.220.64 Let go your longing for sensual delights, let go this intoxication born of fortune; only thus, when your own sovereignty is lost, will you endure the grief.

12.220.65 In a time of sorrow do not grieve, and in a time of joy do not exult; abandoning the past and the future, live in the present moment.

12.220.66 If Time has now come upon me—ever vigilant, never slack—be patient, O Indra; before long it will come to you as well.

12.220.67 As if to terrify me, O lord of the gods, you cut me to pieces here with words; with me thus bound, you surely think much of yourself.

12.220.68 Time first came upon me, and afterward it runs in pursuit of you; that is why you roar, O lord of the gods, now that I have already been struck down by Time.

12.220.69 For who in the world is able to stand against me, wrathful, in battle? But mighty Time has come; therefore, O Vāsava, you stand unscathed.

12.220.70 That term, ending in a thousand years, must surely have run full—seeing how all my limbs are out of sorts, my vigor undone.

12.220.71 I have fallen from the station of Indra; you are made Indra in heaven, to be honored in this bright and varied world of the living—all through the turning of Time.

12.220.72 For by doing what are you Indra today, and by doing what have we fallen? Time is the maker and the unmaker; everything else is no cause at all.

12.220.73 Meeting with loss and ruin, with sovereignty, with pleasure and pain, with being and non-being, the wise man should neither rejoice nor be distressed beyond measure.

12.220.74 For you, O Indra, know us, and I know you, O Vāsava; why do you boast over me, bound as I am by Time, O shameless one?

12.220.75 For you yourself know of old what manhood was mine in those days, and what prowess in battles—that is proof enough.

12.220.76 The Ādityas and the Rudras and the Sādhyas, together with the Vasus, were all vanquished by me, and the Maruts too, O lord of Śacī.

12.220.77 You yourself know, O Śakra, that in the clash of gods and Asuras the assembled gods were shattered by me in battle through my onset.

12.220.78 And mountains, with their forests and their forest-dwellers, with crags and peaks, terrible to behold, were more than once hurled by me upon your head in battle.

12.220.79 But what can I do, since Time is not to be transcended? It is not that I lack the will to slay you, thunderbolt and all, with a single fist.

12.220.80 But this is no time for valor; a time for forbearance has come. Therefore I bear with you, O Śakra—I who am harder to bear with than you.

12.220.81 When the time has ripened, you boast over me, O Śakra—me encompassed by the fire of Time, fettered fast in the noose of Time.

12.220.82 This is that dark Person, whom the world cannot transcend; terrible, he stands having bound me, as one binds a beast with a tether.

12.220.83 Gain and loss, pleasure and pain, desire and wrath, being and non-being, slaying, bondage, and release—all is obtained through Time.

12.220.84 I am not the doer, nor are you the doer; the doer is he who is forever the Lord. This Time it is that ripens me, like a fruit come to ripeness on a tree.

12.220.85 The very deeds that a man, in doing, is joined by Time to pleasures—doing those same deeds again, he is joined by Time to pains.

12.220.86 One who knows Time, when touched by Time, ought not to grieve. Therefore, O Śakra, I do not grieve; there is no help to be had in grief.

12.220.87 Since for those who grieve the grief does not draw away the calamity, and the grieving man has no power to mend it—therefore I do not grieve today.

12.220.88 Thus addressed, the thousand-eyed lord, the chastiser of Pāka, drawing back his fury, the god of a hundred sacrifices spoke thus:

12.220.89 At the sight of my arm upraised with the thunderbolt and of Varuṇa's nooses, whose mind here would not waver—even Death's, when he sought to kill?

12.220.90 Yet that mind of yours does not waver—unshaken, beholding the truth; you, O you of true prowess, do not falter even as you speak your word.

12.220.91 For what embodied being in the world could dare to place his trust in possessions or in the body, having seen the world set forth upon its passing?

12.220.92 I too know this world to be just so, impermanent—cast into the terrible fire of Time, hidden, ever-moving, imperishable.

12.220.93 And in this there is no escape for any creature touched by Time, as the beings, both small and great, are ripened away.

12.220.94 From Time—subject to no lord, never heedless, ever ripening beings, never turning back—he who has met his ruin is not set free.

12.220.95 Heedful among the heedless, Time keeps watch over embodied beings; never has it been seen by anyone to be overcome, however great the effort.

12.220.96 Ancient, eternal, the law impartial toward all that bears life—Time is not to be evaded, nor is there any transgressing it.

12.220.97 Days and nights and months, instants, kāṣṭhās, kalās, and moments—Time gathers them up against us, as a usurer heaps up his interest.

12.220.98 The man who says, 'This I shall do today, that I shall do tomorrow'—Time, when it has come, sweeps him away as a river's current carries off a raft.

12.220.99 'Just now indeed I saw him—how is it he is dead?'—such is heard the lament of men as they are borne away by Time.

12.220.100 Possessions perish, and so do enjoyments, station, and sovereignty as well; all is fleeting and unstable, and resolve is hard to keep. Risings end in downfalls, and being abides only in the condition of non-being.

12.220.101 That mind of yours does not waver—unshaken, beholding the truth; you do not even in thought take note: 'I once was, before.'

12.220.102 In this world overpowered by mightier Time and ripened thereby, though you are cast about with neither eldest nor youngest spared, you take no heed.

12.220.103 In envy, pride, and greed, in desire, wrath, and fear, in craving, delusion, and conceit, the world clings and is bewildered.

12.220.104 But you, knowing the truth of existence, learned, endowed with knowledge and austerity, behold Time as plainly as a myrobalan fruit upon your palm.

12.220.105 Knowing the truth of Time's course, skilled in all the sacred sciences, you are, O son of Virocana, perfected in soul, to be envied by those who understand.

12.220.106 This whole world, I think, has been encompassed by your intellect; ranging at large, released on every side, you cling to nothing anywhere.

12.220.107 For passion and darkness do not touch you, master of your senses; free of elation, your torment destroyed, you wait upon your own self.

12.220.108 Beholding you—a friend to all beings, free of enmity, serene of mind—there has arisen in me a heart of compassion toward you.

12.220.109 One so enlightened I do not wish to slay in his bondage; non-cruelty is the highest law, and so too is compassion toward you.

12.220.110 These nooses of Varuṇa shall be loosed from you in the turning of Time, through the misconduct of mankind; may it be well with you, O great Asura.

12.220.111 When the daughter-in-law shall set the aged mother-in-law to menial service, and the son out of folly shall send his father to do his tasks;

12.220.112 when the base-born shall make Brāhmaṇas wash their feet, and Śūdras shall take Brāhmaṇa women to wife without fear;

12.220.113 when men shall spill their seed into wombs not their own, bringing about confusion of castes, and shall offer oblation in bronze vessels and in unworthy vessels;

12.220.114 when the whole order of the four castes shall pass beyond its bounds—then, one by one, these nooses of yours shall be loosed in due succession.

12.220.115 From us you have nothing to fear; await the appointed time. Be happy, untroubled, sound of mind, and free of ill.

12.220.116 Having spoken thus to him, the lord of a hundred sacrifices set forth again, borne by the king of elephants; and the lord of the gods, having conquered all the Asuras, rejoiced in gladness and became sole sovereign.

12.220.117 And the great sages straightway praised him, Vṛṣākapi, the lord of all that moves and moves not; the dispeller of cold bore up the oblation in haste, and so was the nectar of immortality offered up to the Lord.

12.220.118 Praised by the foremost of the twice-born who were gathered from everywhere, his splendor blazing forth, his wrath now gone, the lord with a tranquil heart and gladdened, having reached his own abode, the heaven of the gods—Vāsava rejoiced.

12.221.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O king, tell me, grandsire, of the foretokens of a man who is about to rise and of one who is about to fall.

12.221.2 Bhīṣma said: It is the mind itself, blessings upon you, that proclaims a man's foretokens—both of the one who will prosper and of the one who will not.

12.221.3 On this they recount an ancient tale, the colloquy of Śrī with Śakra. Mark it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.221.4 By the fruit of great austerity he beheld both worlds, the higher and the lower, having attained fellowship with the seers who dwell in Brahmā's realm—

12.221.5 that very Brahman-like Nārada, of boundless blazing might, his sins stilled, great in austerity, roamed at will through the three worlds.

12.221.6 Once, rising at dawn and wishing to touch the pure water, he went to the Gaṅgā that issues from the Gate of Dhruva, and stepped down into her.

12.221.7 And the thousand-eyed wielder of the thunderbolt, slayer of Śambara and Pāka, came likewise to the bank of that river frequented by the divine seers.

12.221.8 The two, self-controlled, having bathed and finished their prayers, sat down together, reaching a sandbank of the river spread with fine golden sand.

12.221.9 Fond of converse, with minds pure and gladdened, the two recited tales told by holy doers and recounted by the divine seers, intent and discoursing of things long past and gone.

12.221.10 Then, beholding the rising sun heralded by its net of rays, its orb made full, the two rose and stood in worship before it.

12.221.11 And close beside that rising sun, like a second sun, there appeared in the sky a radiance whose splendor matched flames leaping upward.

12.221.12 It was seen drawing near to the two, O Bhārata: it had reached the Vaiṣṇava station traversed by Garuḍa and the sun, and shone with peerless rays, illumining the three worlds.

12.221.13 Attended by celestial nymphs of surpassing form and grace, she was vast and sunlike in brilliance, like the flame of the mighty-rayed luminary—

12.221.14 her ornaments arranged like constellations, her garland patterned like the spangling of stars—Śrī, the lotus goddess, they beheld in person, standing upon a lotus-pedestal.

12.221.15 That peerless among women descended from the front of her aerial car and approached Śakra, lord of the three worlds, and the seer Nārada.

12.221.16 Maghavan, with Nārada following him, came up to her in person and, with palms joined in salute, presented himself before the goddess.

12.221.17 And that all-knowing king of the gods rendered her unmatched homage, O king, and to Śrī he spoke these words.

12.221.18 Who are you, O sweetly-smiling one, and on what errand have you come? Whence do you arrive, fair-browed one, and whither must you go, O auspicious lady?

12.221.19 Śrī said: Throughout the three holy worlds all beings, moving and unmoving, desiring to make me their own, strive with their utmost selves.

12.221.20 I am she who was born in the lotus awakened by the sun's rays—Padmā, Śrī, garlanded with lotuses, born for the prosperity of all beings.

12.221.21 I am Lakṣmī, I am Prosperity, and I am Śrī, O slayer of Bala; I am Faith and Wisdom, Modesty, Conquest, and Constancy.

12.221.22 I am Fortitude, I am Success, I am Radiance and Affluence too; I am Svāhā and Svadhā, Praise, Necessity, and Action.

12.221.23 In the vanguards and the banners of kings who go forth to victory, in the dwellings of those of righteous conduct, in their realms and their cities—

12.221.24 in the lord of men who bears the splendor of conquest, who is valiant and never turns back in battles—there do I forever dwell, O slayer of Bala.

12.221.25 In him who is ever devoted to dharma, of great understanding, friendly to brahmins, truthful in speech, humble, and inclined to giving—there do I always dwell.

12.221.26 Once I dwelt among the Asuras, bound to them by their truth and righteousness; but when I knew them turned to their opposites, I resolved to dwell with you.

12.221.27 Śakra said: When the Daityas behaved in what manner did you dwell among them, O fair-faced one? And seeing what here did you come, forsaking the sons of Diti and the Dānavas?

12.221.28 Śrī said: I take my delight in beings who keep to their own duty, who do not waver from steadfastness, who find their joy in the path to heaven.

12.221.29 Among them there ever prevailed giving, study, sacrifice and worship, reverence for elders and gods, and honor shown to brahmins and to guests.

12.221.30 Their houses were well-swept, their womenfolk well-governed, their fires duly offered; they were attentive to their teachers, self-restrained, devoted to brahmins, and truthful.

12.221.31 Faithful, masters of their anger, generous, free from spite, they maintained their sons, their counselors, and their wives, and harbored no envy.

12.221.32 Free from rancor, they never coveted one another's goods, and being steadfast, they were never once tormented by the prosperity of others.

12.221.33 Givers and gatherers alike, noble, knowing compassion, of great graciousness, upright, firm in devotion, their senses subdued—

12.221.34 their servants and ministers content, themselves grateful and sweet of speech, bestowing honor and wealth according to merit, restrained by modesty, firm in their vows.

12.221.35 On the holy days they bathed well, anointed and adorned themselves; given to fasting and austerity, of good repute, expounders of the sacred word.

12.221.36 The sun never rose upon them still asleep, nor were they wakeful through the night; and at night they ever shunned curds and parched-grain meal.

12.221.37 At dawn the pure and continent ones would look upon clarified butter; they gazed too upon auspicious things and gave honor to the brahmins.

12.221.38 Theirs ever was the dharma of those who give and never accept, who sleep for half the night and stay awake by day.

12.221.39 They took constant pleasure in giving and sharing with the wretched, the helpless, the aged, the weak, the sick, and women.

12.221.40 The dejected, the frightened, the agitated, the terror-stricken, the disease-afflicted, the man robbed of his wealth, the calamity-stricken—these they ever consoled.

12.221.41 They followed only dharma and did each other no harm; obliging in their dealings, they waited upon their elders and teachers.

12.221.42 They duly honored the ancestors, the gods, and their guests, and ate only what was left over, ever devoted to truth and austerity.

12.221.43 None ate alone of a well-furnished meal, nor went to another's wife; toward all beings they bore the same compassion as toward themselves.

12.221.44 Never in the open air, nor with beasts, nor in what is no fit womb, nor on the holy days, did they ever consent to the release of their seed.

12.221.45 Ever present in them were giving and skill, uprightness always, energy and freedom from egotism, the highest friendliness, and forbearance.

12.221.46 Truth, giving, austerity, purity, compassion, gentle speech, and no treachery toward friends—all this dwelt in them, O lord.

12.221.47 Drowsiness, sloth, ill-will, unguarded envy, discontent, despondency, and craving never entered them.

12.221.48 It was among the Dānavas, while they bore such virtues, that I once dwelt of old, from the time of creation, through more than one turning of the ages.

12.221.49 Then, in the turning of time, as their virtues were turned about, I saw dharma departed from them, who had become slaves to desire and wrath.

12.221.50 When the elders among the assembly told their true tales, those of lesser worth laughed at them and reviled all their elders.

12.221.51 When the worthy aged came and sat among the young, the young no longer honored them, as once they had, by rising and saluting.

12.221.52 Even while the father still lived and held sway over himself, the sons took over the running of affairs, reducing him to the state of an enemy's servant and proclaiming it shamelessly.

12.221.53 And for those who, by deeds blameworthy and gone from dharma, won great wealth—for such men did their craving grow.

12.221.54 They spoke loudly even by night, while there the fire burned low; sons spoke back to their fathers, and wives answered back their husbands.

12.221.55 Mother, aged father, preceptor, guest, and elder—they no longer welcomed as elders deserve, nor did they look after their children.

12.221.56 Without giving alms or offering oblation, they ate the food themselves, without first making the sacrifice or sharing with ancestors, gods, guests, and elders.

12.221.57 Their cooks no longer observed cleanliness, in thought, deed, or word; the food was left uncovered.

12.221.58 The grains lay scattered, food for crows and mice; the milk stood uncovered, and persons defiled by their leavings touched the clarified butter.

12.221.59 The hoe, the basket, the bronze vessel lay strewn about; the mistress of the house no longer kept watch over the goods and the implements at all.

12.221.60 They did not repair the breaches in their walls and houses, nor did they trouble, having tethered their cattle, to tend them with fodder and water.

12.221.61 Before the very eyes of their watching children they ate the dainties themselves, and so the Dānavas devoured all that belonged to their dependents.

12.221.62 Milk-rice, the dish of rice and sesame, meat, cakes, and wafers they cooked for their own sake, and ate meat killed to no sacred purpose.

12.221.63 They lay asleep past sunrise, and all stayed wakeful through the night; quarrels went on there, day and night, in house after house.

12.221.64 The ignoble there no longer waited upon a noble man as he sat; doers of forbidden deeds hated those settled in the proper stages of life, and one another; confusion of castes prevailed, and purity prevailed no more.

12.221.65 Brahmins learned in the Veda and those plainly ignorant of the hymns were treated with no distinction between them, in honor or in contempt.

12.221.66 To observe their coquetry, their ornament and dress, their gait and their bearing, their servant-maids cultivated the ways of wicked folk.

12.221.67 Women in the garb of men, and men wearing the garb of women, found their highest delight in games, dalliance, and revels.

12.221.68 The gifts once bestowed by men of power upon the worthy they no longer honored, out of unbelief, though they had the means to do so.

12.221.69 When a friend besought a friend in some doubtful matter of wealth, the latter, for a self-interest no greater than the tip of a hair's end, would cheat him of that wealth.

12.221.70 Eager to seize the goods of others, dealing in trade and barter, men of the noble orders came to be seen as Śūdras—while Śūdras, on the other hand, were rich in austerity.

12.221.71 Some studied without keeping their vows, others kept their vows to no purpose; a pupil there was who would not serve his teacher, and a teacher who made a comrade of his pupil.

12.221.72 Father and mother both, worn out as though their feast of life were ended, the aged pair, stripped of all authority, begged their food of their own sons.

12.221.73 There the wise, learned in the Veda, ocean-like in their depth, became absorbed in farming and the like, while fools ate the funeral offerings.

12.221.74 Morning after morning the courteous greeting, the dressing of hair, and the errands that pupils once performed—in that age it was the teachers who did them, sent at the pupils' bidding.

12.221.75 In the very presence of her father- and mother-in-law the young wife gave orders to the servants, and summoning her husband, scolded and ordered him about.

12.221.76 With all his effort the father guarded the favor of his son's mind; and they divided the patrimony in fury, and so dwelt in a wretched dwelling.

12.221.77 When they saw a man's wealth consumed by fire, or carried off by thieves or by kings, they laughed out of malice—though they had once been counted his well-wishers.

12.221.78 Ungrateful, unbelieving, wicked, defilers of their teachers' wives, given to eating what should not be eaten, knowing no bounds, their luster slain—

12.221.79 when they practiced such ways and worse in this perversion, I would no longer dwell among the Dānavas, O lord of the gods—such was my resolve.

12.221.80 Welcome me, lord of Śacī, for I have come to you of my own accord; honored by you, O lord of the gods, the deities will set me at their head.

12.221.81 Wherever I am, there too will dwell my beloved companions—those who cleave to me and offer themselves to me: seven goddesses, with myself the eighth, will abide eightfold at my side.

12.221.82 Hope, Faith, Constancy, Beauty, Victory, Humility, Forbearance—and Conduct as the eighth, who walks before them all, O chastiser of Pāka.

12.221.83 They and I, forsaking the Asuras, have come into your domain; among the Thirty Gods we shall dwell, whose inmost selves are fixed in dharma.

12.221.84 Bhīṣma said: When the goddess had spoken these words, the two rejoiced exceedingly—Nārada, the sage of the three worlds, and Vāsava, the slayer of Vṛtra.

12.221.85 Then through the dwellings of the gods blew the Wind, the friend of Fire, fragrant and welcome, soft to the touch, bringing delight to every sense.

12.221.86 In a place pure and adorned the Thirty Gods stood for the most part assembled, eager to behold Maghavat seated together with Lakṣmī.

12.221.87 Then the Thousand-eyed One, reaching heaven endowed with Śrī, with his friend the divine sage beside him, that bull among gods, drove in his chariot yoked with bay steeds, and went, well honored, to the assembly hall of the gods.

12.221.88 Then Nārada, pondering in his mind the bearing of the wielder of the thunderbolt and of the goddess Śrī—he whose manhood the gods had witnessed—announced to Śrī that her coming there, in auspicious fashion, would be one of great prosperity.

12.221.89 Then the radiant sky rained down nectar over the abode of the Self-existent Grandsire; drums sounded untouched by any hand, and the quarters of the world, grown serene, shone bright.

12.221.90 Vāsava rained upon the crops each in its season, and not a soul strayed from the path of dharma; the earth, adorned with mines of many jewels, rang with auspicious sound at the triumph of the world's dwellers.

12.221.91 Men delighting in sacred rites grew glorious, standing firm on the blessed road of the doers of good; humans and gods, Kiṃnaras, Yakṣas, and Rākṣasas became prosperous, happy, and renowned.

12.221.92 Never did a blossom—much less a fruit—fall untimely from a tree, even when shaken by the wind; the cows yielded sweet milk and granted every wish, and no harsh word passed from anyone's lips.

12.221.93 Those brāhmaṇas who in their assemblies recite this worship of Śrī, together with the deities led by Śakra who grant all desires, attain Śrī, their every wish fulfilled.

12.221.94 What you, O best of the Kurus, urged me to tell—the supreme illustration here of prosperity and ruin—all that I have now recounted in full; weighing its truth, you ought to grasp it whole.

12.222.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Of what character, what conduct, what learning, what refuge is the man who attains the abode of Brahman, that which is supreme, beyond Nature, and unchanging?

12.222.2 Bhīṣma said: He who is steadfast in the disciplines of liberation, sparing in food, and master of his senses attains the abode of Brahman, that which is supreme, beyond Nature, and unchanging.

12.222.3 On this point too they relate an ancient tale, O descendant of Bharata: the dialogue of Jaigīṣavya and Asita.

12.222.4 To Jaigīṣavya, the greatly wise, versed in the whole tradition of the dharmas, who neither grew angry nor elated, Asita Devala spoke.

12.222.5 When praised, you take no pleasure; when blamed, you feel no anger. What is this wisdom of yours, whence does it come, and what is its final ground?

12.222.6 Thus questioned by him, that great ascetic spoke to him a lofty utterance, free of doubt, rich in meaning and words, and pure.

12.222.7 That course, that highest consummation, that peace which belongs to the doers of meritorious deeds—of this I shall tell you fully, O brāhmaṇa, since you ask it of me.

12.222.8 Ever even-minded toward those who blame and those who praise, O Devala—and even toward those who break their compact and deny a good deed done—

12.222.9 When spoken against, the wise do not wish to retort upon the speaker bent on their harm, nor do they desire to strike back at one who would strike them.

12.222.10 They do not grieve over what has not come, but do what the present hour demands; they do not mourn things past, nor dwell upon them.

12.222.11 When honored guests arrive, O Devala, in matters of desire and wealth the capable men of fulfilled vows act as circumstance allows.

12.222.12 Ripe in knowledge, greatly wise, having conquered anger and subdued their senses, they offend against no one in thought, deed, or word.

12.222.13 Free from envy, they never do harm to one another, and the steadfast are never tormented by the prosperity of others.

12.222.14 They neither utter excessive blame nor excessive praise of another, nor are they ever moved by blame or by praise.

12.222.15 Wholly tranquil, devoted to the welfare of all beings, they neither rage nor exult nor wrong anyone; having loosed the knots of the heart, they wander at their ease.

12.222.16 They have no kinsmen of their own, nor are they kinsmen to others; they have no enemies, nor are they enemies to anyone.

12.222.17 Those mortals who live thus dwell ever in happiness, and the knowers of dharma follow dharma alone, O best of the twice-born; but those who fall from this path swing between elation and dismay.

12.222.18 Standing upon that path, whom should I grudge, and how? Whether blamed or praised, by what cause should I be moved to elation?

12.222.19 Men take to whatever path they desire; by blame or by praise I shall suffer neither diminishing nor increase.

12.222.20 The knower of truth would take his fill of contempt as though of nectar, and the discerning man would ever shrink from honor as though from poison.

12.222.21 The despised man sleeps in peace, here and hereafter, in both worlds, freed from all his sins; but the one who despises is himself bound.

12.222.22 And whatever wise men seek the supreme goal, those people, taking up this vow, flourish in happiness.

12.222.23 Drawing in from every quarter all his energies, the man who has mastered his senses attains the abode of Brahman, that which is supreme, beyond Nature, and unchanging.

12.222.24 Once he has reached the supreme goal, neither gods nor Gandharvas, neither Piśācas nor Rākṣasas can trace the path he has trodden.

12.223.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Who indeed is the man on earth dear to the whole world, welcomed by all beings, and endowed with every excellence?

12.223.2 Bhīṣma said: On this, since you ask, O bull of the Bhāratas, I shall recount to you the dialogue of Ugrasena and Keśava concerning Nārada.

12.223.3 Ugrasena said: See how the world warms to the praise of Nārada; I deem him rich in virtues. Tell me this, for I ask you.

12.223.4 Vāsudeva said: O lord of the Kukuras, hear from me, as I would tell them, those noble virtues of Nārada that I count, O ruler of men, set forth in brief.

12.223.5 In him there is no pride born of good conduct that would bring the body low; his learning and his conduct stand unbroken—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.6 Nārada is firmly devoted to austerity; in speech he commits no transgression, whether from desire or from greed—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.7 Knowing the truth of the science of the inner Self, forbearing, capable, master of his senses, upright and truthful in speech—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.8 Eminent in splendor, in fame, in intellect, in statecraft and in modesty, in birth and in austerity—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.9 Of pleasant disposition, easy in fellowship, easily fed, gracious in regard, pure, fair of speech and free from envy—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.10 He works good in full measure; no evil is found in him; he takes no delight in others' wealth—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.11 By the Vedas, the sacred texts, and the old narratives he seeks to win out in argument; enduring and never contemptuous—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.12 Through his evenness none is dear to him nor anyone unwelcome in any way, yet he speaks agreeably to the mind—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.13 Deeply learned, a teller of varied tales, wise, never slothful, without guile, never abject, free from anger and from greed—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.14 Never before has he had a quarrel over wealth, dharma, or pleasure, and his faults are utterly rooted out—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.15 Firm in devotion, blameless in self, learned, full of kindness, and freed from the flaw of delusion—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.16 Unattached amid all attachments, he yet appears as one whose heart is engaged; quick to resolve his doubts and eloquent—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.17 His concentration is never set on winning honor, and he never praises himself; free from envy and steadfast in discourse—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.18 Without reviling the world's manifold ways or the natures of men, skilled in the art of company—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.19 He grudges no body of learning, and he does not live off his own austerity; his time is never barren, his self is under control—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.20 He has done his toil and won his wisdom, yet is never sated in his concentration; fixed in the observances and ever vigilant—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.21 Possessed of modesty and self-restraint, easily led by others toward the good, and never a betrayer of others' secrets—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.22 He does not exult in the gaining of wealth, nor is he distressed in its loss; steady of mind and unattached in self—therefore he is honored everywhere.

12.223.23 Endowed with every virtue, capable, pure, undaunted, knowing the right time and the ways of policy—who would not hold him dear?

12.224.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I wish to hear, O Kaurava, of the beginning and end of all beings—their contemplation, their action, their measure of time, and likewise their span of life from age to age.

12.224.2 And the truth of the worlds in its fullness—the coming and the going of beings, their creation and their dissolution—whence does all this proceed?

12.224.3 If your mind is set on showing us favor here, O best of the good, I ask you this; may you declare it to me.

12.224.4 For having heard before the supreme teaching once spoken by Bhṛgu to the brāhmaṇa-sage Bharadvāja, my understanding thence grew most excellent—

12.224.5 —it was born wholly devoted to dharma, established upon a heavenly foundation; therefore I ask once more, and you ought to tell it.

12.224.6 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall recount to you an ancient tale, that which the lord Vyāsa sang to his son when he inquired.

12.224.7 Having studied all the Vedas entire, with their limbs and Upaniṣads, and seeking the final, conclusive course of action through his insight into the niceties of dharma—

12.224.8 —Śuka, son of Vyāsa, asked of his father Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa this doubt, whose perplexity over dharma and meaning was thereby resolved:

12.224.9 "The maker of the host of beings, the certainty in the knowledge of time, and what is the proper task of the brāhmaṇa—that you ought to tell me."

12.224.10 To him, his son who asked, the father declared all of this—the learned one who knew the past and the future, the all-knowing, versed in every dharma.

12.224.11 Without beginning or end, unborn, divine, ageless, unchanging, imperishable, beyond reasoning and beyond knowing—Brahman existed in the beginning.

12.224.12 A kāṣṭhā is fifteen blinks of the eye; thirty kāṣṭhās one should reckon a kalā; thirty kalās in turn make a muhūrta—together with that which is a tenth part of a kalā.

12.224.13 Thirty muhūrtas make a day, and a night—such is the reckoning ordained by the sages; thirty days and nights are called a month, and twelve months are declared a year; and those skilled in reckoning say the year has two courses of the sun, the southern and the northern.

12.224.14 The Sun divides day and night in the world of men: night is for the sleep of beings, and day for the exertion of their works.

12.224.15 In the realm of the ancestors a month is a day and a night, and again its division is this: the dark fortnight is the day for the exertion of works, the bright fortnight the night for sleep.

12.224.16 In the realm of the gods a year is a day and a night, and again its division is this: there the northward course of the sun is the day, and the southward course is the night.

12.224.17 Of that day and night of the gods' world which were first recounted, reckoning their sum of years I shall now declare the day and the night of Brahmā.

12.224.18 I shall declare in due order the sums of their years in the Kṛta age, the Tretā age, the Dvāpara, and likewise the Kali.

12.224.19 They say the Kṛta age numbers four thousand years; its twilight is a hundred years, and its twilight-portion is of like measure.

12.224.20 In the other three ages, together with their twilights and twilight-portions, the thousands and the hundreds diminish, each by one unit.

12.224.21 These sustain the everlasting, eternal worlds; this, my son, is the eternal Brahman known to the knowers of Brahman.

12.224.22 In the Kṛta age dharma stands whole on all four feet, and so does truth; no acquisition through unrighteousness ever arises to set against it.

12.224.23 In the other ages, through what is acquired, dharma is lowered foot by foot, and unrighteousness swells through theft, falsehood, and deceit.

12.224.24 In the Kṛta age men are free of disease, accomplished in all their aims, and live four hundred years; in the Tretā and the rest their span shortens foot by foot.

12.224.25 And the teachings of the Veda diminish age by age—so we have heard—and so too do the life-spans, the benedictions, and the very fruit of the Veda.

12.224.26 The duties of the Kṛta age are one thing, those of the Tretā and the Dvāpara another, and those of the Kali age yet another—as though done according to one's capacity.

12.224.27 In the Kṛta age austerity is supreme, in the Tretā knowledge is highest; in the Dvāpara they declare sacrifice foremost, and in the Kali age, giving alone.

12.224.28 The wise know this cycle named the Yuga to span twelve thousand years; a thousand such cycles completed is called one Day of Brahmā.

12.224.29 The Night of Brahmā is of equal length; at its beginning the Lord, at the dissolution, enters into the inner Self, and having slept, awakens at its end.

12.224.30 Those who know the Day of Brahmā to extend through a thousand Yugas, and the Night to end with a thousand Yugas—those people know day and night truly.

12.224.31 Awakened at the passing of the night, Brahman transforms the imperishable and creates the Great Being, and from that the manifest-natured mind.

12.224.32 Brahman is luminous and radiant, of whom this whole world is born; from that single Being arose the twofold being, the moving and the unmoving.

12.224.33 Awakened at the dawn of the Day, it creates the world by its knowledge, and foremost of all the Great Being, swiftly, the manifest-natured mind.

12.224.34 Surpassing all and radiant, it emitted the seven mind-born ones—mind that ranges far, moves in many directions, and is the seat of desire and doubt.

12.224.35 Mind, urged on by the will to create, brings forth creation; from it is born space, whose quality is held to be sound.

12.224.36 From space as it transforms is born the wind, pure and mighty, the bearer of every scent, whose quality is held to be touch.

12.224.37 From the wind, too, as it transforms, is born the element of fire, dispeller of darkness and shining bright; its quality is said to be form.

12.224.38 From fire too, as it transforms, arise the waters, whose essence is taste; from the waters comes earth, whose quality is scent—this is called the prior creation.

12.224.39 The qualities of each preceding element pass on into each succeeding one; whatever the position each holds, that many qualities it is held to possess.

12.224.40 Should some, through want of discernment, claim to perceive scent in the waters, one should know that scent belongs to earth alone, residing also in water and in wind.

12.224.41 But these seven Puruṣas, of diverse powers, each apart, were unable to create the creatures so long as they had not joined together on every side.

12.224.42 Coming together and resorting to one another, those great ones attained their lodging in a body; thence is the term Puruṣa, the embodied one, derived.

12.224.43 From their resorting together arises the body, embodied and made of sixteen constituents; the great elements enter into it together with action.

12.224.44 Taking up all beings, for the practice of austerity, the primal Maker, the Great Being—him they call Prajāpati, the Lord of creatures.

12.224.45 It is he who creates the beings; he alone is the supreme Puruṣa; unborn, as Brahmā he begets gods, sages, fathers, and men.

12.224.46 He creates the worlds, the rivers and the oceans, the quarters, the mountains and the trees, men, kiṃnaras, and rākṣasas, birds, cattle, wild beasts, and serpents—both the imperishable and the perishable, the twofold realm of the unmoving and the moving.

12.224.47 Whatever deeds these beings took up in the prior creation, those very deeds they take up again as they are created over and over.

12.224.48 Whether harmful or harmless, gentle or cruel, righteous or unrighteous, truthful or false—from this it follows that what the Ordainer assigns to each, that is what pleases him.

12.224.49 The diversity among the great elements, in the objects of the senses and in embodied forms, and the appointment of beings to their tasks—it is the Ordainer alone who arranges all this.

12.224.50 Some, the men versed in action, declare human effort to be the cause; others, the brahmins, say it is destiny; and those who ponder the elements say it is inherent nature.

12.224.51 Human exertion, action, and destiny—by the nature of how their fruits unfold, these three are not in truth distinct; yet some make no discernment of them at all.

12.224.52 "It is thus, and yet it is not thus"—so men speak of the Being that creates the world; those wedded to action speak of inequality, while those grounded in goodness see with an equal eye.

12.224.53 Austerity is the highest good of a creature; its root is self-restraint and tranquillity; by it one attains all the desires the mind may wish.

12.224.54 By austerity one attains that Being which creates the world, and becoming one with that Being, he becomes the lord of all beings.

12.224.55 By austerity the seers studied the Vedas day and night; speech, without beginning or end and eternal, was sent forth by the Self-existent.

12.224.56 The names of the seers, and the creations set forth in the Vedas—to those born at the ends of the nights he assigns those very same names and forms.

12.224.57 The distinctions of name, the designations of austerity, action, and sacrifice, are accomplishments of the world; but the realization of the Self is proclaimed in the Vedas through ten successive stages.

12.224.58 What is set forth in the Vedic teachings, profound to those who see by the Vedas, is discerned, as is fitting, in the Vedānta through the practice of successive stages.

12.224.59 This separateness born of action, bound to the pairs of opposites, belongs to one not yet released; but the realization of the Self, once understood, for the most part casts off its hold.

12.224.60 Two Brahmans are to be known: the Brahman that is sound, and that which is supreme; one well-versed in the Brahman that is sound attains the supreme Brahman.

12.224.61 The sacrifice of undertakings belongs to the kṣatriya, the sacrifice of oblations to the vaiśya; service is the sacrifice of the śūdras, and austerity the sacrifice of the twice-born.

12.224.62 The ordinance of these sacrifices belongs to the Tretā age, not to the Kṛta; in the Dvāpara the sacrifices fall into disorder, and so too in the Kali age.

12.224.63 In the Kṛta age mortals were undivided in their duty; only on seeing the desired prosperity of the Ṛk, Sāma, and Yajus verses set apart did they practice austerity upon austerity.

12.224.64 But in the Tretā age all these appeared together, men of great might, restrainers of the unmoving and the moving on every side.

12.224.65 In the Tretā these sacrifices and the social orders alike held together; but through the shortening of the life-span they are dispersed in the Dvāpara age.

12.224.66 In the Kali age the Vedas are seen and yet not wholly seen; together with the sacrifices, the sole dikes of dharma fall away.

12.224.67 The dharma that is seen among the brahmins in the Kṛta age stands firmly established in those who are self-possessed, austere, and learned in sacred lore.

12.224.68 Age by age, in keeping with the prevailing dharma, the teachings of the Veda, though grounded in their own law, are altered according to the age, taking on a contact with unrighteous observance.

12.224.69 Just as all moving beings are brought forth in greater abundance by rain in the season of the rains, so too are the dharmas in each successive age.

12.224.70 As the marks of the seasons, in their many forms, are seen again and again, ever the same in their turning, so too are they seen in the Days and Nights of Brahmā.

12.224.71 The diversity of time, without beginning or end, is ordained; that which was proclaimed to you before brings forth the creatures and devours them again.

12.224.72 Restraint, the curber, sets in place the station for the arising of beings; and abundantly the things bound to the pairs of opposites move on by their own inherent nature.

12.224.73 Creation, time, action, the Vedas, the doer, the deed to be done, action and its fruit—all this, my son, has been told to you, all that you have inquired of me.

12.224.74 Now I shall speak of the withdrawal, when the Day is gone and the Night begins, how the Lord draws this universe into the most subtle inner Self.

12.224.75 Then seven suns in the sky, flaming-crested, burn with their rays; and this whole world, filled with their flames, blazes forth ablaze.

12.225.1 Vyāsa said: Whatever beings there are upon the earth, moving and fixed, those first dissolve away and pass into the state of earth.

12.225.2 Then, when all has dissolved away, the unmoving and the moving alike, the earth, bare of wood and bare of grass, appears like the back of a tortoise.

12.225.3 When the waters take up scent, the very quality of earth, then the earth, its scent taken from it, is made ready for dissolution.

12.225.4 Then the waters stand established, billowing in waves and loud-roaring; filling all this, they stand and they flow.

12.225.5 When fire takes up the qualities of the waters too, my son, then the waters, their qualities taken away, come to rest within fire.

12.225.6 When the flaming rays conceal the sun set in the midst of heaven, then this whole sky, filled with flames, blazes forth ablaze.

12.225.7 When the wind takes up form, the quality of fire too, then the fire is quenched, and the mighty wind blows tossing on every side.

12.225.8 Then, reaching the root, the source of its own being, the wind shakes violently below and above and sideways, through the ten directions.

12.225.9 When space swallows touch, the quality of wind too, then the wind is stilled, and space alone remains, resounding.

12.225.10 The manifest-natured mind takes up sound, the quality of space; from mind the manifest passes into the unmanifest—this is the reabsorption into Brahman.

12.225.11 Entering that quality of the Self, the moon swallows the mind; and when the mind is stilled, the inner Self comes to rest within the moon.

12.225.12 After a great span of time, resolve brings that under its sway; resolve swallows the thinking faculty, and that supreme knowledge as well.

12.225.13 Time devours discernment—"Time is power," so runs the sacred teaching; Time swallows power, but the wise man brings even Time under his sway.

12.225.14 Then the wise man takes the sound of space into his own Self; that unmanifest is the supreme Brahman, eternal and unsurpassed—thus all beings are but Brahman, the reabsorption.

12.225.15 All this has been duly and rightly proclaimed, beyond doubt; it is to be understood, made of knowledge, beheld by yogins whose souls are set upon the supreme Self.

12.225.16 Thus does the unmanifest Brahman expand and contract again and again, at the onset of the thousand Yugas of the Day and likewise of the Night.

12.226.1 Vyāsa said: That which is appointed for the multitude of beings I have now proclaimed; but the duty proper to a brahmin I shall declare to you, since you ask.

12.226.2 Beginning with the birth-rite, the performance of his sacraments, attended by their fees, should continue until his graduation, under a teacher who has mastered the Veda.

12.226.3 Having studied all the Vedas, devoted to the service of his teacher, and become free of debt to his teachers, the knower of sacrifice should return home as a graduate.

12.226.4 With his teacher's leave, he should observe, according to rule, one of the four stations of life, until the release of the body.

12.226.5 Whether by begetting offspring and taking a wife, or again by chastity, or in the forest in his teacher's presence, or again by the discipline of the ascetic.

12.226.6 Yet the householder is called the root of all the four; for there the self-controlled man, whose impurities are ripened away, succeeds in every station.

12.226.7 Blessed with offspring, learned in scripture, a performer of sacrifice, freed of the three divine debts—he then, purified by his deeds, may afterward pass on to the other stations of life.

12.226.8 Let him dwell in whatever seat of learning is most holy upon the earth, and there strive to attain authority and the highest renown.

12.226.9 By mighty austerity, by mastering the whole range of the sciences, by sacrifice, or by gifts, the renown of the learned brāhmaṇa grows.

12.226.10 For as long as his glory-bringing fame endures in this world, so long does a man enjoy the endless realms won by the doers of holy deeds.

12.226.11 Let him teach and let him study, let him officiate at sacrifices and offer his own; but let him never accept a gift without cause, nor ever give one so.

12.226.12 If great wealth should come to him from one for whom he sacrifices, or from a pupil, or by a bride's dowry, let him sacrifice and give it away; let him never enjoy it alone.

12.226.13 For the householder there is no fit occasion for accepting gifts save this: for the sake of the gods, the seers, the ancestors, and the teacher, and for the aged, the sick, and the hungry.

12.226.14 To those who are ruined and stricken yet wish, as best they can, to lift themselves up, one should give of one's goods even beyond one's power, even past what duty requires.

12.226.15 To the worthy and the fitting there is nothing that may not be given; the good hold that even a steed like Uccaiḥśravas should be bestowed upon them.

12.226.16 So it was that Kāvya, true to his word and bound by mighty vows, won over and saved the lives of brāhmaṇas with his own life, and went to heaven.

12.226.17 And Rantideva, son of Saṃkṛti, having given cool and warm waters to the great-souled Vasiṣṭha, is honored upon the vault of heaven.

12.226.18 The wise king of Atri's line, having given manifold wealth to the worthy Candra and Dama, departed to the endless worlds.

12.226.19 Śibi, son of Uśīnara, having offered up his own limbs and his dear-born son for a brāhmaṇa's sake, passed from here to the vault of heaven.

12.226.20 Pratardana, lord of Kāśi, having given his own eyes to a brāhmaṇa, enjoys matchless fame both in this world and in the next.

12.226.21 Devāvṛdha, having given a divine parasol of gold with polished ribs and of supreme splendor, ascended to heaven together with his realm.

12.226.22 And Sāṃkṛti of Atri's line, mighty in splendor, having taught his pupils the brahman that is beyond all qualities, went to the unsurpassed worlds.

12.226.23 The mighty Ambarīṣa, having given eleven hundred million cows to brāhmaṇas, ascended to heaven together with his realm.

12.226.24 Sāvitrī, giving up her two divine earrings, and Janamejaya, giving up his body, both for a brāhmaṇa's sake, went to the highest world.

12.226.25 Vṛṣādarbha and Yuvanāśva, having given away all their jewels, their beloved women, and their delightful dwelling, attained that other world.

12.226.26 Nimi of Videha gave his kingdom, the son of Jamadagni gave the whole earth, and Gaya too gave the broad earth with its cities, all to brāhmaṇas.

12.226.27 And when the rain-cloud withheld its rain, again and again Vasiṣṭha kept all creatures alive, as Prajāpati keeps his offspring.

12.226.28 And King Marutta, son of Karaṃdhama, having given his daughter to Aṅgiras, swiftly went to heaven.

12.226.29 And Brahmadatta of Pāñcāla, that king foremost among the wise, having given the treasure-conch to the chief of the twice-born, won the higher worlds.

12.226.30 And King Mitrasaha too, having given his beloved Madayantī to the great-souled Vasiṣṭha, went to heaven together with her.

12.226.31 And the royal seer Sahasrajit of great fame, having given up his cherished life for a brāhmaṇa's sake, went to the unsurpassed worlds.

12.226.32 And King Śatadyumna, having given to Mudgala a golden mansion filled with all that heart could wish, went to heaven.

12.226.33 And the mighty king of the Śālvas, Dyutimān by name, having given his kingdom to Ṛcīka, went to the unsurpassed worlds.

12.226.34 And the royal seer Madirāśva, having given his fair-waisted daughter to Hiraṇyahasta, went to the worlds extolled by the gods.

12.226.35 And the royal seer Lomapāda, the lord, having given his daughter Śāntā to Ṛśyaśṛṅga, was joined with all his abundant desires fulfilled.

12.226.36 And King Prasenajit of great splendor, having given a hundred thousand cows together with their calves, went to the unsurpassed worlds.

12.226.37 These and many others, great-souled, refined of spirit and masters of their senses, went to heaven by giving and by austerity.

12.226.38 Their fame stands firm for as long as the earth shall endure; by gifts, by sacrifices, and by the begetting of offspring, these men attained heaven.

12.227.1 Vyāsa said: Let him study the threefold knowledge as set forth in the Vedas, and then through its ancillary sciences — through the words and syllables of the Ṛk and the Sāman, and likewise of the Yajus and the Atharvan.

12.227.2 For those who are skilled in the doctrines of the Veda and skilled in the knowledge of the self, men of purity and great fortune, behold the arising and the passing away of things.

12.227.3 Thus let him conduct himself by dharma and perform his rites as the cultured do; without injury to living beings let the twice-born seek his livelihood.

12.227.4 Having received understanding from the good, cultured and learned in the scriptures, performing his rites in the world by his own dharma, true to his pledged word —

12.227.5 Such a twice-born householder abides in these six observances; and full of faith let him ever worship with the five sacrifices.

12.227.6 Steadfast and vigilant, self-restrained, knowing dharma, master of himself, free of elation, fear, and wrath — such a brāhmaṇa does not sink.

12.227.7 Giving, study, sacrifice, austerity, modesty, uprightness, and self-control — by these he increases his spiritual fire and casts off all evil.

12.227.8 Then, his sins shaken off, wise, of light diet, his senses conquered, having brought desire and wrath under his sway, let him strive toward the abode of brahman.

12.227.9 Let him honor the sacred fires and the brāhmaṇas and bow before the gods; let him shun harsh speech and all violence bound up with unrighteousness.

12.227.10 This is ordained as the more ancient way of life for the brāhmaṇa; performing his works with the acquisition of knowledge, he attains perfection in his works.

12.227.11 The wise man crosses that dreadful river, hard to ford and unassailable, whose waters are the five senses, whose banks are greed, and whose mire is wrath.

12.227.12 This world, ever risen up by desire and wrath, ever utterly deluded, is borne along without ceasing upon the current of its own nature, by a mighty force seen in the ordinance of things, a force that none can resist.

12.227.13 With the great waters that are time, in the unbroken whirl of the year's rains, with the months for waves and the seasons for current, with the fortnights for the grass that floats upon it —

12.227.14 with the closing and opening of an eye for its foam, with the rush of day and night for its swiftness, with the dread crocodile that is desire, and with the raft that is the Veda and sacrifice —

12.227.15 with dharma for the island of living beings, with the roar of wealth and desire, with the shore whose stairway is righteousness, bearing along the trees that are acts of violence —

12.227.16 and through whose midst flows the flood of the ages' deep pools, with brahman for its origin and its end — into this river the Ordainer has cast all creatures, and they are dragged down to the dwelling of Yama.

12.227.17 This the steadfast and the wise cross over by rafts fashioned of insight; but the unthinking, who have no raft, what shall they do?

12.227.18 For it is fitting that the wise man should cross over, and not the common run of folk; for the wise man, in all things, sees merit and fault from afar.

12.227.19 The man whose soul is full of doubt and desire, of wavering mind and feeble understanding, the unwise — he cannot cross over at all; for he who sits idle does not move forward.

12.227.20 For the man without a raft, swept along, meets with great disaster; and for one seized by the crocodile of desire, even his knowledge is no raft.

12.227.21 Therefore let the discerning man strive for the sake of rising up out of the flood; and this is his rising up — that he becomes a true brāhmaṇa.

12.227.22 Born in a family pure through three generations, of threefold lineage, doer of the three rites — let him therefore stand ready to rise up, that he may cross over by his insight.

12.227.23 For the man who is refined, self-restrained, disciplined, perfected in soul, and wise, perfection comes without delay, both in this world and the next.

12.227.24 The householder abides in these observances, free of anger and free of envy; let him ever worship with the five sacrifices and eat what remains after the offering.

12.227.25 Let him conduct himself by the practice of the good and perform his rites as the cultured do; without violating dharma, let him seek a blameless livelihood.

12.227.26 Knowing the truth through scripture and discernment, of cultured conduct, discerning, active in his own dharma — by his works he too remains undefiled.

12.227.27 Active in rites, full of faith, generous, wise, free of envy, knowing well the difference between right and wrong — he crosses over all that is hard to cross.

12.227.28 Steadfast and vigilant, self-restrained, knowing dharma, master of himself, free of elation, fear, and wrath — such a brāhmaṇa does not sink.

12.227.29 This is ordained as the more ancient way of life for the brāhmaṇa; performing his works through the possession of knowledge, he attains perfection everywhere.

12.227.30 For here the undiscerning man, though he desires dharma, does unrighteousness; and dharma that looks like unrighteousness he performs as if in sorrow.

12.227.31 Thinking 'I do dharma,' he does unrighteousness; and desiring unrighteousness, he sometimes does dharma. The fool, not understanding either of these two deeds — that embodied one is born and dies again and again.

12.228.1 Vyāsa said: But if a man should set his heart upon this, and bend his mind toward it with resolve, then, now rising and now sinking, the man of knowledge becomes one possessed of a raft.

12.228.2 By rafts fashioned of insight the steadfast carry the ignorant across; but the ignorant can in no way carry others across, nor even themselves.

12.228.3 With his faults cut away, the sage, intent and disciplined, should practice the twelvefold yoga, free of fear in approaching or withdrawing, his ends the joys that flow from the ten observances.

12.228.4 He who would attain the highest knowledge, wise and skilled in conduct, should restrain his sight by the mind and by insight, and restrain speech and mind by the intellect; and he who would attain the soul's peace should restrain the self by knowledge.

12.228.5 If a man becomes a constant beholder of these, though he be most fierce of nature, or though he know all the Vedas, or though he know neither hymn nor muttered prayer —

12.228.6 whether he be righteous and a sacrificer, or the greatest of evildoers, whether he be a tiger among men, or one beset by weakness —

12.228.7 he crosses indeed that great stronghold, the ocean of old age and death; for one who is yoked by this discipline, even practicing but one of these in the end, even merely seeking to know, passes beyond the brahman that is sound.

12.228.8 Its seat is dharma, its guard-rail modesty, its pole the approaching and the withdrawing; the down-breath is its axle, the breaths its yoke, insight its span of life, and the living being its tether —

12.228.9 made fair by consciousness and lovely, its felly the holding fast to right conduct, drawn forward by sight and touch, borne along by smell and hearing —

12.228.10 its nave wisdom, its goad the mastery of all the doctrines, knowledge its charioteer, ridden over by the Knower of the Field, steadfast, with faith and self-restraint going on before it —

12.228.11 following the road of renunciation, bringing security, moving in purity, ranging in the field of meditation: this divine chariot, yoked with the living self, shines forth in the world of brahman.

12.228.12 Now to one who, hastening, would yoke this chariot, whose mind is set on reaching the Imperishable, I shall declare the swift-bearing rule.

12.228.13 He who, restrained in speech, masters in full the seven fixations of the mind, and likewise the others, behind and to the side, however many those further holdings are —

12.228.14 in due order the lordship over earth, over the windy element, over space and over water, and that which belongs to light, the lordship over the I-principle that springs from the intellect —

12.228.15 and so too the lordship over the Unmanifest he attains in due order; and he in whom these powers are present yokes himself thus by yoga.

12.228.16 Then, when he is yoked in yoga and beholds the perfection within himself, the self, being churned forth, by reason of its subtlety reveals these forms.

12.228.17 As the fine smoke of winter clings to the sky, so does the first appearance arise for one who is freed from the body.

12.228.18 Then, when the smoke has ceased, comes the second vision of form: he beholds, there in his very self, something like the form of water in the sky.

12.228.19 And when the waters are overpassed, the form of fire shines forth; and when that too has subsided, its form is said to be like a yellow garment, and a hue resembling the color of wool shines forth.

12.228.20 Then, having attained the white course, the unborn one becomes airy and subtle—not even white—the subtlety of consciousness, the unmanifest of this Brahman.

12.228.21 And when these too are born, hear from me the fruits that arise: for one born into earthly lordship, creation is ordained as his portion.

12.228.22 Unshakable like Prajāpati, he sends forth creatures from his body—by the measure of a finger or thumb, or likewise by hand or foot.

12.228.23 One quality, that of wind, is remembered as making the earth tremble; and having become ether, it vanishes in the ether through sameness of nature.

12.228.24 It is grasped by its color, and at will it drinks up the receptacles; yet its form is not seen by its own radiance, and likewise it grows still.

12.228.25 By the conquest of the I-maker, these five become obedient to one's will; and when the sixth—the intellect within the self—is conquered, one prevails.

12.228.26 A flawless and complete illumination then attends upon him; and even so the manifest self attains to the unmanifest.

12.228.27 That from which the world issues forth is called the manifest; there hear from me at length the exposition concerning the unmanifest, and first learn from me the reckoning of the manifest as well.

12.228.28 The twenty-five principles are alike and equal on both sides, in Yoga and likewise in Sāṃkhya; hear from me now the distinctions therein.

12.228.29 That is declared to be the manifest which is born, grows, decays, and dies—endowed with these four marks.

12.228.30 But that which is the contrary of this is declared to be the unmanifest; and two selves are spoken of in the Vedas and likewise in the established doctrines.

12.228.31 They declare another fourfold group born of the four marks: the manifest, and that born of the unmanifest, and likewise the intelligent and the other—called sattva and the knower of the field; this pair too has been shown.

12.228.32 There are two selves in the Vedas, and both delight in the sense-objects; withdrawal from the object is the mark of perfection for the followers of Sāṃkhya.

12.228.33 Free of 'mine,' free of the I-maker, beyond the pairs of opposites, his doubts cut away, he neither grows angry nor hates, nor does he utter false words.

12.228.34 Reviled and even struck, he meditates in friendship and harbors no ill thought; he is one who turns away from all three—word, the rod, and the deeds of the mind.

12.228.35 Equal toward all beings, he draws near to Brahman; he neither desires nor is without desire, established in no more than the sustenance of life's journey.

12.228.36 Free of greed, untroubled, self-controlled, neither a doer nor undone, his senses not scattered, his desires not flung far, harming none among all beings—such a follower of Sāṃkhya is liberated.

12.228.37 Now learn from me by what causes men are liberated through Yoga: he who has transcended the lordly powers of Yoga, and goes beyond them, is set free.

12.228.38 Thus has the wisdom born of true being been told to you, beyond all doubt; in this way one becomes free of the pairs of opposites and attains to Brahman.

12.229.1 Vyāsa said: Then the steadfast one, taking hold of the boat of knowledge and abiding in peace, whether rising up or sinking down, should take refuge in knowledge alone.

12.229.2 Śuka said: What is that knowledge, or that wisdom, by which one crosses beyond the pair—the dharma marked by engagement and the dharma marked by withdrawal?

12.229.3 Vyāsa said: But he who, insentient, would see existence apart from inherent nature, and again nourishes all things—he, freed of causes through wisdom, thrives.

12.229.4 And those who hold, with single-minded conviction, that inherent nature alone is the cause—having winnowed grass and chaff, they gain nothing at all.

12.229.5 And those small-minded men who, taking shelter in this view, conduct themselves having deemed inherent nature the cause—they do not attain the highest good.

12.229.6 For inherent nature leads to destruction, arising from delusion, action, and mind; this is the explanation of these two—inherent nature and the supreme being.

12.229.7 For works such as plowing and the gathering of crops, and vehicles and seats and houses, have all been devised by men of wisdom.

12.229.8 Of pleasure-gardens and houses, of diseases and of their cure, the wise are the expounders, and these things are carried out by those who possess knowledge.

12.229.9 Wisdom joins one to worthy ends; wisdom attains the highest good; kings enjoy their kingdoms, alike in the marks that wisdom confers.

12.229.10 But the nearer and farther shore of beings is grasped by knowledge alone; for those brought into being, my son, wisdom is the supreme goal.

12.229.11 The birth of all the manifold beings is of four kinds; one should mark it as womb-born, egg-born, then sprouting, and also sweat-born.

12.229.12 One should mark the moving creatures as superior to the stationary; for of two things to be distinguished, that which is endowed with motion is the more distinguished.

12.229.13 They say the moving creatures are of two kinds, the two-footed and the many-footed; and though many, the two-footed are superior to the many-footed.

12.229.14 They say the two-footed are of two kinds, the earthly and the others; the earthly are superior, for they consume food.

12.229.15 They say the earthly are of two kinds, the middling and the highest; the middling are superior, by the holding fast of the duties of their kind.

12.229.16 They say the middling are of two kinds, the knowers of dharma and the others; the knowers of dharma are superior, by the holding fast of what is to be done and not done.

12.229.17 They say the knowers of dharma are of two kinds, the knowers of the Veda and the others; the knowers of the Veda are superior, for in them the Veda is established.

12.229.18 They say the knowers of the Veda are of two kinds, the expounders and the others; the expounders are superior, by the holding fast of all the dharmas.

12.229.19 For by them the Vedas are understood, with all the fruits of the rites of dharma; the Vedas, with their sacrifices and their supplements, have issued forth from the expounders.

12.229.20 They say the expounders are of two kinds, the knowers of the self and the others; the knowers of the self are superior, by the holding fast of birth and the cessation of birth.

12.229.21 For he who knows the twofold dharma is wholly a knower of all dharma; he is the renouncer, true of resolve; he is the patient one, he is the lord.

12.229.22 For the gods know him to be the brāhmaṇa established in the knowledge of dharma, accomplished in the Brahman-of-the-word and resolved upon the Supreme.

12.229.23 Those who know the Supreme, within and without, as the principle over sacrifice and over the gods—to them we bow; they, my son, are the gods, they are the twice-born.

12.229.24 In them this whole world of beings, and the universe with all that is foremost in it, is set down; nothing is equal to the greatness of their being.

12.229.25 Having wholly transcended beginning and end and action, they are lords of all the fourfold creation of beings—self-existent.

12.230.1 Vyāsa said: This earlier mode of life is ordained for the brāhmaṇa; the man of knowledge alone, while performing works, attains perfection in all things.

12.230.2 And if here it should not be so, a doubt arises in the determination of action: Is this action inherent nature, or is knowledge itself action?

12.230.3 And if here there should be a wish to know whether knowledge pertains to the spirit, I shall expound it by reasoning and by perception; hear that.

12.230.4 Some men declare human effort to be the cause in works; some praise fate, and yet other people, inherent nature.

12.230.5 Human effort, action, and fate, by the inherent nature of how fruits operate—this triad some hold to be separate, but some, undiscriminating, hold otherwise.

12.230.6 'It is thus,' 'it is not thus,' 'it is both,' and 'it is not both'—those caught in action speak unevenly, while those grounded in goodness see with an equal eye.

12.230.7 In the Tretā and the Dvāpara, and those born in the Kali age, are beset with doubt; but ascetics, tranquil and grounded in goodness, belong to the Kṛta age.

12.230.8 In the Ṛc, the Sāman, and the Yajus hymns, all are seers of no division; having seen desire and hatred as distinct, they perform austerity and serve.

12.230.9 Joined to the dharma of austerity, ever devoted to austerity, well disciplined, by it he attains all the desires that he wishes in his mind.

12.230.10 By austerity he attains that, having become which one sends forth the world; and having become that, he then becomes the lord of all beings.

12.230.11 That has been declared, deep and hidden, in the discourses of the Veda by the seers of the Veda; and again in the Vedānta it is made manifest, discerned by the method of gradual progression.

12.230.12 The sacrifices of the kṣatriya are those of undertaking; the vaiśyas are remembered as those whose sacrifices are oblations; the śūdras have the sacrifice of service, and the twice-born the sacrifice of muttered prayer.

12.230.13 For having fully accomplished his task through self-study, one becomes a brāhmaṇa; whether he does other works or does not, the friendly one is called a brāhmaṇa.

12.230.14 At the beginning of the Tretā the Vedas were entire, and so the sacrifices and the orders of caste and stage of life; but through the shortening of lifespan, these are sundered in the Dvāpara age.

12.230.15 In the Dvāpara the Vedas fall into disorder, and so in the Kali age; they are seen and yet not seen, again and again, at the close of the Kali.

12.230.16 And one's own duties decline, oppressed there by unrighteousness, along with the saps of cattle and earth and waters and the healing herbs.

12.230.17 The Vedas, concealed by unrighteousness, and the Veda's dharmas and the orders of life—and creatures stationary and moving, established in their own dharma—undergo corruption.

12.230.18 As the rain rains down upon all earthly beings and sends forth limbs on every side, so do the Vedas, age after age.

12.230.19 The diversity of time spreads forth, and that which is without beginning or end has been proclaimed by me before—that whence beings come together and to which they go.

12.230.20 The Ordainer is this place of origin of beings, the restraint and the restrainer; created in pairs of opposites, beings come forth abundantly by inherent nature.

12.230.21 Creation, time, sustenance, the Vedas, the doer, the deed, the act, and the fruit—this, my son, has been told to you, that which you asked of me.

12.231.1 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, and praising this teaching of the supreme sage, joined to the meaning of the dharma of liberation, he set about to ask this.

12.231.2 Śuka said: How does one who has offspring, who is learned in the Veda, a sacrificer, aged, wise, and free of envy, attain that Brahman which has not yet come and is not a matter of tradition?

12.231.3 By austerity, by chastity, by total renunciation, by insight, by Sāṃkhya or by Yoga—being asked this, declare it to me.

12.231.4 And by what means single-pointedness of the mind and of the senses is attained by men—that too you ought to expound.

12.231.5 Vyāsa said: Not otherwise than by knowledge and austerity, not otherwise than by restraint of the senses, not otherwise than by total renunciation does anyone find perfection.

12.231.6 All the great elements are the earlier creation of the Self-existent; they are for the most part settled within embodied beings, in the multitude of the breathing creatures.

12.231.7 From earth comes the body, from water the essence; the two eyes are remembered as from light; wind is the support of the in-breath and out-breath, and ether dwells in the cavities of embodied beings.

12.231.8 In the stride is Viṣṇu, in strength Śakra; the fire in the belly seeks the food consumed; the intermediate quarters are in the ears for hearing, and on the tongue is the speech that is Sarasvatī.

12.231.9 The two ears, the skin, the two eyes, the tongue, and the nose as the fifth—these perceivings are declared the senses, the doorways for the attainment of sustenance.

12.231.10 Sound, touch, and likewise form, taste, and smell as the fifth—the senses, each apart, present these objects to the mind.

12.231.11 The mind yokes the senses as a driver yokes obedient horses; and the elemental self, dwelling in the heart, ever yokes the mind as well.

12.231.12 And likewise the mind is the lord of all these senses, in restraint and in release; and so is the elemental self the lord of the mind.

12.231.13 The senses and the objects of the senses, inherent nature, consciousness, mind, the in-breath and out-breath, and the living self—these are ever in the bodies of the embodied.

12.231.14 There is no abode for sattva; the word 'guṇa' is not consciousness; for sattva sends forth radiance, but never indeed the guṇas.

12.231.15 Thus, enwrapped within the body by the sixteen constituents as a seventeenth, the discerning brāhmaṇa, through the mind, beholds the Self within the self.

12.231.16 For this great Self is not to be seen by the eye, nor by all the senses together; only by a mind kindled bright does it shine forth.

12.231.17 That imperishable One, without sound, touch, or form, without taste or smell, bodiless and senseless, one should behold within one's own body.

12.231.18 He who perceives the Unmanifest abiding within manifest bodies, the Deathless seated amid mortals, becomes fit, after death, for union with Brahman.

12.231.19 In a brāhmaṇa endowed with learning and high birth, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog, and in a dog-eating outcaste alike, the wise look with an equal eye.

12.231.20 For in all beings, the moving and the unmoving, dwells that one great Self, by whom all this universe is pervaded.

12.231.21 When the embodied soul beholds the Self in all beings and all beings within the Self, then it attains to Brahman.

12.231.22 As far as one knows the Self within oneself, so far is the Self present in the Supreme Self; whoever knows this without ceasing becomes fit for immortality.

12.231.23 As for him who has become the Self of all beings and who seeks the welfare of all, even the gods grow bewildered upon his path, searching for the footprint of one who leaves no trace.

12.231.24 As the path of birds through the sky, or of a creature moving through the water, cannot be seen, even so is the course of one of lofty soul.

12.231.25 Time ripens all beings within itself by itself; but the One in whom Time itself is ripened—him no one here can know.

12.231.26 That is not above, not across, not below, not aside, not in the middle; no one anywhere can lay hold of it from any direction.

12.231.27 All these worlds abide within it; outside them there is nothing whatever. Though an arrow sped from the bowstring should fly a thousand leagues,

12.231.28 it could never reach the end of that Cause, even were it swift as thought. Finer than that subtle One there is nothing finer, nor anything grosser than it.

12.231.29 With hands and feet on every side, with eyes, heads, and faces on every side, with ears on every side, it stands in the world, enveloping all.

12.231.30 That very One is smaller than the small, greater than the great; abiding firm within all beings, it remains unseen.

12.231.31 The imperishable and the perishable—this is the twofold being of the Self: perishable in all creatures, but divine, deathless, and imperishable in its higher nature.

12.231.32 Having entered the city of nine gates, the Swan dwells there, self-controlled and master of itself—the Lord of every being, unmoving and moving alike.

12.231.33 Because it takes shelter in successive bodies—new ones subject to loss, decay, and change—those who see to the far shore speak of the unborn One's nature as that of the Swan.

12.231.34 That which is called the Swan, the Imperishable, the Immutable that stands fixed at the summit—the wise man who knows it, attaining that Imperishable, casts off both breath and birth.

12.232.1 Vyāsa said: To you who ask, O worthy son, I have here duly proclaimed, in its very truth, that which is bound up with the method of Sāṃkhya.

12.232.2 Now I shall expound to you the whole practice of Yoga—hear it. The complete oneness of intellect, mind, and the senses for one who meditates upon the Self—this, my son, is the unsurpassed knowledge.

12.232.3 This is to be understood by one who is tranquil, self-restrained, devoted to the inner Self, taking delight in the Self, awakened, and pure in his deeds.

12.232.4 Having wholly cut away the five faults of Yoga which the sages know—desire, anger, and greed, fear, and sleep as the fifth—

12.232.5 one conquers anger by calm and desire by renouncing intention; and by cultivating purity of being the steadfast man is able to root out sleep.

12.232.6 With firmness one should guard the loins and the belly; with the eye, the hands and feet; with the mind, the eye and the ears; and with right action, the mind and speech.

12.232.7 By vigilance one should cast off fear, and greed by attending upon the wise; thus, ever unwearied, one should conquer these faults of Yoga.

12.232.8 He should honor the sacred fires and the brāhmaṇas, and bow before the gods; he should shun angry speech bound up with harm and prompted by an ill mind.

12.232.9 Brahman is radiant, luminous seed, of which all this is the essence; from that one Being arose the twofold creation, the unmoving and the moving.

12.232.10 Meditation, study, charity, truth, modesty, uprightness, forbearance, purity, purity of diet, and the restraint of the senses—

12.232.11 by these one's inner radiance increases and one's evil is drawn away; all his aims are accomplished, and true discernment unfolds.

12.232.12 Even-minded toward all beings, faring on with whatever is gained or not gained, with his evil shaken off, radiant, of light diet, his senses mastered—having brought desire and anger under his sway, he should strive to attain the state of Brahman.

12.232.13 Having made the mind and the senses one-pointed, collected within himself, in the first watch of the night and in the last he should hold the mind steady by the self.

12.232.14 In a creature endowed with the five senses, through whichever single sense is left as an opening, his wisdom leaks away, as water from the foot of a waterskin.

12.232.15 The knower of Yoga should first draw in the mind, as a fisherman draws in the fish; then the ear, then the eye, the tongue, and the nose.

12.232.16 Then, having reined these in, the ascetic should fix them in the mind; and likewise, having banished all intentions, he should hold the mind steady in the Self.

12.232.17 Having gathered the five by knowledge, the ascetic should fix them in the mind; and when these, together with the mind as the sixth, come to rest within the Self and, abiding there, grow serene, then Brahman shines forth.

12.232.18 Like a smokeless flame burning bright, radiant as the sun, like lightning-fire in the sky, he beholds the Self by the self; and there, everywhere, by reason of its all-pervadingness, the All is seen.

12.232.19 Him the great-souled brāhmaṇas behold, those who are discerning, steadfast of resolve, of mighty wisdom, devoted to the welfare of all beings.

12.232.20 Thus passing the appointed time in observance, firm in his vows, seated alone in a solitary place, he may attain union with the Imperishable.

12.232.21 Bewilderment, giddiness, whirling; strange things in smell, hearing, and sight; marvels in taste and touch; sensations of cold and heat, and forms wrought of wind—

12.232.22 such visions and afflictions too may arise through the practice of Yoga; but the knower of truth, disregarding them, should turn them back by his own self.

12.232.23 Self-controlled, the sage should make his practice of Yoga familiar at the three times of day; and he should yoke himself upon a mountain peak, in a sacred shrine, or amid the tops of trees.

12.232.24 Having reined in the host of the senses, like a herdsman attentive to his vessels in the cow-pen, one-pointed he should meditate ever, and not let the mind grow restless from his Yoga.

12.232.25 By whatever means the restless mind can be reined in, by that the yoked one should pursue it, and not stray from it thereafter.

12.232.26 Empty mountain caves, the abodes of the gods, and deserted houses—these the one-pointed seeker should resort to for his dwelling.

12.232.27 He should not cling to another by speech, by deed, or even by thought; indifferent, of measured diet, he should be even-minded toward gain and loss.

12.232.28 Whether one praises him or one reviles him, he should be the same toward both, and should not dwell in thought upon the fair or the foul.

12.232.29 He should not exult in gains nor grieve in losses; even-minded toward all beings, he should share the nature of the wind.

12.232.30 Thus for the holy one, wholly devoted, seeing all things with an equal eye, ever yoked for six months, the Brahman-as-Word is transcended.

12.232.31 Beholding mankind tormented with pain, holding a clod, a stone, and gold as equal, devoted to this path, he should not turn back, nor be deluded.

12.232.32 Even those of the lower two classes, untilled by learning, or a woman longing for dharma—even these may by this path attain the supreme goal.

12.232.33 The unborn, ancient, ageless, everlasting One, which the unwavering man apprehends through the senses—smaller than the small, greater than the great—that the yoked man, possessed of the Self, beholds by the self.

12.232.34 This word of the great-souled mighty sage, duly spoken, having beheld and pondered it in the mind, one should go on to attain union with the Supreme—that goal of beings to which the wise repair.

12.233.1 Śuka said: As for this saying of the Veda—'Perform action' and 'Renounce it'—to what region do men go by knowledge, and to what do they go by action?

12.233.2 This I wish to hear; may you declare it to me, for these two stand opposed to each other, each contrary to the other.

12.233.3 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, the son of Parāśara replied to his son: 'I shall expound to you these two—the perishable and the imperishable—wrought of action and of knowledge.'

12.233.4 To what region men go by knowledge, and to what they go by action—hear with single-minded attention, my son, for this distinction is a deep and hidden thing.

12.233.5 'Dharma exists,' it is declared; and should one say in this same matter 'It exists not'—what I have to say here may seem to match that side as well.

12.233.6 There are these two paths, on which the Vedas are established: the dharma marked by engagement in action, and that well-praised dharma which lies in withdrawal from it.

12.233.7 By action the creature is bound, but by knowledge it is set free; therefore the ascetics who see to the far shore perform no action.

12.233.8 By action one is born again after death, an embodied being made of the sixteen parts; by knowledge one is born eternal, imperishable, of imperishable nature.

12.233.9 Yet some praise action—men of the meaner understanding; thereby they take delight in the webs of bodies and cleave to them.

12.233.10 But those who have attained the higher understanding, who see the subtlety of dharma, do not praise action—as one would not praise a well while drinking at a river.

12.233.11 From action one reaps fruit—pleasure and pain, birth and rebirth; but by knowledge one attains that whence, having gone, one grieves no more.

12.233.12 That, having reached which one dies not; having reached which one is not born; having reached which one decays not; having reached which one grows no more—

12.233.13 that supreme Brahman, unmanifest, ageless, abiding, unobstructed, effortless, deathless, and free from all separation;

12.233.14 where men are not afflicted by the pairs of opposites, nor by deed of the mind—even-minded toward all, friendly, devoted to the welfare of all beings.

12.233.15 One Person, my son, is made of knowledge, and another of action; know it like the moon on the new-moon day, abiding in a single subtle digit.

12.233.16 This was declared by the seer, and it is inferred at large by beholding the newborn moon, a curved thread in the sky.

12.233.17 Composed of the eleven modifications, built up by the gathering of digits—know that one to be embodied, my son, made of the qualities born of action.

12.233.18 The divine One that dwells therein, like a drop of water upon a lotus leaf—know that to be the Knower of the Field, eternal, its nature won through renunciation.

12.233.19 Darkness, passion, and purity—know these to be the qualities of the living soul; know the living soul to be a quality of the Self, and the Self a quality of the Supreme Self.

12.233.20 They call the living soul, endowed with consciousness, a quality; it stirs and sets all things in motion. Beyond it the knowers of the Field declare that One who set the seven worlds in motion.

12.234.1 Śuka said: The creation that proceeds from the perishable, the senses together with the qualities, and the auspicious meditation of the Self that serves the unfolding of intellect and lordly power—

12.234.2 yet further, here in this world, the right conduct grounded in livelihood, by which the good go forward—that too I wish to have described.

12.234.3 In the Veda the word is spoken, 'Perform action' and 'Renounce it'; how am I to understand this? That too you ought to expound.

12.234.4 Knowing the truth of the world's affairs, made pure by my teacher's instruction, having fixed my resolve, my self detached, I shall lay down this self untroubled.

12.234.5 Vyāsa said: This mode of life which was ordained of old by Brahman himself was practiced by the good men of former times, the supreme seers.

12.234.6 By the discipline of chastity the supreme seers conquer the worlds; therefore seek the good for your own self within the heart, in the self by the mind.

12.234.7 In the forest, living on roots and fruits, mortifying himself with austerity most vast, ranging among holy sanctuaries and doing no harm to any living being—

12.234.8 When the smoke has cleared and the pestle is laid to rest, dwelling in the hermitage of the forest-recluse, going forth to beg at the appointed hour—such a man grows fit for union with Brahman.

12.234.9 Free of praise, free of obeisance, having cast off the good and the ill alike, let him wander alone in the wilderness, sustained by whatever may come.

12.234.10 Śuka said: When this pronouncement of the Veda stands at odds with the speech of the world, and authority and non-authority are thus in conflict, where then is the standing of scripture?

12.234.11 This I wish to hear; let the venerable one expound it to me: how does this proceed without contradicting the path of works?

12.234.12 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, the son of Gandhavatī answered his son, the sage honoring the question of that boy of measureless splendor.

12.234.13 The householder, the student, the forest-recluse, and the mendicant—all of them, if they do as is enjoined, reach the supreme goal.

12.234.14 He who alone observes these stages of life one by one, each according to its rule, joined neither to desire nor to hatred, is exalted in the world beyond.

12.234.15 For this is a four-runged ladder, set firm upon Brahman; resting upon this ladder, a man is exalted in the world of Brahman.

12.234.16 A quarter of his life let the student dwell, free of envy and skilled in dharma and its purpose, with his teacher or with his teacher's son.

12.234.17 He who would prosper must study, going beyond mere duty for his teacher's sake; let him be deft and never given to reproach, and attend his teacher when summoned.

12.234.18 In the teacher's house let him be the last to lie down and the first to rise; and whatever ought to be done by a pupil, or again by a servant—

12.234.19 all of that, regarding it as simply his to do, let him perform, and then stand ready at his teacher's side—a willing servant, doing all things, skilled in every task.

12.234.20 Pure, capable, endowed with virtue, let him speak straight as an arrow yet unhurried; with his senses mastered and his mind composed, let him look upon his teacher with steady gaze.

12.234.21 While the teacher has not eaten, let him not eat; while the teacher has not drunk, let him not drink; while the teacher stands, let him not sit; while the teacher is awake, let him not sleep.

12.234.22 With both hands upturned let him gently touch his teacher's feet—the right foot with the right hand, the left foot pressing with the left.

12.234.23 Having saluted the teacher, let him say, "Teach, O venerable one"; "This I shall do, O venerable one"; and "This, too, has been done by me."

12.234.24 Thus seeking leave for everything and laying his earnings before the teacher, let him act; and having acted, let him report all of it to the teacher again.

12.234.25 Whatever scents or savors the student forgoes, these he may enjoy once he has returned from his studies—such is the settled rule in matters of dharma.

12.234.26 Whatever restraints have been laid down at length for the student, let him take them all upon himself, and let him not stray from his teacher.

12.234.27 Thus offering his teacher devotion to the best of his power, the pupil should so conduct himself by his works in stage after stage of life.

12.234.28 When through study of the Veda, his vows, and his fasting the first quarter of life has passed, let him give the teacher his fee and return home as the rule prescribes.

12.234.29 United with a wife won by righteous means and kindling the sacred fires according to dharma, let him for the second quarter of life take up the vow of the householder.

12.235.1 Vyāsa said: For the second quarter of life let the householder dwell at home, united with a wife won by righteous means and, true to his vows, having kindled the sacred fires.

12.235.2 Four modes of livelihood for the householder are recorded by the wise: the first is he who stores grain in a granary, then he who stores it in a jar,

12.235.3 then he who keeps no store for the morrow, and then he who gathers his living dove-like, grain by fallen grain; of these, each later one is the higher, and by dharma the best winner of worlds.

12.235.4 One lives by the six occupations, another conducts himself by three, one by two, while the fourth is established in the sacrificial session of Brahman; mighty, they declare, are the householder's vows herein.

12.235.5 He should not cook food for himself alone, nor needlessly slay beasts; whatever, living or lifeless, is fit to be consecrated with the sacrificial formula—that he should so hallow.

12.235.6 Let him never sleep by day, nor in the first or last watches of the night; let him not eat between the proper times, nor approach his wife out of season.

12.235.7 Let no brāhmaṇa dwell unfed and unhonored in his house; and his guests, the bearers of offerings to gods and ancestors, are ever to be revered.

12.235.8 Those bathed in the lore and vows of the Veda, learned in sacred recitation and versed to the end of the Veda, who live by their own dharma, self-controlled, active in rite and rich in austerity—to them the offerings for gods and ancestors are ordained as their due honor.

12.235.9 But not so for the man gone wandering with asses, ignorant of his own dharma, one who has cast aside the fire-offering, or who deals falsely with his teacher.

12.235.10 Herein a fair share is enjoined for all living beings, and likewise the householder should give to those who do not cook for themselves.

12.235.11 Let him ever eat the leavings of others and ever feed on what is like nectar; the remnant of the sacrifice is that nectar, food as sacred as the oblation, and he who eats what is left after his dependents have eaten is called the eater of leavings.

12.235.12 Devoted to his own wife, self-restrained, free of malice, his senses mastered—with the officiating priests, the family priest, and the teachers, with maternal uncles and the guests who shelter with him,

12.235.13 with the aged, the young, the sick, with physicians, kinsmen, relations by marriage, and friends, with mother and father, with sisters, with brother, son, and wife,

12.235.14 with daughter and with the band of servants—let him engage in no quarrel; renouncing such disputes, he is freed from all sins.

12.235.15 By overcoming these contentions he wins, beyond doubt, all the worlds; the teacher is lord of Brahman's world, the father master of the realm of Prajāpati,

12.235.16 the guest is lord of Indra's world, the officiating priests of the world of the gods; sisters belong in the world of the apsarases, and kinsmen in the realm of the Viśvedevas.

12.235.17 Relations by marriage and friends rule in the quarters of space, mother and maternal uncle upon the earth; the aged, the young, the sick, and the frail hold sway in the sky.

12.235.18 An elder brother is the equal of a father; wife and son are one's own body; the band of servants is one's own shadow; and a daughter is the highest object of one's tenderness.

12.235.19 Therefore, though provoked by these, let the wise man ever endure it without fever of resentment—devoted to the householder's dharma, constant in righteousness, master of his weariness.

12.235.20 Nor, bound to wealth, should he perform any rite or any act of dharma for gain; of the three modes of the householder's life, the highest is the one that leads to release.

12.235.21 They say, too, that these stand in mutual relation: this very fourfold order of life's stages. Whatever restraints have been laid down for them, all must be fulfilled by him who would prosper.

12.235.22 That kingdom flourishes wherein dwell such worthy men—those who store grain in a jar, those who live by gleaning fallen ears, and those who hold to the dove-like way.

12.235.23 He purifies ten forebears and ten descendants who, free of distress, lives by these modes of the householder's life.

12.235.24 He attains a goal like that of the dwellers in the wheeling spheres; this destiny is ordained for those whose senses are restrained.

12.235.25 For householders of generous mind the world of heaven is appointed—heaven furnished with celestial cars, beheld in the Veda, in full and lovely flower.

12.235.26 In the world of heaven is the standing-place of householders who are masters of themselves; this rung was ordained by Brahman, and from it one is set free—having reached in due order the second stage, one is exalted in the world of heaven.

12.235.27 Beyond this they declare a noble stage supreme—the third—for those who would forsake the body: matchless for the forest-dwellers who were once householders. Hear now of these who put their bodies to hardship.

12.236.1 Bhīṣma said: The householder's mode of life, as ordained for the wise, has been declared to you; mark now, Yudhiṣṭhira, what is taught as following thereupon.

12.236.2 Shaking off this stage in due order, hear of the third and higher mode of life—of those wearied by the vows of householding, who dwell in the hermitage of the forest-recluse,

12.236.3 Listen, Pārtha—blessings upon you—of those whose souls are a refuge to all the worlds, who set forth with foresight and dwell in holy regions.

12.236.4 Vyāsa said: When the householder sees his own wrinkles and gray hair, and the offspring of his offspring, then let him betake himself to the forest.

12.236.5 For the third quarter of life let him dwell in the order of the forest-recluse, tending those same sacred fires and offering sacrifice to the dwellers in heaven.

12.236.6 Disciplined, of measured food, eating but at every sixth mealtime, and ever vigilant—his is that fire-offering, his those cattle, and his all the appurtenances of sacrifice.

12.236.7 Rice and barley untilled, wild grain, and gleaned leavings—these he should offer as oblations in the five great sacrifices observed here.

12.236.8 In the order of the forest-recluse, too, four modes are recorded: some wash and consume their food the same day, some store enough for a month,

12.236.9 some lay up a year's store, and some a store of twelve years, doing so to honor guests and to accomplish the rites of sacrifice.

12.236.10 In the rains they take the open sky for shelter, in winter they resort to the waters, in summer they sit amid the five fires, and always they eat but sparingly.

12.236.11 They roll upon the bare ground, or stand upon their toes; they pass their lives standing or seated, and bathe at the times of the three pressings.

12.236.12 Some use their teeth for a mortar, others pound their food with stones; some, in the bright fortnight, drink boiled barley-gruel but once a day.

12.236.13 Some drink it in the dark fortnight and eat in due succession; some, firm in their vows, live on roots, some on fruits, some on flowers.

12.236.14 Holding to the doctrine of the Vaikhānasas, they live as the rule requires; these and many other diverse observances belong to those sages.

12.236.15 And the fourth, the dharma of the Upaniṣads, is held to be common to all; from it, beyond the forest-recluse and the householder alike, yet another way proceeds.

12.236.16 In this very age, my child, by brāhmaṇas who beheld all truths—Agastya, the Seven Seers, Madhucchandas, Aghamarṣaṇa,

12.236.17 Sāṃkṛti, Sudivā, Taṇḍi, Yavānna, and Kṛtaśrama, Ahovīrya, Kāvya, Tāṇḍya, and the sage Medhātithi,

12.236.18 Śala, Vāka and Nirvāka, Śūnyapāla and Kṛtaśrama—these, learned in such observances of dharma, thereupon ascended to heaven.

12.236.19 My child, the bands of wandering seers whose righteousness was made manifest, sages of fierce austerity who beheld the fine subtleties of dharma—

12.236.20 brāhmaṇas beyond naming and beyond number who resorted to the forest, the Vaikhānasas, the Vālakhilyas, the Sikatās, and others still—

12.236.21 taking no delight in worldly works, constant in dharma, their senses subdued, all of them—their righteousness made manifest—betook themselves to the forest, and now, beyond the constellations and unassailable, they are seen as hosts of stars.

12.236.22 Worn down by age and afflicted by disease, in the fourth and last remnant of his life let him forsake the order of the forest-recluse, having performed the same-day rite with all his possessions for its priestly fee.

12.236.23 Sacrificing to the Self, taking joy in the Self, sporting in the Self, resting upon the Self, he draws the sacred fires up into his own Self and casts off all possessions.

12.236.24 Let him offer same-day sacrifices and oblations here always; ever, from the outward rite of those who sacrifice, the worship turns back to the Self alone.

12.236.25 And let him duly offer the three fires within the Self itself, for the sake of the Self's release; with the sacrificial formula he should make five offerings to the breaths, and eat six mouthfuls without disdain.

12.236.26 Having shorn his hair, his bodily hair, and his nails, the forest-recluse, now a silent sage, passes purified by his works at once from one stage of life to the next.

12.236.27 The twice-born who, having granted freedom from fear to all living beings, goes forth to the wandering life—worlds of radiance are his, and after death he attains the endless.

12.236.28 Of fair conduct and character, his stains washed away, he strives to act neither for this world nor the next; free of anger and delusion, beyond alliance and enmity, the man who knows the Self should abide as one wholly indifferent.

12.236.29 Let him not waver in the restraints that belong to the Self, his strength lying in his own scripture, sacred thread, oblation, and mantra; a path at will belongs to him who sacrifices to the Self—no doubt of it, for one devoted to dharma whose senses are mastered.

12.236.30 Beyond this, hear of that which is best, surpassing in noble virtues, established above and beyond the other three—the supreme: the fourth, the highest stage of life now declared, the loftiest refuge being proclaimed to you.

12.237.1 Śuka said: While dwelling within the order of the forest-hermit, how should one who longs, to the utmost of his power, for the supreme station discipline his own self?

12.237.2 Vyāsa said: Having gained, through these two orders of life, his consecration, hear now with single-minded attention what task remains to be done thereafter, for the sake of the supreme end.

12.237.3 Having burned away the dross within the three graded stations, let him go forth into the supreme station, the unsurpassed wandering life of renunciation.

12.237.4 Practising thus, let your honoured self abide therein, and hear how it is done: ever alone, without companion, let him wander for the sake of perfection.

12.237.5 He who wanders alone, keeping watch, neither forsakes nor is forsaken. Let him be without sacred fire and without fixed abode, and resort to a village only to seek his food.

12.237.6 Let the sage make no provision for the morrow, filled with inward feeling; eating sparingly, restrained in his food, partaking of a meal but once.

12.237.7 A begging bowl, the roots of trees for shelter, ragged clothing, solitude, and indifference toward all creatures—this much is the mark of the mendicant.

12.237.8 He into whom words enter as stones dropped into a well, never returning to their speaker, may dwell in the order of absolute aloneness.

12.237.9 Let him neither see nor hear anything unfit to be spoken of anyone whatever, and above all let him never in any way speak ill of the brāhmaṇas.

12.237.10 Whatever is for a brāhmaṇa's welfare, that alone let him constantly speak; when reviled, let him sit silent, thereby making a medicine for his own soul.

12.237.11 He by whom alone the empty sky seems forever full, and by whom a place thronged with people seems void—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.12 Covered with whatever comes to hand, fed by whatever comes to hand, lying down to sleep wherever he may be—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.13 He who shrinks from a crowd as from a serpent, from sated fullness as from hell, and from women as from a corpse—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.14 He who, whether honoured or dishonoured, neither flares in anger nor swells with delight, and who grants safety to all creatures—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.15 Let him not welcome death, nor welcome life; let him only await his time, as a hired servant awaits his orders.

12.237.16 Let his mind be unassailed and his speech likewise unassailing; released from all sins, having no enemy, what fear can be his?

12.237.17 Since from him all creatures have nothing to fear, and he in turn has nothing to fear from any creature, for him who is freed from the body there is no fear from any quarter.

12.237.18 As within the footprint of the elephant the footprints of all other creatures that walk are wholly contained,

12.237.19 so within non-injury the whole of righteousness's purpose is contained; immortal forever dwells the man who takes up the practice of non-injury.

12.237.20 Harmless, even-minded, truthful, steadfast, his senses curbed, a refuge to all creatures, he attains the unsurpassed goal.

12.237.21 For the sage thus contented in wisdom and free of fear, death is not a state beyond his reach; rather, he overtakes death itself.

12.237.22 The sage released from all attachments, standing firm like the open sky, owning nothing, wandering alone, at peace—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.23 He whose life is for the sake of righteousness, whose righteousness is for the sake of detachment, and whose days and nights are for the sake of merit—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.24 Free of craving, undertaking nothing, neither bowed to nor praised, undiminished though his works are spent—him the gods know to be a true brāhmaṇa.

12.237.25 All creatures delight in happiness; all shrink in dread from pain. Grieved at the thought of causing them fear, the man of faith should do no deeds that breed it.

12.237.26 The gift whose offering is freedom from fear to all beings surpasses every other gift here below; and he who first lays aside his fierce, cruel nature wins from all creatures a boundless freedom from fear.

12.237.27 Lying upturned, with mouth he pours the oblation—he, the navel of the world, the world's foundation; his limbs are all things, the done and the undone alike, for the All-Pervading Fire has entered into everything.

12.237.28 Into that which rests within the heart, a mere span in measure, the self-sacrificer pours his life-breaths as oblation; his fire-offering, poured and grounded in the Self, reaches through all the worlds together with their gods.

12.237.29 Those who know the divine, threefold in substance, triply enfolded, fair-winged and foremost, and who know its supreme reality—they, honoured in all the worlds, mighty as gods, pass on to the abode of the well-doer.

12.237.30 He who knows the Vedas, the object of knowledge, the ordinance entire, the etymology, and the supreme reality—who knows all this as seated in the Self within the body—for him the gods forever yearn.

12.237.31 Unattached to the earth, immeasurable in heaven, golden, egg-born within the cosmic egg—he who knows that winged one, the bird soaring in the midspace, knows it as the radiant-rayed enjoyer within the Self that is enjoyed.

12.237.32 Revolving, ageless, ever-turning, with six fellies, twelve spokes, and goodly joints—within whose mouth the whole universe wheels round—that is the wheel of Time, set hidden in the cave of the heart.

12.237.33 He who knows the serene radiance to be the body of the world attains here to all the worlds; what is offered into it gratifies the gods, and they, gratified in turn, gratify his mouth.

12.237.34 Made of splendour, of eternal frame, ancient, he passes to the worlds that are endless and free of fear; he of whom creatures never stand in dread is himself never in dread of creatures.

12.237.35 Himself beyond blame, and blaming no other—that sage may behold the supreme Self; his delusion subdued, his stain washed away, he seeks no gain either here or hereafter.

12.237.36 Free of wrath and delusion, holding a clod and gold as equal, his grief abandoned, beyond alliance and enmity, beyond blame and praise, indifferent to the loved and the unloved—such a mendicant wanders as one wholly detached.

12.238.1 Vyāsa said: The knower of the field is surrounded by the modifications of Nature; yet they do not know him, while he indeed knows them all.

12.238.2 Through them—through the senses, with the mind as the sixth—he accomplishes his work, like a charioteer guiding strong and well-broken steeds of the finest breed.

12.238.3 Higher than the senses are their objects; higher than the objects is the mind; higher than the mind is the intellect; and higher than the intellect is the great Self.

12.238.4 Higher than the great is the Unmanifest; higher than the Unmanifest is the Immortal; than the Immortal there is nothing higher—that is the limit, that the supreme goal.

12.238.5 Thus the Self, hidden in all beings, does not shine forth; yet it is seen by those who perceive the truth, through a keen and subtle intellect.

12.238.6 Dissolving by his wisdom into the inner Self the senses, with the mind as the sixth, together with the objects of sense, and ceasing to brood upon the manifold matters of thought—

12.238.7 having brought meditation to its rest, his mind perfected by knowledge, owning no lord, his self wholly tranquil, he then attains the immortal station.

12.238.8 But the mortal who, while mastering all his senses, is shaken in his recollection, by the surrender of his self comes only to death.

12.238.9 But casting off all his wilful imaginings, let him fix his thought in purity; and having fixed his thought in purity, he becomes thereby a conqueror of time.

12.238.10 By the serenity of his thought the ascetic forsakes both good and evil; serene of self, abiding in the Self, he wins the happiness that is without end.

12.238.11 The mark of that serenity is this: as a contented man sleeps happily, or as a lamp that burns in a windless place does not flicker.

12.238.12 Thus joining the self to the Self in the first and the last watches of the night, his being purified by sattvic food, he beholds the Self within the self.

12.238.13 This teaching, the secret of all the Vedas, resting on no mere tradition and no external scripture but on the soul's own conviction—this is the instruction I give to my son.

12.238.14 Whatever treasure lies in all discourses on righteousness and in all discourses on truth—this nectar has been churned forth and drawn up out of ten thousand ṛc-verses.

12.238.15 As butter is drawn from curd, as fire is drawn from wood, so has the wisdom of the learned been drawn forth for the sake of a son. This teaching, this instruction to a son, is to be spoken to those who have completed their studies.

12.238.16 It is not to be told to one who is unquiet, nor to the unrestrained, nor to one without austerity, nor to one ignorant of the Vedas, nor to one who is not a devoted follower.

12.238.17 Not to the envious, not to the crooked, not to one who acts contrary to instruction, not to one scorched by the science of mere argument, nor likewise to the slanderer.

12.238.18 To one worthy of praise who praises rightly, to the tranquil, to the man of austerity, to a beloved son, to a devoted pupil who follows faithfully—to such a one this secret of righteousness is to be told, but to no other in any wise.

12.238.19 Even should a man offer him this whole earth filled with jewels, the knower of truth would still hold this teaching to be the better thing of the two.

12.238.20 Therefore that knowledge of the supreme Self, more hidden in meaning, more than human, which the great seers have beheld and which is sung in the Vedānta—that I shall now declare to you, even as you question me.

12.239.1 Śuka said: Speak to me yet again, and at length, of the knowledge of the Self—what this knowledge of the Self is, and how it stands, O blessed one, O best of seers.

12.239.2 Vyāsa said: This knowledge of the Self, my son, as it is found in man here below—that I shall declare to you; hear now this its exposition.

12.239.3 Earth, water, fire, wind, and likewise space—these are the great elements of created beings, as the waves are of the sea.

12.239.4 As the tortoise stretches forth its limbs here and again draws them in, so the great elements take on their transformations within the lesser beings.

12.239.5 Thus this whole world of things moving and unmoving is made of those very elements, both in its creation and in its dissolution; and therefore it is so declared.

12.239.6 The Maker of beings, my son, fashioned the five great elements within all creatures, and wrought in them the diversity wherein each perceives its own nature.

12.239.7 Śuka said: That which he wrought within bodies—how is it to be discerned? And which qualities belong to the senses—how are these to be discerned?

12.239.8 Vyāsa said: This I shall set forth to you, the doctrine even as it is; hear with single mind the truth here, as it truly stands and how it is.

12.239.9 Sound, hearing, and the bodily openings—these three arise from space. Breath, movement, and touch—these are the three qualities of wind.

12.239.10 Form, sight, and digestion—threefold is fire ordained. Taste, the tongue, and moisture—these are the three qualities of water.

12.239.11 Smell, the nose, and the body—these are the three qualities of earth. Thus is the whole company of the senses, sprung from the five elements, explained.

12.239.12 Touch belongs to wind, taste to water, form is said to belong to fire; sound has its origin in space, and smell is held to be the quality of earth.

12.239.13 Mind, intellect, and the inner disposition—these three are born of the Self's own source; they do not transcend the qualities, yet are held to be higher than the qualities.

12.239.14 In man there are five senses; the mind is reckoned the sixth; the intellect, they say, is the seventh; and the knower of the field is the eighth.

12.239.15 The eye is for mere seeing, the mind raises doubt, the intellect serves for resolve, and the knower of the field is said to be the witness.

12.239.16 Passion, darkness, and goodness—these three are sprung from their own source, present alike in all beings; one should discern them by their respective signs.

12.239.17 As the tortoise here stretches forth its limbs and draws them in again, so the intellect, having sent forth the company of the senses, draws them back.

12.239.18 That which it sees above the soles of the feet and below the crown of the head—in just this task does the highest intellect engage.

12.239.19 The intellect leads on the qualities; the intellect leads the senses too, all of them with the mind as the sixth; and where the intellect is absent, whence then the qualities?

12.239.20 Therein, whatever one marks within oneself as joined with gladness, serene as it were and wholly pure—that one should understand to be goodness.

12.239.21 But whatever arises in the body or the mind joined with torment—that should be passion, the impeller, forever carrying embodied beings away.

12.239.22 But whatever is joined with bewilderment, whose object is unmanifest, beyond reasoning and not to be known—that should be understood to be darkness.

12.239.23 Exultation, gladness, joy, evenness, a self-possessed and settled mind—arising whether without cause or with cause, such is the sattvic quality at work.

12.239.24 Conceit, falsehood, greed, delusion, and impatience—these are the marks of passion, and they arise whether with cause or without.

12.239.25 Likewise delusion and heedlessness, languor and the drowsiness that follows from sleep — these, however they may come upon a man, are to be recognized as the qualities born of tamas.

12.240.1 Vyāsa said: The mind sends forth feeling, the intellect performs the act of resolve, and the heart knows the pleasant and the unpleasant — such is the threefold impulse to action.

12.240.2 Higher than the senses are their objects, and higher than the objects is the mind; higher than the mind is the intellect, and higher than the intellect, it is held, is the Self.

12.240.3 The intellect is the self of a man; the intellect is the very essence of the self. When it transforms itself into feeling, then it becomes the mind.

12.240.4 By the distinct functioning of the senses the subtle intellect is modified: while hearing it becomes the ear, while touching it is called touch.

12.240.5 While seeing it becomes sight, while tasting it becomes the tongue, while smelling it becomes the nose — thus the intellect is variously transformed.

12.240.6 These men call the senses; and unseen the intellect presides over them. Abiding within the person, the intellect moves among the three states of feeling.

12.240.7 Sometimes it attains joy, sometimes it grieves, and sometimes here it is joined neither with pleasure nor with pain.

12.240.8 This intellect, whose very being is feeling, transcends these three states, even as the ocean, lord of the rivers, surmounts its mighty wave-tossed shore.

12.240.9 When it desires anything, then it becomes the mind. With the intellect one should keep distinctly in view these several seats; the senses, fit to be purified, are to be wholly mastered.

12.240.10 All of them in due order, whatever is not yet brought under control; the undivided intellect abides as feeling in the mind. And rajas, once set in motion, draws sattva too along after it.

12.240.11 And whatever states of being there are, all of them turn upon these three; true to their natures they proceed, as the spokes turn upon the felly of a wheel.

12.240.12 A man should make himself a lamp by means of the senses, those finest instruments of the intellect, letting them go forth as is fitting, unattached, of their own accord.

12.240.13 Knowing that such is by nature this whole order of things, the wise man is not deluded: neither grieving nor exulting, ever free from envy.

12.240.14 For the Self cannot be perceived through the senses, ranging amid their objects of desire — senses set upon misrule, hard to restrain, ungoverned by the unperfected.

12.240.15 But when with the mind a man rightly reins in their reins, then the Self shines forth, like a lamp burning within a jar — even as, when the darkness has passed, all beings stand revealed.

12.240.16 As a water-bird, moving over the water, is not wetted by it, so the man of accomplished wisdom, ranging among objects of sense, is not stained by their faults: attached to nothing, he is in no way defiled.

12.240.17 Having renounced the karma wrought before, he whose delight is ever in the Self, who has become the self of all beings, remains unattached to the pathways of the guṇas.

12.240.18 It is sattva, not the Self, that gives birth to the guṇas; the Self at no time does so. The guṇas do not know the Self, but He knows the guṇas always.

12.240.19 He is the witness of the guṇas, and likewise, in truth, their creator. Understand this to be the difference between sattva and the Knower of the Field, the two subtle ones.

12.240.20 The one creates the guṇas, while the other creates them not; the two are by nature distinct, yet they are forever conjoined.

12.240.21 As a fish, though other than the waters, is joined with them, so are those two conjoined; as the gnat and the fig-tree, too, are joined together.

12.240.22 As the reed-blade within the muñja-grass is both apart and together with it, so these two abide united, each established in the other.

12.241.1 Vyāsa said: It is sattva that creates the guṇas, while the Knower of the Field but looks on. The Lord stands as it were indifferent to all the guṇas as they undergo their changes.

12.241.2 All this is bound up with its own nature, that it brings forth these guṇas — as the spider spins forth its thread, so does it spin out the guṇas like threads.

12.241.3 Once destroyed, they return no more, and no continued activity is found: thus some maintain; while others hold that there is a ceasing.

12.241.4 Weighing both these views, let a man resolve according to his own understanding; for by this very course one may yet become a great one lying again in the womb.

12.241.5 Having reached that which is without beginning or end, eternal, let a man move through the world neither angering nor exulting, ever free from envy.

12.241.6 Thus, having passed beyond the firm knot of the heart, fashioned of the intellect's brooding, let him abide in happiness, grieving not, his doubts cut asunder.

12.241.7 As men, slipping from solid ground into a brimming river, are plunged in and suffer, so know that the ignorant are sunk in this world.

12.241.8 But the wise man does not founder; the knower of truth walks upon firm ground. Such is he who finds the Self — the pure knowledge that is of the Self alone.

12.241.9 Having thus understood the whole coming and going of all beings, and rightly considering it little by little, a man attains the highest peace.

12.241.10 This indeed is the worth of being born, above all for the brāhmaṇa: knowledge of the Self and tranquillity — that is sufficient, that is the supreme refuge.

12.241.11 Having understood this, one becomes awakened — what other mark of the awakened is there? Knowing this, the wise are set free, their task accomplished.

12.241.12 For the wise there is no great fear, though for the unwise that fear may be very great; for no one has a goal higher than that which is the wise man's, the eternal one.

12.241.13 People resent the world's distress, and gazing upon this and that they grieve over it; but behold there the skilled who grieve not, who know both the done and the undone.

12.241.14 What he does without forethought of fruit wipes away what was done before; both the agreeable and the disagreeable that come of it, neither does it engender for him who acts thus in this world.

12.242.1 Śuka said: That dharma than which no higher dharma is found here anywhere, that which is the most excellent of all dharmas — let your honored self declare it to me.

12.242.2 Vyāsa said: I shall declare to you that ancient dharma, praised by the seers, most excellent of all dharmas — hear it here with single mind.

12.242.3 With the intellect, by effort, restrain the unruly senses, ever apt to break loose on every side, as a father restrains his wayward sons.

12.242.4 The one-pointedness of mind and senses is the supreme austerity; it is greater than all dharmas — that is declared the highest dharma.

12.242.5 Having gathered them all, the senses with the mind for sixth, by means of wisdom, let him sit content within the Self, not brooding on the many things that might be brooded upon.

12.242.6 When, withdrawn from their objects, they come to rest within their dwelling, then by the Self you shall behold the supreme, eternal Self.

12.242.7 That all-pervading, great Self, like a fire without smoke — those great-souled brāhmaṇas who are wise behold Him.

12.242.8 As a great tree, many-branched, laden with flower and fruit, knows not of itself, 'Where is my flower, where is my fruit?' —

12.242.9 so the self knows not, 'Whither shall I go, and whence am I?' For there is another, an inner Self within, who beholds all things.

12.242.10 By the kindled lamp of knowledge one beholds the Self through the Self. Having seen the Self by the Self, become free of self, all-knowing.

12.242.11 Freed from all sins, like a serpent loosed from its slough, having attained here the supreme intellect, sinless and rid of fever —

12.242.12 that dread river, flowing on every side, bearing the world along in its current, infested with the crocodiles of the five senses, banked by the mind's imaginings;

12.242.13 choked with the weeds of greed and delusion, swarming with the serpents of desire and wrath, with truth for its ford and falsehood for its turbulence, with wrath for its mire — that foremost of rivers;

12.242.14 rising from the Unmanifest, swift, hard for the unperfected to cross — that river, thronged with the crocodiles of desire, cross over by the intellect.

12.242.15 It runs to the ocean of rebirth, hard to cross with its hells of wombs, springing from one's own birth, my son, with the tongue for its whirlpool, difficult to approach.

12.242.16 That river the wise of accomplished understanding, steadfast in resolve, cross over; having crossed it you shall be released on every side, your self made pure, knower of the Self, cleansed.

12.242.17 Resting upon the highest intellect, you shall attain to oneness with brahman, having crossed over all afflictions, your self serene, free from stain.

12.242.18 As one standing on a mountain looks down upon the creatures below on the ground, so look upon beings — neither angering nor exulting, your mind free of cruelty; then shall you behold the arising and the passing away of all beings.

12.242.19 Thus, O best of the upholders of dharma, the wise — the sages who perceive the truth — have deemed this the most excellent of all dharmas.

12.242.20 Having known the imperishable Self, this teaching meant for a son is to be declared to one who is striving, devoted to his welfare, and obedient.

12.242.21 This knowledge of the Self is a secret, the greatest secret of all secrets, mighty — which I have spoken to you, my son, plainly, with the Self for its witness.

12.242.22 This is neither woman nor man, nor yet is it neuter; brahman, free of pain and free of pleasure, whose essence is the past, the future, and the present.

12.242.23 Having known this, neither man nor woman comes again to rebirth; for the attainment of non-becoming this path is laid down.

12.242.24 As all the doctrines are held to be, and yet are not just so, even thus, my son, have they been told by me — they both are and are not.

12.242.25 Being asked this by a son endowed with affection and with virtue, possessed of the qualities of a true son, lovingly and for his good, a father should speak to his son here what has thus been declared.

12.243.1 Vyāsa said: Let him not pursue scents or savors, nor pleasure, nor seek the adornments of this thing or that; let him desire neither honor nor renown nor fame — such is the way of life of the discerning brāhmaṇa.

12.243.2 He may study all the Vedas, attentive and chaste — the Ṛc verses, the Yajus, the Sāman chants — yet by that alone he is not on that account a brāhmaṇa.

12.243.3 Though he be as a kinsman to all beings, all-knowing, knower of all the Vedas, if he never dies free of desire, by that too he is not a brāhmaṇa.

12.243.4 Having performed the various oblations and the great sacrifices with their fees duly given, he does not thereby attain brāhmaṇahood at all without contemplation.

12.243.5 When this one fears nothing and nothing fears him, when he neither desires nor hates — then he attains to brahman.

12.243.6 When he conceives no evil intent toward any being, by deed, by thought, or by word — then he attains to brahman.

12.243.7 The bondage of desire is the one bondage; there is no other bondage here. Freed from the bondage of desire, one becomes fit for oneness with brahman.

12.243.8 Being released from desire, like the moon from a smoke-gray cloud, free of passion, awaiting his time, the steadfast one abides in his firmness.

12.243.9 As the waters enter the ocean, ever filled yet fixed and unmoving — he who is loved of desires yet desires not desires, that embodied one goes from this world to heaven.

12.243.10 The hidden essence of the Veda is truth; the hidden essence of truth is self-restraint; the hidden essence of self-restraint is giving; the hidden essence of giving is austerity.

12.243.11 The hidden essence of austerity is renunciation; the hidden essence of renunciation is happiness; the hidden essence of happiness is heaven; the hidden essence of heaven is tranquillity.

12.243.12 The melting away of grief and of the troubled mind, the burning torment together with craving — if you desire purity of being, then through contentment comes the supreme mark of peace.

12.243.13 Free of grief, free of the sense of 'mine,' at peace, serene of self, the best of knowers of the Self — endowed with these six marks, made whole, he will return no more.

12.243.14 By means of these six, endowed with the quality of sattva, wise and high in counsel, those who know the Self after death know likewise those who abide here as such.

12.243.15 Unfeigned, not to be carried off, natural, unadorned — the inner Self: the man of well-wrought wisdom enjoys this imperishable happiness.

12.243.16 Having made the mind cease its roaming and established it firm on every side, the contentment that this man attains cannot be had in any other way than this.

12.243.17 That by which one is satisfied though not eating, by which one is content though possessing no wealth, by which without attachment one gains strength — he who knows that is the true knower of the Veda.

12.243.18 For that disciplined brāhmaṇa who, guarding well the gates of his own self and closing them, sits in contemplation — he is called one who finds his delight in the Self.

12.243.19 To the one who is fixed upon the supreme truth, established in it, his desires worn away, happiness comes from every side, as light suffuses the orb of the moon.

12.243.20 For the sage who no longer cleaves to creatures with their distinctions, nor to the qualities, sorrow is driven off by happiness, as darkness is driven off by the sun.

12.243.21 That brāhmaṇa who has passed beyond action, passed beyond the wasting of the qualities, and clings to no object of sense — old age and death do not find him.

12.243.22 When, freed on every side, he abides in perfect equanimity, then, though seated in the body, he transcends the senses and their objects.

12.243.23 Having attained the supreme Cause, having passed beyond all that is effect — for him who has reached the highest beyond the high, there is no returning again.

12.244.1 Vyāsa said: The disciple who would know liberation, who has practiced the pairs of opposites and observed both worldly gain and dharma, must first be made to hear this great teaching from a worthy preceptor.

12.244.2 Ether, wind, fire, water, and earth the fifth — together with being and non-being, and time — these abide within all the five elements.

12.244.3 Ether is innermost in nature, and the ear, the organ of hearing, is made of it; one versed in the science and ordinance of embodied forms should know sound to be its quality.

12.244.4 Motion is of the nature of wind, and the in-breath and out-breath are made of it; one should know that the organ of touch, and touch itself, are likewise made of it.

12.244.5 From fire come digestion and light; the eye too is made of it, and its quality is known to be form — that which dispels the darkness inherent in things.

12.244.6 Moistening, fineness, and fluid coherence are taught to be of water; the tongue is the organ of taste, and taste is held to be the quality of water.

12.244.7 Solid mass is the earthen element: bones, teeth, and nails, beard, body-hair and the hair of the head, veins, sinews, and skin.

12.244.8 The organ that perceives by smelling is named the nose; and its object, odor, is to be known as made of earth.

12.244.9 In the later elements all the qualities of the former are present, and the qualities of the later in all — thus the sages understand the unbroken sequence of the five elemental aggregates.

12.244.10 Among these the mind is the ninth, and the intellect is reckoned the tenth; the inner Self is the eleventh, and is declared to be supreme over all.

12.244.11 The intellect is of the nature of resolve, the mind of the nature of discrimination; from the inference of its action that living self, called the knower of the field, is to be known.

12.244.12 The wise one who, with all these principles — the elements together with time as the eighth — sees everything as pervaded by them, undimmed, does not fall prey to delusion.

12.245.1 Vyāsa said: The embodied self, become subtle and wholly released from the body — those whose minds are steeped in scripture perceive it fully through the disciplines the scriptures enjoin.

12.245.2 As rays of light move together, are seen to go and to stand still, so do beings beyond the human, released from their bodies, roam through the worlds.

12.245.3 As the heat of the sun is seen reflected as an image upon the waters, so does the one endowed with the pure essence behold that essence as a reflected likeness.

12.245.4 Those subtle beings, freed from the body and abiding in pure essence, the knowers of truth, their senses controlled, behold by their own true insight.

12.245.5 Whether men sleep or wake, the Self is what all of them ponder — those joined to the duality of primal Nature, who cast off the passion born of works.

12.245.6 As by day, so by night; as by night, so by day — the essential Self stands ever in the mastery of those who are steadfast in yoga.

12.245.7 In them the elemental self, though ever transient, is yet eternal; endowed always with the seven subtle qualities, it wanders on, unaging and undying.

12.245.8 Surpassing mind and intellect, knowing both its own body and others' bodies, even in dreams it remains the one who experiences pleasure and pain.

12.245.9 There too it meets with sorrow, there too it meets with joy; there too, giving way to anger and greed, it comes to misfortune.

12.245.10 It is gladdened too, on gaining great wealth, and there too it performs meritorious deeds; and it sees, even there, as though awake.

12.245.11 This elemental self, with its portion of surpassing radiance, seated within the heart — those overcome by darkness and passion do not perceive it in embodied forms.

12.245.12 Becoming devoted to scripture and yoga, longing to grasp their own Self — those things that are breathless and formless, yet hard as the thunderbolt —

12.245.13 Among the four separately ordained orders of life and their duties, Śāṇḍilya declared this very yoga, in deep meditation, to be the path of inner peace.

12.245.14 Having known the seven subtle principles and the six-membered Great Lord, established in the right ordering of primal Nature, one attains the supreme Brahman.

12.246.1 Vyāsa said: In the heart stands the wondrous tree of desire, sprung from the accumulation of delusion, its great trunk anger and pride, never letting go its craving to possess.

12.246.2 Its support is ignorance, its watering is heedlessness; its foliage is envy, and its sap is the evil done in former times.

12.246.3 Its boughs are confusion and anxious care, its branches grief; terrible to behold, it is wrapped about with creepers of bewildering thirst.

12.246.4 The greedy, longing for its fruit, wait upon that great tree, bound fast by toilsome snares as they wrap themselves around its fruits.

12.246.5 He who, mastering those snares, tears that tree away, striving against the pair of them, reaches the end of both sorrows.

12.246.6 The man of unripe wisdom makes the tree grow again through his own torment, and so it destroys him, as poison destroys the sick man who has swallowed it.

12.246.7 The root of that tree, whose root is lingering attachment, is torn up by force with the supreme sword of equanimity, wrought of renunciation and vigilance.

12.246.8 He who thus knows how utterly desire may be uprooted, and the slaying of the science of desire, passes beyond all sorrows.

12.246.9 The body, they say, is a city, and the intellect is held to be its mistress; within it, seated in the body, subject to the intellect, is the mind, the contemplator of objects.

12.246.10 The senses are the townsfolk, the citizens; and the higher faculty exists for their sake. There dwell two cruel faults, the one named darkness, the other passion.

12.246.11 That very good by which the citizens, together with the lord of the city, sustain themselves — by an unlawful gate those two faults feed upon it.

12.246.12 There the intellect is hard to assail; the mind is said to be of like nature with it. The citizens too are in awe of the mind, and their footing also is unsteady.

12.246.13 The aim upon which the intellect settles does not perish; but the aim upon which the mind settles apart, by itself, that does perish.

12.246.14 When the mind becomes severed from the intellect and stands alone, then passion takes its stand upon it, finding it exposed and empty.

12.246.15 That mind, having joined with passion, makes friendship with it, and taking the people, the citizens, it delivers them over to passion.

12.247.1 Bhīṣma said: Hear once more, my son, the enumeration of the qualities of the elements, fallen from the mouth of Dvaipāyana with high praise, O sinless one.

12.247.2 Like a blazing fire, the venerable one spoke it to Dhūmravarcas; and so I too, my son, shall set forth this teaching again as an illustration.

12.247.3 Of earth: steadfastness, extension, hardness, the power of bringing forth, odor, heaviness, strength, cohesion, the holding of things in place, and firmness.

12.247.4 Of water: coldness, taste, moisture, fluidity, soft unctuousness, the flowing tongue, and the trickling forth of the watery within the earthen.

12.247.5 Of fire: unassailability, brilliance, heat, the power to cook, illumination, purity, color, lightness, sharpness, and tenth, the tendency to move upward.

12.247.6 Of wind: unrestraint, touch, the seat of speech, independence, strength, swiftness, the power to bewilder, activity, the doing of work, and becoming.

12.247.7 The qualities of ether are sound, pervasiveness, and porousness; it is without support, without resting-place, unmanifest, and free from change.

12.247.8 Together with imperviousness, elemental being, and its modifications — these are declared to be the fifty qualities, brought into being from the nature of the five elements.

12.247.9 Restless arising, manifestation, projection, imagination, forbearance, the real and the unreal, and swiftness — these are the nine qualities of the mind.

12.247.10 The choosing between the welcome and the unwelcome, resolve, concentration, doubt, and ascertainment — these are the five qualities that reside in the intellect.

12.247.11 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How does the intellect have five qualities? How are the qualities of the nature of the five senses? Explain all this to me, this subtle knowledge, O grandsire.

12.247.12 Bhīṣma said: They speak of sixty qualities of the elements — distinct from the elements yet ever clinging to them, clinging to the elements yet sprung from the Imperishable; and this, my son, they declare to be not eternal here.

12.247.13 This, my son, framed by reflection, has been told you — what was not yet known to you is now made present here. Having grasped the whole truth of the elements and their meaning, become, through understanding the power of the elements, one of tranquil mind.

12.248.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: These guardians of the earth who lie upon the earth's surface — these mighty ones, fallen amid their armies, their life-breath gone —

12.248.2 Each one of fearful strength, strong as ten thousand elephants — these were struck down in battle by men of strength and splendor equal to their own.

12.248.3 I do not see who, in the battle long ago, could have been the slayer of these living men, endowed as they were with valor and possessed of splendor and strength.

12.248.4 And yet, O greatly wise one, here they lie with their breath departed, and this word 'dead' is used of them whose life has fled.

12.248.5 These dead kings were for the most part of terrible prowess; and a doubt has arisen in me — whence comes this name, 'the dead'?

12.248.6 Whose is death, whence is death, by what means does death carry off creatures here? O you who are like a god immortal, tell me this, O grandsire.

12.248.7 Bhīṣma said: Long ago, in the Kṛta age, my child, there lived a king named Avikampaka; in battle, his forces wasted away, he fell into the power of his foes.

12.248.8 His son was named Hari, equal in strength to Nārāyaṇa; he was slain in the fray by the enemy, together with his army and his followers.

12.248.9 That king, fallen into the enemy's power and overwhelmed with grief for his son, finding no peace, beheld by chance the sage Nārada upon the earth.

12.248.10 To him the lord of men told all that had befallen — his capture by the enemy in battle, and likewise the death of his son.

12.248.11 Hearing those words of his, Nārada, rich in austerities, then related this tale, which takes away grief for a son.

12.248.12 O king, hear now this story, full and far-ranging, even as it came to pass and as it was heard by me, O lord of the earth.

12.248.13 When in the creation of beings the great and mighty Grandsire had brought forth his creatures, those creatures, grown exceedingly numerous, he could no longer endure.

12.248.14 For there was no space anywhere at all left free of living things, O imperishable one; the three worlds, so crammed, became as if unable to breathe, O king.

12.248.15 Then anxious thought arose in him concerning their destruction, O ruler of the earth; yet pondering, he could not find the cause and means for their destruction.

12.248.16 From his wrath, O great king, a fire arose out of his bodily apertures, and with it the Grandsire set ablaze all the quarters of the sky.

12.248.17 Then heaven, earth, and the firmament, and the whole world with all that moves and stands still, that fire, born of the Lord's anger, consumed, O king.

12.248.18 There were beings burned, both moving and unmoving alike, by that mighty surge of wrath, when the great Grandsire was enraged.

12.248.19 Then Sthāṇu, the tawny-matted one, lord of the Vedas and of sacrifice, the auspicious god Śiva, slayer of enemy heroes, went to Brahmā for refuge.

12.248.20 When Sthāṇu had thus come, out of his desire for the welfare of creatures, the boon-granting god, blazing as it were, spoke then to Śiva:

12.248.21 What wish shall I fulfill for you today? You are deemed by me worthy of a boon. For I shall do whatever pleases you, O Śambhu, whatever lies within your heart.

12.249.1 Sthāṇu said: Know, O lord, that this duty laid upon me concerns the bringing forth of creatures. These beings were created by you, O grandsire; do not be angry with them.

12.249.2 By the fire of your splendour, O god, the creatures are being consumed on every side. Seeing them, compassion stirs in me. Be not wrathful, O lord of the world.

12.249.3 Prajāpati said: I am not angry, nor is it my wish that the creatures should cease to be. It is only to lighten the burden of the earth that I will their destruction.

12.249.4 For this goddess Earth, oppressed by her load, has ever urged me to it, O Mahādeva. Burdened, she sinks down into the waters.

12.249.5 When, pondering long with my mind, I could find no means for the destruction of these multiplied beings, then anger entered into me.

12.249.6 Sthāṇu said: Let go your purpose of destruction and be appeased; be not wrathful, O lord of the thirty gods. Do not annihilate the creatures, neither what stands fixed nor what moves.

12.249.7 All the pools, and all the grasses and reeds, the fixed and the moving alike — the whole fourfold host of living beings —

12.249.8 all this is being reduced to ashes; the entire world is overwhelmed. Be gracious, O blessed and holy one — this is the boon I crave of you.

12.249.9 For these creatures, once destroyed, will by no means come again. Therefore let this splendour be withdrawn by your own splendour.

12.249.10 Look to some other means, out of desire for the creatures' welfare, by which all these living beings may be turned back, O scorcher of foes.

12.249.11 Else the creatures, their power of generation cut off, would pass into non-being. I have been appointed by you, O lord, to preside over the divine ordering of the worlds here.

12.249.12 For this world of the fixed and the moving has its origin in you, O lord of the world. Having appeased you, O Mahādeva, I beg for the creatures that they be reborn again and again.

12.249.13 Nārada said: Hearing the words of Sthāṇu, the god, his speech and mind restrained, drew that splendour of his back once more within his own self.

12.249.14 Then, gathering in that fire, the blessed lord, honoured by the worlds, ordained both the going forth into activity and the turning back from it.

12.249.15 As the great-souled one was drawing back that fire born of his wrath, there appeared from all the openings of his body a woman.

12.249.16 Dark she was, clad in red garments, the corners of her eyes tinged red within, furnished with divine earrings and adorned with celestial ornaments.

12.249.17 Having issued forth from those openings, she betook herself to the southern quarter. Then the two gods, both lords of the universe, beheld that maiden.

12.249.18 Then the god, the first lord of the worlds, calling her, said — O protector of earth — "O Death, slay these creatures."

12.249.19 "For you were conceived by me in my wrath, with my mind set upon destruction. Therefore destroy you all the creatures, the foolish and the wise alike.

12.249.20 Without distinction, O lovely one, do you destroy the creatures. By performing this my charge, you shall attain the highest good."

12.249.21 Thus addressed, the goddess Death, garlanded with lotuses, that young maiden, sank into grieving thought, sorrowful, the tears falling fast from her eyes.

12.249.22 And the lord of beings caught up those tears in his two hands, and, for the good of mortals, entreated her once again.

12.250.1 Nārada said: Putting away her grief, that gentle one of long, far-reaching eyes, with palms joined and bowing low like a creeper bent down, then spoke.

12.250.2 "How, O best of speakers, should a woman such as I, created by you, come to be born to so dread a work, terrible to every living thing?

12.250.3 I am afraid of unrighteousness. Appoint me to a righteous task. Look upon me in my fear, O lord, with a kindly eye.

12.250.4 That I should not carry off the guiltless living — children, the aged, those in the prime of life — O lord of all that breathes, I bow to you: be gracious to me.

12.250.5 Beloved sons, friends, brothers, mothers, and fathers too — that men should brood upon these when dead, O god, of that I am afraid.

12.250.6 The flood of their piteous tears would scald me through endless years. Sorely afraid of them, I have come to you for refuge.

12.250.7 To the house of Yama, O god, the doer of evil deeds goes at the last. I beseech you, O giver of boons: show me your grace, O lord.

12.250.8 This is the boon I desire of you, O grandsire of the worlds; and by your grace I would wish to practise austerities, O lord of the gods."

12.250.9 The grandsire said: O Death, you were fashioned by me for the very purpose of destroying the creatures. Go, destroy you all the creatures, and do not hesitate.

12.250.10 This must inevitably come to pass; it cannot be otherwise. Do as I have said, O faultless-limbed and sinless one — fulfil my word.

12.250.11 Nārada said: Thus addressed, O mighty-armed conqueror of hostile cities, Death made no reply, but stood bowed down, her face turned up toward the lord.

12.250.12 Though addressed again and again, that fair one stood silent, as though her very life had gone from her. Then the god, the supreme lord of the gods,

12.250.13 Brahmā, self-possessed, was of himself appeased; and smiling, the lord of the worlds looked out upon all the worlds.

12.250.14 And when that unconquered and blessed one had laid aside his wrath, the maiden slipped away from his presence — so have we heard.

12.250.15 Having withdrawn without consenting to the destruction of the creatures, Death then, as if in haste, O king of kings, went off to Dhenuka.

12.250.16 There the goddess practised supreme and hard austerity: she stood upon one foot for fifteen padmas of years.

12.250.17 As she was thus performing her exceedingly hard austerity there, the mighty-splendoured Brahmā once again spoke these words:

12.250.18 "Carry out my word, O Death." Disregarding it, she swiftly stood again upon one foot for yet another seven —

12.250.19 she stood for six padmas, and five, and two, O bestower of honour; and then for ten thousand padmas more she ranged about in the company of deer.

12.250.20 Then going off again, O king, she kept the most exalted silence within the waters for eight thousand years, O ruler of earth.

12.250.21 Then that maiden went to the Kauśikī, O bull of the Bhāratas; and there, feeding on wind and water, she again practised her vow.

12.250.22 Then the greatly blessed one went on to the Gaṅgā and to lonely Meru, and stood there motionless as a log, out of her desire for the good of living beings.

12.250.23 Then on the summit of Himavat, where the gods had performed their sacrifices, there she stood upon her great toe, O king of kings, for yet another nikharva of years, and with effort she gratified the grandsire.

12.250.24 Then He who is the origin and the dissolution of the worlds said to her there: "What is this you do, my daughter? Let my word be carried out."

12.250.25 Then Death spoke again to the blessed grandsire: "I would not carry off the creatures, O god; once more I beseech your grace."

12.250.26 To her, trembling with the fear of unrighteousness and entreating him yet again, the god of gods then spoke these words, restraining her resolve:

12.250.27 "There is no unrighteousness for you, O Death. Gather in these creatures, O fair one. What I have spoken, O blessed lady, shall not in any way prove false here.

12.250.28 The eternal Law itself shall enter into you here; and I and the gods shall ever be intent upon your welfare.

12.250.29 And this further boon, desired in your heart, I grant you: the creatures, afflicted by disease, shall not come to you charged with any fault of yours.

12.250.30 Among men you shall be a man in form, among women a woman in shape, and among the third sort a being of neither kind."

12.250.31 Thus addressed, O great king, she spoke with joined palms once more to that great-souled and imperishable lord of the gods, saying, "No":

12.250.32 Then the god said to her: "O Death, gather in the race of men. No unrighteousness shall touch you; so will I ordain it, O fair one.

12.250.33 Those drops of tears that I saw fallen, which were caught and held in my two hands before — those, O Death, shall become diseases of dreadful form, and when the time comes they shall torment mankind.

12.250.34 At the last hour of all living beings you shall join desire and anger together upon them. Thus measureless Law shall come to you, and, dealing evenly with all, you shall incur no unrighteousness.

12.250.35 Thus you shall guard the Law as I have declared it, and you shall not plunge yourself into sin. Therefore welcome the office that has come to you, and, joining these together, gather in the living beings here."

12.250.36 Then she, for fear of a curse and under the name and charge of Death, said to him, "So be it." And thereafter, at the last hour of living beings, taking hold of desire and anger, she bereaves them of delusion and slays them.

12.250.37 Those diseases of Death, born of her falling tears, by which the bodies of men are racked — they come at the ending of the breath of all that lives. Therefore grieve not, but understand this with your understanding.

12.250.38 All the gods, at the ending of the breath of living beings, having gone forth, return again even so; and so too all men, at the ending of their breath, having gone, return like gods, O lion among kings.

12.250.39 The Wind, dread and dreadful-voiced, of mighty power, is the very life-breath of all living things; he takes manifold courses when the bodies of the embodied break apart. Therefore the Wind is the god of gods, supreme.

12.250.40 All the gods are marked out by the name of mortal, and all mortals are marked out by the name of god. Therefore mourn not your son, O lion among kings: your son, having attained heaven, rejoices there.

12.250.41 Thus Death, created by the god, gathers in the creatures duly when their time has come; and those diseases of hers, born of her tears, when the time has come, gather in the living beings here.

12.251.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: All these men are perplexed concerning the Law. What is this Law? Whence is the Law? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.251.2 Is this Law for the sake of this world, or rather for the sake of the next? Or may the Law serve both ends? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.251.3 Bhīṣma said: Right conduct, the Smṛti, and the Vedas — these are the threefold mark of the Law; and the wise declare profit, the fourth, to be a mark of the Law as well.

12.251.4 Though the rites be already prescribed, men later and former still resolve upon them. It is for the sustaining of worldly life that the rule of Law has here been laid down — a rule that ripens into happiness in both spheres, here and hereafter.

12.251.5 Failing to grasp the subtle Law, the wicked man cleaves to sin; nor do certain doers of evil escape from sin even in time of distress.

12.251.6 When a man becomes a knower of the Law, he speaks no evil. Good conduct is the very ground of the Law; resting upon that alone, you shall come to understand it.

12.251.7 When, possessed by unrighteousness, the thief seizes wealth, the robber takes delight in carrying off another's riches where there is no king.

12.251.8 But when others carry off that wealth of his, then he longs for a king; and then he envies those who are content with their own riches.

12.251.9 The pure man approaches the king's gate unafraid and without misgiving, for he sees no misdeed of any kind within his own inmost self.

12.251.10 The utterance of truth is good; there is nothing higher than truth. By truth is all upheld; upon truth does all stand established.

12.251.11 Even fierce doers of evil, having pledged the truth among themselves each by each, proceed without treachery and without breach of faith, relying upon it; for were they to act faithlessly toward one another, they would assuredly perish.

12.251.12 "Another's wealth is not to be taken" — this is the eternal Law. Yet the strong hold that it was set going by the weak; but when their own weakness is fixed upon them by fate, then that very Law pleases them.

12.251.13 For those who are endowed with strength are not therefore happy without end. Therefore let your mind in no wise be turned toward crookedness.

12.251.14 He has no fear from the wicked, nor from thieves, nor from the king. Doing wrong to no one in any thing, the pure man dwells without fear.

12.251.15 The thief is suspicious of everything, like a deer that has strayed into a village; the sin he himself has done in many ways he sees only in others.

12.251.16 The pure man goes forward glad, ever fearless on every side, for he sees no misdeed of his own reflected in others.

12.251.17 "One ought to give" — this Law has been declared by those devoted to the good of all beings; but the wealthy hold that it was set going by the destitute.

12.251.18 But when fate's stinginess falls upon them, then this very precept pleases them—for those who are rich are not, after all, forever happy.

12.251.19 Whatever deed a man would not wish others to do to him, that let him not do to others, knowing it would be hateful to himself.

12.251.20 He who is another man's paramour—what right has he to reproach anyone? Were another to do the like to him, he would not endure it: such is my conviction.

12.251.21 He who himself wishes to live—how could he slay another? Whatever a man would desire for himself, that let him intend for his fellow too.

12.251.22 With one's surplus enjoyments one should share with others who have nothing; for this very reason the Ordainer set lending at interest in motion.

12.251.23 As to the compact in which the gods would abide, so let it be; and if even in a time of gain one keeps to dharma, that constancy is fair indeed.

12.251.24 The wise declare that all dharma is grounded in what is dear and welcome; behold this marking-out of the signs of dharma and of its opposite, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.251.25 Bound up with the holding-together of the world, ordained of old by the Disposer, fixed upon the subtle aim of dharma—such is the supreme conduct of the good.

12.251.26 This mark of dharma has now been told to you, O best of the Kurus; therefore let your mind never in any way incline toward crookedness.

12.252.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Subtle and well has the mark of dharma been set forth by you; yet a certain notion stirs in me, which I would utter by way of inference.

12.252.2 The many questions that were in my heart you have answered; this further one I shall now put—not, O king, in any spirit of contention.

12.252.3 These [precepts] indeed bring men onward, set them forth, and carry them across; yet dharma cannot be known, O Bhārata, by mere rote recitation.

12.252.4 One dharma belongs to the man in easy circumstances, another to him in dire straits; how then can times of calamity be understood by rote?

12.252.5 Right conduct is held to be dharma, and the good are known by their conduct; but how can the attainable and the unattainable be told apart, when right conduct itself bears no fixed sign?

12.252.6 One sees a common man practicing unrighteousness under the guise of righteousness, and some uncommon man practicing righteousness under the guise of unrighteousness.

12.252.7 Again, its standard has been laid down by those versed in the scriptures; yet we have heard it said that the teachings of the Vedas dwindle age by age.

12.252.8 One set of dharmas held in the Kṛta age, another in the Tretā, and others in the Dvāpara; other dharmas hold in the Kali age, framed as it were to suit men's diminished powers.

12.252.9 "The word of sacred tradition is truth"—this is what holds the world together; yet beyond the traditions the Vedas have streamed forth, facing in every direction.

12.252.10 If they are all authoritative, then there is no [single] authority to be found; and when authority and non-authority stand in mutual contradiction, whence the standing of scripture itself?

12.252.11 When dharma is being carried off by the strong and the wicked, whatever ordinance is thereby corrupted—that ordinance too perishes.

12.252.12 Whether we know it thus or know it not, whether it can be known or cannot—[dharma] is finer than the razor's edge and heavier than a mountain.

12.252.13 At first it appears with the shape of a gandharva's city in the sky; but when the wise look closely upon it, it passes again into invisibility.

12.252.14 Like watering-troughs near a herd of cattle, like a channel in a field, O Bhārata—even the eternal dharma, though remembered, once forsaken is no more seen.

12.252.15 Some from desire, some from ruin, and others yet from sundry causes—many of the wicked, and others besides, take to empty and worthless conduct.

12.252.16 Dharma soon comes to be, yet it lies dissolved [unseen] within the good; others call such good men madmen, and even mock them.

12.252.17 For the multitudes have turned away, taking refuge in the law of kings; and no single mode of conduct is seen that is for the good of all.

12.252.18 By that very [conduct] another arises, and he in turn oppresses yet another; and again he is seen, by mere chance, in the selfsame form.

12.252.19 By the very means whereby one man rises, he oppresses others too; one should mark the want of single-pointedness in all modes of conduct alike.

12.252.20 Long ago attained by the seers, dharma was set forth of old; and by that ancient mode of conduct the ordinance abides eternal.

12.253.1 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they recite this ancient tale—the words of Tulādhāra concerning dharma, in his exchange with Jājali.

12.253.2 A certain forest-dwelling brahmin named Jājali, that great ascetic, having come to a spot beside the ocean, practiced austerities there.

12.253.3 Self-controlled and of measured fare, wearing bark-cloth, hide, and matted locks, smeared with dirt and grime, the wise sage [endured] for many a cycle of years.

12.253.4 Once, O lord of earth, that brahmin-seer of mighty splendor, dwelling in the waters, ranged through the worlds, beholding them, swift as thought.

12.253.5 On a certain occasion the sage, standing amid the waters, took to musing, as he gazed upon the earth bounded by the ocean, with its groves and forests:

12.253.6 "There is none in this world, among things moving or unmoving, who is my equal—who else along with me could pass through the waters and through the air?"

12.253.7 Then, being observed by the rākṣasas as he stood amid the waters, he spoke thus; and the piśācas said to him, "You ought not to speak in this manner.

12.253.8 Tulādhāra, a merchant by calling, of great renown in Vārāṇasī—even he does not deserve to speak as you do, O best of the twice-born."

12.253.9 Thus addressed by those beings, the great ascetic Jājali replied: "Let me behold that wise and illustrious Tulādhāra."

12.253.10 As that seer spoke thus, the rākṣasas lifted him up out of the ocean and said, "Go, taking this road, O best of the twice-born."

12.253.11 Thus addressed by those beings, Jājali then set forth downcast, and approaching Tulādhāra in Vārāṇasī, he spoke these words.

12.253.12 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What meritorious deed had Jājali done of old, dear sir, whereby he attained the highest perfection? That you ought to explain to us.

12.253.13 Bhīṣma said: He had become exceedingly devoted to fearsome austerity, that great ascetic, given to bathing in the river at evening and at dawn,

12.253.14 duly tending the sacred fires, intent above all on the recitation of scripture—that brahmin Jājali, versed in the rule of the forest-hermit, blazing with spiritual splendor.

12.253.15 Steadfast in truth and austerity, yet he did not [truly] perceive dharma; in the rains he lay beneath the open sky, in winter he took to the water,

12.253.16 in summer enduring wind and scorching sun—and still he did not find dharma; he bore beds of pain of many kinds, and rolling upon the bare earth.

12.253.17 Then once, during the rains, that sage took his stand beneath the open sky and received the water from the firmament upon his head, again and again.

12.253.18 Then his matted locks grew sodden and tangled, O lord, and from his constant ranging in the wild ever filthy and caked with dirt.

12.253.19 Then once that great ascetic, taking no food and feeding on air alone, stood still as a log, unmoved, and stirred not at all.

12.253.20 While he stood thus, become like a tree-stump, motionless, O Bhārata—a pair of kuliṅga sparrows, O king, made a nest upon his head.

12.253.21 That compassionate brahmin-seer watched the mated pair as they fashioned their little nest there in his matted locks with strands of grass.

12.253.22 And since that great ascetic, become like a stump, stirred not at all, the two birds, grown wholly trusting, dwelt there in ease.

12.253.23 Then, when the rains had passed and the autumn season had come, the pair, made trusting and overcome by desire, after the manner ordained of Prajāpati,

12.253.24 those two skyfarers, O king, let fall their eggs upon his head; and that splendid brahmin of strict vows became aware of them.

12.253.25 And though aware, that mighty Jājali stirred not at all; his mind ever fixed upon dharma, he would not consent to unrighteousness.

12.253.26 And day after day the two would come and dwell upon his head, reassured and full of joy, O mighty one.

12.253.27 Then from the well-grown eggs the little birds were hatched, and they grew up in that very place; yet Jājali did not waver.

12.253.28 Guarding the eggs of the kuliṅgas, that man of disciplined vows, the righteous one, stood thus motionless and composed.

12.253.29 Then in the fullness of time those fledglings grew into birds, and the sage marked the little ones now grown of wing.

12.253.30 Then once, beholding those birds there, that man of disciplined vows, the best of the wise, became filled with the highest delight.

12.253.31 Seeing them thus full-grown, the pair of parent birds attained their joy and dwelt there fearless, together with their offspring.

12.253.32 And the brahmin watched the fledged birds fly off and return again, evening after evening; yet Jājali did not waver.

12.253.33 Sometimes coming back and going off again, unbroken in their comings—and at last forsaken by their mother and father—yet Jājali did not waver.

12.253.34 Then the little birds, having gone off by day to forage, would return again at evening, O king, to dwell in that selfsame place.

12.253.35 Once the birds flew off for five days, and on the sixth day they came back together; yet Jājali did not waver.

12.253.36 And by degrees, when those birds had come fully into their strength, they no longer returned for many days at a time.

12.253.37 Once the birds flew off and for a whole month did not come back; thereupon, O king, Jājali set forth.

12.253.38 Then, when they had vanished away, Jājali, filled with wonder, formed the thought "I am perfected"; and thereupon pride entered into him.

12.253.39 Seeing the birds thus gone forth, that man of fixed vows, esteeming himself, took it for a high thing and became greatly pleased.

12.253.40 Having bathed in the river and gratified the fire with oblation, that great ascetic then went forth toward the rising sun.

12.253.41 Honoring [the memory of] the sparrows upon his head, Jājali, foremost of those who recite, clapped his arms then toward the sky [crying], "Dharma has been attained by me!"

12.253.42 Then there came a voice from the firmament, and Jājali heard it: "In dharma you are not the equal of Tulādhāra, O Jājali.

12.253.43 In Vārāṇasī dwells Tulādhāra, the man of great wisdom; even he does not deserve to speak as you speak, O brahmin."

12.253.44 Falling under the sway of indignation, in his longing to behold Tulādhāra, he ranged over the earth, O king—that sage who made his home wherever evening found him.

12.253.45 After a long while he came to the city of Vārāṇasī, and there he beheld Tulādhāra selling his wares.

12.253.46 And he too, the one who lived by his goods, no sooner saw that brahmin approaching than he rose up full of joy and honored him with a welcome.

12.253.47 Tulādhāra said: That you were coming was known to me, O brahmin—of that there is no doubt; hear now the word that I shall speak, O best of the twice-born.

12.253.48 Resorting to the marshy shore of the ocean, you performed great austerity; and yet, before, you in no wise knew the very meaning of dharma.

12.253.49 Then, O brahmin, when you had been perfected by your austerity, the little birds were quickly hatched upon your head, and they were cherished by you.

12.253.50 And when, fledged at last, they went off here and there to forage—deeming then, O brahmin, that dharma had sprung from those sparrows—you heard a voice in the sky concerning me, O best of the twice-born;

12.253.51 and then, falling under the sway of indignation, you have come here. What kindness may I do you? Tell me that, O best of the twice-born.

12.254.1 Bhīṣma said: Addressed thus by the wise Tulādhāra, the sagacious Jājali, foremost among those who murmur prayers, then spoke these words.

12.254.2 O trader, you who sell all manner of flavors and all manner of fragrances, and trees and herbs, and their roots and fruits as well—

12.254.3 how have you attained this conclusive wisdom? Whence has it come to you? Tell me all of it, entire and without omission, O greatly intelligent one.

12.254.4 Thus addressed by the illustrious brāhmaṇa, Tulādhāra the vaiśya, knower of the truths of dharma and its purpose, then spoke of the subtleties of dharma to Jājali of severe austerities, himself contented in wisdom, O king.

12.254.5 I know, O Jājali, the eternal dharma with its secret—the ancient dharma of goodwill, conducing to the welfare of all beings, which people have known of old.

12.254.6 That mode of life which works no injury to creatures, or but little injury—that is the highest dharma, and by it I live, O Jājali.

12.254.7 With sticks and grasses already cut by others I have made this dwelling of mine; lac, the lotus-perfume, costly aloe-wood, and fragrances both high and low—

12.254.8 and these and those many flavors, save intoxicants, O sage among brāhmaṇas—having bought them from another's hand, I sell them again without any deceit.

12.254.9 He who is ever a friend to all, and devoted to the welfare of all in deed, in thought, and in word—he knows dharma, O Jājali.

12.254.10 I neither praise nor condemn the deeds of others, beholding the manifold variety of the world as one beholds the sky, O sage among brāhmaṇas.

12.254.11 I neither favor nor oppose; I neither hate nor desire; I am the same toward all beings. Behold my vow, O Jājali.

12.254.12 For one freed from the liked and the disliked, with fondness and passion cast out, my scale stands even toward all beings, O Jājali.

12.254.13 Know me then, O Jājali, to be impartial toward the whole world, O best of the wise—one to whom a clod, a stone, and gold are alike.

12.254.14 As the blind, the deaf, and the maddened, having only their breath, are forever with their doors shut by the gods—such, in my seeing, is the likeness of men.

12.254.15 As the old, the sick, and the wasted are without longing for sense-objects, so too has my own longing for wealth, desire, and enjoyments wholly passed away.

12.254.16 When a man fears not, and when others fear not from him, when he neither desires nor hates—then indeed the twice-born is perfected.

12.254.17 When he harbors no evil intent toward any being, in deed, in thought, or in word—then he attains to Brahman.

12.254.18 There has been, and there will be, no dharma whatever to equal it: he who is a refuge of safety to all beings attains the fearless state.

12.254.19 But he from whom the whole world shrinks as from the very jaws of death—through cruelty of speech and harshness of punishment—he himself comes upon great fear.

12.254.20 We follow the conduct of the high-souled elders who lived rightly, blessed with sons and grandsons, who did no harm to any creature.

12.254.21 The eternal dharma has been lost, obscured by what passes for good custom; by that custom the learned, the ascetic, or the mighty is led astray.

12.254.22 Through right conduct, O Jājali, the wise man would swiftly attain dharma—he who, self-restrained, moves among the good with a heart free of malice.

12.254.23 As a log of wood borne along by chance in a river might, by mere chance, come together with some other log—

12.254.24 and there yet other timbers join from this side and that—grasses, sticks, and dung, drifting at times unregarded—even so has this custom of men arisen, from this source and that.

12.254.25 He from whom no creature ever shrinks at all, in any way, attains forever safety from all beings, O sage.

12.254.26 But he from whom the whole world flees, O learned one, as from a wolf, as all water-creatures flee to the shore when one cries out aloud—

12.254.27 One has helpers, another has wealth, yet another is fortunate—it is of just such men that the poets speak in the treatises, clever men of shallow conscience and ready conclusions, all for the sake of fame.

12.254.28 Whatever fruit the gift of safety to all beings yields, that very fruit one enjoys here through austerities, through sacrifices and gifts, and through words rooted in wisdom.

12.254.29 He who in this world gives to all beings the gift of safety as his sacrificial fee gains the reward of the gift of safety, as one who has offered every sacrifice; there is no dharma greater than non-violence toward living beings.

12.254.30 He from whom no creature ever shrinks at all, in any way, attains complete safety from all beings, O great sage.

12.254.31 But he from whom the world shrinks as from a serpent come into the house attains no dharma, neither in this world nor in the next.

12.254.32 For one who has made himself the self of all beings and beholds all creatures rightly, the gods themselves are bewildered as to his path, for he leaves no track, though they seek his footprint.

12.254.33 The gift of safety to living beings, they say, is the highest of all gifts. I tell you this in truth—believe it, O Jājali.

12.254.34 The very man who was fortunate becomes wretched again; seeing the ruinous undoing of deeds, people ever turn away in revulsion.

12.254.35 For no dharma here is without a reason, however subtle, O Jājali; it is for the sake of present and future beings that the teaching of dharma was set forth.

12.254.36 Because of its subtlety it cannot be fully grasped, having many a hidden turn; yet, perceiving it in part, one comes to understand the other customs as well.

12.254.37 Those who cut off the testicles of beasts, those who pierce their nostrils, who load them with heavy burdens, who bind them and break them to the yoke—

12.254.38 and who kill living creatures and devour them—how is it you do not censure these? Men make use of their fellow men, enjoying them as slaves;

12.254.39 by killing, binding, and coercion they force them to labor day and night. You yourself know what pain there is in being struck and slain.

12.254.40 In beings endowed with the five senses dwells all that is divine—Āditya, the moon, Vāyu, Brahmā, the breath of life, sacrifice, and Yama.

12.254.41 When you traffic in these living things, what scruple is there over the dead? What scruple, O brāhmaṇa, over oil, over clarified butter, over honey, water, or herbs?

12.254.42 Cattle reared in comfort in a land free of gadflies and mosquitoes—knowing them dear to their mothers—men seize and in many ways drive off to regions thick with gadflies and sharp grass and deep mire.

12.254.43 Draught-beasts crushed by their loads sink down, others undone against all rule. I do not think even the slaying of an embryo worse than that act.

12.254.44 Men deem agriculture a virtuous calling, yet that livelihood is most cruel: the iron-mouthed plough wounds the earth and the creatures that lodge within it. And look likewise upon the oxen yoked to it, O Jājali.

12.254.45 'Not to be slain'—such is the very name of cattle; who then has the right to slay them? Pṛṣadhra wrought a great evil, as one who slaughters a cow.

12.254.46 For the seers and the ascetics declared this to Nahuṣa: 'You have slain the cow, who is a mother, and the bull, who is the Lord of Creatures; you have done, Nahuṣa, what ought not be done, and through you we shall meet with terror.'

12.254.47 And those greatly blessed seers brought down a hundred and one diseases upon all creatures, upon all living beings, O Jājali, and they pronounced Nahuṣa a slayer of the unborn, saying: 'We shall offer no oblation for you.'

12.254.48 Having spoken thus, those high-souled ones, all beholders of the true meaning—the seers and the tranquil ascetics—at once made their declaration.

12.254.49 Such inauspicious and dreadful customs as these, O Jājali, you do not, for all your skill, perceive, simply because they are universally practiced.

12.254.50 One should seek dharma upon principle, and not merely follow the way of the world. As for him who would strike me and him who praises me—hear of this too, O Jājali:

12.254.51 those two would be alike to me, for I have neither liked nor disliked. Such a dharma as this the wise extol.

12.254.52 For, furnished with sound reasoning, it is honored by ascetics and by those ever devoted to dharma, and it is marked out by its subtlety.

12.255.1 Jājali said: By the dharma you have set forth, you who hold the scale, the gate of heaven and the very livelihood of creatures will be barred.

12.255.2 For from agriculture food arises, and thereby you yourself live; and by cattle and by herbs do mortals live, O trader.

12.255.3 From these too sacrifice arises—yet you prate of the denier's creed; for this world could never go on if it abandoned husbandry altogether.

12.255.4 Tulādhāra said: I shall expound the right way of life, O Jājali; I am no denier, O brāhmaṇa, nor do I condemn sacrifice—yet one who truly knows sacrifice is very hard to find.

12.255.5 Homage to the brāhmaṇa's sacrifice and to those who know sacrifice; for the brāhmaṇas have forsaken their own sacrifice and taken up here the kṣatriya's sacrifice.

12.255.6 It has been set in motion, O brāhmaṇa, by the greedy, by those bent on wealth, by deniers who, not understanding the words of the Veda, take what is false for what merely wears the semblance of truth.

12.255.7 'This must be given, this must be given'—and he seeks no end to it; hence arise theft and forbidden deeds, O Jājali. That oblation alone is well made by which the gods are gladdened.

12.255.8 By reverence, by oblation, by recitation of the Veda, and by herbs let the worship of the gods be performed, as the scriptures show.

12.255.9 From the rites and works of the wicked is born a crooked offspring; from the greedy is born the greedy, from the impartial the impartial.

12.255.10 As is the sacrificer in himself, so too are his priests, and so his offspring; from sacrifice offspring arises, as pure water from the sky.

12.255.11 The oblation cast into the fire, O brāhmaṇa, attends upon the sun; from the sun is born rain, from rain food, and from food creatures.

12.255.12 Therefore, from sacrifice well performed, the men of old won all their desires; the earth ripened her harvests untilled, and the plants grew at their blessings—yet they looked for no reward in their sacrifices or in themselves at all.

12.255.13 But those who, anxious for reward, would sacrifice in any selfish fashion are born again as wicked men, as cheats, as the greedy whose end is gain.

12.255.14 By his unholy deeds such a one goes to the worlds of the doers of evil. The man who would make right out of wrong and do the unholy is of evil soul, of undeveloped wisdom, ever so here, O best of the twice-born.

12.255.15 The brāhmaṇa who knows both kinds of duty—what is to be done as that which is to be done—dwells as Brahman itself in the world, and falls back no more into the bondage of obligation.

12.255.16 And action shorn of its qualities is the higher, so we have heard; that is, to forbear from harming any being, and to be restrained as to its fruit.

12.255.17 Those whose sacrifice is truth, whose sacrifice is self-restraint, who are free of greed and content within themselves, renouncers of whatever arises—all such folk have set envy at a distance.

12.255.18 Knowing the truth of the field and the knower of the field, perfected in their own sacrifice, studying the holy Veda, they gladden even the immortals.

12.255.19 All divinity entire, all Brahman, rests upon the brāhmaṇa; when he is satisfied the gods are satisfied, and they are content when the contented man is content, O Jājali.

12.255.20 As one sated with every flavor takes joy in nothing more, so for him who is content in wisdom there is a contentment, perpetual, that gives rise to bliss.

12.255.21 Delighting in dharma, finding their joy in dharma, wholly resolved, the seekers after wisdom say: 'There is yet more for us, beyond, in very truth.'

12.255.22 Some, possessed of knowledge and discernment, longing to cross to the farthest shore beyond—that shore is supremely holy ever, joined with a holy lineage.

12.255.23 Going whither men neither grieve nor fall away nor suffer pain—those of pure nature attain here to that abode of Brahman.

12.255.24 They desire not heaven, nor do they sacrifice with wealth got for renown; they follow the path of the good, according to their power, through non-violence.

12.255.25 Trees and herbs and fruit and root—these they know for their offerings; greedy priests, set on gain, do not conduct their sacrifices for them.

12.255.26 Pursuing only their own true purpose, the twice-born, perfected in their works, performed sacrifice once again, out of a wish to bless the people.

12.255.27 That they might lead the people to heaven by the practice of their own dharma—such is the conviction that abides in me, impartial in all things, O Jājali.

12.255.28 By those rites which the wise ever employ in sacrifice, O bull among the twice-born, they journey along that path of the gods, O great sage.

12.255.29 For one kind there is return to rebirth, but for the wise there is no returning; both these, O Jājali, travel by the path of the gods.

12.255.30 For such men the oxen yoke and draw of their own accord, and the cows give milk of themselves, by the mere fulfilment of their mind's resolve.

12.255.31 Of themselves they take up the sacrificial posts and worship with their own well-earned offerings; he whose self is so refined is worthy to lay hold of a cow for sacrifice.

12.255.32 But men not of that stature, O brāhmaṇa, should sacrifice with herbs and plants alone; setting the renunciation born of wisdom foremost, such is the path I declare to you.

12.255.33 Free of craving, undertaking nothing, offering no obeisance and no praise, undiminished yet spent of all works — him the gods know as the true brāhmaṇa.

12.255.34 Neither reciting the scriptures aloud, nor sacrificing, nor giving among brāhmaṇas, yet seeking a worldly livelihood — to what goal does such a man come, O Jājali? Tell me how, making this his deity, he may attain the fruit of sacrifice.

12.255.35 Jājali said: We have not heard the very truth of the sages; I ask you, O merchant — this is a hard matter. Not heeding what went ever before, the seers set down no doctrine higher than this.

12.255.36 In this holy ford of the self the beasts could not find their happiness; then by which deed of his own, O merchant, may a man attain happiness? Tell me this, O greatly wise one — deeply indeed do I trust your word.

12.255.37 Tulādhāra said: Whether they offer sacrifices or none, those rites are nowhere worthy of the true offering. With clarified butter, with milk and curds, above all with the full oblation — yes, by her hair, her horn, her hoof, the cow herself brings the sacrifice to be.

12.255.38 And by this rule a man appoints his wife to her office and so performs it; for the sacrificial cake is declared the pure oblation that stands for all the beasts.

12.255.39 All rivers are as the Sarasvatī, all mountains holy; the self alone, O Jājali, is the sacred ford — do not be a stranger wandering from land to land.

12.255.40 Practising such duties as these in this world, O Jājali, while seeking righteousness through outward means, a man does not attain the blessed realms.

12.255.41 Bhīṣma said: Such duties as these does Tulādhāra extol — duties accomplished by sound reasoning and ever followed by the good.

12.256.1 Tulādhāra said: Whether by the good or by the wicked this path has been resorted to, let it be made plain before your eyes, and then you shall know how the matter truly stands.

12.256.2 These many birds wander all about you — hawks and creatures of other kinds, hatched and reared upon your very head.

12.256.3 Call to them, O great brāhmaṇa, as they settle here and there; behold them clinging to your hands and feet and over all your body.

12.256.4 The birds, cherished by you, honour you as their father; beyond doubt you are their father — call to your children, O Jājali.

12.256.5 Bhīṣma said: Then, summoned by that Jājali, the winged ones uttered divine speech, speaking, so it is said, the word of dharma.

12.256.6 The work founded upon non-injury and the rest bears fruit both here and beyond; but rivalry destroys it, O brāhmaṇa, and that rivalry, once roused, destroys the man himself.

12.256.7 Sacrifice cannot save the speech and mind that grow only through faith; here those versed in old lore recite the verses sung by Brahmā.

12.256.8 The mind of the pure man without faith and of the impure man possessed of faith — the gods deemed these alike in the work of sacrifice.

12.256.9 Of the learned but stingy man and of the generous usurer the gods weighed both, and reckoned their food as of equal worth.

12.256.10 Prajāpati said to them: This judgement is unequal. The generous man's food is hallowed by faith; the other's is spoiled by faithlessness. The generous man's food may be eaten, but not the stingy man's, nor the usurer's.

12.256.11 He alone who lacks faith is unworthy of the gods' oblation; his food, and his alone, is not to be eaten — so know those learned in dharma.

12.256.12 Faithlessness is the highest sin; faith is the deliverer from sin. The man of faith casts off his sin as a serpent its worn-out skin.

12.256.13 Greatest among purifying things is renunciation joined with faith; he who has turned away from the faults of conduct and holds fast to faith is verily pure.

12.256.14 What need has such a one of austerity, of observance, of any further discipline of self? This man is made of faith; whatever his faith is, that very thing is he.

12.256.15 Thus has dharma been declared by the good who perceive its meaning and aim; we, desiring knowledge, have come to you out of our vision of dharma.

12.256.16 Cast off rivalry, O greatly wise one, and then you shall attain the highest. Faithful and full of faith, fixed in his own path of duty, this merchant here is the worthier man, O Jājali.

12.256.17 Thus was the matter of high import set forth by Tulādhāra, and rightly was the eternal dharma grasped and declared.

12.256.18 Having heard the words of that Tulādhāra of renowned power, the twice-born one, O son of Kuntī, won his way to peace.

12.256.19 Then before long that Tulādhāra and he, both greatly wise, having gone to heaven, dwelt there in ease, each attaining his own station won by the fruit of his deeds.

12.256.20 For those who are even-minded, faithful, restrained, and pure of heart, when they perform what is called sacrifice, the sacrifice is never found wanting.

12.256.21 Faith indeed is the goddess of the quality of goodness, daughter of Sūrya, O king — Sāvitrī, the bringer-forth, and the giver of trust to all living things.

12.256.22 Faith preserves what is grown through speech and grown through mind, O Bhārata. This has been taught you by way of parable — what more do you wish to hear?

12.257.1 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they tell this ancient tale, sung by King Vicakhnu out of compassion for living creatures.

12.257.2 Seeing a bull with its post struck down and hearing the loud bellowing of the cattle at the cow-pen of the sacrificial ground, that king looked on.

12.257.3 "May it be well with the cattle in all the worlds!" — thus he made his pronouncement; for once slaughter had begun, this blessing was devised.

12.257.4 It was by men of no fixed bounds, deluded, denying the scriptures, of doubting and unsettled mind, that the killing of beasts came to be praised.

12.257.5 In all works non-injury is the law — so spoke Manu whose very self was righteousness; it is from lust and passion that men slaughter beasts outside the altar.

12.257.6 Therefore the subtle dharma should be discharged by the discerning man according to right measure; for non-injury is held greater than all other duties.

12.257.7 Having fasted and become rigorous in vows, yet abandoning the revealed truths the Veda ordains — calling it 'observance,' these are no observances at all, but the wretched practices of men set on reward.

12.257.8 If men, on the pretext of sacrifices, of sacred trees, and of sacrificial posts, eat flesh in vain, this is no dharma to be commended.

12.257.9 Flesh, honey, liquor, fish, strong drink, and rice cooked with sesame — all this was set going by cheats; it is nowhere ordained in the Vedas.

12.257.10 Out of lust, delusion, and greed was this craving set in motion; in all sacrifices the brāhmaṇas recognize Viṣṇu alone, and his worship is held to be with milk-rice and with flowers.

12.257.11 And the trees fit for sacrifice that are appointed in the Vedas, and whatever else is to be done, when well prepared in purity by the great-souled and pure of heart — all that is worthy of the gods.

12.257.12 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For one who does no injury, the body and its distresses are at strife; how shall the body's sustenance be secured for one who undertakes nothing?

12.257.13 Bhīṣma said: So that the body does not waste away, so that it does not fall under the sway of death, in such measure should one engage in works; the able man should practise dharma so.

12.258.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How should one examine a deed to be done — swiftly, or with long deliberation? In this stronghold of hard choices you are in every way our highest teacher.

12.258.2 Bhīṣma said: On this point too they tell this ancient tale of what befell long ago to Cirakārin in the line of Aṅgiras.

12.258.3 O Cirakārin, blessings on you, blessings on you, O Cirakārin! For the man who acts deliberately is wise, and offends not in his deeds.

12.258.4 Cirakārin, the greatly wise, was the son of Gautama; for he undertook all his tasks long and with careful regard.

12.258.5 Long pondering his aims, long waking, long sleeping, because he carried out his tasks only after long delay, he was therefore called Cirakārin, 'the Slow-Doer.'

12.258.6 He earned the name of sluggard and was called dull-witted by people of nimble but shallow understanding, who see not far ahead.

12.258.7 Now, upon some transgression, passing over his other sons, he was bidden by his enraged father: "Slay this mother of yours!"

12.258.8 Having slowly answered "So be it," by his very nature the Slow-Doer, reflecting in his deliberate way, fell long to pondering.

12.258.9 How shall I carry out my father's command, and how shall I not slay my mother? How shall I keep from sinking, like a wicked man, into this snare disguised as dharma?

12.258.10 A father's command is the highest dharma; yet a son's own duty is the protection of his mother, and sonship is bound and not its own master — how should this not torment me?

12.258.11 Who, having slain a woman, and his mother at that, could ever know happiness? And who, by slighting his father, could ever win a firm standing?

12.258.12 Not to slight the father is fitting; to uphold and protect the mother is fitting too. Both these claims deserve forbearance — how shall I overstep either of them?

12.258.13 For the father places his own self within the wife, that a child be born, for the sustaining of character, conduct, lineage, and family.

12.258.14 I myself am that very self, brought forth again by my father into the state of a son; how then should I lack understanding? — and so he came to know his own origin.

12.258.15 What the father pronounces at the birth-rite and at the rite of initiation — that firm confirmation suffices to establish the reverence due to the father.

12.258.16 The father is the foremost teacher, the highest dharma, a benefactor through nurture and the gift of learning; whatever the father declares is dharma, and that too is firmly settled in the Vedas.

12.258.17 A son is to his father but a source of joy, whereas the father is everything to the son; all things — body and the rest, the gifts that are to be given — the father alone bestows.

12.258.18 Therefore the father's word must be done, and in no way questioned; even his sins are cleansed away for the man who carries out his father's word.

12.258.19 In enjoyment, in fortune, in childbearing, in the witness of all the world, in union with a husband, and in the parting of the bride's hair —

12.258.20 The father is heaven, the father is dharma, the father is the highest austerity; when the father is brought to delight, all the gods are delighted.

12.258.21 Whatever blessings the father pronounces, those come to that man; the father is the expiation of all sins, in whatever he gives his glad approval.

12.258.22 The blossom is loosed from its stalk, the fruit is loosed from its stem; but the father, though wearied by his love for his sons, never lets his love go.

12.258.23 Thus far has the son's reverence for the father been pondered; but the father is the lesser station — now I shall reflect upon the mother.

12.258.24 This frame of mine, formed of the five elements in mortal life — of it my mother is the cause, as the fire-stick is of the fire; the mother is the kindling-block of men's bodies, the soothing of all who suffer.

12.258.25 He grieves not, nor does old age drag him down, who, even bereft of fortune, comes home and finds one to call 'Mother.'

12.258.26 He who, surrounded by sons and grandsons, still takes refuge with his mother, moves about like a child of two years even at the close of a hundred years.

12.258.27 Able or unable, lean or full of flesh — the mother guards her son all the same; no other is his sustainer by ordained right.

12.258.28 Then a man grows old when he grows sorrowful; then the world becomes empty for him, when he is parted from his mother.

12.258.29 There is no shade like a mother's, no refuge like a mother's, no protection like a mother's, no fountain of comfort like a mother's.

12.258.30 For bearing him in her womb she is the sustainer; for giving him birth she is called the mother; for the nourishing of his limbs she is 'Ambā'; and for bringing forth a hero she is the hero's mother.

12.258.31 For tending the infant she is 'Śuśrū'; the mother is the body's own nearest source. The man of sense would slay her only if his head were no hollow vessel — that is, if he had lost all reason.

12.258.32 What compact was made in the joining of the husband's and wife's life-breath, that the mother knows, or the father; but the truth of the matter rests with the mother.

12.258.33 The mother knows the lineage; the mother knows whose son he is. For her mere act of bearing him there is love, while the father's affection toward his offspring rests on trust alone.

12.258.34 Having of their own will taken her hand in marriage and entered upon a shared duty with her, if men then drive their women away, those women do not deserve to be cast off.

12.258.35 For a man is a woman's bhartṛ because he supports her, and her pati because he protects her; but when these virtues fail in him, he is neither her supporter nor her protector nor her lord.

12.258.36 Thus the woman commits no offense; it is the man alone who offends; and in committing a grave transgression, it is the man alone who is at fault.

12.258.37 For a woman's husband is her highest lord, declared to be her supreme deity; and she has given her very self, a self equal to his own, as the highest gift. Since in all matters the fault falls upon the man, women themselves commit no offense.

12.258.38 And as for any command not spoken yet pressed upon a woman for the sating of lust, in him who would so remind her there is plainly unrighteousness; of this there is no doubt.

12.258.39 That a woman, and above all a mother set in the highest reverence, is not to be slain—this even brute beasts, lacking all discernment, understand.

12.258.40 They know the father to be the gathering of all the gods made one; yet out of the affection that belongs to mortals and to gods alike, one turns toward the mother.

12.258.41 As Cirakārin pondered thus at length, in keeping with his slow-acting nature, a long stretch of time passed by; and then his father came to him.

12.258.42 Medhātithi, the deeply wise Gautama, steadfast in austerity, had in that interval reflected upon the breach of his wife's conduct.

12.258.43 Scorched by grief, shedding tears in plenty, and brought through the calm grace of learning and fortitude to remorse, he spoke.

12.258.44 "Purandara, lord of the three worlds, came to my hermitage; taking up the guise of a guest, he assumed the form of a brāhmaṇa.

12.258.45 He was soothed with fitting and gracious words, honored with a welcome, and by her, in due form, was offered the guest-water and the water for his feet.

12.258.46 Told, 'I am subject to another,' yet he said, 'I shall press my suit by craft.' In the misfortune that arose from this, the woman bears no transgression.

12.258.47 Thus neither the woman, nor I, nor that wandering lord of the gods has sinned against dharma; it is heedlessness alone that has done the wrong.

12.258.48 The seers who have raised their seed on high call jealousy a born vice; and I, hurled down by jealousy, am sunk in the ocean of evil deeds.

12.258.49 Should I slay a virtuous woman, and a wife condemned only out of my own vice, a wife who is mine to cherish and sustain—who then will carry me across?"

12.258.50 "Cirakārin, whom I commanded in a moment's haste, is noble of mind; if today he be true to his slow-acting way, he will save me from this sin.

12.258.51 O Cirakārika, blessings on you—blessings on you, O Cirakārika! If today you are still slow to act, then you are truly Cirakārika.

12.258.52 Save me, and your mother too, and the austerity I have amassed, and your own self from sins—be this day Cirakārika!

12.258.53 Slow-acting is your inborn way, joined to a wisdom that takes its time; let it bear fruit for you today—be this day Cirakārika!

12.258.54 Long were you longed for by your mother, long carried in her womb; make your slow-acting nature bear fruit, O Cirakārika!

12.258.55 Out of anguish he lingers long; restrained, he sleeps long—consider the long anguish of us both, O Cirakārika!"

12.258.56 Thus grieving, O king, the great seer Gautama then beheld his son Cirakārin standing close at hand.

12.258.57 And Cirakārin, seeing his father in deepest grief, cast aside his weapon and, bowing his head, set about winning his father's favor.

12.258.58 And Gautama, seeing his son fallen with his head upon the ground, and his wife unharmed, came to the highest joy.

12.258.59 For that great-souled one had not driven his wife to ruin, dwelling as he did in the solitude of the hermitage; and his son too had been composed.

12.258.60 He might have slain her without reproach, with his son standing weapon in hand; yet, the boy having humbly asked his counsel, he could now resolve upon his own course of action.

12.258.61 And seeing his son bowed at his feet, the thought came to him: 'Out of fear he is concealing the rashness of having taken up the weapon.'

12.258.62 Then the father praised him long, long kissed him upon the head, long held him in both arms, and uttered, 'Live long!'

12.258.63 Thus that deeply wise Gautama, filled with love and gladness, embraced his son and spoke these words.

12.258.64 "O Cirakārika, blessings on you—be ever slow to act, and live long! Yet while you tarried, I was long and grievously stricken with sorrow."

12.258.65 And the learned Gautama, best of sages, also spoke these verses, founded on the recital of the virtues of the steadfast slow-acting ones.

12.258.66 "Slowly should one bind a friend, and slowly cast off a friendship once made; for a friend made slowly deserves to be kept long.

12.258.67 In passion, in arrogance, in pride, in enmity, in sinful deeds, and in any unkind act that must be done, the slow-acting man is praised.

12.258.68 In the unproven offenses of kinsmen, of friends, of servants, and of womenfolk, the slow-acting man is praised."

12.258.69 Thus, O Bhārata, that Gautama was pleased with his son for that deed, O Kaurava—pleased by that very slowness to act.

12.258.70 So a man who reflects in all his undertakings, and after long deliberation comes to a decision, does not grieve for long thereafter.

12.258.71 He holds his anger long in check, long restrains his action, and no deed that breeds remorse befalls him.

12.258.72 Long let him wait upon his elders, long attend and honor them; long let him practice the duties of dharma, and long pursue his inquiry.

12.258.73 Long attending upon the wise, long serving the cultured, and long disciplining himself, a man comes in time to a state beyond contempt.

12.258.74 Even when another utters words bound up with dharma, let him question long and answer long; thus he is never long despised.

12.258.75 Having dwelt for many years in that hermitage, the brāhmaṇa of mighty austerities then went to heaven, together with his son.

12.259.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How should a king protect his subjects and yet cause no one distress? I ask you, best of the good; tell me that, grandfather.

12.259.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recite an ancient tale—the dialogue of Dyumatsena with King Satyavat.

12.259.3 Satyavat spoke what had not been spoken before—so we have heard—when, by his own father's order, certain men were being led away to execution.

12.259.4 "Righteousness passes into unrighteousness, and unrighteousness into righteousness, if killing were to be called a duty—this ought not to be."

12.259.5 Dyumatsena said: If non-killing were the law, then what could ever count as duty at all? If robbers were never slain, O Satyavat, a ruinous confusion would arise.

12.259.6 'This is mine'—such a claim would have no force in the age of Kali, and the very course of worldly life could not go on. If you know otherwise, declare it to us.

12.259.7 Satyavat said: All three of the lower orders should be made to hold fast to the brāhmaṇas; and of those bound by the cords of dharma, only a few will go astray.

12.259.8 Whichever of them should transgress, let the twice-born point him out, saying, 'This man will not heed me'; upon such a one let the king sit in judgment.

12.259.9 What the scripture lays down in accord with the truth of each case—that must be carried out; killing is not to be ordered otherwise, nor deeds done without examining them by the science of statecraft as ordained.

12.259.10 When a king slays robbers, more often than not he destroys the guiltless along with them; for when a man is killed, his wife, mother, father, and son are killed in him. Therefore, where one man has wronged another, let the king judge with care.

12.259.11 An evil man may one day come to good character; and even from the good, born of those who are evil, there may spring an unworthy offspring.

12.259.12 No root-and-branch slaughter should be carried out; that is not the eternal law. Indeed, even without killing, expiation may be prescribed.

12.259.13 By rebuke, by imprisonment, by disfigurement, and by the punishment of death are such men to be afflicted, but not at once with the full measure of harm.

12.259.14 When, seeking refuge, they come round to the royal chaplain, saying, 'Brāhmaṇa, we shall do no sin again,'

12.259.15 then they deserve to be released—such is the king's ordinance. A brāhmaṇa, shaven and bearing the staff and deerskin, is worthy to receive a fresh garment of pardon.

12.259.16 For graver and graver offenses, repeated again and again, men deserve release—but not in the same measure as at the first.

12.259.17 Dyumatsena said: Wherever the people can be held within their bounds by a compact, that is called dharma—but only so long as it is not overstepped.

12.259.18 But if no one were ever put to death, everything would fall into ruin. In the earlier ages, and in those still earlier, the people were easy to govern.

12.259.19 Gentle they were, abounding in truth, with little malice and little wrath. Of old the only chastisement was a word of reproach; next came rebuke by speech.

12.259.20 Then there came also the penalty of confiscation; and today the penalty of death prevails. Yet there are some men who cannot be restrained even by death.

12.259.21 There is no robber of men alone, says the sacred lore, nor of the gods alone, nor of the gandharvas and the ancestors alone; for here in the world, who is anything to anyone, and who is no one at all?

12.259.22 One takes a lotus even from a cremation ground, and a deity's emblem even from a demon. As for those who are ignorant and bereft of sense—who could make a binding compact with such men?

12.259.23 Satyavat said: If you cannot bring such men to goodness without violence, then make an end of them—but in such a way that there is some gain for someone, present or yet to come.

12.259.24 Dyumatsena said: For the sake of the world's order kings undergo the highest austerity; they feel shame before such righteous men and so come to act righteously themselves.

12.259.25 Holding evildoers in dread, the well-doers do not slay them from mere desire; for the most part kings govern their subjects by virtue alone.

12.259.26 Thus the world follows the better conduct of the better man; for men ever follow the conduct of their superior.

12.259.27 Him who, without composing himself, would set others in order, while he is yet a slave to his senses amid objects of desire—at such a man men laugh.

12.259.28 Whoever, out of pride and delusion, does anything unfitting toward the king, is to be restrained by every means; thus does he turn back from sin.

12.259.29 He who would curb wrongdoing must first curb his own self; and he should chastise with heavy punishments even his nearest kinsmen.

12.259.30 Where the doer of evil who deserves affliction meets no great suffering, there sins multiply and dharma surely dwindles—so the learned brāhmaṇa, of compassionate nature, gave his instruction.

12.259.31 In just this way, my son, I have been instructed by my forefathers and grandsires, who out of tenderness reassured me again and again.

12.259.32 This rule the king observed in its full first form in the Kṛta age; with dharma diminished by a quarter he proceeded so in the Tretā age, with dharma upon two feet in the Dvāpara, and upon a single foot in the latter age.

12.259.33 And so, when the Kali age has come, through the misconduct of kings and by the peculiar working of time, only a sixteenth part of dharma may remain.

12.259.34 Now if one were to follow the first rule in full, O Satyavat, confusion would arise; therefore, marking out a man's span of life, his strength, and the times, the king should prescribe his penance.

12.259.35 For the sake of truth, that one might not here forsake the great fruit of dharma, and out of compassion for living beings, Manu, son of the Self-Existent, declared this.

12.260.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That renunciation which, without doing harm to living beings, fosters the sixfold policy—the dharma that partakes of both worldly life and renunciation—tell me of that, grandfather.

12.260.2 Of the duty of the householder and the duty of renunciation, both of which set out toward a goal not far apart—which, grandfather, is the more excellent?

12.260.3 Bhīṣma said: Both ways of duty, my son, are exalted, both exceedingly hard to tread, both bear great fruit, and both have been practised by the good.

12.260.4 On this I shall set forth for you the authority of them both. Listen with single-minded attention, Pārtha, and your doubts about duty and its purpose will be cut away.

12.260.5 On this point too they relate an ancient tale, the dialogue of Kapila and the Cow. Mark it well, Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.260.6 Beholding the ancient, eternal, abiding tradition, Nahuṣa long ago took a cow belonging to Tvaṣṭṛ — so we have heard.

12.260.7 That cow, made ready for sacrifice, the sage Kapila then beheld — he of undejected spirit, steadfast in goodness, delighting in righteous custom, possessed of knowledge, restrained in his eating.

12.260.8 Having attained the highest understanding, perfected and fearless from every side, he said but once: "I recall it but faintly — the truth is loose-held: 'the Vedas,' indeed!"

12.260.9 Then the seer Syūmaraśmi, entering into that cow, spoke to the ascetic: "Ho there! If the Vedas are held to be authoritative, by what are other duties to be held authoritative?"

12.260.10 For of the ascetic, the resolute, who has the eye of scriptural discernment and has come to know the Self, men hold that all his utterance is of the seers.

12.260.11 For one whose craving has thus departed, who is freed of fever and of every longing, undertaking nothing at all — what desire to expound the Vedas can remain to him?

12.260.12 Kapila said: I do not revile the Vedas, nor do I ever wish to dispute them. We have heard that the works of those in the several stages of life, though distinct, have one and the same aim.

12.260.13 The renouncer surely reaches the goal, and the forest-dweller reaches it; the householder and the celibate student — both of these too reach it.

12.260.14 Four are the eternal paths held to lead toward the gods; among them their greater and lesser standing, their strength and weakness, is told in terms of their fruits.

12.260.15 Having thus understood all these aims, "let him undertake works" — so runs the Vedic injunction; and elsewhere "let him not undertake them" — so is heard the scripture of final renunciation.

12.260.16 In non-action there may be freedom from fault; in action there is the highest faultlessness. Of scripture standing thus, the relative strength is hard indeed to discern.

12.260.17 If there is here anything immediately evident, held higher than non-injury yet apart from the scriptures of tradition — declare it, if you can see it.

12.260.18 Syūmaraśmi said: "Let him who desires heaven offer sacrifice" — so the scripture is ever heard. For first the fruit is set forth, and only thereupon is the sacrifice extended.

12.260.19 The goat and the horse and the ram, the cow, and the flocks of birds, and the plants of village and of wilderness — "all these are the food of life" — so says the scripture.

12.260.20 Just so is food day by day apportioned, at evening and at dawn; and the cattle and the grain are members of the sacrifice — so says the scripture.

12.260.21 These together with the sacrifice did Prajāpati ordain; and with that sacrifice the Lord Prajāpati worshipped the gods.

12.260.22 All these living beings, moving each upon the other, are sevenfold and sevenfold; and the whole world, brought to bear within sacrifices, men call the thing named Highest.

12.260.23 This too was sanctioned by the ancients and by those still more ancient. What wise man would ever fail to weigh well his own capacity?

12.260.24 Beasts and men and trees together with the plants all long for heaven alone; yet heaven there is none apart from sacrifice.

12.260.25 Plants, cattle, trees, creeper, clarified butter, milk, curds, oblation, earth, the quarters, faith, and time — these are the twelve.

12.260.26 The Ṛc verses, the Yajus, the Sāman, and the sacrificer as the sixteenth; the fire is to be known as the householder, and that is called the seventeenth. These are the members of the sacrifice, and the sacrifice is the root — so says the scripture.

12.260.27 With its clarified butter, its milk, its curds, its dung, its curd-and-milk mixture, its hide, its hairs, its horn, its hoof — the cow becomes the very sacrifice; thus each single part of it serves whatever purpose is ordained for it.

12.260.28 Joined together with the priests and with the sacrificial fees, they bear the sacrifice onward; and all these things, brought together, bring the sacrifice to its completion.

12.260.29 For they were created for the sake of sacrifice, even as the scripture is heard to declare; and thus the ancients and the still more ancient among men engaged in works.

12.260.30 He does no harm, though he acts; he bears malice toward nothing — he who sacrifices thinking only "the sacrifice is to be offered," with no craving for its fruit.

12.260.31 And these members of the sacrifice, as has been told, beyond doubt, when joined to one another by the prescribed rule, carry one another across.

12.260.32 I behold the tradition of the seers, in which the Vedas are established; the wise perceive it through their contemplation of the Brahman.

12.260.33 The sacrifice springs from the Brahman and is offered up into the Brahman; the whole world follows after the sacrifice, and the sacrifice ever follows after the world.

12.260.34 "Oṃ" is the womb of the Brahman; "Namaḥ," "Svāhā," "Svadhā," "Vaṣaṭ" — he by whom these are employed, performed according to his power, however slight —

12.260.35 of him they know no fear of the world beyond, throughout the three worlds — so the Vedas declare here, and the perfected ones and the supreme seers.

12.260.36 The Ṛc verses, the Yajus, the Sāman, and the chant-syllables impelled by the rule — he in whom all these dwell outwardly, he indeed is the twice-born.

12.260.37 What comes to be in the kindling of the sacred fire, and in the pressed Soma, twice-born one, and what comes by the other great sacrifices — all that the venerable one knows of his own self.

12.260.38 Therefore, brahmin, let him surely sacrifice and cause sacrifice to be made, without hesitation; for one who sacrifices by the rite that wins heaven, the fruit of heaven hereafter is great.

12.260.39 For those who do not sacrifice there is neither this world nor the next — so is the settled judgement; and those versed in the doctrine of the Veda are then the authority for both.

12.261.1 Kapila said: Beholding only thus much, the ascetics go forward as travellers of the path; for them, throughout all the worlds, there is no transgression at all.

12.261.2 Beyond the pairs of opposites, free of homage, unbound by any longing, the wise ones, released from all sins, wander pure and stainless.

12.261.3 Resolved upon final release, upon renunciation, and upon true understanding, most devoted to the Brahman, having become the Brahman, they have made their dwelling in the Brahman alone.

12.261.4 Free of grief, with passion destroyed, theirs are the everlasting worlds. When one has attained their supreme goal, what need has he of the householder's life?

12.261.5 Syūmaraśmi said: Even if this be the highest consummation, even if this be the supreme goal, no other stage of life can proceed without depending upon the householders.

12.261.6 As all creatures live by depending upon their mother, so the other stages of life subsist by depending upon the householder.

12.261.7 It is the householder who sacrifices, the householder who practises austerity; the householder's estate is the root of this whole order of duty, of whatever stirs and lives.

12.261.8 For all bearers of breath, O sage, are brought forth through procreation; and procreation, moreover, is in no wise to be found elsewhere.

12.261.9 Whatever plants there be without, and the many of the wilderness too, O twice-born — since beyond the plants no living being is to be found, for whom could this saying hold true, that "there is no release outside the household"?

12.261.10 By the faithless, the unwise, bereft of subtle insight, the despairing, the slothful, the weary, tormented by their own works, the cessation of toil — that which is called renunciation — has been devised, while passing for learned men.

12.261.11 For the very cause of the three worlds is the eternal, abiding bound of order; and he who is named the brahmin, the venerable one, is honoured from his birth onward.

12.261.12 For among the twice-born the sacred formulas begin even before the implanting of the embryo; they attend, beyond doubt, both upon the unconfiding rites and upon the confiding ones.

12.261.13 And again the cremation upon his death, the eating from the vessel when he is laid out, the gift of cows or of cattle, and the sinking of the rice-balls in the waters —

12.261.14 The fathers, the flame-possessing, the seated-on-sacred-grass, the eaters of the offerings, are remembered in the rites; the sacred formulas give their sanction even to the dead, and the formulas are the cause.

12.261.15 While the Vedas thus cry aloud, whence is there release for anyone, since mortals stand in debt to the fathers, the gods, and the twice-born?

12.261.16 It is by men bereft of glory, slothful, calling themselves learned, that the ignorance of the Veda's doctrine is talked away as though it were knowledge — falsehood wearing the semblance of truth.

12.261.17 He is not carried off by sins nor dragged down — the brahmin who sacrifices according to the Veda's ordinances; his sacrifice goes upward together with the beasts, and, being sated, it sates him with the objects of desire.

12.261.18 Not by contempt of the Vedas, not by guile, not by deceit, does a man attain the great; he finds the Brahman within the Brahman.

12.261.19 Kapila said: The new-moon and the full-moon rites, the fire-oblation of the wise, and the four-monthly observances — in these abode the everlasting sacrifice.

12.261.20 Undertaking no works, well-steadied, pure, given over to the Brahman, those seekers after the immortal sate the gods by the Brahman alone.

12.261.21 For him who has become the Self of all beings, who beholds all beings, who is without a track yet seeks the track — upon his road even the gods grow bewildered.

12.261.22 The man is a city of four gates, four-faced; and fourfold does blame come upon him — from his two arms, from his speech, from his belly, from his loins. Of these gates one should wish to be the gatekeeper.

12.261.23 Let him not gamble with the dice, nor take another's wealth, nor receive the cooked food of a man of unworthy birth; and the wise one, when angered, should never strike — thus are his hand and foot well guarded.

12.261.24 Let him not give way to reviling, nor speak falsely, nor practise slander or idle gossip among men; vowed to truth, sparing of speech, ever heedful — thus is the gate of his speech well guarded.

12.261.25 Let him not be a glutton, nor a great eater; let him be free of greed, and take his food as brought to him by the good; let him receive here only such food as serves to sustain his journey — thus is his belly's gate kept guarded.

12.261.26 Let him not dally with a woman who is a hero's wife, nor summon a woman to him out of season; let him hold to himself the vow of fidelity to his wife — thus would the guarding of his loins' gate be kept.

12.261.27 The wise man whose gates are all well guarded — the loins, the belly, the arms, and the speech as the fourth — he indeed is the twice-born.

12.261.28 For him whose gates are unguarded, all his deeds become vain; what use to him is austerity, what use the sacrifice, what use his very self?

12.261.29 Him who wears no upper garment, who lies down on no spread couch, whose pillow is his own arm, who has grown still — him the gods know for a brahmin.

12.261.30 The sage who, alone, takes delight amid all those who delight in the pairs of opposites, brooding upon no thoughts of others — him the gods know for a brahmin.

12.261.31 He by whom all this is understood, both nature and its modification, who knows the course of all beings — him the gods know for a brahmin.

12.261.32 From whom there is safety for all beings, since from him all are without fear, who has become the Self of all beings — him the gods know for a brahmin.

12.261.33 They do not deny the fruit of action that belongs to the Vedas as a thing apart; yet having granted all that, they find their pleasure in another thing that bears no fruit.

12.261.34 And they see that works are fruitful, yielding their reward, and abiding; yet also that they are flawed and not unfailing in their issue.

12.261.35 And here the merits are most hard to know, and even when known, most hard to perform; and once performed, they have an end — so do you perceive.

12.261.36 Syūmaraśmi said: How the authority of the Veda stands, and how renunciation bears its fruit, and how both these paths are made manifest — declare that to me, O venerable one.

12.261.37 Kapila said: You who stand upon the true path behold here what is immediately evident; yet what is there here, immediately evident, that you reverently attend upon?

12.261.38 Syūmaraśmi said: I am Syūmaraśmi, brahmin, come here for the sake of knowledge; desiring the highest good, I have answered you out of sincerity and not out of any wish to dispute. Let the venerable one resolve for me this terrible doubt.

12.261.39 You who stand upon the true path, beholding here what is immediately evident — what is here most evident of all, that you reverently attend upon, apart from the sciences of reasoning and from tradition followed each according to its tradition?

12.261.40 Tradition is the doctrine of the Veda, and the sciences of reasoning too are tradition; let one attend upon it each according to his tradition, and there tradition is made effective; and perfection in the form of the immediately evident is seen to arise from the certainty of tradition.

12.261.41 As one boat bound fast to another, both swept along together by the current — how, O brahmin, shall it carry the dull-witted across? Let the venerable one declare this; I have come fittingly to you — teach me, sir.

12.261.42 There is none who is truly a renouncer, none truly content, none free of grief, none free of ill, none free of curiosity, none turned away, none turned wholly back.

12.261.43 You too rejoice and grieve, even as we do; and the objects of your senses are the same as those of all living creatures.

12.261.44 Among the prescribed observances of the four orders and the four stages of life, when men hold fast to a single one of them, what in the final determination is flawless and free of ill?

12.261.45 Kapila said: Whatever course the scripture enjoins amid all undertakings—wherever a man's practice falls, there and there alone lies that which is flawless and free of ill.

12.261.46 Knowledge purifies all things for one who follows after knowledge; but the way of life that departs from knowledge destroys its creatures.

12.261.47 You who are ever possessed of knowledge are, in every respect, beyond the bounds of scripture; yet only some rare man, only at some rare moment, attains that oneness of the self.

12.261.48 For some men, who have not grasped the scripture in its truth and rely only on the force of argument, fall under the sway of egoism, overpowered as they are by desire and hatred.

12.261.49 Not having understood the scriptures as they truly are, they become robbers of scripture, thieves of the sacred word—men who undertake nothing, whose minds are unripe and whose ways are inauspicious.

12.261.50 They see only fault and do not seek out the virtues; for such men, whose very bodies are made of darkness, darkness alone is their final refuge.

12.261.51 Whatever a creature's inborn nature, if he remains subject to that nature's sway, then hatred and desire, anger, deceit, falsehood, and pride—the strands of being born of his nature—ever rise up and overwhelm him.

12.261.52 Perceiving this with the understanding, the ascetics who delight in self-restraint and long for the supreme goal should renounce alike the auspicious and the inauspicious.

12.261.53 Syūmaraśmi said: All this, O brahman, has been proclaimed by me on the authority of scripture; for no undertakings are set in motion without one's having understood the purport of scripture.

12.261.54 Whatever conduct is righteous is in its entirety scripture—so declares the sacred tradition; and whatever is unrighteous is contrary to scripture—this too is the tradition that is heard.

12.261.55 It is settled that no activity whatsoever exists apart from scripture; and whatever is other than the teachings of the Veda is contrary to scripture—so runs the tradition.

12.261.56 Many who fancy themselves clear-sighted look upon things as set apart from scripture; while others, here and in the world beyond, fail to see the faults that come of forsaking it—men whose discernment is slain by ignorance, of meager wit and shrouded in darkness.

12.261.57 It is indeed possible for one man, set free, who has wholly accomplished his task, to wander in every direction relying on no more than a morsel of food; and leaning upon the teaching of the Veda, to declare that liberation exists.

12.261.58 But this is hard work that the householder takes upon himself, bound to family and home: gift-giving, the study of the sacred texts, sacrifice, the continuance of offspring, and uprightness.

12.261.59 If, even after a man has done all this, there is no liberation for anyone, then fie upon the doer and the deed alike, and all this toil is to no purpose.

12.261.60 Otherwise there would be denial of the divine and a casting of the Vedas behind one's back. Of this, O blessed one, I wish to hear the unending truth, plainly and at once.

12.261.61 Tell me the truth, O brahman; I have come to you as a suppliant—teach me, sir. As liberation is known to you, even so I wish to be instructed in it.

12.262.1 Kapila said: The Vedas are the measure of all the worlds, and the Vedas are not cast behind one's back. Two Absolutes are to be known: the Absolute that is sound, and that which is supreme; and one who is well-versed in the Absolute that is sound attains the supreme Absolute.

12.262.2 That which a man fashions in accordance with the Veda fashions his body and gives it form; for only when his body has been made pure does the brahman become a fit vessel.

12.262.3 Of him who, through his action, pursues the infinite, I now speak to you—a truth needing no scriptural support, no hearsay, but plain to perception and witnessed by all the world.

12.262.4 Those who spread out their sacrifices solely for the sake of righteousness, free of craving for reward, given to renunciation as it arises, untouched by greed, and devoid of pity-seeking and spite—for them this is the true path of wealth: its bestowal upon worthy recipients at the holy fords.

12.262.5 Resting on nothing, they are never given to evil deeds, even from the source whence action springs; they are perfected by the resolve of their own minds, settled in the certitude of utterly pure knowledge.

12.262.6 Free of anger, free of malice, without egoism or envy, fixed in knowledge, threefold pure, they delight in the welfare of all beings.

12.262.7 For the most part they were householders, never swerving from their own duties; and likewise the kings were yoked to their tasks, and the brahmans too, each according to rule.

12.262.8 Even-minded, endowed with uprightness, content, settled in knowledge, with righteousness made manifest before them, pure and full of faith in the higher and the lower alike.

12.262.9 From the first their souls were refined, their vows duly fulfilled; and even in hardship and dire straits, banded firmly together, they walk in the way of righteousness.

12.262.10 For those who in former times walked together in righteousness, that itself was happiness; for them there was never any penance that needed to be ordained.

12.262.11 For, taking their stand upon truth and righteousness, they were held to be most unassailable; they yielded not even to a hair's breadth of compromise, nor in the end to any sham of righteousness.

12.262.12 Whatever was the foremost rule, that very rule they all practiced together; for those who stand firm in this state, no penance is to be found. Penance arose for the weak of soul—so runs the tradition.

12.262.13 For brahmans of this kind in olden days were the bearers of sacrifice, grown old in the threefold lore, pure, of good conduct and great renown, offering sacrifices day after day—wise men freed from the bonds of craving.

12.262.14 Their sacrifices, their Vedas, and their rites were all according to scripture; their sacred recitations were according to the appointed seasons, and their resolves according to their vows.

12.262.15 For men who had cast off desire and anger, whose selves were by nature keen and disciplined, upright, ever tranquil, steadfast in their own duties—all was the infinite itself: so runs the eternal tradition handed down to us.

12.262.16 For those of undaunted spirit, whose conduct and works were hard to pursue, who were wholly compassed by their own duties, their austerity attained a fearsome intensity.

12.262.17 That conduct of the virtuous—wondrous, ancient, everlasting, and fixed—has been but faintly indicated among the duties, for those who cannot practice it in full.

12.262.18 Their conduct was a righteousness free of calamity, free of negligence, free of defeat; and among them, in all the orders, there was never any transgression.

12.262.19 Those bulls among men held fast to the one righteousness of four feet; and the good, attaining it duly, go to the supreme goal.

12.262.20 Some, going forth from their homes, betook themselves to the forest; others, abiding in the household itself, were thereafter chaste students of the sacred lore.

12.262.21 This righteousness of four feet the brahmans know as the system of life-stages; the infinite is the abode of the Absolute—the brahmans, in truth, are its certitude.

12.262.22 And so those brahmans of olden days, of this kind, walkers in the way of righteousness—these very twice-born ones are seen in heaven, become lights in the sky.

12.262.23 Like the constellations in their stations, like the manifold hosts of stars, they have attained the infinite through contentment—so the Vedic teaching declares.

12.262.24 And if such men come again into the round of rebirths, into the wombs once more, they are never stained by evil deeds, even from the source whence action springs.

12.262.25 A brahman thus disciplined is a brahman indeed; another is but a brahman in name only. It is a man's action alone that proclaims him, whether for good or for ill.

12.262.26 Thus for those whose impurities have been ripened away, through the infinite and through sacred learning, all was the infinite itself: such is the eternal tradition handed down to us.

12.262.27 For those who have put away thirst, who are washed clean, of auspicious soul, the fourth duty—that of the Upaniṣads—is remembered as common to all.

12.262.28 It is ever brought to perfection by the perfected, by brahmans of disciplined self; rooted in contentment, its essence renunciation, it is called the very seat of knowledge.

12.262.29 The way of final release, eternal, is the everlasting duty of the ascetic; whether held in common or kept alone, it is practiced according to one's strength.

12.262.30 As one goes ever onward toward security, the weak man here sinks down by the way; but he who, seeking the station of the Absolute and remaining pure, is freed from the round of rebirths.

12.262.31 Syūmaraśmi said: Those who enjoy, those who give, those who sacrifice and who study, who do so with the means righteously obtained, or those who have taken to renunciation—

12.262.32 of these, in the life after death, which is the most victorious in winning heaven? Tell me this, O brahman, in its very truth, for I ask it.

12.262.33 Kapila said: All possessions are good, and so are the prosperities that come of merit; yet they do not attain the happiness of renunciation—this too you can see for yourself.

12.262.34 Syūmaraśmi said: You are firmly grounded in knowledge, while householders are settled in action; yet in their consummation a oneness is said to belong to all the life-stages.

12.262.35 As to their oneness and their distinctness, no other difference is spoken of. Let the blessed one declare this to me duly and according to reason.

12.262.36 Kapila said: Rites are the ripening of the body, but knowledge is the supreme goal. When the impurity has been ripened away through the purgings, one no longer abides in the mere savoring of relish.

12.262.37 Freedom from cruelty, forbearance, peace, non-injury, truth, uprightness, freedom from malice and from arrogance, modesty, endurance, and tranquility—

12.262.38 these are the paths to the Absolute; by these a man attains what is supreme. Knowing this, let the wise man comprehend in his mind the true ground of action.

12.262.39 That goal to which the brahmans, tranquil in every way, utterly pure, settled in knowledge and content, attain—that they call the supreme goal.

12.262.40 Having known the Vedas and that which is to be known, each in its proper standing—such a man they call a knower of the Veda; one other than this is but a windbag.

12.262.41 The knowers of the Veda know all; in the Veda all is established. For in the Veda is the ground of everything, whatever exists and whatever does not.

12.262.42 This is the very ground of everything, whatever exists and whatever does not; this is the end and the middle, the real and the unreal, for one who truly discerns.

12.262.43 It rests in total renunciation, and in tranquility; here the good lies in contentment, and it is established in final release.

12.262.44 It is the cosmic order, the truth, the known and the yet-to-be-known; the Self of all, both the moving and the unmoving; it is all happiness, and that which is auspicious and supreme—the Absolute, the unmanifest, the source and the imperishable.

12.262.45 It is splendor, forbearance, peace, the flawless, the auspicious; even such is that eternal, fixed expanse. By these words, with the understanding for one's eye, It is approached: to that Absolute, to that holy Power, be homage.

12.263.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Righteousness, wealth, and pleasure—these the Vedas commend, O Bhārata. Of which is the gaining most excellent? Tell me that, O grandfather.

12.263.2 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall relate to you an ancient tale, of the kindness that Kuṇḍadhāra long ago, out of affection, did for his devotee.

12.263.3 A certain penniless brahman, out of desire, looked toward righteousness; and then, longing for the means to sacrifice, he performed a terrible austerity in his craving for wealth.

12.263.4 Then, having made his resolve, he worshiped the gods with devotion; yet even after worshiping the gods, he did not come upon any wealth.

12.263.5 Then he fell again to brooding: 'Which deity might that be, who would be swiftly gracious to me—one not made dull by the worship of men?'

12.263.6 Then, in gentle form, he beheld close at hand an attendant of the gods, the cloud-spirit Kuṇḍadhāra, standing near.

12.263.7 The moment he saw that great being, devotion was born in him: 'This one will grant me good fortune, for such indeed is his form.'

12.263.8 'And he is close to the god, and not beset by other men's worship; this one will give me wealth in abundance, and that swiftly too.'

12.263.9 Then with incense and perfumes and garlands of every sort, and with manifold offerings, the twice-born one worshiped him.

12.263.10 Then in a little while the cloud-spirit was pleased, and intent on doing him a kindness, he spoke this measured word.

12.263.11 'For the slayer of a brahman, for the drinker of liquor, for the thief, and for the breaker of vows, an expiation has been ordained by the good; but for the ingrate there is no expiation.'

12.263.12 'Unrighteousness is the son of hope; anger is remembered as the son of envy; greed is the son of deceit—but the ingrate deserves no offspring at all.'

12.263.13 Then that brahman, lying upon the kuśa grass, beheld in a dream, through Kuṇḍadhāra's power, all created beings.

12.263.14 By tranquility, by austerity, and by devotion made unadorned and undefiled, the pure-souled brahman beheld in the night a revelation.

12.263.15 He beheld there, O Yudhiṣṭhira, Maṇibhadra, of great splendor among the gods, that great-souled one, issuing his commands.

12.263.16 There the gods bestow kingdoms and wealth; moved by auspicious deeds they grant, and in the case of inauspicious ones they cut these off.

12.263.17 Then, while the yakṣas looked on, Kuṇḍadhāra of great splendor flung himself down and fell to the ground before the gods, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.263.18 Then, at the bidding of the gods, the greatly renowned Maṇibhadra spoke to Kuṇḍadhāra, who had fallen to the ground: "What is it that you desire?"

12.263.19 Kuṇḍadhāra said: "If the gods are gracious to me, this brāhmaṇa is my devotee. I wish that some favor be granted him from which his happiness may arise."

12.263.20 Bhīṣma said: Then Maṇibhadra, at the very word of the gods, spoke once more to the radiant Kuṇḍadhāra.

12.263.21 "Rise up, rise up, good fortune to you! Your purpose is accomplished; be happy. However much wealth this brāhmaṇa, your friend, may ask for, that much—beyond counting—I shall give him, by the command of the gods."

12.263.22 But Kuṇḍadhāra, reflecting that the human estate is unsteady and impermanent, turned his mind toward austerity for the illustrious brāhmaṇa.

12.263.23 Kuṇḍadhāra said: "I do not ask riches for the brāhmaṇa, O giver of wealth. Quite another favor is what I wish to have granted to my devotee."

12.263.24 "Not the earth filled with jewels, nor a vast hoard of wealth, do I wish for my devotee—rather, that he may become a man devoted to dharma."

12.263.25 "Let his mind delight in dharma; let him live by dharma; let him hold dharma foremost. This is the favor I have in mind."

12.263.26 Maṇibhadra said: "Since sovereignty and manifold joys are the fruit of dharma, let him too partake of these fruits, freed from bodily affliction."

12.263.27 Bhīṣma said: Then the greatly renowned Kuṇḍadhāra applied himself again and again to this very thing—the practice of dharma—and thereupon the gods were pleased with him.

12.263.28 Maṇibhadra said: "All those gods are pleased with you, and likewise with this brāhmaṇa. He shall become a man whose very self is dharma, and he shall fix his mind upon dharma."

12.263.29 Bhīṣma said: Then Kuṇḍadhāra the cloud-bearer was glad, his purpose accomplished, O Yudhiṣṭhira, having obtained the boon his heart desired—one most hard for others to win.

12.263.30 Then that best of brāhmaṇas saw fine bark garments laid down at his side, brought to him there; and he was overcome with world-weariness.

12.263.31 The brāhmaṇa said: "This one does not know a good deed done him—who else, then, will recognize what is done for him? I shall go to the forest; better to live by dharma."

12.263.32 Bhīṣma said: Out of world-weariness, and by the grace of the gods, that best of brāhmaṇas entered the forest and there began a mighty austerity.

12.263.33 Living on fruits and roots—on what was left after the gods and guests were served—that brāhmaṇa, O great king, came to find his delight in dharma.

12.263.34 Giving up all roots and fruits, that brāhmaṇa became one who fed on leaves; and giving up leaves, that best of brāhmaṇas then subsisted on water alone.

12.263.35 Thereafter, for many gatherings of years, he lived on air alone; and yet his life-breath did not waste away—and this was as a wonder.

12.263.36 As he held faith in dharma and abided in fierce austerity, after a long span of time divine sight arose in him.

12.263.37 This thought arose in him: "Were I, well pleased, to bestow great wealth on anyone, my word would not prove false."

12.263.38 Then, his face joyful, he took up austerity once more; and the perfected one pondered again, and attained that which is higher still.

12.263.39 "Were I, well pleased, to bestow a kingdom upon anyone whatsoever, he would shortly become a king, and my word would not prove false."

12.263.40 To him, O Bhārata, Kuṇḍadhāra showed himself in person, drawn by the power of the brāhmaṇa's austerity and moved by friendship.

12.263.41 Having met with him, the brāhmaṇa then did honor to Kuṇḍadhāra according to rite, and he was filled with wonder, O king.

12.263.42 Then Kuṇḍadhāra said: "Yours is the supreme divine eye. Behold the destiny of kings, O wise one, and survey the worlds with that eye."

12.263.43 Then that wise one, from afar, with the eye endowed with divine power, saw thousands of kings sunk down in hell.

12.263.44 Kuṇḍadhāra said: "If, having honored me with true feeling, you were to come to grief, what would I have done for you, and what favor would have been yours?"

12.263.45 "Look, look once more: how should a man crave the objects of desire? For the gate of heaven is barred shut—above all to mortals."

12.263.46 Bhīṣma said: Then he beheld desire and anger, greed, fear, and intoxication, sleep, languor, and sloth standing there, enveloping men.

12.263.47 Kuṇḍadhāra said: "By these the worlds are tightly hemmed in. The gods fear mankind, and so, at the gods' word, these obstacles work hindrance in every way."

12.263.48 "No one becomes righteous unless the gods permit it. Yet you, by your austerity, are now able to bestow a kingdom and riches."

12.263.49 Bhīṣma said: Then the brāhmaṇa, whose self was dharma, fell head-bowed before the cloud-bearer and said: "A great favor has been done me."

12.263.50 "For the grudging I once bore you, bound up with desire and greed, not knowing your affection—for that you ought to forgive me."

12.263.51 Saying "It is already forgiven by me," Kuṇḍadhāra embraced that bull among brāhmaṇas with both his arms and there and then vanished.

12.263.52 Then the brāhmaṇa wandered through all these worlds, joined to such power of austerity, by the grace of Kuṇḍadhāra of old.

12.263.53 Travel through the sky, and the fulfillment of whatever he resolved upon—such power came to him from dharma and from yoga, and that supreme goal as well.

12.263.54 Gods, brāhmaṇas, the good, yakṣas, men, and cāraṇas honor here the righteous—not the rich in wealth, nor the slaves of desire.

12.263.55 Truly the gods are well pleased that your mind delights in dharma. In wealth there is but some small fraction of joy, but in dharma is the supreme happiness.

12.264.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Of the many sacrifices and austerities that have one and the same aim, O grandfather, how was a sacrifice performed for the sake of dharma and not for the sake of pleasure?

12.264.2 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall relate to you what was recounted by Nārada—an ancient tale of a gleaner-brāhmaṇa, concerning the matter of sacrifice.

12.264.3 In a most excellent realm rich in dharma, among the Vidarbhas, there once lived a brāhmaṇa, a certain sage who lived by gleaning, and he set about a sacrifice within his sacrifice.

12.264.4 His food there was wild śyāmāka grain and suvarcalā, the consort of the Sun; and bitter, savorless greens, which by his austerity had turned sweet.

12.264.5 Resorting to the earth in the forest, without harm to any living being, a sacrifice offered even with roots and fruits leads to heaven, O scorcher of foes.

12.264.6 His wife, gaunt with vows, pure, who moved among the lotus-pools, had been brought to the office of sacrificer's wife; by truth she was made to comply—yet she, terrified of a curse, did not act according to her own nature.

12.264.7 A garment of peacock-feathers and worn leaves was made for her, leaf-clad as she was and unwilling, there at the sacrifice, in accordance with the office of the hotṛ.

12.264.8 Now a rebirth of Śukra, fallen through wrong meditation and unversed in dharma, had become in that forest a deer dwelling nearby, a companion; and with words it spoke the truth: "An ill deed has been done by you."

12.264.9 "If this sacrifice is marred, lacking in mantras and ritual limbs—then cast me, sir, into the offering, and go untiring to heaven."

12.264.10 Then at the sacrifice Sāvitrī in person summoned him; but when she invited him, he answered: "I will not slay one who dwells beside me."

12.264.11 Thus answered, she turned back and entered the sacrificial fire—wishing to see what wrong there might be in the sacrifice, even down to the nether world.

12.264.12 Then she, with hands joined in entreaty, again besought the deer by truth; and embracing it with truth, she enjoined: "Let it be permitted to go."

12.264.13 Then that deer, having gone eight steps, turned back: "Slay me freely, O truthful one; slain, I shall go to a good destiny."

12.264.14 "Behold the divine apsarases—with the eye I have given you—and the wondrous chariots of the great-souled gandharvas."

12.264.15 Then, beholding that lovely sight with an eye fixed in longing, and gazing upon the deer, he deemed dwelling in heaven worth the act of killing.

12.264.16 But it was Dharma who, having become a deer, dwelt many years in the forest; he set in train the man's expiation—for that was no proper rule of sacrifice.

12.264.17 By that very intent—his mind bent on slaying the deer—his great austerity was then cut off; therefore killing is not fit for sacrifice.

12.264.18 Then the lord Dharma himself caused him to perform the sacrifice; and by his austerity he gained the supreme reconciliation of his wife.

12.264.19 Non-injury is the whole of dharma; injury in sacrifice is unfitting. I shall declare to you the truth—what is the dharma of those who speak the truth.

12.265.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How does a man become evil-souled, and how does he do what is righteous? By what does he take up world-weariness, and by what does he attain liberation?

12.265.2 Bhīṣma said: All the dharmas are known to you; you ask for the sake of confirming them. Hear of liberation together with world-weariness, and of evil and of dharma, from their very root.

12.265.3 For the sake of perceiving the objects of the five senses, desire first sets to work; and on attaining them, craving or aversion is born, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.265.4 Then for the sake of that he strives, and undertakes action anew, and seeks to make a habit of the pleasing forms and scents he loves.

12.265.5 From that, passion arises, and aversion straight after; from that, greed arises, and delusion straight after.

12.265.6 In one overwhelmed by greed and delusion, beset by passion and aversion, no true mind for dharma is born; and he practices dharma only as a pretext.

12.265.7 To one who practices dharma as a mere pretext, the pretext of gain too becomes pleasing, as riches are won through such pretense, O joy of the Kurus.

12.265.8 On that very thing he sets his mind, and then he seeks to do evil, even though restrained by his friends and by the wise, O Bhārata.

12.265.9 He gives a rejoinder cloaked in reason and dressed up in scripture; and his unrighteousness, born of passion and delusion, grows threefold.

12.265.10 He thinks evil, and speaks it, and does it; and the good perceive the faults of him who is bent upon unrighteousness.

12.265.11 Only those of like character take up friendship with the evildoer. He gains no happiness here—how then could he hereafter?

12.265.12 Thus a man becomes evil-souled. Now hear from me of the righteous-souled—how one whose dharma is wholesome attains to the wholesome.

12.265.13 He who, with discernment, foresees these faults beforehand—skilled in the ways of pleasure and pain—attends as well upon the good.

12.265.14 From his good conduct and from constant practice his wisdom grows; he delights in dharma and lives by dharma.

12.265.15 Then, upon the riches won through dharma, he sets his mind; he waters the very root of that whence he sees virtues arise.

12.265.16 Thus he becomes righteous-souled and gains a worthy friend; and through the gaining of friends and wealth he rejoices both hereafter and here.

12.265.17 In sound and touch, in form, taste, and scent, O Bhārata, the creature gains mastery; this they know to be the fruit of dharma.

12.265.18 Having won the fruit of dharma, he is not sated, O Yudhiṣṭhira; and unsated, with the eye of knowledge, he takes up world-weariness.

12.265.19 When, with the eye of wisdom, he perceives the fault in desire, then he turns away from desires, yet does not let go of dharma.

12.265.20 Seeing the world to be of the nature of decay, he strives for total renunciation; thereafter he strives for liberation—not by wrong means, but by right ones.

12.265.21 Little by little he takes up world-weariness and casts off evil deeds; he becomes righteous-souled and attains the supreme liberation.

12.265.22 This I have told you, my son, that which you asked of me—evil, and dharma, and liberation, and world-weariness, O Bhārata.

12.265.23 Therefore set yourself to dharma in every condition, O Yudhiṣṭhira; for those who stand firm in dharma, O son of Kuntī, attainment is everlasting.

12.266.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Liberation, O grandsire, has been declared by you as attainable through right means, not without means. That means, just as it truly is, I wish to hear, O descendant of Bharata.

12.266.2 Bhīṣma said: In you alone, O greatly wise one, this keen insight is fitting, that by right means you ever seek out all your ends, O sinless one.

12.266.3 The knowledge that goes into the making of a pot is not the same as what brings the pot into being, O sinless one. So too with the means to righteousness: for the duties themselves there is no other cause than these.

12.266.4 The road that leads to the eastern sea does not lead to the western. But the path of liberation is one alone; hear it from me in full.

12.266.5 By forbearance let one root out anger; desire, by renouncing the will that craves; and the steadfast man, by cultivating goodness, is fit to root out sloth.

12.266.6 By vigilance let him ward off fear, and the breath by the discipline of the knower of the field; longing, aversion, and desire let him turn back by firmness.

12.266.7 Confusion, delusion, and the whirling of the mind let him turn back by practice; and sleep too, and idle fancy, the knower of truth turns back by the practice of knowledge.

12.266.8 Afflictions and diseases he conquers by eating what is wholesome, well-digested, and measured; greed and delusion by contentment; the objects of sense by the vision of truth.

12.266.9 By compassion let him conquer unrighteousness, and righteousness by detachment; hope he conquers by looking to the future, and gain by renouncing attachment.

12.266.10 By reflecting on impermanence the wise man conquers fondness, and hunger by yoga; by compassion he conquers his own pride, and thirst by full contentment.

12.266.11 By exertion let him conquer drowsiness, and doubt by resolve; idle talk he conquers by silence, and fear by valor.

12.266.12 Let him restrain speech and mind by the intellect, and restrain the intellect by the eye of knowledge; the great Self restrains knowledge, and that Self the peace of the soul restrains.

12.266.13 This is to be understood by one who has grown calm, whose actions are pure, having rooted out the five flaws of yoga that the seers have known.

12.266.14 Desire, anger, greed, fear, and sleep as the fifth—having abandoned these, let him cultivate the following aids to yoga:

12.266.15 Meditation, study, giving, truth, modesty, uprightness, forbearance, purity, cleanness in food, and restraint of the senses.

12.266.16 By these his inner radiance grows and his sin is dispelled; his purposes are accomplished, and true discernment arises in him.

12.266.17 With his sins shaken off, radiant, eating sparingly, his senses mastered, having brought desire and anger under his sway, let him seek to reach the abode of Brahman.

12.266.18 Freedom from delusion, freedom from attachment, the renouncing of desire and anger, absence of meanness, absence of arrogance, freedom from agitation, and steadiness—

12.266.19 this is the path of liberation, serene, spotless, and pure; and so too the restraint of speech, body, and mind. To act from desire is the contrary way.

12.267.1 Bhīṣma said: On this very matter they recount an ancient tale, the dialogue between Nārada and Asita Devala.

12.267.2 Seeing the aged Devala seated, Nārada, the best of the wise, questioned him about the origin and dissolution of beings.

12.267.3 From what was this universe of moving and unmoving things created, O brahman? And into what does it pass at the dissolution? Of this may your honor instruct me.

12.267.4 Asita said: Those from which Time, impelled by the inner nature of things, brings forth beings—the five great elements—these the contemplators of being declare them to be.

12.267.5 From these Time, impelled by itself, brings forth beings; and whoever should speak of anything beyond these would, beyond doubt, be speaking of what is not.

12.267.6 Know, Nārada, these five to be eternal, unmoving, fixed, vast masses of energy, with Time as the sixth, such by their own nature.

12.267.7 Water, the atmosphere, earth, wind, and fire—beyond these elements there is no establishment of anything else; of this be free from doubt.

12.267.8 Neither by argument nor by reasoning could one, beyond doubt, affirm what is not. Know these to be wholly manifested—he of whom these six are the masses.

12.267.9 Those five, and Time, and pure being and non-being—these are the eight that constitute the eternal coming-to-be and passing-away of beings.

12.267.10 From non-being into the things brought into being, and from these they arise again; and even when destroyed, the creature becomes again just these same, fivefold.

12.267.11 Its body is made of earth; its hearing arises from space; the sun is its eye, the wind its vital breath, and its blood, indeed, comes from the waters.

12.267.12 The two eyes, the nose, the ears, the skin, and the tongue as the fifth—these the seers know to be the senses, the faculties of knowing the objects of sense.

12.267.13 Seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and likewise tasting—by reasoning know the five qualities in the five, fivefold.

12.267.14 Form, smell, taste, touch, and sound—these are their qualities; they are apprehended by the senses, the five by the five in fivefold ways.

12.267.15 Form, smell, taste, touch, and sound—these qualities the senses themselves do not perceive; it is the knower of the field who perceives them through the senses.

12.267.16 Beyond the aggregate of the senses is thought; beyond that is the mind; higher than the mind is the intellect; and the knower of the field is higher than the intellect.

12.267.17 First the creature becomes aware, through the senses, of objects severally; then, having pondered them with the mind, it determines them with the intellect—it is the intellect that resolves upon all the objects grasped by the senses.

12.267.18 Thought, the aggregate of the senses, the mind, and the intellect as the eighth—these eight they call the organs of knowledge, the contemplators of the inner self.

12.267.19 The hands and feet, the anus, the organ of generation, and the mouth as the fifth—hear now these, named in order, the organs of action.

12.267.20 For the sake of speaking and of eating, the mouth is called an organ; the feet are the organ of motion, and the hands are the instruments of action.

12.267.21 The anus and the genital are two organs of like function, both serving discharge—the one in the voiding of excrement, the other in the discharge of desire.

12.267.22 Strength is the sixth—these six have I named in speech rightly, according to tradition; all the faculties of knowledge, of action, and their qualities have I declared.

12.267.23 When, through weariness, the senses cease from their own functions, then by the withdrawal of the senses a man falls asleep.

12.267.24 When, the senses having ceased, the mind has not ceased but still dwells upon the objects of sense—that one should know to be the seeing of dreams.

12.267.25 As for the states that are of goodness, of passion, and of darkness—men praise the sattvic ones as bound up with right action, and the others likewise according to their kind.

12.267.26 Joy, the accomplishment of deeds, attainment, and the highest goal—these are the marks of the sattvic man; memory takes refuge in his states of being.

12.267.27 In each several creature the states that abide by their ordinance—of the two states, the constant desired aim is the direct attaining of both.

12.267.28 The senses and the states of being are reckoned as seventeen qualities; the eighteenth of them is the embodied one, who within the body is eternal.

12.267.29 Or else all those qualities are bodied together with the embodied beings, dwelling in them; for at their separation from the body those bodied qualities are no more.

12.267.30 Or else this body is a conjunction made of the five elements; and the qualities, nineteen together with the embodied ones, or with the bodily heat as the twentieth, form the aggregate made of the five elements.

12.267.31 The Great One, together with the breath, sustains this body; and of this being, joined with its states, there is a cause for the body's breaking apart.

12.267.32 Even as a thing comes into being, so too it dissolves into the five elements; at the ending of the exhaustion of merit and demerit, impelled by merit and demerit, in due time it enters a body—and thence is it born of its own deeds.

12.267.33 Forsaking body after body, this one passes on, taking a new support; the lord of the field, urged on by Time, moves from one dwelling to another, as from a worn-out house to a new home.

12.267.34 At this the wise, whose conclusions are firmly settled, do not grieve; but the wretched grieve—folk who fancy themselves bound by kinship.

12.267.35 For this one belongs to no one, and to it no one belongs; it remains ever alone within the body, the partaker of pleasure and pain.

12.267.36 The creature is never truly born, nor does it ever perish; this one passes from body to body, and, having had its enjoyment, attains at last the highest goal.

12.267.37 Wearing away the body made of merit and demerit through the spending of its store of deeds, the embodied one, his body exhausted, attains again to the state of Brahman.

12.267.38 For the spending away of merit and demerit the knowledge of Sāṃkhya is enjoined; for at its exhaustion they behold his supreme goal in the state of Brahman.

12.268.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Brothers, fathers, sons, kinsmen, and friends—for the sake of wealth they were slain by us, cruel men of sinful mind.

12.268.2 This thirst that springs from wealth—how, O grandsire, are we to turn it back? For it was by thirst that we were made to do the sin.

12.268.3 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale, sung by the king of Videha to Māṇḍavya, who had questioned him.

12.268.4 Most happily, indeed, do I live, I who possess nothing at all; though Mithilā be ablaze, nothing of mine is burned.

12.268.5 Riches, indeed, when abundant, are surely a sore grief to those who understand; yet even when not abundant they ever delude those without discernment.

12.268.6 Whatever pleasure of desire there is in the world, and whatever great pleasure there is of heaven—these are not worth a sixteenth part of the bliss that comes from the destruction of thirst.

12.268.7 Even as the horn of an ox grows as the beast grows in time, so does thirst grow along with growing wealth.

12.268.8 Whatever has once been claimed as 'mine' through the sense of possession—that very thing, when it is lost, becomes again a cause of torment.

12.268.9 Let one not give way to desires; for delight in desires is suffering. Having gained wealth, let him employ it in righteousness, and abandon desire.

12.268.10 The wise man should be toward all creatures as one is toward tiger's flesh; having done what is to be done, his self made pure, he forsakes all things together.

12.268.11 Forsaking both truth and falsehood, sorrow and joy, the pleasant and the unpleasant, and casting away both fear and security, he becomes wholly tranquil and free of affliction.

12.268.12 That which is hard for the foolish to forsake, which does not decay even as the man decays, that disease which clings till the breath departs—happy is he who forsakes that thirst.

12.268.13 Seeing his own conduct pure as the moon and free of blemish, the righteous-souled man wins renown, and both here and hereafter abides in happiness.

12.268.14 Having heard the king's words, the brahman grew glad; and honoring that speech, Māṇḍavya betook himself to liberation.

12.269.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Of what character, of what conduct, of what learning, devoted to what end, does a man attain the abode of Brahman, that which is beyond Nature and abiding?

12.269.2 Bhīṣma said: Devoted to the duties of liberation, eating sparingly, his senses subdued, he attains the supreme abode, that which is beyond Nature and abiding.

12.269.3 Having gone forth from his own home, the sage, even-minded toward gain and loss, indifferent though objects of desire press close upon him, should wander as a mendicant.

12.269.4 Neither by eye, nor by mind, nor by speech should he do any harm; neither openly nor in secret should he ever utter a word of reproach.

12.269.5 Let him do no harm to any living being, and walk the way of friendliness; having come into this life, let him bear enmity toward none.

12.269.6 Let him endure harsh words and never grow indignant in any way; though raged against, let him speak kindly, and though reviled, let him answer with good wishes.

12.269.7 Neither rightward nor leftward let him make rounds in the midst of the village; not engaged in the round of begging, let him not go to a place arranged for beforehand.

12.269.8 Modest in bearing and well-guarded, let him not utter with his speech anything unkind; gentle let him be and not harsh in return, trusting and free of wrath.

12.269.9 When the smoke has died, the pestle is laid aside, the embers are spent, the household has eaten, and the passing-round of dishes is over, then let the sage seek his alms.

12.269.10 Indifferent to gain that merely sustains the body, content with the barest measure of alms, let him not be cast down when nothing comes, nor let any gain elate him.

12.269.11 Let him not desire a gain shared by many, nor eat what is given in homage to him; such a man should hold in disdain the alms offered out of reverence.

12.269.12 Let him neither blame the faults of his food nor extol its merits; for his bed and seat let him ever esteem only what is solitary and apart.

12.269.13 An empty house, the foot of a tree, the forest, or a cave—having wandered there unknown, let him then dwell elsewhere again, ever moving on.

12.269.14 Let him remain even-minded toward favor and opposition alike, unshaken and steadfast; let him be bound by neither the good deed nor the evil deed in his action.

12.269.15 The urge of speech, the urge of the mind, the urge of anger, the urge of curiosity, the urge of belly and loins—these urges the ascetic must subdue, and no reproach should wound his heart.

12.269.16 Let him stand wholly neutral, even-minded amid praise and blame; this is the supreme purity in the order of the wandering mendicant.

12.269.17 Great-souled, firm in his vows, self-controlled, attached to nothing anywhere, walking paths he has never trodden before, gentle, homeless, and composed,

12.269.18 let him never consort with the forest-dweller or the householder; let him seek his alms from those who do not know him, and let no elation enter him.

12.269.19 For those who understand, this is liberation; for those who do not, it is mere toil. This whole vehicle of release belongs to the wise—so Hārita declared.

12.269.20 The man who, having granted freedom from fear to all beings, goes forth from his home—for him the worlds of radiance avail, and he attains to the infinite.

12.270.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "Blessed, blessed!"—so all people proclaim us; yet there is surely no man more wretched in his grief than we are.

12.270.2 O best of the Kurus, the grief we have met, honored as we are by the world, came to us even though we were born among men by the will of the gods themselves, O grandsire.

12.270.3 When shall we make our renunciation of this thing called sorrow? For the very bearing of these bodies is itself sorrow, O best of the Kurus.

12.270.4 Freed from the seventeen, and from the five that are their causes, and from the objects of the senses and from the eight qualities, O great-grandsire—

12.270.5 the sages, rigorous in their vows, return no more to rebirth. When shall we, O scorcher of foes, become such, forsaking the kingdom?

12.270.6 Bhīṣma said: Nothing is endless, O great king; all lies within the reach of reckoning. Even rebirth is numbered; nothing here is unchanging.

12.270.7 Yet that goal is not reached at will, O king, nor is this any fault that follows from circumstance. By earnest striving alone, O knower of dharma, and in due time, you shall reach it.

12.270.8 This embodied soul is ever master of its own merit and demerit, O king; yet by the darkness that arises from those very deeds it is also bound and obstructed.

12.270.9 As the air, laden with collyrium's blackness, and again with the red dust of realgar, takes on that color as it enters them and is seen tinging the quarters of the sky,

12.270.10 so the embodied soul, dyed by the fruits of its deeds and wrapped in darkness, though itself colorless, takes on a color and passes through one body after another.

12.270.11 For when a creature, through knowledge, dispels the darkness born of ignorance, then the eternal Brahman shines forth before it.

12.270.12 The sages say that goal is attained without striving; and those who are liberated should be revered—by you, by the world, and by the gods together. Therefore the assemblies of great seers never cease from their endeavor.

12.270.13 On this matter listen with single mind, O king, to what was sung of old—how the Daitya Vṛtra, fallen from his sovereignty, bore himself.

12.270.14 Vanquished, without ally, his kingdom torn away, O Bhārata, yet grieving not amid his foes, resting upon understanding alone,

12.270.15 to Vṛtra, fallen from his sovereignty, Uśanas of old spoke these words: "Surely now, O Dānava, defeated as you are, you feel no anguish?"

12.270.16 Vṛtra said: Having understood, through truth and through austerity, the perishing of all things, I neither grieve nor rejoice at the coming and going of beings.

12.270.17 Driven on by Time, helpless souls sink down into hell; the wise declare that all these divine realms have been fully seen and known.

12.270.18 Having spent that reckoned span of time, driven on by Time, with a residue of time still remaining they come to birth again and again.

12.270.19 Having passed through thousands of animal wombs and through hell itself, helpless souls emerge again, bound fast in the bondage of Time.

12.270.20 Thus have I beheld souls wandering through the round of existence; as is the deed, so is the gain—such is the teaching of the scriptures.

12.270.21 They pass into the animal state, into hell, into the human and into the divine, having first lived through pleasure and pain, the loved and the loathed.

12.270.22 Bound to the ordinance of fate, the whole world goes its way; all beings forever travel the road that has been traveled before.

12.270.23 Bhīṣma said: As he spoke thus of the world bound to the reckoning of Time and devoted to creation and continuance, the venerable Uśanas answered him: "Why, my son, do you utter these dread and perverse ravings?"

12.270.24 Vṛtra said: This is plain before your eyes and before other wise men—the great austerity I once practiced of old, greedy for victory.

12.270.25 Seizing the fragrances of all beings and their manifold savors as well, I grew mighty, striding across the three worlds by my own splendor.

12.270.26 Girt round with garlands of flame, ranging through the air, unconquerable by any being, I was ever free from fear.

12.270.27 The sovereignty I won by austerity was lost again through my own deeds; yet resting upon fortitude, O venerable one, I therefore do not grieve.

12.270.28 As of old I longed to do battle with the great-souled Mahendra, then the venerable Lord was revealed to me—Hari, Nārāyaṇa, the sovereign.

12.270.29 Vaikuṇṭha, the Person, Viṣṇu, white, infinite, eternal, his hair tawny as muñja-grass, his beard golden, the grandsire of all beings.

12.270.30 Surely some remnant of that austerity is still mine, since I desire to ask of you the fruit of action.

12.270.31 Upon what color, O brahman, does great sovereignty rest? And how does that highest sovereignty again pass away?

12.270.32 From what do beings live, and how again do they come forth into being? And upon attaining what supreme fruit does the soul abide everlasting?

12.270.33 By what deed, or by what knowledge, O brahman-seer, can that fruit be won? This you should expound to me.

12.270.34 Thus questioned, that sage made answer then; hear what he said, O lion among kings, O bull among men—as I relate it to you, give it your undivided mind, together with your brothers.

12.271.1 Uśanas said: Homage to that venerable God, the all-powerful, within whose arms' reach, my son, lies the surface of the earth together with the sky.

12.271.2 Whose head is the infinite abode itself, O best of the Dānavas—of him, of Viṣṇu, I shall declare to you the supreme greatness.

12.271.3 Bhīṣma said: As the two conversed thus, there came the great sage Sanatkumāra, righteous of soul, to cut through their doubt.

12.271.4 Honored by the lord of the Asuras and likewise by the sage Uśanas, that bull among sages took his seat upon a precious throne, O king.

12.271.5 To him seated there, that man of great wisdom, Uśanas spoke these words: "Declare to this lord of the Dānavas the supreme greatness of Viṣṇu."

12.271.6 Then Sanatkumāra, having heard, spoke words full of meaning to the wise lord of the Dānavas, words bound up with the greatness of Viṣṇu.

12.271.7 Hear all this, O Daitya—the supreme greatness of Viṣṇu. Know, O scorcher of foes, that the whole universe rests in Viṣṇu.

12.271.8 He, O mighty-armed, brings forth the host of beings, moving and unmoving; he withdraws them in their time, and in time sends them forth again. Into him they pass to dissolution, and from him they arise once more.

12.271.9 He cannot be attained, O Dānava, by austerity nor by sacrifice; only by the restraint of the senses can he be reached.

12.271.10 Established in the mind, in both outer and inner action, the man who purifies himself by understanding attains in the world beyond to the infinite.

12.271.11 As the goldsmith refines silver in the fire, many times over and with the greatest effort of his own making,

12.271.12 so the soul is purified through hundreds of births by little deeds, yet by great effort it may be purified even in a single birth.

12.271.13 As one may wipe away with ease a little dust from one's own limbs, so by great and abundant effort is the removal of one's faults accomplished.

12.271.14 And as sesame or mustard, scented with but a little garland, does not release its own scent—such is the perception of what is subtle.

12.271.15 But that same seed, perfumed again and again with many garlands, releases its own scent and comes to abide in the fragrance of the garlands.

12.271.16 Thus, joined through hundreds of births with the qualities clinging to one, the fault is turned away by understanding, through effort born of repeated practice.

12.271.17 By their own deeds beings are colored and discolored, O Dānava; hear now how they attain their particular fortunes according to their works.

12.271.18 And how they come forth, and in what state they abide, O mighty one—that I shall expound to you in order; listen here with single mind.

12.271.19 Without beginning or end, glorious, the Lord Hari Nārāyaṇa—he it is who brings forth all beings, the unmoving and the moving alike.

12.271.20 He, in all beings, is both the perishable and the imperishable; his nature comprising the eleven modifications, he drinks up the world with his rays.

12.271.21 Know the earth to be his feet and the heavens his head; the quarters of the sky are his arms, O Daitya, and the firmament his ear.

12.271.22 His radiance is the sun; his mind rests in the moon; his intellect ever abides in knowledge, and his savor flows within the waters.

12.271.23 Between his brows are the planets, O best of the Dānavas; the wheel of constellations springs from his eyes, and the earth from his feet, O Dānava.

12.271.24 Know passion, darkness, and goodness to be of Nārāyaṇa's own essence. He is the mouth of all the orders of life, my son, and him they know to be the fruit of action.

12.271.25 And the fruit of inaction too is he alone, the supreme and imperishable. The sacred meters are his body-hairs; the imperishable syllable and Sarasvatī are his.

12.271.26 Dharma, resting in his heart, has many supports and many faces; he is that dharma whose highest is Brahman, and he is austerity, and the existent and the non-existent both.

12.271.27 Endowed with revelation and sacred lore and their grasp, he is the rite of the sixteen priests; he is the Grandsire and Viṣṇu, he is the Aśvins, he is Purandara.

12.271.28 Mitra and Varuṇa, Yama and the Lord of wealth as well—those who see them as distinct know also their oneness in him. Know that all this universe is in the power of that one God.

12.271.29 Of him who has become manifold, O lord of the Daityas, this teaching declares the oneness; the creature perceives it through knowledge, and then goodness shines forth within.

12.271.30 Through thousands of millions of dissolutions and dispersals some souls endure while others wander on; and the measure of the world's emanation, O Daitya, is many thousands of pools.

12.271.31 Those pools, each a yojana broad, sunk a krośa deep, all five hundred in length, each one extending a full yojana—

12.271.32 from such a pool the water is cast out by the tip of a hair, once in a day and never twice; know that when those pools are emptied, one emanation has been wrought, and likewise one dissolution of beings.

12.271.33 Six are the colors of souls, by the supreme measure: black, smoky, and blue is its middle; then red, more bearable and bringing ease; yellow, more pleasant still; and white.

12.271.34 But the highest is the white, stainless, sorrowless, and free of weariness—it attains perfection, O lord of the Dānavas. Having passed through wombs of birth by the thousands, O Daitya, the soul comes at last to perfection.

12.271.35 And whatever destiny the God has declared, having reached it, that he has called the auspicious vision; the destiny of beings, in turn, is wrought by their color, and their color, O lord of the Asuras, is wrought by Time.

12.271.36 A hundred thousand and fourteen more, O Daitya — such is the supreme course of the soul's quality. Know that this is its ordained ascent, and likewise the stations and the final going-forth of those souls.

12.271.37 Lowest is the course of the black color: such a soul sinks into hell and is cooked there. Its station, marked by evil destinies, the wise declare lasts through very many world-creations.

12.271.38 Having wandered thereafter through a hundred thousand births, it at last attains the dusky color; yet still it dwells therein, without mastery of itself, its inner being wrapped in darkness at the closing of the age.

12.271.39 But when it is joined to the quality of sattva and, dispelling its darkness, strives by its own intelligence, then the blue-dusky soul comes to the red color and turns about within the world of men.

12.271.40 There, tormented by the bonds born of its own deeds, it passes through dissolution and emission; and when a hundred cycles of dissolution and dispersal have gone by, it comes thence to the yellow color.

12.271.41 Yet the yellow-colored soul abides, still roaming through thousands of world-emissions, not yet released from hell, O Daitya — for ten thousand further births beyond.

12.271.42 Five thousand courses are its lot, and four more wrought by the world-dissolution; know that thereupon it is freed from hell, and from all other modes of becoming as well.

12.271.43 It disports itself again and again in the world of the gods; then, falling thence, it returns to the human state; and through eight hundred cycles of dissolution and dispersal, abiding among mortals, it attains to immortality.

12.271.44 From this, in turn, it falls away by the working of time, and rests upon the black floor of all suffering. But how this world of living souls comes to perfection, that I shall declare to you, O foremost of Asuras.

12.271.45 Through seven hundred divine arrays, now red, now yellow, and now white, having taken its refuge it hastens toward that white state, and toward those eight further worlds most worthy of reverence.

12.271.46 Of those eight hundred and sixty stations adverse to the mind, belonging to the mighty in splendor — the supreme course of the white color — only three remain barred, O greatly majestic one.

12.271.47 One unwished dissolution-and-dispersal, and four others, it dwells in without mastery — such is the supreme course of the sixth color, perfected, distinguished, its weariness gone.

12.271.48 For a hundred and seven cycles of dissolution and dispersal, still with a remainder, it dwells there without mastery; then, turning back into the world of men, the great soul attains anew to human birth.

12.271.49 Turning back from that, then by degrees it comes at last to stand at the head of the creation of beings; and seven times over it passes beyond the worlds, having made its sojourn through dissolution and dispersal.

12.271.50 Having undergone seven dissolutions and floods, it comes to rest in the world of the perfected; then it goes to the imperishable, infinite station — of the god Viṣṇu, and of Brahmā, and of Śeṣa, and of Nara, yea, of the supreme god Viṣṇu himself.

12.271.51 At the time of dissolution, their bodies wholly consumed, the creatures always pass into Brahmā; and the active-natured hosts of gods as well — even those immortals who are of Brahmā's world.

12.271.52 But through the creation of beings, while a portion of time remains, the souls move on to their own proper stations; and at the end the souls that have no remnant left reach that abode — the men who are alike in having passed beyond all calamities.

12.271.53 But those souls who have fallen by stages from the world of the perfected go to their course in due succession; while the others, taking on the strength, garb, and form of that state, attain their own ordained lot by the reverse order.

12.271.54 So long as there abides a remnant yet to be enjoyed — the creatures, the two goddesses, and likewise the white state — so long does the soul of purified being remain among them, restraining this fivefold form of the senses.

12.271.55 It reaches that supreme, pure course, ever meditating with a purified mind; then it attains the imperishable station of Brahman, and comes to that eternal goal so hard to win. Thus, O you of undiminished being, the power of Nārāyaṇa has been declared to you by me.

12.271.56 Vṛtra said: With matters thus, no grief remains in me at all, and I rightly perceive this teaching of yours; and having heard your word, O you of undejected spirit, I am this day cleansed of taint and freed from sin.

12.271.57 This wheel of the mighty-splendored one is set in motion, O blessed great seer, of boundless might — that eternal station of infinite Viṣṇu, wherein all creations have their origin. He indeed is the great soul, the supreme Person; in him this whole universe is established.

12.271.58 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken thus, O son of Kuntī, Vṛtra gave up his life-breaths; and yoking his self thereby, he attained the supreme station.

12.271.59 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Is this, O grandsire, that same blessed god Janārdana, whom of old Sanatkumāra declared to Vṛtra?

12.271.60 Bhīṣma said: That blessed one, abiding at the root, by his own infinite radiance — stationed therein, the great ascetic creates those beings in their manifold forms.

12.271.61 Know this Keśava, the unfallen, to be of one half of his fourth part; with that half of a fourth this wise one sustains the three worlds.

12.271.62 But he who abides on the nearer side, enduring, turns about at the end of the aeon; that blessed lord of surpassing might lies upon the waters; and the Ordainer, serene of soul, ranges through those eternal worlds.

12.271.63 The Infinite makes all things unempty, and as Sanatkumāra he wanders through the worlds; and as Aniruddha that great soul brings forth creation — in him stands this whole variegated universe.

12.271.64 Yudhiṣṭhira said: I think, O knower of the highest truth, that Vṛtra beheld the blessed course of his own self; therefore he was happy and grieved not, O grandsire.

12.271.65 The white one, of white birth and ripe for accomplishment, returns no more, O sinless one; he is released both from the course of the brute creatures and from hell, O grandsire.

12.271.66 But one who dwells in the yellow color or the red, O king, beholds before him only the brute estate, hemmed in by deeds born of darkness.

12.271.67 But we, sorely fallen, red of color, set in the face of hardship and joylessness — what course shall we attain? The blue, or else the black, lowest of all?

12.271.68 Bhīṣma said: O Pāṇḍavas, endowed with pure lineage and firm in your vows, having disported yourselves in the worlds of the gods, you shall come again to the human state.

12.271.69 And in due time, in happiness, returning through the creation of beings, having enjoyed delights among the gods, you shall pass in happiness into the number of the perfected. Let there be no fear for you — stainless are you all.

12.272.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How great, O father, was the righteousness of Vṛtra of immeasurable splendor, whose discernment was beyond compare and whose devotion to Viṣṇu was such as this!

12.272.2 Hard to be known is this, O father — the station of Viṣṇu of immeasurable splendor; how then, O tiger among kings, did he come to know that abode?

12.272.3 This has been told by you, and I believe it, O unfaltering one; yet a further thought has arisen in me from this glimpse of the Unmanifest.

12.272.4 How was Vṛtra slain by Śakra, O bull of the Bhāratas — he so righteous, so devoted to Viṣṇu, and so versed in the truth of that abode's order?

12.272.5 Resolve this doubt of mine, who ask it, O bull of the Bhāratas — how Vṛtra was vanquished by Śakra, O tiger among kings.

12.272.6 And tell me too how the battle came to be, O grandsire, in full detail, O mighty-armed one; for great is my curiosity.

12.272.7 Bhīṣma said: Indra, having set forth of old upon his chariot together with the hosts of the gods, beheld before him Vṛtra standing like a mountain.

12.272.8 Five hundred leagues he rose in height, O subduer of foes, and three hundred and more across in breadth.

12.272.9 Beholding that form of Vṛtra, so vast, unconquerable even by the three worlds, the gods were stricken with terror and could find no peace.

12.272.10 And then, O king, a numbness of the thighs came over Śakra, out of fear of Vṛtra, when of a sudden he saw that surpassing form.

12.272.11 Then arose a clamor and the din of instruments among all the gods and Asuras, as that battle drew on.

12.272.12 But in Vṛtra, O Kaurava, when he saw Śakra come near, there arose neither agitation, nor any fear, nor any care.

12.272.13 Then began a battle terrifying to the three worlds, between Śakra, lord of the gods, and the great-souled Vṛtra.

12.272.14 With swords and spiked maces, with pikes, with lances, javelins, and hammers, with rocks of every kind, and with loud-twanging bows;

12.272.15 and with manifold celestial weapons, and with firebrands of flame — by the armies of gods and Asuras all the world was then thrown into tumult.

12.272.16 And all the hosts of the gods, with the Grandsire at their head, and the greatly blessed seers, came to behold that battle.

12.272.17 In their finest sky-chariots, O great king, the Siddhas, O bull of the Bhāratas, and the Gandharvas in their finest chariots, came together with the Apsarases.

12.272.18 Then Vṛtra, foremost of the upholders of righteousness, overspreading the firmament, showered down upon Indra a rain of stones from the mountain.

12.272.19 Then the hosts of the gods, enraged, with showers of weapons from every side, drove off that rain of stones that Vṛtra had sent forth in the battle.

12.272.20 And Vṛtra, O tiger of the Kurus, master of great illusion and great might, bewildered Indra on every side by a warfare of magic.

12.272.21 Then a stupor fell upon Śatakratu, sore beset by Vṛtra; and Vasiṣṭha there roused him with the Rathaṃtara hymn.

12.272.22 Vasiṣṭha said: You are the best of the gods, O Indra, crusher of the foes of the gods, endowed with the strength of the three worlds — why, O Śakra, do you despond?

12.272.23 Here are Brahmā and Viṣṇu, and Śiva the lord of the world, and the blessed god Soma, and all the supreme seers.

12.272.24 Give not way to faintness, O Śakra, like some lesser one; setting a noble resolve upon the fight, slay your foe, O lord of the gods.

12.272.25 Here the three-eyed teacher of the world, revered by all the worlds, the blessed one, looks upon you; cast off your bewilderment, O lord of the gods.

12.272.26 And these Brahman-seers, with Bṛhaspati at their head, praise you, O Śakra, with a celestial hymn of praise, that you may have the victory.

12.272.27 Bhīṣma said: As he was thus roused by the great-souled Vasiṣṭha, the strength of Vāsava, supreme in splendor, grew exceedingly.

12.272.28 Then the blessed chastiser of Pāka, recovering his wits and joined to a mighty yoga, drew off that illusion.

12.272.29 Then the glorious son of Aṅgiras, and those supreme seers, seeing the prowess of Vṛtra, drew near to Maheśvara and spoke, for the destruction of Vṛtra and out of desire for the welfare of the worlds:

12.272.30 Then the radiance of the blessed lord of the world, becoming a fever, entered into that most dreadful Vṛtra, the foremost of the Daityas.

12.272.31 And the blessed god Viṣṇu, worshipped by all the worlds, intent upon the protection of the worlds, entered into Indra's thunderbolt.

12.272.32 Then wise Bṛhaspati, drawing near to Śatakratu, and Vasiṣṭha of great splendor, and all the supreme seers —

12.272.33 approaching the boon-giving Vāsava, honored by the worlds, they said with single-minded purpose: "Slay Vṛtra, O lord!"

12.272.34 Maheśvara said: This Vṛtra is mighty, O Śakra, girt about with great strength, soul of the universe, all-pervading, and renowned as a master of many illusions.

12.272.35 Therefore slay this best of Asuras, unconquerable even by the three worlds, taking your stand upon yoga; despise him not, O lord of the gods.

12.272.36 For by him austerity was practiced for the sake of strength, O sovereign of the immortals, for sixty thousand years; and Brahmā granted him a boon —

12.272.37 the greatness of yogins, and mastery of great illusion, and great might, and foremost splendor besides, O lord of the gods.

12.272.38 Lo, this radiance of mine enters into him, O Vāsava; do you in like manner slay this Vṛtra, this Dānava, with your thunderbolt.

12.272.39 Śakra said: O blessed one, by your grace I shall slay with my thunderbolt this son of Diti, so hard to assail, while you look on, O bull of the gods.

12.272.40 Bhīṣma said: As the fever entered into that Daitya, the great Asura, there arose a mighty clamor of joy from the gods and the seers.

12.272.41 Then kettledrums and conches of mighty sound, and tabors and tambourines, were sounded by the thousand.

12.272.42 But upon all the Asuras there came a great loss of memory, and in an instant a powerful failing of their understanding overtook them.

12.272.43 Then, knowing him to be thus possessed, the seers and the gods, praising Śakra the lord, urged him on as well.

12.272.44 For as the great-souled Śakra stood upon his chariot in the hour of battle, praised by the seers, his form was very hard to look upon.

12.273.1 Bhīṣma said: But of Vṛtra, O great king, wholly possessed by the fever, hear from me the signs that appeared upon his body.

12.273.2 His mouth grew flaming and dreadful, and an extreme pallor came over him; a violent trembling of the limbs and a heavy panting seized him; a fierce bristling of the hair arose, and his breathing came hard, O king.

12.273.3 A she-jackal, inauspicious of aspect and most dreadful, leapt forth from his mouth—the loss of his very wits, O Bhārata, fearful and terrible. And blazing meteors, flaming bright, fell at his side.

12.273.4 Vultures, herons, and crows let loose their most dreadful cries, and, exulting, wheeled round and round above Vṛtra like a turning wheel.

12.273.5 Then Śakra, mounting in the battle that chariot empowered by the gods, his thunderbolt raised in his hand, fixed his gaze upon that Daitya.

12.273.6 Then that great Asura uttered an unearthly roar and gaped wide, O lord of kings, seized by the fierce fever; and as he gaped, Śakra hurled the thunderbolt upon him.

12.273.7 That thunderbolt of mighty splendour, like unto the fire of universal doom, swiftly struck down the vast-bodied Daitya Vṛtra.

12.273.8 Then once more a great cry arose on every side from the gods, O bull of the Bhāratas, when they beheld Vṛtra slain.

12.273.9 Having slain Vṛtra with the thunderbolt charged with Viṣṇu's power, the illustrious lord, foe of the Dānavas, ascended into heaven itself.

12.273.10 Then from Vṛtra's body, O Kaurava, there issued forth Brahmahatyā—the sin of brahmin-slaughter—most terrible, savage, a terror to the worlds.

12.273.11 With jagged teeth, dreadful, deformed, black and tawny, her hair flying loose, her eyes terrible, O Bhārata,

12.273.12 garlanded with skulls and gaunt, O bull of the Bhāratas, drenched in blood, O knower of dharma, clad in rags she was.

12.273.13 Coming forth in that fearful shape, O lord of kings, she then set out in search of the wielder of the thunderbolt, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.273.14 After a certain time, O delight of the Kurus, the slayer of Vṛtra set forth toward heaven, desiring the welfare of the worlds.

12.273.15 But seeing the mighty Śakra slipping away among the lotus-stalks, she seized the king of the gods by the throat and clung fast to him.

12.273.16 For when that terror wrought by the slaying of a brahmin had arisen, he dwelt within a lotus-pond, hidden in the midst of the stalks, for many years.

12.273.17 But that Brahmahatyā, having tracked him down with effort, seized him then, O Kaurava, and he became motionless and helpless.

12.273.18 Śakra made the utmost effort to be rid of her, yet the king of the gods could not drive off that Brahmahatyā.

12.273.19 Held fast by her, O bull of the Bhāratas, the king of the gods approached the Grandsire and did him homage, bowing his head.

12.273.20 Knowing that Śakra was held fast by the sin of slaying a foremost of the twice-born, Brahmā then fell to pondering, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.273.21 O mighty-armed one, the Grandsire then addressed that Brahmahatyā in a sweet voice, as if to soothe her, O Bhārata:

12.273.22 "Let this lord of the thirty gods be released; do me this kindness, O passionate one. Tell me, what shall I do for you this day? What desire of yours would you have fulfilled herein?"

12.273.23 Brahmahatyā said: "Since the god worshipped in the three worlds, the maker of the threefold world, is pleased, I deem my purpose here already accomplished—only ordain me a dwelling-place."

12.273.24 "This boundary has been set by you, who seek the protection of the worlds; a most weighty ordinance has been established and set in motion by you, O god."

12.273.25 "Since you are pleased, O knower of dharma, lord of all the worlds, O master, I shall depart from Śakra—only ordain me a dwelling-place."

12.273.26 Bhīṣma said: "So be it," the Grandsire then said to that Brahmahatyā, and by a skilful expedient he drove the brahmin-slaughter away from Śakra.

12.273.27 Then Fire, summoned in thought by the high-souled Self-Existent One, drew near to Brahmā and spoke these words:

12.273.28 "I have come into your presence, O blessed god, O subduer of foes. What is to be done by me, O god, that you should be pleased to declare."

12.273.29 Brahmā said: "I shall divide this Brahmahatyā into many parts. For the release of Śakra this day, accept from me a fourth portion of her."

12.273.30 Agni said: "What is to be the end of my release, O Brahman? Reflect upon it, O master. This I wish to know truly, O you who are worshipped by the worlds."

12.273.31 Brahmā said: "Whatever man, drawing near to you when you blaze, shall fail of his own accord to make offering anywhere with the saps of seeds and herbs, O Fire, being veiled in darkness of mind—

12.273.32 to him she shall swiftly pass, O bearer of oblations, and there shall she abide. Let the fever of your mind depart."

12.273.33 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, the blessed bearer of offerings to gods and ancestors accepted the word of the Grandsire, and so it came to pass, O lord.

12.273.34 Then the Grandsire, summoning trees, herbs, and grasses, began to declare this matter to them, O great king.

12.273.35 Then the trees, herbs, and grasses, being told the matter just as it was, were troubled as Fire had been, O king, and spoke thus to Brahmā:

12.273.36 "What is to be the end for us of this Brahmahatyā, O Grandsire of the worlds? Slain already by our own nature, we ought not to be slain by you again."

12.273.37 "We endure forever fire and cold and rain driven by the wind, O god, and the cutting and splitting too."

12.273.38 "This Brahmahatyā we shall take upon ourselves this day at your command, O lord of the three worlds; but let your honour consider our release."

12.273.39 Brahmā said: "When the sacred season of the moon's change has come, whatever man shall in his folly perform cutting and splitting, her she shall follow."

12.273.40 Bhīṣma said: Then the trees, herbs, and grasses, thus addressed by the high-souled one, paid homage to Brahmā and swiftly departed as they had come.

12.273.41 Then the god, the Grandsire of the worlds, summoning the Apsarases, spoke to them in a sweet voice, as if to soothe them, O Bhārata:

12.273.42 "This Brahmahatyā has passed to me from Indra, O fair-limbed ones. So bidden by me, accept a fourth portion of her."

12.273.43 The Apsarases said: "Since we are resolved to take her on at your command, O lord of the gods, consider, O Grandsire, our release upon condition."

12.273.44 Brahmā said: "Whatever man shall have intercourse with women in their courses, to him she shall swiftly pass. Let the fever of your minds depart."

12.273.45 Bhīṣma said: Saying "So be it" with gladdened hearts, the troops of Apsarases reached their own abodes and made merry, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.273.46 Then the god of mighty austerity, maker of the three worlds, once more called the Waters to mind, and being so summoned they came.

12.273.47 And all of them, gathering before Brahmā of measureless might, bowed down to the Grandsire and spoke this word, O king:

12.273.48 "Here are we come into your presence, O god, O subduer of foes, at your command, O lord of the gods. Lay your charge upon us, O all-pervading one."

12.273.49 Brahmā said: "This Brahmahatyā of great terror has passed from Vṛtra to him of the many invocations. Do you accept a fourth portion of her."

12.273.50 The Waters said: "So be it, O lord of the worlds, as you bid us, O master; but you ought to consider our release upon condition."

12.273.51 "For you, O lord of the gods, are the supreme preceptor of all the world. What other grace could there be that would deliver us from distress?"

12.273.52 Brahmā said: "Whatever man, deeming you of slight account in his deluded mind, shall cast phlegm, urine, and excrement into you—

12.273.53 to him she shall swiftly pass, and there shall she abide. Thus shall your release come to be—this I tell you in truth."

12.273.54 Bhīṣma said: Then Brahmahatyā, releasing the king of the gods, O Yudhiṣṭhira, went to the place assigned her, at the god's command.

12.273.55 Thus, O ruler of men, did Brahmahatyā come upon Śakra; and having taken leave of the Grandsire, he performed the Horse Sacrifice.

12.273.56 For it is heard, O great king, that Brahmahatyā came upon Vāsava, and thereafter he won purification by the Horse Sacrifice.

12.273.57 Having regained his royal fortune and slain his foes by thousands, the god Vāsava attained joy beyond compare, O lord of the earth.

12.273.58 And from Vṛtra's blood, O Pārtha, were born the mushrooms, which are not to be eaten by the twice-born, by the consecrated, or by those rich in austerity.

12.273.59 You too in every circumstance should do what is dear to these twice-born; for they are gods made manifest upon the earth, O delight of the Kurus.

12.273.60 Thus, O Kaurava, by Śakra of measureless splendour, through subtlety of intellect and by skilful means, was the great Asura Vṛtra slain.

12.273.61 Even so, O Kaurava, shall you too be unconquered upon the earth, like the god of the hundred sacrifices, the slayer of foes.

12.273.62 And those who shall recite this divine tale of Śakra, season after season, in the midst of the brahmins, shall incur no sin.

12.273.63 Thus, with Vṛtra for its theme, this most wondrous and mighty deed of Śakra has been told to you, my son. What more do you wish to hear?

12.274.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O Grandsire, greatly wise, versed in all the sciences, from the very slaying of Vṛtra a question arises that I would put to you.

12.274.2 Vṛtra, bewildered by fever, was described by you, O ruler of men, as slain here by Vāsava with the thunderbolt, O sinless one.

12.274.3 How, O greatly wise one, did this fever come to be, and whence? I wish to hear with precision the origin of fever, O master.

12.274.4 Bhīṣma said: Hear, O king, the origin of fever, renowned throughout the world; and I shall tell its full account and of what nature it is, O Bhārata.

12.274.5 Of old, O great king, there was a peak of Meru, famed throughout the three worlds, named Jyotiṣka, belonging to the Sun, adorned with every gem, immeasurable and unassailable in all the worlds, O Bhārata.

12.274.6 There upon the mountain-slope, adorned with veins of gold, the god sat, shining as though upon a couch.

12.274.7 And the daughter of the mountain-king, ever stationed at his side, shone there; and so too the high-souled gods and the mighty Vasus.

12.274.8 And likewise the high-souled Aśvins, best of physicians, and King Vaiśravaṇa, surrounded by the Guhyakas,

12.274.9 the glorious lord of the Yakṣas, whose abode is Kailāsa, the master; and the divine sages headed by Aṅgiras, and others besides,

12.274.10 and the Gandharva Viśvāvasu, and Nārada and Parvata, and hosts upon hosts of Apsarases came together in great numbers.

12.274.11 A gentle, pleasant wind blew, pure and bearing manifold fragrances; and the great trees, in flower, were laden with the blossoms of every season.

12.274.12 And likewise the Vidyādharas, and the Siddhas rich in austerity, waited reverently upon the great god, the Lord of Creatures, O Bhārata.

12.274.13 And the spirits, O great king, wearing manifold shapes, and the most savage Rākṣasas, and the mighty Piśācas,

12.274.14 the god's attendants, wearing many forms, joyful, raising weapons of every kind, stood there like blazing fire.

12.274.15 And the blessed Nandī stood there too, by the god's leave, grasping a blazing trident shining with its own splendour.

12.274.16 And Gaṅgā, best of rivers, arising from the waters of all holy fords, in embodied form waited reverently upon that god, O delight of the Kurus.

12.274.17 Thus that blessed Mahādeva abode there, worshipped by the divine sages and by the most exalted gods.

12.274.18 Then after a certain time the Prajāpati named Dakṣa set about to perform a sacrifice according to the ordinance aforesaid.

12.274.19 Then all the gods, with Śakra at their head, gathering together, set their minds upon going to his sacrifice.

12.274.20 Those great-souled ones, in blazing chariots that shone like fire, departed with the god's leave for the Gate of the Gaṅgā — so the tradition tells.

12.274.21 Seeing the gods set forth, the daughter of the king of mountains, that virtuous lady, then spoke these words to her lord, the god Paśupati.

12.274.22 "Blessed lord, where do these gods go, with Śakra at their head? Tell me truly, O knower of truth, for great is this doubt of mine."

12.274.23 Maheśvara said: "O greatly blessed one, there is a foremost lord of creatures named Dakṣa; he is performing the horse-sacrifice, and it is there the dwellers in heaven are bound."

12.274.24 Umā said: "O greatly blessed one, why do you not go to this sacrifice? By what prohibition is your going barred?"

12.274.25 Maheśvara said: "O greatly blessed one, it is the gods themselves who have arranged all this: in none of the sacrifices has a share been appointed for me."

12.274.26 "By a course sanctioned by ancient usage, O fair-complexioned one, the gods do not, as dharma requires, render unto me a share of the sacrifice."

12.274.27 Umā said: "Blessed lord, among all beings you surpass them in power and in virtues; unconquerable and unassailable you are, in splendor, in fame, in majesty."

12.274.28 "By this exclusion from your share, O greatly blessed and sinless one, an overwhelming grief has arisen in me, and a trembling besides."

12.274.29 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken thus to her lord, the god Paśupati, that goddess fell silent, O king, with a heart consumed by grief.

12.274.30 Then, perceiving the mind of the goddess and what purpose lay hidden in her heart, he gave his command to Nandin: "Stand ready!"

12.274.31 Then, summoning the force of yoga, the lord of all lords of yoga, that god of gods of mighty splendor, the bearer of the Pināka, with his terrible attendants suddenly had that sacrifice struck down.

12.274.32 Some let loose roars, some burst into laughter, and others, O king, drenched the sacrificial fire there with blood.

12.274.33 Some, having uprooted the sacrificial posts, roamed about with distorted faces; others devoured with their mouths the very attendants of the rite.

12.274.34 Then that sacrifice, O lord of men, being assailed on every side, took on the form of a deer and fled up into the sky.

12.274.35 But the lord, perceiving the sacrifice fleeing in that shape, took up his bow and an arrow and gave chase.

12.274.36 Then, from the wrath of that lord of gods of measureless splendor, a dreadful drop of sweat issued forth from his brow.

12.274.37 And the instant that drop of sweat fell upon the earth, there arose a vast fire, like the fire of universal dissolution.

12.274.38 And from it, O bull among men, there was then born a being: short of stature, with eyes exceedingly red, tawny-bearded, and terrifying.

12.274.39 His hair stood erect, his limbs were thick with hair; hawk- and owl-like was he, gaping-jawed and black of hue, and clothed in red.

12.274.40 That mighty being burned up the sacrifice as a fire burns dry brushwood, and all the gods, stricken with fear, fled then to the ten directions.

12.274.41 As that being ranged about, O lord of peoples, the earth itself shook violently, O king, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.274.42 When a clamor of "Alas! Alas!" had broken out, a cry that struck terror into the worlds, the Grandsire, addressing Mahādeva, made plain his thought and replied:

12.274.43 "To you too, lord, all the gods shall now indeed grant a share; let the withdrawal be made by you, O lord of all the gods."

12.274.44 "For all these gods and the sages, O scorcher of foes, by reason of your wrath, O Mahādeva, can find no peace."

12.274.45 "And this being who has been born from your sweat, O best of the wise — Fever is his name, O knower of dharma, and as Fever he shall range through the worlds."

12.274.46 "For while his fiery force remains gathered into one, the whole earth, O lord, cannot bear it; let him therefore be released in many parts."

12.274.47 Thus addressed by Brahmā, and his share now appointed, the god said "So be it" to the blessed Brahmā of measureless might.

12.274.48 And the bearer of the Pināka came to supreme delight, smiling broadly; and Bhava then received his share as Brahmā had declared.

12.274.49 And the knower of all dharmas then released Fever in many parts, for the welfare of all beings — hear of that too, my son.

12.274.50 In elephants it is the burning fever of the head; in mountains, the mineral pitch; in waters one should know it as the green scum, and in serpents as their cast-off slough.

12.274.51 In cattle it is the hoof-rot; on the face of the earth, the barren saline soil; and in beasts too, O knower of dharma, it is the dimming of their sight.

12.274.52 In horses it is the malady of the orifices; in peacocks, the splitting of the crest; in cuckoos it is declared by the great one to be a disease of the eye — such is Fever.

12.274.53 In water-born creatures it is the disorder of the bile of them all — so we have heard; and in all parrots, Fever is said to be the hiccup.

12.274.54 In tigers, O knower of dharma, it is said here to be weariness as their fever; but among men, O knower of dharma, it is renowned by the very name of Fever, and it enters a man at death, at birth, and in the time between.

12.274.55 This is the splendor of Maheśvara, the most dreadful thing named Fever — the lord, to be revered and honored by all living beings.

12.274.56 Possessed by this very Fever, Vṛtra, the best of upholders of dharma, gaped wide; and thereupon Śakra hurled the thunderbolt at him.

12.274.57 Entering into Vṛtra, the thunderbolt rent him asunder, O Bhārata; and that great yogin, the mighty Asura, thus sundered by the thunderbolt, went to the supreme abode of Viṣṇu of measureless splendor.

12.274.58 For of old, through his devotion to Viṣṇu, this world had been pervaded by him; and therefore, slain in battle, he attained the abode of Viṣṇu.

12.274.59 Thus, taking Vṛtra for its occasion, the full account of the great Fever has been told by me, my son. What else shall I declare to you?

12.274.60 The man who, undaunted in mind and well-composed, ever reads this story of the origin of Fever shall be freed from disease; happy and filled with joy, he shall obtain his desires according to his heart's wish.

12.275.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "From grief, from sorrow, and from death, living beings ever tremble. Tell me, Grandsire, how both of these may be undone for me."

12.275.2 Bhīṣma said: On this very matter they relate an ancient tale, the dialogue of Nārada and Samaṅga, O Bhārata.

12.275.3 Nārada said: "You seem to bow forward with your very chest, and to push your way through with your arms; ever glad of mind, you appear like one wholly free from grief."

12.275.4 "Not the slightest agitation, not even the subtlest, do I discern in you here; ever content and at ease, you behave like a child."

12.275.5 Samaṅga said: "What was, what is, and what shall be — all that lies among creatures, O bestower of honor — I know the truths of these; and therefore am I not despondent."

12.275.6 "I know undertakings, and likewise the arising of their fruits; the fruits in this world are of many kinds, and therefore am I not despondent."

12.275.7 "The fathomless and the unsteady, the moving and the wandering, the blind and the dull-witted — all these live, O Nārada; behold us too, that we are living."

12.275.8 "The dwellers in heaven, sound of limb, live by what is ordained; the strong and the weak alike — so too regard us in like manner."

12.275.9 "Those who possess thousands live, and those who possess hundreds live as well; and others live upon mere herbs — behold us too, that we are living."

12.275.10 "When we do not grieve, what then could there be to grieve for, O Nārada, whether through dharma or through action? — since pleasures, being subject to Destiny, and pains likewise, cannot overwhelm us."

12.275.11 "It is to him men attribute wisdom in whom the serenity of the senses is rooted in wisdom; but when the senses are bewildered and sorrow, there is no winning of wisdom for one whose senses are confounded."

12.275.12 "The pride of the deluded man is but delusion once more; for the deluded there is neither this world nor the world beyond. For pains do not come forever, nor is there a perpetual winning of pleasure."

12.275.13 "Over this world of becoming, ever revolving in its course, one such as I would never let himself feel torment; he would not crave for cherished enjoyments or for pleasure, nor would he brood over the sorrow that has come upon him."

12.275.14 "Composed, he would not covet what belongs to others, nor would he rejoice over a gain not yet come; he would not exult at a vast acquisition of wealth, nor, when wealth is lost, would he sink into despair."

12.275.15 "Not kinsmen, not wealth, not high birth, not learning, not sacred counsels, not valor — all these are eager to rescue one from sorrow, yet without character in the life to come they do not attain peace."

12.275.16 "For the undisciplined there is no understanding, and without discipline no happiness is found; steadfastness and the renouncing of sorrow — both of these are for us the wellspring of joy."

12.275.17 "For what is dear gives rise to elation, elation breeds arrogance, and arrogance leads but to hell; therefore I wholly renounce it."

12.275.18 "These — grief, fear, and arrogance, bewilderers in pleasure and in pain — I behold in the world as a witness might, through the workings of this body."

12.275.19 "Having forsaken wealth and desire, free from grief and rid of fever, having cast off craving and delusion, I wander over this earth."

12.275.20 "Neither from death, nor from unrighteousness, nor from greed, nor from any source whatever — like one who has drunk the nectar of immortality, I have no fear at all, here or hereafter."

12.275.21 "This I have come to know, O brāhmaṇa, by performing great and imperishable austerity; and by that attainment, O Nārada, no grief afflicts me."

12.276.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: "For one who does not know the truths of the scriptures, who is forever of doubting mind, who has reached no firm resolve — tell me, Grandsire, what is the highest good."

12.276.2 Bhīṣma said: "Constant honoring of one's teacher, attendance upon the elders, and the hearing of the branches of knowledge — this is declared to be the unfailing highest good."

12.276.3 "On this too they relate an ancient tale, the dialogue of Gālava and of the divine sage Nārada."

12.276.4 To Nārada — a brāhmaṇa freed from delusion and weariness, sated with knowledge, his senses mastered, desiring the highest good and his self subdued — Gālava spoke:

12.276.5 "Whatever the virtues by which a man is esteemed in the world among men, all those abiding virtues do I discern in you."

12.276.6 "You, being such a one, are fit to cut away our doubt — you who are undeluded, for the sake of us long-deluded, who do not know the truth of the world."

12.276.7 "For thus would there be activity grounded in knowledge for one who discerns what should and should not be done; that which we cannot resolve as our duty, you are fit to declare."

12.276.8 "Blessed lord, all the orders of life teach each its own separate conduct, and each runs off in its own way, crying, 'This is the highest good! This is the highest good!'"

12.276.9 "Seeing them thus set apart by their scriptures, each delighting in his own scripture and content with it, we cannot lay hold of the highest good."

12.276.10 "Were there but a single scripture, then the highest good would be made plain; but by the many scriptures the highest good has only been driven the deeper into mystery."

12.276.11 "For this reason the highest good appears to me a tangled thicket; let the blessed lord declare it to me — I have come to you as a suppliant; teach me, I pray."

12.276.12 Nārada said: "The orders of life, my dear, are four, each ordained apart; behold them all, Gālava, taking your stand within them."

12.276.13 "For of each of those several orders, here and there, behold the aim, manifold in form and in quality, set forth apart; and indeed they lead one rightly, without doubt, to the goal intended."

12.276.14 "Looking straight and rightly upon the supreme goal of the orders of life — that which is truly the highest blessedness is also the very thing free from all doubt."

12.276.15 "The favoring of friends, the restraint of foes, and the holding fast of the threefold aim of life — these the wise call the highest good."

12.276.16 "Turning away from sinful action, a constant habit of virtue, and right conduct in the company of the good — this is the highest good, beyond all doubt."

12.276.17 "Gentleness toward all beings, uprightness in one's dealings, and speech that is sweet — this is declared the highest good, beyond all doubt."

12.276.18 "Sharing one's portion with the gods, with the ancestors, and with guests too, and never abandoning one's dependents — this is the highest good, beyond all doubt."

12.276.19 To speak the truth is good, yet the knowledge of truth is hard to win. That which is of utmost benefit to living beings — that I declare to be the truth.

12.276.20 The abandonment of egoism, the restraint of fond craving, contentment, and a solitary course of life — this is called the unshakable, supreme good.

12.276.21 The study of the Vedas according to dharma, and likewise of the Vedāṅgas, and the eager inquiry into the objects of knowledge — this, beyond doubt, is the good.

12.276.22 Sound, form, taste, and touch, together with smell, in their bare forms — let the seeker of the good not pursue these to excess, O scorcher of foes.

12.276.23 Roaming by night, sleeping by day, sloth, slander, intoxicating pride, overexertion and want of effort alike — let the seeker of the good forsake them all.

12.276.24 Let him not seek the exaltation of his deeds by disparaging others; by his own virtues alone let him seek to rise above the common run of men.

12.276.25 For the most part it is men devoid of merit who think highly of themselves; they assail the virtuous with imagined faults, and so squander what merit they have.

12.276.26 And though no one praises them, they fancy themselves more endowed with virtue than the great, puffed up with their own conceit.

12.276.27 Uttering no censure of anyone, sounding no praise of himself, the wise man rich in virtue attains, even so, a great renown.

12.276.28 Without a word the fragrant, pure scent of blossoms wafts abroad; and just so, uttering nothing, the spotless sun shines in the sky.

12.276.29 These things and others like them, embraced through wisdom, blaze with glory in the world — and yet they make no proclamation of themselves.

12.276.30 A fool does not shine in the world by mere self-praise, while the learned man shines forth even though hidden in a pit.

12.276.31 A worthless utterance, though loudly proclaimed, soon dies away; but a word well spoken, even softly, shines among the worlds.

12.276.32 The much, pithless talk of the deluded and the arrogant lays bare their inner self, as the radiant sun reveals form by day.

12.276.33 For this reason men seek wisdom of every kind; for the winning of wisdom appears to me the highest gain of living beings.

12.276.34 Let him speak to no one unasked, nor to one who questions wrongly; though full of knowledge and keen of mind, let him move through the world as if dull-witted.

12.276.35 Then let him test his dwelling-place, choosing among good men ever devoted to dharma, among the generous, and among those intent upon their own duty.

12.276.36 Where the duties of the four varṇas are confounded and overthrown, there let the seeker of the good never make his dwelling, by any means whatever.

12.276.37 Even one who undertakes no works here, living on whatever comes to hand, gains spotless merit among the meritorious and sin among the sinful.

12.276.38 As one feels the touch of water, of fire, and of the moon, so do we perceive the touch of both alike — of sin and of merit.

12.276.39 Those who eat the leavings of a sacrifice partake of food without regard to its source; but know that the eating of food's objects is itself the field of works and their fruit.

12.276.40 Where, to those who come seeking and inquiring, one would expound the dharma of Brahman with disrespect, that land let the self-possessed man forsake.

12.276.41 Where the bond of pupil and teacher is well-ordered and rightly furnished with the scriptures — what man would abandon such a land?

12.276.42 Where men set on high, hungry for their own honour, would surely fasten fault upon the wise — what learned man would dwell there?

12.276.43 Where the dikes of dharma are for the most part churned up and breached by the greedy — who would not forsake that land, as one flees a blazing mountainside?

12.276.44 Where men, free of misgiving and free of envy, would practise dharma — there let him move and there let him dwell, among the good and righteous of conduct.

12.276.45 But where men would practise dharma only for the sake of gain, let him never dwell among them, for those are people who do evil.

12.276.46 Where men cling to life by deeds of sin, from there let him swiftly run away, as from a shelter that holds a serpent.

12.276.47 That deed which, having mounted his deathbed, would leave a man clinging in remorse — such a deed he must not do at the outset, if he desires the welfare of his soul.

12.276.48 Where the king and the king's men, his close attendants, eat before the householders and seize the first share, that realm let the self-possessed man abandon.

12.276.49 But where it is the Vedic scholars, ever devoted to the eternal dharma and engaged in performing sacrifice and teaching, who eat the first share — in such a realm let him take up his abode.

12.276.50 Where the cries of Svāhā, Svadhā, and Vaṣaṭ are rightly performed and ceaselessly maintained, there let him dwell without hesitation.

12.276.51 Where he sees impure practices and brāhmaṇas wasted for want of livelihood, that realm let him abandon, as one shuns meat already gone foul.

12.276.52 Where men in gladness would give even unasked, there let the self-possessed man dwell with tranquil mind, as one whose every task is fulfilled.

12.276.53 Where punishment falls upon the undisciplined and honour is paid to the self-mastered — there let him move and there let him dwell, among the good of holy conduct.

12.276.54 Upon the corrupt and unrestrained, the ill-conducted and the wicked, the undisciplined and the greedy, the wielding of a very great rod of punishment is fitting.

12.276.55 Where a king ever steadfast in dharma rules the realm with care, and the lord of pleasures has cast his desires aside — there let him dwell without hesitation.

12.276.56 For kings of such character swiftly join all the dwellers of their domain to the good, when the good is set before them.

12.276.57 To you who asked, my child, this account of the good has been declared by me; yet the good of one's own soul cannot be reckoned through any single chief means.

12.276.58 For one who conducts his life thus, with self intent and composed, the good in abundance will plainly come to be, even here, through austerity alone.

12.277.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How then may a king such as I, set free, wander the earth, and endowed with what virtues is one ever released from the snare of attachment?

12.277.2 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall relate to you an ancient tale, spoken by Ariṣṭanemi to Sagara when he questioned him.

12.277.3 Sagara said: What, O holy one, is the highest good, doing which a man enjoys happiness here? How may one neither grieve nor be shaken? This I wish to know.

12.277.4 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed, Tārkṣya, deeply versed in all the scriptures, perceiving the questioner's surpassing fitness, then spoke this true word.

12.277.5 The happiness of liberation is happiness indeed in this world, yet the world does not comprehend it — clinging to sons and cattle, distracted with wealth and grain.

12.277.6 The man whose mind is bound and whose self is unquiet cannot be healed; deluded, fettered by the noose of fondness, he is not fit for liberation.

12.277.7 The bonds born of affection I shall now declare to you — hear them from me; with a head whose ears are open, the discerning man can cut them through.

12.277.8 When in due time you have raised your sons, established them in youth, and known them fit to make their own way in life — then, set free, wander as you please.

12.277.9 Your wife, grown old, blessed with sons and cherished, fond of her children — knowing her so, forsake her in due season, looking to the higher aim.

12.277.10 With offspring or without, set free, wander as you please, having tasted with your senses the objects of sense in due measure.

12.277.11 Your curiosity for them once satisfied, set free, wander as you please; and toward such gains as come to you by chance, remain even-minded.

12.277.12 Thus far the matter of liberation has been declared to you by me in brief; I shall now expound it once more at length — hear it.

12.277.13 The liberated, free of fear, wander happy in the world; but men of clinging nature perish — of this there is no doubt.

12.277.14 Even insects and ants that hoard their food show this: the unattached are happy in the world, while the attached go to ruin.

12.277.15 Nor should you, your mind set on liberation, brood over your kin, thinking, 'How will these fare once parted from me?'

12.277.16 A creature is born of itself and of itself grows up; pleasure and pain, and death as well, it meets of its own accord.

12.277.17 Their food and clothing, and what is gathered for them by mother and father, men obtain by their own past deeds; nothing in the world comes uncaused by what was done before.

12.277.18 With their sustenance ordained by the Creator, all living beings run to and fro across the earth, guarded by their own deeds.

12.277.19 For one who is himself but a lump of clay, forever dependent and infirm of self, what ground is there to nourish his kin or to protect them?

12.277.20 When death strikes down your kin before your very eyes, despite all your great striving — there a man must awaken to the truth within himself.

12.277.21 And though this kinsman still lives, you yourself, the task of his support and protection left unfinished, abandoning him, will die hereafter all the same.

12.277.22 And when you are dead, you will in no way know your kin, whether they are happy or in sorrow — surely a man should awaken to this within himself.

12.277.23 Whether you be dead or alive, the people will enjoy only the fruit of their own deeds; having understood this, surely a man should do what is for his own true good.

12.277.24 Knowing this, and resolved that in this world none truly belongs to another, fix your mind upon liberation, and consider it yet again.

12.277.25 The embodied one who has here conquered the states of hunger, thirst, and the rest, and anger, greed, and delusion as well — that man of inner strength is liberated indeed.

12.277.26 The man who, in gambling, in drink, in women, and in the chase, never grows heedless through infatuation — he is ever liberated indeed.

12.277.27 He who is wearied by the thought, 'Day after day, night after night, forever and again, one must eat' — that man, they say, is of corrupted understanding.

12.277.28 He who, ever steadfast and rightly discerning, sees the nature of the self in women too as already free, again and again — that man is liberated indeed.

12.277.29 He who knows in their true reality the arising and the passing away of beings, and their strivings as well — that man in this world is liberated indeed.

12.277.30 He who sees that, amid thousands of draught-beasts, but a single measure suffices for sustenance, and amid crores of wealth, but the space of a cot within a palace — that man is set free.

12.277.31 He who sees the world smitten by death, oppressed by diseases, and wasted for want of livelihood — that man is set free.

12.277.32 He who sees thus is happy and content, while he who does not see is undone; and he who is content with little — that man in this world is liberated indeed.

12.277.33 He who beholds that all this is but Agni and Soma, and is not touched by wondrous appearances — that man is liberated indeed.

12.277.34 The embodied one to whom a couch for a bed and the bare ground are the same, and fine rice and coarse fare alike — that man is liberated indeed.

12.277.35 He to whom linen and a garment of kuśa grass, silk and bark-cloth, wool and hide are all the same — that man is liberated indeed.

12.277.36 He who beholds the world as risen from the five elements, and having so seen it conducts himself accordingly — that man in this world is liberated indeed.

12.277.37 He to whom pleasure and pain are the same, gain and loss, victory and defeat, desire and aversion, fear and agitation — that man in every way is liberated indeed.

12.277.38 Seeing this body to be a heap of blood, urine, and dung, a heap of morbid humours rife with corruption — by this very seeing he is set free.

12.277.39 He who beholds the coming of wrinkles and grey hair, the wasting and the fading of colour, and the bending of the body brought on by old age — that man is set free.

12.277.40 He who beholds the failing of his manhood with time, the fading of sight, deafness, and the dulling of the vital breath — that man is set free.

12.277.41 He who beholds how the sages have passed away, and the gods likewise, and the asuras too departed, gone from this world to the world beyond — he is released.

12.277.42 Knowing that kings of the earth by the thousand, endowed with this power and that, have departed, abandoning the earth — by this knowledge he is set free.

12.277.43 He who sees how hard wealth is to win in this world, how easily afflictions come, and the suffering borne for the sake of family — he is released.

12.277.44 Seeing so widely in the world the worthlessness of offspring and the unworthiness of people, who would not hold liberation in highest honour?

12.277.45 The man who, awakened by scripture and by the world, sees the whole of human existence as without substance — he is in every way already free.

12.277.46 Having heard this counsel of mine, let your honour wander as one already liberated, even in the householder's life, if your mind is fixed unwavering upon release.

12.277.47 Having rightly heard that counsel of his, the lord of the earth, endowed with the virtues born of liberation, governed his subjects.

12.278.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: A certain curiosity ever abides in my heart, dear sire; this I wish to hear from you, O grandsire of the Kurus.

12.278.2 How was it that the divine seer Uśanas, son of Kavi, ever of great wisdom, did good to the asuras and delighted in what was unwelcome to the gods?

12.278.3 For what purpose did he augment the might of those of measureless force, the dānavas, who were ever bound in enmity with the best of the gods?

12.278.4 And how did Uśanas, radiant as the immortals, attain to the state of Śukra, and how did he gain his prosperity? Tell me all of this.

12.278.5 And how is it that the luminous one does not pass through the middle of the sky? This I wish to understand in full, O grandsire.

12.278.6 Bhīṣma said: Listen attentively, O king, to all of this as it truly is, according to my understanding and as I have heard it before, O sinless one.

12.278.7 This sage, heir of Bhṛgu, truthful and firm in his vows, did good to the asuras out of a compassionate cause.

12.278.8 Now Indra, and King Kubera the giver of wealth, lord of the yakṣas and rākṣasas — he too was master of the treasury and lord of the world.

12.278.9 The great sage, perfected in yoga, then entering into himself and confining the god Kubera, lord of wealth, by his yoga carried off his riches.

12.278.10 His wealth thus stolen, Kubera could find no peace; seized with wrath and agitated, he went to the best of the gods.

12.278.11 He then made his plaint to Śiva of measureless splendour, to Rudra, foremost of gods, the gracious one of many forms.

12.278.12 Kubera said: By Uśanas, master of yoga, my wealth has been confined and carried off; the great ascetic, having made his course by yoga, has departed.

12.278.13 Bhīṣma said: Hearing this, the great yogin Maheśvara grew wroth; his eyes flushed red, O king, he took up his trident and stood ready.

12.278.14 "Where is he, where is he?" he cried, grasping his supreme weapon; but Uśanas, knowing his intent, shone forth at a distance from him.

12.278.15 Perceiving the wrath of the great-souled, mighty yogin, the lord then knew his going and his coming, and knew his place.

12.278.16 Having meditated by his fierce austerity upon the great-souled Maheśvara, Uśanas, his self perfected in yoga, appeared upon the point of the trident.

12.278.17 His form thus recognized by the bow-bearer perfected in austerity, the lord of gods, perceiving him, bent down the trident with his hand.

12.278.18 With the trident now bent down by his hand of measureless might, the lord of the terrible weapon named that trident "Pināka."

12.278.19 Seeing the descendant of Bhṛgu come into the midst of his hand, the lord of Umā, the bull-marked one, opened his mouth and slowly cast his hand toward it.

12.278.20 But the lord Uśanas, that great-souled delight of Bhṛgu, having entered into the belly of Maheśvara, wandered about within.

12.278.21 Yudhiṣṭhira said: For what reason, O king, did Uśanas wander in the belly of that wise god of gods, and what did the greatly radiant one do there?

12.278.22 Bhīṣma said: Long ago, O king, that great keeper of vows abode beneath the waters, motionless as a post, for millions and tens of millions of years.

12.278.23 Having performed austerity hard to endure, he rose up from the great lake; then Brahmā, god beyond the gods, drew near to him.

12.278.24 He asked after the growth of his austerity and after his unfailing welfare; and the bull-bannered one said, "Well practised is your austerity."

12.278.25 And by that union Śaṃkara perceived his increase — he of great wisdom, of inconceivable nature, ever devoted to truth and dharma.

12.278.26 Enriched thereby in austerity and in wealth, that great yogin, valorous, shone forth throughout the three worlds, O great king.

12.278.27 Then the Pināka-bearer, his self given to yoga, entered into the yoga of meditation; but Uśanas, alarmed, concealed himself within the belly.

12.278.28 And the great yogin, dwelling there, praised the god; but, seeking a way out, he was thrust back by his splendour.

12.278.29 Then Uśanas, the great sage, dwelling in the belly, spoke: "Show me your grace," again and again, O subduer of foes.

12.278.30 Mahādeva said to him, "Go forth; your release shall be by the member" — for the bull of the gods had stopped up all the other openings.

12.278.31 Finding no door, shut in on every side, the sage wandered to and fro, burning in that splendour.

12.278.32 Coming forth by the member, he attained the state of Śukra; and by that very deed he comes not through the middle of the sky.

12.278.33 Then, seeing him come forth blazing as it were with splendour, Bhava, filled with wrath, stood with his trident raised in his hand.

12.278.34 But the goddess restrained her wrathful lord, the master of beasts; and when Śaṃkara was thus stayed by the goddess, the sage came to the state of her son.

12.278.35 The goddess said: This one is not to be slain by you, for he has come to be my son; and none who has issued from a god's womb meets with destruction.

12.278.36 Bhīṣma said: Then he was pleased with the goddess, and laughing said this: "Let him go as he wills," O king, again and again.

12.278.37 Then, bowing to the boon-granting god and to the goddess Umā, the wise Uśanas, the great sage, attained the course he desired.

12.278.38 This deed of the great-souled descendant of Bhṛgu I have related to you, dear son, O best of the Bhāratas, as you have asked of me.

12.279.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Beyond this, O mighty-armed one, tell me what is best; I am not sated with your words, as if with nectar, O grandsire.

12.279.2 By doing what auspicious deed, O best of men, does a man attain the supreme good both hereafter and here? Tell me that.

12.279.3 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall relate to you how, in former times, King Janaka of great fame questioned the great-souled Parāśara.

12.279.4 What is the highest good of all beings in this world and the next, and what ought to be attained — that may your honour declare to me.

12.279.5 Then that sage, endowed with austerity and knowing the whole ordinance of dharma, his mind set on favouring the king, spoke these words.

12.279.6 Dharma alone, when practised, is the better thing both in this world and the next; for there is nothing higher than it, as the wise have declared.

12.279.7 Embracing dharma, a man is exalted in the world of heaven; the ordinance of action is itself of the nature of dharma for embodied beings, O best of kings, and within it the good who keep the stations of life perform their proper duties here.

12.279.8 For the world's course is ordained of four kinds, dear son, in which mortals abide; and it proceeds from desire.

12.279.9 Having performed deeds well-done and ill-done by manifold gradations, manifold is the course of beings, who are divided according to the five elements.

12.279.10 Just as a vessel of gold or of silver is cast in its mould, so is a creature cast, subject to the power of its former deeds.

12.279.11 Nothing arises from no seed, nor does one prosper in happiness without acting; the doer of good deeds, having attained the dissolution of the body, finds happiness.

12.279.12 Fate I do not perceive, dear son; there is no means of accomplishing fate; for gods, gandharvas, and dānavas are perfected by their own nature.

12.279.13 After death, people do not always remember the deeds done in their birth; yet they reap the fruit of that deed, and the deed too is fourfold.

12.279.14 The word resting on the conduct of the world and resting on the Veda was made for the sake of the mind's peace, dear son; this is not the teaching of the elders.

12.279.15 By eye, by mind, by speech, and by action — fourfold; whatever kind of deed a man does, that very kind does he obtain.

12.279.16 Unceasingly, and in mixed measure, does action bear fruit, O king, whether it be good or evil; but there is no destruction of it.

12.279.17 Sometimes, dear son, a good deed stands as though unmoved at the summit, for one sinking in the round of existence, until he is freed from sorrow.

12.279.18 Then, having worn away his sorrow, he enjoys his good deed; and from the exhaustion of the good deed comes the ill-done one — know this, O lord of men.

12.279.19 Self-restraint, forbearance, firmness, vigour, contentment, truthful speech, modesty, freedom from cruelty and from vice, and skill — these bring happiness.

12.279.20 Whether in ill-doing or in good-doing, let a creature not be unrestrained; the discerning man should ever strive for the composure of the mind.

12.279.21 This man does not partake of another's good deed or ill deed; whatever kind of deed he does, that very kind does he obtain.

12.279.22 Having laid by his pleasure and pain, a man departs alone; and by another path goes every man, even he with whom one has been joined, O king.

12.279.23 What a man would resent in others, that let him not do himself; for he who is envious and so disposed brings mockery upon himself.

12.279.24 A cowardly kṣatriya, a brāhmaṇa who eats all things, an idle vaiśya, a man of low birth who is slothful, a learned man of bad character, a man of good lineage destitute of conduct, a brāhmaṇa fallen from truth, and a wicked woman —

12.279.25 a passionate ascetic who has renounced, one who cooks for his own sake, a fool who would teach, and a realm without a king — all these come to a pitiable state, O king, and so too the ruler who is heedless and devoid of affection toward his subjects.

12.280.1 Parāśara said: The man who, having gained the chariot of his desires drawn by the horses of the sense-objects, drives it with the reins born of knowledge — he is wise.

12.280.2 For one bereft of livelihood, a mind given to service is commended; sustenance is praised when it comes from the hand of the twice-born, but not from an equal in mutual exchange.

12.280.3 Having gained a life-span not easily won, a man should not drag himself down, O lord of peoples; rather let him strive for his elevation by meritorious action.

12.280.4 Even one fallen away from the classes deserves honour, but not he who, having attained right conduct, then practises deeds of passion.

12.280.5 A man attains elevation of class by meritorious action; but not having gained that hard-won state, he would destroy it by sinful action.

12.280.6 Sin done out of ignorance one may dispel by austerity alone; for a sinful deed bears sinful fruit, the very sin one has done oneself; therefore let none practise sin, the deed whose fruit is the rising of sorrow.

12.280.7 A deed bound up with sin, though it should be of great fruit, the wise and pure man would not practise — even as he would shun foul water.

12.280.8 What greater misery do I behold than the fruit of a sinful deed? For even of one who has turned back and become good, the self does not yet shine forth.

12.280.9 And for the fool in whom no turning-back arises here, exceedingly great is the anguish that comes upon him as he sets forth on his way.

12.280.10 A garment whose dye has faded can be cleansed, but not one steeped in black, for all one's effort; understand sin thus from me, O lord of men.

12.280.11 But the man who, having himself committed an evil deed, then sets himself to do good as an expiation for it — he reaps the fruit of both, each separately.

12.280.12 Harm done through ignorance is drawn off and cancelled by harmlessness — so say the brāhmaṇas who expound the Veda, citing the direction of the scriptures.

12.280.13 And harm done willfully, out of desire, is likewise drawn off only by the renunciation of harm — so declare the brāhmaṇas learned in the dharma-scriptures, who have crossed to the far shore of the Veda.

12.280.14 For my part, I hold that the deed which yields its fruit is the one performed endowed with virtue, open and shining, and untainted by any evil.

12.280.15 Subtle deeds bear their fruit here in just measure, exactly as they are — those, that is, which are done with discernment and with the mind fully present.

12.280.16 But a deed, O knower of dharma, though pursued unceasingly and on a grand scale, bears scant fruit when done without forethought, by violent means.

12.280.17 Those deeds that were done by gods and by sages — the righteous man should not himself perform them; yet, having heard of them, neither should he revile them.

12.280.18 He who, O king, having pondered in his mind and gauged his own strength, performs a good deed — he indeed comes to see blessings.

12.280.19 As water poured into a fresh, unfired vessel seeps away and is lost, so too does happiness, when set in an unprepared soul, come to nothing.

12.280.20 But as water poured into water that is already there only swells what was full, growing greater in the abundant, so does merit added to merit increase.

12.280.21 Thus, O lord of the earth, the deeds done here with discernment are not matched even by the holiest of deeds done without it.

12.280.22 The king must conquer those who are armed and arrogant, and must rightly protect his subjects; he must tend the sacred fire and worship with many sacrifices; and at the end, or even at the middle of life, he should withdraw to dwell in the forest.

12.280.23 A man possessed of self-restraint and of righteous character should regard all beings as he regards himself; he should honor his betters according to his power, and through truth and good conduct, O lord of men, he attains happiness.

12.281.1 Parāśara said: Who renders service to whom, and who bestows anything upon another? This living being performs every deed by himself and for his own sake.

12.281.2 One who has cast off all respect and is devoid of affection should be shunned — even a brother born of the same womb, how much more some other, a stranger of the common crowd.

12.281.3 For a worthy man, the giving and the receiving from another worthy man are of equal merit; yet of the two, the giving is the holier — that is, the gift of a twice-born man who bestows.

12.281.4 Wealth that has come by lawful means to the social orders, and lawfully increased, must be guarded with effort — this is the settled rule — for the sake of dharma.

12.281.5 One who seeks dharma should not earn wealth by cruel means; he should carry out all his undertakings according to his capacity, and should not hanker after riches.

12.281.6 For the man of self-control who, to the best of his means, gives a guest tormented by hunger so much as cool water, or water warmed by fire, reaps the fruit of it.

12.281.7 By great-souled Rantideva the perfection longed for by all the worlds was attained, for he honored the sages with offerings of fruits, leaves, and roots.

12.281.8 With those very fruits and leaves he gratified Māṭhara; and through that the lord of the earth Śaibya too gained the highest station.

12.281.9 A mortal is born a debtor to the gods, to guests, to dependents, to the ancestors, and likewise to his own self; therefore let him strive to be free of debt.

12.281.10 To the great seers the debt is discharged by recitation of the Veda, to the gods by the rite of sacrifice, to the ancestors by the offering of the śrāddha, and to men by hospitable honoring.

12.281.11 By offering of the remnant of one's words, and by the sustaining of one's own self and of the whole body of dependents in due measure — thus let a man set out to fulfill dharma from the very beginning.

12.281.12 Sages, perfected through effort and bereft even of wealth, attained to perfection by rightly making oblation into the fire that bears the offerings.

12.281.13 The son of Ṛcīka, that highly blessed one, came to the sonship of Viśvāmitra, having praised with hymns of the Ṛgveda the gods who partake of the sacrifice.

12.281.14 Uśanas attained the state of the planet Śukra by propitiating the god of gods; having praised the goddess, he now rejoices in the sky, wreathed in his own splendor.

12.281.15 Asita Devala, and likewise Nārada and Parvata, Kakṣīvat, and Rāma the son of Jamadagni, Tāṇḍya, and Aṃśumat —

12.281.16 Vasiṣṭha and Jamadagni, Viśvāmitra and Atri, Bharadvāja, Hariśmaśru, Kuṇḍadhāra, and Śrutaśravas —

12.281.17 these great seers, with collected minds, having praised Viṣṇu with hymns of the Ṛgveda, won perfection through their austerity, by the grace of that wise lord.

12.281.18 Even the unworthy, by praising that very lord, became worthy; but one should not seek prosperity here by doing a deed that is to be despised.

12.281.19 Those gains that come through dharma are real; those that come through unrighteousness — a curse upon them. One should never abandon the eternal dharma in the world out of craving for wealth.

12.281.20 The righteous man who has established the sacred fires is the foremost of doers of merit; for all the Vedas, O lord among kings, O sovereign, abide within the three fires.

12.281.21 That brāhmaṇa who has established the fires, but whose rites lapse — better for him the state of not having established them at all; for the fire-oblation is no fire-oblation when it goes unperformed.

12.281.22 The sacred fire, one's own self, mother, father the begetter, and the teacher, O tiger among men — these are to be tended with service, each in its due measure.

12.281.23 The man who has cast off pride and serves his elders, who though learned looks upon them with the meekness of one without power, out of pure affection — not lacking in diligence, yoked to dharma and self-restrained — such a noble one is honored in this world by the good.

12.282.1 Parāśara said: The livelihood of the lowliest, drawn from the three higher orders, is honorable; offered with goodwill and prescribed by rule, it ever makes men most righteous.

12.282.2 If a śūdra has no fixed livelihood handed down from father and grandfather, he should not seek a calling from another, but should set himself to the service of others.

12.282.3 Fellowship with the good, who perceive dharma, is becoming at all times and in every condition; never fellowship with the wicked — such is my conviction.

12.282.4 As an object glows by its nearness to the mountain of sunrise, so even a man of low birth shines by nearness to the good.

12.282.5 With whatever hue a white cloth is steeped, just that color it takes on — understand the matter from me to be exactly so.

12.282.6 Therefore take your delight in virtues, never in vices; for the life of mortals here is impermanent, ever shifting and unsteady.

12.282.7 The wise man who, whether placed in happiness or in sorrow, gathers up only good deeds — he comes to behold blessings here.

12.282.8 A deed that has fallen away from dharma, though it might bring great reward, the man of insight should not pursue; it is not called wholesome here.

12.282.9 A king who, failing to protect his people, plunders thousands of cattle only to give them away, reaps as his fruit no more than empty repute — such a king becomes a thief.

12.282.10 The Self-existent first created the Ordainer, honored by the worlds; and the Ordainer created a single son, devoted to the upholding of all creatures.

12.282.11 Having worshiped him, the vaiśya should make his wealth abound exceedingly; it is then to be protected by the men of royal blood and put to use by the twice-born.

12.282.12 By śūdras who are honest, free from guile and from anger, and who furnish the means for offerings to the gods and to the ancestors, the cleansing service should be done — thus dharma does not perish.

12.282.13 When dharma is thus kept from perishing, the people become happy; and by their happiness, O lord of kings, the gods rejoice in heaven.

12.282.14 Therefore the king who protects his people is honored through dharma; so too the brāhmaṇa who studies, the vaiśya who is intent on earning,

12.282.15 and the śūdra who renders service, constantly and with senses controlled. Acting otherwise than this, O lord of men, a man falls away from his own dharma.

12.282.16 Even a few small coins, wrung from one's own life's hardship, earned by lawful means and given away, bear great fruit — how much more so other sums by the thousand.

12.282.17 He who, doing them honor, gives to the twice-born, O lord of men, ever reaps a mighty fruit, each according to the manner of his giving.

12.282.18 What is given gladly, the giver himself approaching the recipient, the wise call the most blessed and most praised; but what is given upon being asked, the learned call middling.

12.282.19 What is given with contempt, and likewise without faith, that the truth-speaking sages call the lowest of gifts.

12.282.20 A man, ever sinking in transgression of many kinds, should so exert himself that he may be delivered from the peril.

12.282.21 The brāhmaṇa shines by self-restraint, the kṣatriya by victory, the vaiśya by wealth, and the śūdra ever shines by diligence.

12.283.1 Parāśara said: Goods that come to the brāhmaṇa through acceptance of gifts, to the kṣatriya as won by the sword, to the vaiśya as earned by lawful means, and to the śūdra as gained by service — even when slight, such goods are praised, and bear great fruit when used for the sake of dharma.

12.283.2 The śūdra is declared the perpetual servant of the three orders. A twice-born man who follows the duty of a kṣatriya or of a vaiśya, when no other livelihood remains, does not fall; but when he takes up the work of a śūdra, then indeed the twice-born man falls.

12.283.3 Trade, the keeping of cattle, and a living gained by craftsmanship are ordained even for the śūdra, when no other livelihood arises for him.

12.283.4 Taking to the stage, a living gained by one's looks, subsisting upon liquor and meat, and the sale of iron and of leather —

12.283.5 a deed the world reviles should not be taken up by one who has not done it before; but for one who has done it before and now forsakes it, there is great dharma — so says the sacred tradition.

12.283.6 Whatever evil a man, however accomplished, commits in the world with a mind flooded by intoxicating pride — that too is declared not to be taken as a precedent.

12.283.7 For in the lore of old we hear of peoples who were governed by the rod of reproach alone — self-restrained, holding dharma foremost, and following the path of justice and right.

12.283.8 It is dharma alone, O king, that is ever praised among men here; for men who have grown great in dharma cultivate the virtues upon the earth.

12.283.9 That dharma, my son, the asuras could not endure, O lord of peoples; growing ever stronger, step by step they entered into those creatures.

12.283.10 Then arrogance, the destroyer of dharma, arose in those creatures; and out of their arrogance, wrath in turn was born within them.

12.283.11 Then, in those overpowered by wrath, all conduct accompanied by decency perished, and modesty itself perished, O king; and from this delusion was born.

12.283.12 Then, beset by delusion, they no longer saw, as before, how they might live with one another at ease, without crushing each the other.

12.283.13 When that rod of mere reproach reached such men, it became of no avail against them; and so they went on to despise both the gods and the brāhmaṇas.

12.283.14 At this very time the gods went for refuge to Śiva, foremost of the gods, the hero of many forms, the lord of the hosts.

12.283.15 By him those sky-dwellers, together with their cities — all three — were cast down to the earth with a single arrow, whose splendor the gods had swelled.

12.283.16 Their overlord was the dreadful Bhīma of dreadful prowess, a terror to the gods; he was slain by the Bearer of the Trident.

12.283.17 When he was slain, men returned to their own true nature, and the Vedas and the scriptures were set going once more, as in the days of old.

12.283.18 Then they consecrated Vāsava to the kingship of the gods in heaven, and the Seven Seers appointed men to the wielding of the rod of chastisement.

12.283.19 After the Seven Seers there was a king named Vipṛthu, and kings and kṣatriyas each ruling separately in their several realms.

12.283.20 In those born of great lineages, and in those who lived in former ages, the asura nature does not slip away from the heart.

12.283.21 Therefore, through that very nature clinging persistently to them, kings of dreadful might took to performing asura-like deeds.

12.283.22 They held firm to those very deeds and continue to establish them; and even to this day those men who are most foolish cling to them.

12.283.23 Therefore I tell you, O king, after pondering it in the light of the scriptures: one should pursue what leads to true perfection, and forsake every deed whose essence is harm.

12.283.24 The discerning man should not gather wealth by confusion of duties; to abandon the right way for the sake of dharma is not called auspicious.

12.283.25 Such a one as you are—self-controlled, a kṣatriya dear to your kinsmen—cherish your subjects, your dependents, and your sons in accordance with your own dharma.

12.283.26 Union with the pleasant and the unpleasant, enmity and likewise friendship—through many thousands of births these revolve again and again.

12.283.27 Therefore take delight in virtues, never in faults; for the man devoid of virtue and of evil mind is called his own enemy.

12.283.28 Among human beings, O great king, dharma and adharma have their course; not so among the other creatures here that are devoid of human nature.

12.283.29 The learned man of righteous disposition, whether active in worldly effort or free from it, should always move through the world as one with all, harming no living being.

12.283.30 When his mind has become free of all inner scruple and falsehood no longer dwells in him, then he attains the auspicious state.

12.284.1 Parāśara said: This rule of dharma for the householder, my son, has now been declared; but I shall expound the rule of austerity—listen to me as I speak it.

12.284.2 For in the householder, O best of men, there generally arises what is called "the sense of mine," born of attachment through states of tamas and rajas.

12.284.3 Resting upon his house, a man comes to possess cattle, fields, and wealth, a wife, sons, and servants in this world.

12.284.4 As he goes on thus, ever fixing his gaze upon these things and never perceiving their impermanence, his attraction and aversion grow and grow.

12.284.5 And upon the man overwhelmed by attraction and aversion, enslaved to his possessions, there comes, O ruler of men, what is called delight, born of delusion.

12.284.6 Deeming himself fulfilled by enjoyment and wholly devoted to pleasure, he sees no gain from delight beyond that of vulgar comforts.

12.284.7 Then, his soul overcome by greed, through attachment he increases his household, and he strives in this world to provide for the nourishment and welfare of that household.

12.284.8 Though he knows it ought not to be done, the man pursues it for the sake of gain; his soul wrapped in fondness for his children, he grieves when that wealth is lost.

12.284.9 Then, filled with pride and guarding himself against defeat, he does whatever he thinks will make him an enjoyer of pleasures—and by this he comes to ruin.

12.284.10 For austerity is the eternal vision of Brahman for those who are joined to wisdom—men who seek the auspicious work and renounce mere pleasure.

12.284.11 Through the loss of the objects of his affection, through the loss of wealth, O prince, and through the torment of mental and bodily afflictions, a man attains to disgust with the world.

12.284.12 From world-weariness comes awakening to the self; from awakening, insight into scripture; and from perceiving the meaning of scripture, O king, he comes to behold austerity itself.

12.284.13 Rare indeed, O lord of men, is the reflective man who, when his cherished happiness has waned, resolves to undertake austerity.

12.284.14 Austerity, my son, is open to all, and is ordained even for the lowly; for one who has conquered his senses and is self-restrained, it points out the path to heaven.

12.284.15 In the beginning the lord Prajāpati created living beings through austerity, intent here and there upon vows, undertaking his observances, O prince.

12.284.16 The Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, and likewise Agni, the Aśvins, and the Maruts, the Viśvedevas and the Sādhyas, the ancestors, and the host of the Maruts—

12.284.17 the Yakṣas, the Rākṣasas, the Gandharvas, the Siddhas, and the other dwellers in heaven—all were perfected through austerity, my son, as were the others who abide in heaven.

12.284.18 And the brāhmaṇas who were created at the beginning by Brahmā through austerity in days of old—they wander, sustaining the earth and likewise the heavens.

12.284.19 And the kings in the world of mortals, and the other householders who are seen in great families—all that is the fruit of austerity.

12.284.20 Silken garments and lovely ornaments, mounts and seats and conveyances—all that is the fruit of austerity.

12.284.21 Lovely women, pleasing to the heart, by the thousands, and a dwelling upon the heights of a palace—all that is the fruit of austerity.

12.284.22 Choice couches and foods of many kinds—all things desired come to those who have performed the deed of austerity.

12.284.23 There is nothing in these three worlds unattainable by austerity, O scorcher of foes; but the renunciation of all enjoyment is the only fruit of those who have done no such deed.

12.284.24 Whether happy or sorrowful, a man should forsake greed, looking with his mind upon scripture and with his intellect, O best of kings.

12.284.25 Discontent leads only to misery; from greed comes the bewilderment of the senses; and thereby his wisdom perishes, like learning bereft of practice.

12.284.26 When a man's wisdom is destroyed, then he no longer perceives the right; therefore, when the loss of happiness has befallen him, let him practice fierce austerity.

12.284.27 What is desired they call happiness; what is hated is here called sorrow. Behold what kind the fruit is, of austerity done and undone.

12.284.28 Those who have performed stainless austerity ever look upon blessings and enjoy the objects of sense, and they attain to renown.

12.284.29 But the seeker of reward who has forsaken the path of the good wins only what belongs to the senses—unpleasant things and dishonors and sorrow of many forms.

12.284.30 In him there arises doubt concerning dharma, austerity, and almsgiving; and having done only evil deeds, he attains to hell.

12.284.31 But whether dwelling in happiness or in sorrow, O best of men, the man who does not swerve from his own conduct—he is one whose eye is scripture.

12.284.32 In the union with touch, the delight lasts but the moment of an arrow's flight, and likewise in taste, in sight, in smell, and in hearing, O lord of the people.

12.284.33 Thereupon, when that delight has waned, sharp pain is born in him again—for which reason the wise extol liberation as the unsurpassed happiness.

12.284.34 Then he acts for the sake of the fruit, and his virtues grow ever greater; and through righteous conduct he is never deprived of pleasure and prosperity.

12.284.35 The objects of sense, when they come without effort, may be enjoyed by householders; but it is one's own dharma that is to be sought with striving—such is my conviction.

12.284.36 For the proud, the high-born, those whose eye is ever upon the meaning of scripture, who are cut off from the performance of dharma and whose selves are hemmed in by helplessness—

12.284.37 when the human deed they undertake comes to naught, for them there is in this world no recourse but the work of austerity.

12.284.38 With his whole soul let the householder hold firm to his resolve in works; with diligence, for the sake of offerings to gods and ancestors, let him follow his own dharma, O king.

12.284.39 As all rivers and streams come to their rest in the ocean, so all who follow the orders of life come to their rest in the householder.

12.285.1 Janaka said: From what, O great sage, does the class of the mixed classes arise? This I wish to hear; tell it to me, O best of speakers.

12.285.2 The scripture says that whatever offspring is born is the same as that from which it springs; how then has one born of a brāhmaṇa come to take on a distinct class?

12.285.3 Parāśara said: It is even so, O great king: one is the same as that from which he is born; but through the falling away of austerity he has come to assume a separate caste.

12.285.4 From a good field and from good seed a meritorious birth comes to be; but when either of the two is deficient, an inferior offspring is born.

12.285.5 From the mouth, from the two arms, from the thighs, and from the feet they were born, as Prajāpati created the worlds—so the knowers of dharma understand.

12.285.6 Born of the mouth are the brāhmaṇas, my son; born of the arms, the kindred of the kṣatriyas; born of the thighs, the men of wealth, O king; and born of the feet, the servants.

12.285.7 There is a scriptural origin only for the four classes, O bull among men; those others who are over and above these are held to be born of intermixture.

12.285.8 The Kṣatrajātis, the Ambaṣṭhas, the Ugras, and likewise the Vaidehakas, the Śvapākas, the Pulkasas, the Stenas, the Niṣādas, the Sūtas, and the Māgadhas—

12.285.9 the Āyogas, the Karaṇas, the Vrātyas, and the Caṇḍālas, O ruler of men—these are born from the four classes in mutual intermixture.

12.285.10 Janaka said: How can there be diversity of lineage among those born of the one Brahman? For there are indeed many lineages in this world, O best of sages.

12.285.11 How is it that the sages, born here and there—some sprung from a śūdra womb, and others from a womb other than their own—came to attain their own proper origin?

12.285.12 Parāśara said: O king, this is not to be taken as if the origin of the great-souled, whose selves are perfected by austerity, were defiled by a lowly birth.

12.285.13 Having begotten sons here and there, O king, the sages, by their own austerity, conferred upon them once again the state of being seers.

12.285.14 My grandfather of old, and Ṛśyaśṛṅga, and Kaśyapa, Vaṭa, Tāṇḍya, and Kṛpa, Kakṣīvān, Kamaṭha, and the rest—

12.285.15 and Yavakrīta, O king, and Droṇa, best of speakers, Āyu, Mataṅga, Datta, Drupada, and Matsya as well—

12.285.16 these, O Vaideha, attained their own true nature through reliance upon austerity; knowers of the Veda, they stood firm in self-restraint and in austerity.

12.285.17 Four root-lineages came into being, O prince: Aṅgiras and Kaśyapa, Vasiṣṭha and Bhṛgu.

12.285.18 The other lineages arose from works, O prince—they are but names, and through austerity they too win acceptance among the good.

12.285.19 Janaka said: Declare to me, O blessed one, the particular duties of the classes, and likewise their common duties; for you are skilled in all things.

12.285.20 Parāśara said: Receiving gifts, officiating at sacrifices, and likewise teaching, O king, are the particular duties of the brāhmaṇas; protection is the glory of the kṣatriya.

12.285.21 Tillage, the herding of cattle, and trade belong to the vaiśyas; and the service of the twice-born is the work of the śūdra, O ruler of men.

12.285.22 The particular duties of the classes have now been proclaimed, O king; now hear from me at length, my son, the duties common to all.

12.285.23 Freedom from cruelty, non-injury, vigilance, the sharing of one's goods, the rites for the ancestors, hospitality, truthfulness, and freedom from anger—

12.285.24 contentment with one's own wife, purity, constant freedom from envy, knowledge of the self, and forbearance—these are the common duties, O king.

12.285.25 Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas—these three classes are the twice-born; among these their entitlement lies in the sacred duties, O best of two-footed beings.

12.285.26 The three classes, when settled in forbidden works, fall low, O king; but they rise up by resorting, as is fitting, to their own proper works here.

12.285.27 And it is settled that the śūdra does not fall low, nor is he entitled here to the sacraments; he does not attain to the dharma that proceeds from scripture, yet no prohibition of dharma has been laid upon him.

12.285.28 The twice-born who are versed in scripture cite the example of the Vaidehaka śūdra, O great king; for I behold, O lord of men, the god Viṣṇu, the foremost principle of the whole universe.

12.285.29 By following the conduct of the good, the lowly who long to lift themselves up are not defiled when they perform the rites of prosperity, save for the use of the sacred mantras.

12.285.30 In just the measure that other folk take hold of the conduct of the good, in that same measure do they win happiness and repose at ease, both here and after death.

12.285.31 Janaka said: Is it conduct that defiles a man, or birth, O great sage? A doubt has arisen in me; this you should explain to me.

12.285.32 Parāśara said: Without doubt, O great king, both are makers of defilement—both conduct and birth; but mark the distinction.

12.285.33 He who, by birth and by conduct alike, pursues defiled deeds is corrupt; but he who, though base by birth, does no evil—he is the true man.

12.285.34 When a man eminent by birth performs a deed that is to be condemned, that deed defiles him; therefore it is the deed that is not fair.

12.285.35 Janaka said: O best of the twice-born, which deeds are in keeping with dharma, such that, when performed in this world, they never bring harm to living beings at any time?

12.285.36 Parāśara said: Hear from me, O great king, the answer to what you ask of me — those deeds free of harm, which always deliver a man to safety.

12.285.37 Having laid aside the sacred fires and sitting in devotion, freed of feverish care, they behold — step by step ascending the dharma-path that leads to the highest good.

12.285.38 Humble, endowed with discipline, ever devoted to self-restraint and well-tempered, they go forth to the ageless abode, having renounced all works.

12.285.39 All the varṇas, O king, having rightly performed the works of dharma and spoken words of truth, having cast off cruel unrighteousness while in the world of the living, attain to heaven — of this there can be no doubt.

12.286.1 Parāśara said: A father, friends, elders, and wives are never, in this world, devoid of worth, O king — they are single-hearted in devotion, kindly in speech, well-wishing, and obedient alike.

12.286.2 The father is the supreme deity of men; greater even than the mother do they call the father. They declare the gaining of knowledge to be the highest gain, and those who have conquered the objects of the senses attain the supreme.

12.286.3 On the battlefield, where the strewn bed is the fire of arrows, the prince who meets his slaying is consumed there; he passes to worlds scarce won even by the immortals, and enjoys the fruit of heaven at his ease.

12.286.4 The weary man, the frightened, the one whose weapon has fallen, the weeping, the one who has turned his back, the one stripped of attendants, the unresisting, the sick, the suppliant — these one must not strike, O king, nor the child nor the aged.

12.286.5 Only one well-furnished with attendants, ready for combat, and come to an equal footing — such a son of the kṣatriyas may the king assail in battle.

12.286.6 Death at the hands of an equal, or of a superior, is the better lot — such is the settled view; but the slaying of the lowly and the timid is, for kings, a blameworthy deed.

12.286.7 To slay one who is wicked, of wicked conduct, and base, O lord of men, is itself declared a sin that leads to hell — so it is determined.

12.286.8 No one, O king, can save the man who has come under the power of his appointed end; yet one whose span of life still has a remainder, someone may indeed drag back from death.

12.286.9 Deeds being done by those who are dear should here be turned away from harm; one should not, by deeds whose nature is violence, seek long life at the cost of another's life.

12.286.10 But for all householders who long for the dissolution of self, the death is a fair one, dear son, when, performing their rites, they die upon the sandbanks of holy rivers.

12.286.11 When one's span comes to its wasting, he attains dissolution into the five elements; this does not happen without cause — it is brought about by causes.

12.286.12 Thus a body comes to be, brought into being from a former body; this one has gone along the road, and this one has passed from house to house.

12.286.13 There is no second cause to be found in this, none other whatsoever; that body, joined to the embodied, abides among the things subject to release.

12.286.14 A frame of veins, sinews, and bones, crowded with what is loathsome and impure, a meeting-place of the elements, the senses, and the qualities —

12.286.15 this, bounded by the skin, the learned who ponder the inner Self call the body; the body, worn away even of its qualities, has come to its mortal end.

12.286.16 Abandoned by the embodied Self, motionless and devoid of consciousness, with its elements returned to their native source, it then sinks down into the earth.

12.286.17 Shaped by the working of past deeds, it is born here and there; this body, O prince of Videha, dies here and there; another such nature is seen, and likewise the casting-off that is the fruit of action.

12.286.18 Yet for a certain time, O king, this elemental self is not born again; it wanders about, like a great rain-cloud across the sky.

12.286.19 Then he is born again, O king, having gained here an abode; for the Self is higher than the mind, and the mind is higher than the senses.

12.286.20 Of beings, which are of two kinds, the moving are held supreme, O king; among the moving, the two-footed are deemed supreme; and among the two-footed, the twice-born are remembered as supreme.

12.286.21 Among the twice-born too, O lord of kings, the wise are deemed supreme; among the wise, those awakened to the Self; and among the awakened, those free of pride.

12.286.22 Death follows close upon the born — this is the settled truth for men; for deeds have their end, and the creatures pursue them according to their qualities.

12.286.23 When the sun has reached its northern course, he who comes to his death under an auspicious constellation and at an auspicious hour, O king, is a doer of merit.

12.286.24 Without burdening folk with affliction, and having washed away his ill deeds, he dies here by a death that is not common, having performed his works according to his own power.

12.286.25 Poison, hanging, burning, slaying at the hand of robbers, and death by fanged beasts and by cattle — such a death is called a common one.

12.286.26 And the doers of meritorious deeds are not joined to these, nor to such as spring from violent intent, nor to many others of like common sort.

12.286.27 Departing upward, the life-breaths take their station, O king, for the doers of merit; from the middle for those of middling merit; and downward for those whose deeds were ill.

12.286.28 There is but one foe, and no second foe, O king, equal to a man's own ignorance; veiled by it and set upon by it, he performs deeds dreadful and most cruel.

12.286.29 He whose path to awakening lies through the dharma of sacred lore and the service of his elders — that foe, O prince, is to be conquered only by effort, and, churned away by the arrow of wisdom, it departs.

12.286.30 Having studied the Vedas in austerity as a celibate, and having here offered the five sacrifices as he is able, the man who desires dharma should go to the forest — having gathered up the higher good and established his lineage.

12.286.31 Even when forsaken by every enjoyment, one should not let the self sink into despair; for human birth, even in the state of an outcaste, is in every way hard to win, dear son.

12.286.32 For this is the foremost birth, O lord of the earth, on attaining which the self can be saved through deeds marked by auspiciousness.

12.286.33 "How may we not fall away from this birth?" — with this thought, O lord, men practise dharma, guided by their regard for the authority of sacred revelation.

12.286.34 The man who, having won this human state so very hard to attain, becomes a despiser of dharma and a slave to desire — he, surely, is deceived of his gain.

12.286.35 But he who, with an eye that goes before in loving-kindness, beholds living beings as lamps — for just so long as the flame does not die out, dear son —

12.286.36 by gentleness, by giving, and by kindly speech, becoming one to whom the sorrow and joy of others are as his own — he is exalted in the world beyond.

12.286.37 Giving, renunciation, and a fair form arise from the waters; the body, moreover, is to be cleansed by austerity — at the Sarasvatī, at Naimiṣa, at Puṣkara, and at whatever other holy places there are upon the earth.

12.286.38 For those whose life-breaths fall away within their homes, the bearing-out is then commended, and the conveying upon a bier to the cremation ground; and surely the burning, performed with purity and according to rule.

12.286.39 Sacrifice and nurture, offering for oneself and officiating for others, giving, and the practice of meritorious works; whatever rite to the fathers is commended, as one is able — all these a man performs for the sake of his own self.

12.286.40 The treatises on dharma, the Vedas, and the six auxiliary sciences, O lord of men, are ordained for the highest good of the man whose deeds are untainted.

12.286.41 Bhīṣma said: Thus indeed was all this declared of old by that sage of mighty soul to the king of the Videhas, for the sake of the highest good, O lord of men.

12.287.1 Bhīṣma said: And once again Janaka, lord of Mithilā, questioned the great-souled Parāśara, supremely resolved in the knowledge of dharma.

12.287.2 What is the highest good? What is the goal? O brāhmaṇa, what deed, once done, does not perish? Gone where, does one not return? Tell me this, O great sage.

12.287.3 Parāśara said: Non-attachment is the root of the highest good; knowledge is the supreme goal of knowing. Austerity rightly practised does not perish, as water does not perish in a field.

12.287.4 When, having cut the noose made of unrighteousness, one delights in dharma, and bestows the gift of fearlessness, then one would attain perfection.

12.287.5 Though a man give thousands of cattle and hundreds of horses, the gift of fearlessness to all beings surpasses that giving.

12.287.6 The wise man, though he dwell amid the objects of sense, dwells not in them at all; while the dull-witted dwells fast in them, even among objects that are unreal.

12.287.7 Unrighteousness clings not to the wise, as water clings not to the lotus-leaf; but to the unwise sin clings the more, as lac clings to wood.

12.287.8 Unrighteousness, awaiting its occasion, does not release the doer; the doer surely, in due time, meets with all of it. But those of perfected self, who behold the Self by direct conviction, are not broken by it.

12.287.9 He who, heedless of his mind, his deeds, and his senses, does not awaken, and whose self is clinging to things good and evil, attains to a very great fear.

12.287.10 He who is free of passion, has conquered anger, and is ever rightly poised — even while moving among the objects of sense, he is not joined to sin.

12.287.11 The dyke of dharma, bound firmly within its bounds, never gives way; and held in check like a swelling current, the store of merit grows abundant.

12.287.12 As a pure gem takes up, by its fixed disposition, the brilliance that comes from the sun, O tiger among kings, so does yoga come into operation.

12.287.13 As the essence of sesame seeds, from their resort to flowers, passes severally into a surpassing sweetness, so among men upon the earth whose selves are refined, the quality of goodness unfolds according to that on which it rests.

12.287.14 He forsakes his wife, and longs no more for fortunes, for fine horses and chariots and the manifold rites; when a man's mind is born toward the heaven of the gods, then his understanding parts from the objects of sense.

12.287.15 The man whose understanding is fastened upon the objects of sense, who never once awakens to his own true welfare — with a mind running after every passing state, he is dragged off like a fish by the bait, O king.

12.287.16 The world of mortals is a thing held together, each leaning upon the other, hollow at the core like the trunk of a plantain; it sinks down like a boat upon the waters.

12.287.17 No fixed time for dharma is appointed to a man, nor does death await a man's leisure; the practice of dharma is at all times fair — for a man stands ever within the very mouth of death.

12.287.18 As a blind man, well-acquainted with his own house, goes about by mere practice, so, with a mind made steadfast, the wise man goes to that goal.

12.287.19 Death is declared to lie within birth, and birth indeed rests upon death; the man unlearned in the laws of release, being bound, wanders round and round like a wheel.

12.287.20 As the lotus-stalk swiftly sheds the mire that clung to it, so the self of a man is here released by the mind; the mind leads the self onward, and it yokes the self to that course.

12.287.21 But he who, while toiling for another's ends, fancies it to be his own true task — clinging to the objects of the senses, he falls away from his own true task.

12.287.22 A downward course, a course athwart, or else the supreme course in heaven — the self attains by its own deeds, whether the man be wise here or otherwise.

12.287.23 As liquid is poured into a vessel of clay that has been fired, so the body, tempered by austerity, comes to enjoy its object.

12.287.24 He who devours the objects of sense shall, without doubt, not truly enjoy; but the self that renounces its enjoyments — that one is resolved upon the true enjoying.

12.287.25 Wrapped about as if in fog, given over to the cravings of sex and belly, his self veiled, he does not perceive the path, like one blind from birth.

12.287.26 As a merchant gains wealth from the sea according to his purpose, so, upon the ocean of mortal existence, a creature's course follows from the knowledge of its deeds.

12.287.27 Roaming through this world made of day and night, in the form of old age, Death devours living beings, as the serpent swallows the wind.

12.287.28 The deeds it has itself done, the creature, once born, comes to meet; no one here obtains anything, pleasant or unpleasant, that was not first done by him.

12.287.29 Lying down, going forth, seated, or set upon the objects of sense — deeds good and evil come to meet a man at all times.

12.287.30 For having reached the farther shore, one does not resolve to cross back again; rare indeed is seen any falling of his into the great ocean once more.

12.287.31 As a laden boat upon the great waters is held by its cable, so the mind, by its exertion, draws the body back toward itself.

12.287.32 As, on every side, the several rivers are sewn fast unto the sea, so the primal nature is, by yoga, ever sewn fast and made one.

12.287.33 Men whose minds are caught by the manifold cords of affection, abiding within nature, sink down in despair, like a house of sand within the water.

12.287.34 For the embodied one who dwells within the house of the body, whose holy ford is purity, and who has set forth upon the path of wisdom — there is happiness, both here and in the world beyond.

12.287.35 Elaborate undertakings are bound up with toil, while the simple ones bring ease; all elaborate striving is for the sake of others, but the wise know renunciation to be one's own true good.

12.287.36 The circle of friends is born of intention, and kinsmen are bound by self-interest; wife, servants, and sons alike pursue each their own advantage.

12.287.37 Neither mother nor father can take on aught for another; the creature, whose only provision for the road is what it has given, feeds on the fruit of its own deeds alone.

12.287.38 Mother, son, father, brother, wife, and friends are set down upon the squares of life's board like dice cast at their stations on the gaming-cloth.

12.287.39 All the deeds a creature has wrought of old, good and evil, follow after the self; and the inner soul, perceiving that the fruit of deeds has come upon it, accordingly spurs the intellect to act.

12.287.40 He who, taking his stand upon resolve, gains himself helpers—no enterprise of his ever sinks into failure.

12.287.41 The man of undivided mind, steadfast, brave, resolute, and wise—prosperity never forsakes him, even as its rays never forsake the sun.

12.287.42 What the man of blameless soul undertakes with faith and resolve, with skillful means, with wonder, and with wisdom—that aim of his never comes to ruin.

12.287.43 Every creature, fixed by destiny, takes up of itself from the womb its own deeds, both fair and foul—both that which it has formerly wrought; and death, not to be escaped, walking evenly toward all, severed at the appointed time, brings the creature to the end of its deeds, as iron tools reduce a log to dust.

12.287.44 His native form, his own self-wrought course of life, his lineage and descent, his hoarded store of wealth—every man obtains all this as he has made it, by the good or evil deeds himself has done.

12.287.45 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed in accordance with truth by that sage, O king, Janaka, foremost among those who know dharma, hearing it, attained the highest joy.

12.288.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Truth, forbearance, self-restraint, and wisdom—these the learned among men extol in the world, O grandsire. What is your judgment in this matter?

12.288.2 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall relate to you an ancient tale, the dialogue here between the Sādhyas and the Swan, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.288.3 Becoming a golden swan, the Unborn, the Eternal, Prajāpati went his rounds through the three worlds, and so he came to the Sādhyas.

12.288.4 The Sādhyas said: O bird, we are gods, the Sādhyas, and we entreat you; we ask of you the dharma of liberation, for you, it is said, are a knower of liberation.

12.288.5 We have heard you are learned and a speaker of steady wisdom; the fame of your good name flies abroad, O winged one. What do you deem the highest, O twice-born? In what does your mind take its delight, O great-souled one?

12.288.6 Teach us then our task, O best of birds—that one work which you deem foremost of all works, by doing which a man is here set free, and swiftly, from all bonds, O king of birds.

12.288.7 The Swan said: This is the task, O you who hope for immortality, as I have learned it—austerity, self-restraint, truth, and guarding of the self; loosing all the knots of the heart, one should bring the pleasant and the unpleasant alike under one's own control.

12.288.8 Let a man not be a stinger to the quick, nor a speaker of cruel words; let him not snatch from another by base means. That speech by which another would be made to shudder—galling and leading to evil worlds—let him not utter it.

12.288.9 Arrows of speech fly forth from the mouth, struck by which a man grieves through nights and days; they fall upon another's tender places—those the wise man should never loose against others.

12.288.10 If another should pierce him sorely with the arrows of abusive speech, calm alone should be his course here below; he who, being provoked to wrath, yet endures it, takes to himself the very merit of the other.

12.288.11 He who, when stung by insult and pride and the falseness of assault, restrains his blazing anger—untainted in mind, cheerful, free of malice—he takes to himself the merit of others.

12.288.12 Though reviled, I say nothing; though struck, I ever forbear; for the noble declare forbearance to be the best, and likewise truth, uprightness, and freedom from cruelty.

12.288.13 The secret essence of the Veda is truth; the secret essence of truth is self-restraint; the secret essence of self-restraint is liberation—this is the whole of the teaching.

12.288.14 The urge of speech, the urge of the mind, the urge of anger, the urge of craving, the urges of belly and loins—he who withstands these urges when they rise up, him I deem truly a brāhmaṇa and a sage.

12.288.15 The man free of anger is superior to the angry; the patient is superior to the impatient; the truly human is superior to the brutish; and the man of knowledge is foremost above the ignorant.

12.288.16 Though reviled, let him not revile in return; the very anger of the patient man burns up the reviler, and the patient one wins the merit that was his.

12.288.17 He who, though heavily abused, speaks neither harsh word nor flattering one; who, though struck, strikes not back out of steadfastness; and who wishes no evil to him that smites him—for such a man the gods ever yearn.

12.288.18 Let one forbear toward the worse, the better, and the equal alike; slighted, struck, and reviled, thus shall he attain perfection.

12.288.19 Ever, though lowly, I wait upon the noble; I have no craving, nor is there any anger in me; nor do I go about grasping after gain, nor do I tread any crooked path at all.

12.288.20 Though cursed, I curse not back at all; for I know self-restraint to be the very gate of immortality here. This secret brahman I declare to you: there is nothing higher than the truly human.

12.288.21 Freeing himself from sins as the moon emerges from the clouds, the steadfast man, stainless and awaiting his time, attains perfection through steadfastness.

12.288.22 He who is worthy of all men's worship, like a well-set pillar at a consecration; he of whom men speak words of high praise—he, his self subdued, goes indeed to the gods.

12.288.23 Men do not so wish to speak of the good qualities in a man as carping fault-finders wish to speak of his lack of worth.

12.288.24 He whose speech and mind are guarded, ever rightly composed—the Vedas, austerity, and renunciation are his; he would attain all this.

12.288.25 By the reviling and contempt of the foolish, the wise man grows; therefore let him not magnify another in retort, nor do violence to his own self.

12.288.26 Let the twice-born be content with contempt as though with nectar; for he who is despised sleeps in peace, while he who despises perishes.

12.288.27 Whatever sacrifice the angry man offers, whatever he gives, whatever austerity he practices, whatever he pours in oblation—Yama, son of Vivasvat, carries it all away from him; the toil of the angry man is in vain.

12.288.28 He whose four gates are well guarded, O best of immortals—the loins, the belly, the hands, and speech as the fourth—he is a knower of dharma.

12.288.29 Devoted to truth, self-restraint, uprightness, and freedom from cruelty, to firmness and to patience; ever given to sacred study, coveting nothing of others, fond of solitude—such a man attains the upward path.

12.288.30 Pursuing all these as a calf pursues the four teats, nowhere have I ever found anything more purifying than truth.

12.288.31 Moving to and fro among men and gods, I declare it: truth is the stairway to heaven, even as a boat for crossing from shore to shore.

12.288.32 With what sort of men a man dwells, what sort he attends upon, and what sort he wishes to become—of that sort the man becomes.

12.288.33 Whether he serves the good or the wicked, whether the ascetic or the thief, as a cloth takes on the color of its dye, so he passes under the sway of those he keeps.

12.288.34 The gods ever converse with the good; they do not come to look upon the realm of men. Let one be like the moon, even and serene, not like the restless wind—he who knows the realm of high and low.

12.288.35 When the inner person within the heart abides untainted, by that very thing are the gods pleased—by one who stands firm upon the path of the good.

12.288.36 Those men who are ever given over to the loins and belly, thieves, and harsh of speech without cease—knowing them to be devoid of virtue, the gods shun them from afar.

12.288.37 The gods are not to be pleased by the man of base nature, who eats all things and does evil deeds; but with those men vowed to truth, grateful, and delighting in dharma, they hold communion.

12.288.38 Silence, they say, is better than speech; if one must speak, let him speak the truth—that is the second; let him speak what is in keeping with dharma—that is the third; let him speak what is pleasant—that is the fourth.

12.288.39 The Sādhyas said: By what is this world enveloped? By what does it fail to shine forth? By what does a man forsake his friends? By what does he fail to reach heaven?

12.288.40 The Swan said: By ignorance is the world enveloped; through envy it fails to shine forth; through greed a man forsakes his friends; through attachment he fails to reach heaven.

12.288.41 The Sādhyas said: Who, then, among brāhmaṇas takes delight alone? Who, alone, sits content amid many? Who, alone, is strong even though weak? And who among them does not pursue a quarrel?

12.288.42 The Swan said: The wise man among brāhmaṇas takes delight alone; the wise man, alone, sits content amid many; the wise man, alone, is strong even though weak; the wise man among them does not pursue a quarrel.

12.288.43 The Sādhyas said: What is the godhood of brāhmaṇas, and what is called their goodness? What is their badness, and what is held to be the merely human in them?

12.288.44 The Swan said: Sacred study is their godhood; the keeping of vows is called their goodness; slander is their badness; and death is said to be the merely human in them.

12.288.45 Bhīṣma said: Thus has this excellent dialogue of the Sādhyas been recounted. The field is verily the womb of deeds; goodness of being is called truth.

12.289.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Of Sāṃkhya and Yoga, dear sire, you should tell me the distinction; for to you, the all-knowing, all is known, O best of the Kurus.

12.289.2 Bhīṣma said: The followers of Sāṃkhya extol Sāṃkhya, and the twice-born adherents of Yoga extol Yoga; each declares the superiority of his own by reasons, to exalt his own side.

12.289.3 "How could one without a Lord be liberated?"—thus, O harrier of foes, the followers of Yoga, well-reasoning sages, declare their superiority by their arguments.

12.289.4 And this reasoning the twice-born followers of Sāṃkhya rightly declare: he who, having understood here all the conditions of being, has grown detached from the objects of sense—

12.289.5 —he, upon rising above the body, is most surely liberated, and not otherwise. This the greatly wise declare to be the Sāṃkhya, the very vision of liberation.

12.289.6 In support of one's own position the reasoning to be accepted is that which is cogent, sound, and salutary; for the judgment of the learned is to be accepted by such as you, esteemed among the learned.

12.289.7 The Yogas rest upon direct perception as their ground, the Sāṃkhyas upon the conclusions of scripture; both these doctrines are, in my view, truth, dear Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.289.8 Both these doctrines, O king, are held to be true knowledge, approved by the learned; practiced according to scripture, they lead to the supreme goal.

12.289.9 Equal in both is the purity enjoined, and equal the compassion toward all beings, O sinless one; equal is the upholding of vows—but their doctrines of how to see are not the same.

12.289.10 Yudhiṣṭhira said: If vow, purity, and compassion are equal in both here, O grandsire, then why is their doctrine of seeing not the same? Tell me that, O grandsire.

12.289.11 Bhīṣma said: Passion, delusion, attachment, desire, and anger alone—cutting off from the very start these five faults by means of Yoga, the yogins attain that goal.

12.289.12 As great fishes, breaking the net, win the water again, so the yogins, freed of taint, attain that abode.

12.289.13 And just as strong beasts, breaking through the snare, would gain the open road, set free from every bond—

12.289.14 —so, O king, the yogins, endowed with strength, breaking the bonds born of greed, go stainless along the supreme and blessed path.

12.289.15 But weak beasts, O king, and others caught in the snares perish, beyond doubt; just so do men perish who are without the strength of Yoga.

12.289.16 And as feeble fishes caught in the net, O son of Kuntī, come to their end, O lord of kings, so do the very weak among yogins.

12.289.17 And as small birds, falling upon a net, O subduer of foes, caught fast therein come to ruin, while the strong win free—

12.289.18 —so, bound by the bonds born of deeds, O scorcher of foes, the weak among yogins perish, while the strong are set free.

12.289.19 And as a small, feeble fire dies out, O king, overlaid with great logs of fuel, so does the weak yogin, O lord.

12.289.20 And when that same fire, O king, gathering strength again and joined with the wind, may swiftly burn up the whole earth itself—

12.289.21 —so the yogin grown strong, blazing with splendor and of mighty power, like the sun at the hour of doom, may parch up the whole world.

12.289.22 And as a weak man, O king, is swept away by the current, so the feeble yogin is carried off, helpless, by the objects of sense.

12.289.23 But as an elephant holds back that very current, so, having gained the strength of Yoga, the yogin marshals and sets at naught the many objects of sense.

12.289.24 And the yogins, endowed with the strength of Yoga and become lords, enter at will, O Pārtha, into the Prajāpatis, the seers, the gods, and the great elements.

12.289.25 Neither Yama, nor the wrathful Ender, nor Death of terrible prowess hold sway, O king, over the yogin whose splendor is measureless.

12.289.26 Having attained power, O bull of the Bhāratas, yoga can fashion many thousands of selves, and with all of these the yogin may roam the earth.

12.289.27 He may take possession of objects of sense, and again practice fierce austerity, and again draw them back in, O Pārtha, as the sun draws back the rays of its splendor.

12.289.28 For the yoga that is established in power and is lord over its own bondage, O ruler of the earth, the capacity to bring about liberation is assured beyond all doubt.

12.289.29 These powers in yoga have been declared by me, O lord of peoples; and by way of illustration I shall now further expound to you its subtle aspects.

12.289.30 Concerning the concentration of the self and concerning steady fixation, O sovereign lord, hear from me the subtle illustrations, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.289.31 As the unwavering archer, fully composed, strikes the mark, so the yogin, rightly disciplined, attains liberation beyond all doubt.

12.289.32 As a man, with mind fixed motionless upon a vessel brimming with oil, would mount the stair, vigilant and disciplined in thought—

12.289.33 so yoga, having yoked the self in that motionless way, O ruler of the earth, renders the self stainless and radiant as the sun to behold.

12.289.34 And as a composed helmsman, O son of Kuntī, would swiftly steer a ship adrift upon the great ocean to the harbor, O ruler of the earth—

12.289.35 so the knower of truth, having yoked the concentration of the self through yoga, attains that station hard to reach, abandoning this body, O king.

12.289.36 And as a charioteer, well composed, having yoked his fine steeds, swiftly bears the bowman to the desired place, O bull among men—

12.289.37 so too, O king, the yogin, composed in his fixations, swiftly attains the supreme station, as a loosed arrow reaches its mark.

12.289.38 The yogin who, having entered the self into the Self, stands unmoving—as the slayer of fish destroys evil—attains the ageless abode.

12.289.39 In the navel, in the throat, in the head, in the heart, in the breast, in the two sides, and likewise in sight, in touch, and in smell, O man of measureless valor—

12.289.40 the yogin who, in these stations, composed in the great vow, rightly yokes by the self the subtle Self, O lord of peoples—

12.289.41 he, swiftly of stainless wisdom, having burned away action both good and ill, taking his stand on the highest yoga, is liberated, if he so wishes.

12.289.42 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Taking what kind of food, and conquering what things, O descendant of Bharata, does the yogin attain power? This you ought to tell me.

12.289.43 Bhīṣma said: Devoted to eating broken grains and oil-cake, and devoted to abstaining from oily foods, the yogin would attain power.

12.289.44 Eating coarse barley-gruel for a long time, O subduer of foes, delighting in solitude, his self wholly purified, the yogin would attain power.

12.289.45 Passing through fortnights, months, and the varied seasons, and roaming through caves, drinking water mingled with milk, the yogin would attain power.

12.289.46 Or, fasting unbrokenly for a whole month continuously, O lord of men, his self rightly purified, the yogin would attain power.

12.289.47 Conquering desire and likewise anger, cold and heat, and the rains, fear, sleep, and breath, manly pride and the objects of sense—

12.289.48 discontent hard to conquer, and dreadful craving, O ruler of the earth, all sensations of touch, and torpor hard to conquer, O best of kings—

12.289.49 the great-souled ones, free from passion, of vast wisdom, kindle the subtle Self by the self through the riches of meditation and study.

12.289.50 But this is held to be a hard road, that of the learned brāhmaṇas; for none travels upon it in safety, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.289.51 As some young man might safely make his way through a dreadful forest, full of many snakes and creeping things, pitted with holes, devoid of water, hard to pass, thick with thorns—

12.289.52 a road untrodden, wilderness-like, its trees scorched by forest fire, infested with robbers—safely traversing it,

12.289.53 so when any twice-born one, having reached the path of yoga, practices it, should he safely turn back from that road, he is held to be greatly at fault.

12.289.54 It is easier to stand firm upon the sharpened edges of razors, O lord of the earth, than to stand firm in the fixations of yoga for those whose selves are unperfected.

12.289.55 Fixations gone awry, my son, lead one to an unhappy state, as ships without a pilot lead men astray upon the ocean, O king.

12.289.56 But he who stands firm, O son of Kuntī, in the fixations as prescribed, casts off death and birth, sorrow and joy alike.

12.289.57 This, perfected in the various treatises, has been set forth among the yogas; but the supreme yoga in its entirety is determined among the twice-born.

12.289.58 For that is the supreme, the great Brahman, O great-souled one—Brahmā the lord, and Viṣṇu the boon-giver, and Bhava, and Dharma, and the six-faced one, and the six mighty sons of Brahmā—

12.289.59 and grievous, vast darkness, and passion, and pure goodness, and the supreme primordial nature, and the goddess Siddhi, the wife of Varuṇa, and splendor entire, and great steadfastness—

12.289.60 the stainless lord of stars with its constellations, and all the gods, the serpents and the ancestors, all the mountains and the dreadful oceans, all the rivers, the woodlands, and the clouds—

12.289.61 the serpents, the mountains, the hosts of yakṣas and the quarters of space, the throngs of gandharvas, men and women—reaching each in turn, the great and great-souled yogin would enter in, liberated ere long.

12.289.62 And this auspicious discourse, O king, which has dwelt upon the god of mighty valor and wisdom—the great-souled one, his soul become Nārāyaṇa, surpasses all the yogas of mortals.

12.290.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Rightly have you described, O king, the path of yoga approved by the cultivated, in due order, to a disciple, as one desiring his good.

12.290.2 But now, of the Sāṃkhya teaching, declare to me who ask the doctrine in its entirety; for whatever knowledge is in the three worlds, all of it is known to you.

12.290.3 Bhīṣma said: Hear from me this pure doctrine of the Sāṃkhyas, the knowers of the Self, ordained by enlightened ascetics, by sovereign sages such as Kapila and the rest.

12.290.4 In which no confusions whatever are to be seen, O bull among men, in which there are many virtues and the utter removal of faults.

12.290.5 Having reckoned up by knowledge the faulty objects of sense, O king—the human objects, hard to conquer, in their entirety, and the objects of the piśācas likewise—

12.290.6 having known the objects of the rākṣasas and likewise the objects of the yakṣas, having known the objects of the serpents and likewise the objects of the gandharvas—

12.290.7 having known the objects of the ancestors and of creatures that move as beasts, O king, having known the objects of the suparṇas and likewise the objects of the Maruts—

12.290.8 having known the objects of the royal sages and likewise of the brahmā sages, having known the objects of the asuras and likewise of the Viśvedevas—

12.290.9 having known the objects of the divine sages, and the lords of the yogas, and the objects of the lords of creatures, and likewise the objects of Brahmā—

12.290.10 and having truly understood the utmost span of life in the world, and having understood the highest truth of happiness, O best of speakers—

12.290.11 and the suffering that comes, when the time is at hand, to those who fall, the seekers of sense-objects—the suffering of those who fall into the state of beasts, and that of those who fall into hell—

12.290.12 and all the virtues of heaven and all its faults, O descendant of Bharata, and what faults there are in Vedic disputation, and what Vedic virtues there are—

12.290.13 and what faults there are in the yoga of knowledge and what virtues in yoga, O king, and what faults there are in the knowledge of Sāṃkhya and likewise its virtues, O king—

12.290.14 having known goodness as tenfold in quality, passion as ninefold likewise, having known darkness as eightfold and the intellect as sevenfold likewise—

12.290.15 having known space as sixfold and mind as fivefold likewise, having known intellect as fourfold and great darkness as threefold—

12.290.16 and having known passion as twofold and goodness, again, as onefold, having understood truly the path and likewise the beholding of things at the dissolution—

12.290.17 those endowed with knowledge and discernment, refined by auspicious causes, attain blessed liberation—subtle, here passing beyond into space supreme.

12.290.18 Sight conjoined with form, and smell with the quality of odor, hearing thus attached to sound, and the tongue to the qualities of taste—

12.290.19 the body thus attached to touch, the wind resting in space, delusion clinging to darkness, greed resting upon objects—

12.290.20 Viṣṇu in stride, Śakra in strength, fire abiding thus in the belly, the goddess thus resting in the waters, and the waters resting upon heat—

12.290.21 heat clinging to the wind, the wind resting in space, space conjoined with the great principle, and the great principle resting in intellect—

12.290.22 intellect clinging to darkness, darkness resting upon passion, passion thus attached to goodness, goodness attached thus to the Self—

12.290.23 the Self attached to the Lord, and thus to the god Nārāyaṇa, the god clinging to liberation, but liberation attached to nothing whatsoever.

12.290.24 Having known the body joined with goodness, enveloped by the sixteen qualities, having known the inherent nature and the consciousness resident within the body—

12.290.25 having known the one Self standing in the midst, in which no evil is found, and as a second, the action of those who seek sense-objects, O king—

12.290.26 having truly known the senses and all the objects of the senses as resting in the Self, and the prāṇa and apāna and samāna, and the vyāna and udāna—

12.290.27 having known the downward-coursing wind and again the onward-bearing wind, and likewise the remaining seven winds, sevenfold, again as prescribed—

12.290.28 having known the lords of creatures and the seers, and the many excellent paths, and the many groups of seven seers, and the royal sages, O scorcher of foes—

12.290.29 having known the divine seers and other great ones, the great seers resembling the sun, fallen from their sovereignty in the course of vast time, O king—

12.290.30 having heard of the destruction of great hosts of beings, O ruler of the earth, and having known the unhappy course of those who do evil deeds, O king—

12.290.31 and the suffering that there is in the Vaitaraṇī for those fallen in Yama's realm, and the inauspicious transmigrations through manifold wombs—

12.290.32 and the dwelling in the foul belly, a vessel of blood and water, amid phlegm, urine, and excrement, attended by a pungent stench—

12.290.33 in the conglomeration of seed and blood, encompassed by marrow and sinew, strewn with a hundred veins, the impure city of nine gates—

12.290.34 having understood the Self thus lodged, and the various yogas, O king, and of creatures sunk in darkness, their selves enveloped by what seems pleasant—

12.290.35 and of creatures of the quality of goodness—what is despicable, O bull of the Bhāratas, and what is censured in the estimation of the great, the Sāṃkhyas who know the Self—

12.290.36 having beheld the dread eclipses of the moon and likewise of the sun, the falling of the stars, and the wheeling round of the constellations—

12.290.37 and having understood the pitiful sundering of paired ones, O king, and having beheld the inauspicious devouring of one another among living beings—

12.290.38 and having understood the delusion of childhood and the inauspicious decay of the body, and goodness somewhere taking refuge when passion and delusion have come upon one—

12.290.39 among thousands some one man takes refuge in the resolve for liberation; and having understood, on the authority of scripture, the difficulty of attaining liberation—

12.290.40 the high regard for things unattained, and again indifference once they are attained, and having understood, again, the wickedness of the objects of sense, O king—

12.290.41 and having beheld the inauspicious bodies of those whose breath has gone, O son of Kuntī, and having understood the suffering of dwelling among the families of creatures, O descendant of Bharata—

12.290.42 having known the dreadful destiny of the slayers of brāhmaṇas, the fallen, and of evil-souled brāhmaṇas addicted to the drinking of liquor, and having known the inauspicious destiny of those given over to the wives of their teachers—

12.290.43 And there are those, Yudhiṣṭhira, who do not conduct themselves rightly toward their mothers, and men who do not walk uprightly in the worlds together with their gods.

12.290.44 By that knowledge having discerned the destiny of those whose deeds are evil, and having discerned, one by one, the courses of those fallen into the wombs of beasts—

12.290.45 the manifold doctrines of the Vedas, and likewise the rotations of the seasons, the wasting away of the years, and the wearing down of the months,

12.290.46 having beheld the passing of the fortnights and the dwindling of the days, and having seen with his own eyes the waning and the waxing of the moon,

12.290.47 having seen the rising of the seas and again their ebbing, and the loss of riches and again likewise their increase,

12.290.48 having beheld the dissolution of unions and, above all, of the ages, and having seen the crumbling of the mountains and likewise the drying of the rivers,

12.290.49 having seen the decline of the orders and, again and again, the end that decay leads to, and having beheld old age and death and birth and all sorrows,

12.290.50 having known the body's defects and their suffering as it truly is, and having rightly understood the body's frailty, O Bhārata,

12.290.51 and having discerned all the faults of the self that lodge within the self, and having understood the foul odors that rise from one's own body—

12.290.52 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What faults arising from one's own limbs do you see, O man of measureless valor? This whole doubt of mine you ought to resolve for me truly.

12.290.53 Bhīṣma said: Five faults in the body, O lord, the wise declare—the Sāṃkhyas, followers of Kapila, who know the path. Hear of them, O slayer of foes.

12.290.54 Desire and anger, fear, sleep, and breath as the fifth—so it is called. These faults are seen in the bodies of all embodied beings.

12.290.55 By forbearance they cut off anger, desire by the renouncing of resolve, sleep by the cultivation of purity, and fear by vigilance; and the fifth, breath, they cut off by lightness of diet, O king.

12.290.56 Knowing the virtues by hundreds of virtues, and the faults too by hundreds of faults, having truly discerned the manifold causes by their hundreds of varied causes,

12.290.57 having seen this world as like the foam upon the waters, wrapped in the hundredfold illusions of Viṣṇu, resembling a painting on the wall of the mind, hollow as a reed's pith and devoid of worth,

12.290.58 having seen it like a pit of darkness, like a bubble of the rain, all but perishing, void of happiness, ending in ruin, sunk in nonbeing, with rajas drowned in tamas, helpless as an elephant mired in mud,

12.290.59 the Sāṃkhyas, O king, of vast wisdom, casting off the body fashioned for procreation, by the all-pervading and mighty Sāṃkhya whose object is knowledge and the knowable, O king—

12.290.60 the impure odors born of rajas, those of like kind born of tamas, and the holy odors born of sattva, all sprung from contact and lodged in the body—these they swiftly sever with the sword of knowledge and the rod of austerity, O Bhārata.

12.290.61 Then this fearful flood whose water is sorrow, whose great pools are anxiety and grief, whose mighty crocodiles are disease and death, whose great serpent is terror,

12.290.62 whose tortoise is darkness, whose fish is passion, whose mire is affection, whose fastness is old age, whose island is the sense of touch—they cross over by wisdom, O subduer of foes.

12.290.63 whose abyss is action, whose shore is truth, whose firmness is steadfast vows, O king, whose swift mighty current is violence, whose great mines are the manifold tastes,

12.290.64 whose great jewels are the manifold delights, whose driving wind is the fever of sorrow, whose great whirlpool is grief and craving, whose great elephant is keen disease,

12.290.65 whose raft is the frame of joined bones, whose foam is phlegm, O subduer of foes, whose pearl-mine is charity, fearful, whose coral is the pool of blood,

12.290.66 whose roar is laughter and outcry, hard to cross by reason of its manifold lore, whose brine is the impurity of weeping and tears, whose haven is the renunciation of attachments,

12.290.67 whose surging tide is the round of births again and again, whose cities are sons and kinsfolk, whose bounding shore is non-violence and truth, whose great billow is the giving up of life,

12.290.68 whose isle of refuge is the attainment of the Vedānta, whose ocean is compassion for all beings, whose hard-won goal is liberation, vast as the sea that holds the mare's-mouth fire—

12.290.69 this the perfected sages cross by the discipline of knowledge, O Bhārata, and having crossed the hard passage of birth they enter the stainless firmament.

12.290.70 Then the Sun bears those well-doing Sāṃkhyas upward by his rays, entering them as through the fibre of a lotus stalk and bearing them past the realms of sense, O king.

12.290.71 There the bearing wind, Pravaha, receives them, O Bhārata—those ascetics free from passion, perfected, endowed with vigor, rich in austerity.

12.290.72 Subtle, cool, sweet-scented, and pleasant to the touch, O Bhārata, the best of the seven winds, which travels to the blessed worlds—that wind bears them, O son of Kuntī, to the supreme goal beyond the sky.

12.290.73 The sky bears them, O lord of the world, to the supreme goal that is rajas; rajas bears them, O king of kings, to the supreme goal that is sattva;

12.290.74 sattva bears them, O pure of soul, to the supreme Lord Nārāyaṇa; and the Lord, pure-souled, bears them by his own self to the Supreme Self.

12.290.75 Having reached the Supreme Self, become stainless with their abode in that Being, they are fitted for immortality and do not return, O mighty one. That is the supreme goal, O Pārtha, of the great souls who are beyond the pairs of opposites.

12.290.76 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Having reached that highest station, the Blessed One, do those of steadfast vows remember their births and deaths, or do they not, O sinless one?

12.290.77 What herein is the truth, that you ought to tell me as it is; for apart from you there is no other man whom I should ask, O Kaurava.

12.290.78 This would be a grave flaw in liberation—if the seers who have won perfection, and the highest ascetics, still dwell upon that very knowledge.

12.290.79 I deem the dharma marked by active engagement the highest, O king; for to one immersed in the supreme knowledge, what could be more painful than such remembering?

12.290.80 Bhīṣma said: Rightly, my son, have you asked a most difficult question; even the awakened are bewildered in this matter, O bull of the Bhāratas. Yet hear herein the supreme truth, well set forth by me.

12.290.81 There where the supreme understanding of the great-souled followers of Kapila abides, even the senses come to awareness, O king, of the embodied one's own body; those are the instruments of the self, and the subtle one perceives through them.

12.290.82 But once forsaken by the self, like wood and like a wall, they perish—of this there is no doubt—even as foam upon the great ocean.

12.290.83 While the embodied one sleeps together with the senses, O tormentor of foes, the subtle self moves everywhere, like the wind moving through the sky.

12.290.84 He sees aright and feels the touches, O mighty one, perceiving as before, in their entirety, even here, O Bhārata.

12.290.85 Here all the senses, each in its own station and as ordained, dissolve through their want of mastery, like serpents whose venom has been drawn.

12.290.86 But overmastering, in their very own stations and on every side, the subtle motions of all the senses, the self ranges abroad—of this there is no doubt.

12.290.87 All the qualities of sattva, and again the qualities of rajas, and all the qualities of tamas, and the qualities of the intellect, O Bhārata,

12.290.88 and likewise the qualities of the mind, and so the qualities of ether, and the qualities of wind, O righteous one, and again the qualities of fire,

12.290.89 and the qualities of water, O Pārtha, and the qualities of earth as well—pervading all these qualities with his whole being, he is the Knower of the Field, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.290.90 And the self proceeds to the Knower of the Field, and the two kinds of action, good and ill, and the senses too proceed to him, O lord, as disciples to a great-souled master.

12.290.91 And transcending even Nature, he goes to the imperishable Self, the supreme one whose essence is Nārāyaṇa, beyond the pairs of opposites and beyond Nature.

12.290.92 Freed from merit and demerit, having entered that flawless, attributeless Supreme Self, he does not return, O Bhārata.

12.290.93 But what remains here—the mind, my son, and the senses, O Bhārata—come back in due season, doing the bidding of their teacher.

12.290.94 And it is possible in a short time to attain peace for one who seeks the qualities, thus disciplined, O son of Kuntī, joined to right knowledge and bent on liberation.

12.290.95 The Sāṃkhyas, O king, of vast wisdom, go to the supreme goal; with this knowledge, O son of Kuntī, no knowledge is to be found equal.

12.290.96 Let there be no doubt of yours herein: the Sāṃkhya is held to be the supreme knowledge—imperishable, fixed, unmanifest, the primeval, eternal Brahman.

12.290.97 That which is without beginning, middle, or end, beyond the pairs of opposites, the agent, everlasting, unmoving at the summit, and eternal—so the men of tranquil soul declare it.

12.290.98 That from which proceed all the transformations of creation and dissolution, and which they extol in the scriptures and the supreme seers proclaim,

12.290.99 and all the brāhmaṇas and the gods and the people learned in scripture—as the supreme God devoted to Brahman, infinite, beyond all, undecaying,

12.290.100 the brāhmaṇas longing for him proclaim him, their minds set on the qualities—rightly disciplined the followers of Yoga, and the Sāṃkhyas of boundless vision.

12.290.101 Of him who is without form, O son of Kuntī, the Sāṃkhya is his form—so runs the sacred tradition; these, they say, are the marks by which he is known, O bull of the Bhāratas.

12.290.102 Twofold are the beings here upon the earth, O lord of the earth, named the moving and the unmoving; but the moving is the more excellent.

12.290.103 Whatever great knowledge is found among the great, O king—in the Vedas, in the Sāṃkhya systems, and likewise in Yoga, and whatever manifold ancient lore is seen—all of that is comprised within the Sāṃkhya, O lord of men.

12.290.104 And whatever is seen in the great chronicles, and whatever is in the science of statecraft honored by the wise, O king, and whatever knowledge there is in the world here—all that great wisdom too is comprised within the Sāṃkhya, O great-souled one.

12.290.105 Tranquility and supreme strength, and subtle knowledge, are duly set forth therein; subtle austerities and joys as well are duly ordained in the Sāṃkhya, O king.

12.290.106 For when it falls short, O Pārtha, the Sāṃkhyas go ever and easily to the gods; and having ranged through those worlds, then, their purpose fulfilled, they descend again among devout brāhmaṇas.

12.290.107 And casting off the body, the Sāṃkhyas enter liberation, O Pārtha, as the dwellers of heaven enter the sky; thereafter those twice-born ones are devoted, beyond all else, to the precious Sāṃkhya honored by the wise, O king.

12.290.108 For no going to the brute wombs is seen for them, nor a downward course, the abode of evildoers; nor are those twice-born ones among the unwise—they who are devoted to this knowledge, O king.

12.290.109 The Sāṃkhya, vast, supreme, ancient, a great ocean, stainless, of noble beauty—the whole Sāṃkhya, O king, the great-souled Nārāyaṇa upholds, immeasurable.

12.290.110 This truth I have declared to you, O lord of men: Nārāyaṇa is this whole ancient universe; at the time of creation he makes the creation, and at the time of dissolution he devours it again.

12.291.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: What is that which is called the imperishable, from which one does not return again? And what is that which is called the perishable, from which one returns again?

12.291.2 I wish to grasp clearly the distinction between the imperishable and the perishable, O slayer of foes, in its very truth, O mighty-armed delight of the Kurus.

12.291.3 For you are called a treasury of knowledge by the brāhmaṇas versed to the end of the Vedas, by the highly blessed seers, and by the great-souled ascetics.

12.291.4 Few are the days remaining to you while the sun keeps its southern course; once the blessed sun has turned, you will go to the supreme goal.

12.291.5 Once you have departed, from whom shall we hear of the good? You are the lamp of the Kuru line, shining with the substance of knowledge.

12.291.6 Therefore this I wish to hear from you, O upholder of the Kuru race; I am not sated here, O king of kings, listening to such nectar as this.

12.291.7 Bhīṣma said: Upon this I shall recount to you an ancient tale, the dialogue of Vasiṣṭha and Janaka the Terrible.

12.291.8 Of Vasiṣṭha, foremost of seers, seated there with the radiance of the sun, King Janaka inquired concerning the supreme knowledge that leads to the highest good.

12.291.9 Saluting the son of Mitra and Varuṇa as he sat there—skilled in the supreme science of the self and sure in the knowledge of the soul's destiny—with hands joined in reverence,

12.291.10 in well-articulated, humble, sweet, and unobtrusive speech, King Karāla-Janaka of old questioned that best of seers.

12.291.11 O Blessed One, I wish to hear of the supreme, eternal Brahman, from which the wise attain to no return again.

12.291.12 And that which is called the perishable, wherein this world melts away, and that which is declared the imperishable—auspicious, secure, and free from ill.

12.291.13 Vasiṣṭha said: Hear, O lord of the earth, how this world perishes, and what it is that does not perish, and through how vast a span of time it endures.

12.291.14 Know that an age is twelve thousand years, and a kalpa four times that; a thousand kalpas turning round make up what is called the Day of Brahmā, and the Night, O king, is of equal length—at whose end He awakens.

12.291.15 Then the formless Self, Śambhu, the source of all good, brings forth the Great One, the firstborn being of endless action, embodied and all-pervading—endowed with the powers of minuteness, lightness, and attainment, the lordly, imperishable Light.

12.291.16 With hands and feet on every side, with eyes, heads, and faces turned in every direction, with ears in every quarter, it stands enveloping all things in the world.

12.291.17 This blessed one is Hiraṇyagarbha; he is remembered as Intellect (buddhi), and among the Yogins as the Great (mahat), and likewise as Viriñca.

12.291.18 In the Sāṃkhya treatise too he is recited under many names, manifold in nature, varied in form, the Soul of the Universe, remembered as the One Imperishable Syllable.

12.291.19 Since by him the whole threefold world, manifold in essence, is enveloped through his own self, and because of his many forms, he is remembered as the All-formed (Viśvarūpa).

12.291.20 This one, having undergone transformation, brings forth from himself by himself the Ego-principle (ahaṃkāra)—he of great splendor begets the self-conscious Lord of Creatures.

12.291.21 From the Unmanifest the Manifest arises; this they call the creation born of Knowledge—namely the Great One; while the Ego-principle they call the creation born of Ignorance.

12.291.22 The lawless and the lawful alike arose together from one source; they are proclaimed as Knowledge and Ignorance by those who ponder the meaning of scripture and treatise.

12.291.23 Know, O son of Pṛthā, that the creation of the elements from the Ego-principle is the third; and within the Ego and the elements know the fourth, the modified creation.

12.291.24 Air, fire, then ether, water, and earth likewise; sound, touch, form, taste, and smell as well.

12.291.25 Thus this group of ten arose all at once, beyond doubt; know it, O king of kings, as the fifth, the elemental creation, full of purpose.

12.291.26 Ear, skin, the two eyes, tongue, and smell as the fifth; and speech, the two hands, the two feet, the anus, and the organ of generation as well—

12.291.27 these are the organs of perception and the organs of action; they all came into being here at once, together with the mind, O son of Pṛthā.

12.291.28 This set of twenty-four principles abides in all forms; knowing which, the Brāhmaṇas who perceive truth grieve no more.

12.291.29 This is declared to be the body in all embodied beings throughout the three worlds; it is to be understood so, O best of men, among gods, men, and Dānavas alike,

12.291.30 among Yakṣas, spirits, and Gandharvas, among Kiṃnaras and great serpents, among Cāraṇas and Piśācas, among celestial sages and night-roaming demons,

12.291.31 among gnats, insects, and mosquitoes, among foul worms and mice, in the dog and the dog-cooker, the basket-weaver, the Caṇḍāla, and the Pulkasa,

12.291.32 in elephant, horse, ass, and tiger, in tree and in cow as well—whatever possesses bodily form anywhere, this same teaching applies.

12.291.33 In water, on earth, and in the sky—nowhere else: such is the settled conclusion that there is an abode for embodied beings; thus have we heard it handed down.

12.291.34 All of this much, my son, that bears the name of the Manifest, perishes; day after day the elemental self decays, and therefore it is remembered as the Perishable (kṣara).

12.291.35 This too has been called Imperishable—even as this world perishes; they declare the world, whose essence is delusion, to be the Unmanifest bearing the name of the Manifest.

12.291.36 The Great One too, the firstborn, is eternal: this is the exposition of the Perishable, told to you, O great king—from which one does not return again.

12.291.37 The twenty-fifth is Viṣṇu, beyond the principles yet named a principle; because it is the refuge of the principles, the wise call it the True (tattva).

12.291.38 Whatever the formless created as the Manifest, that very form it presides over; the twenty-fourth is the Manifest, while the formless is the twenty-fifth.

12.291.39 That very Self abides in the heart within all forms—the conscious one, ever giving consciousness, eternal, taking on all forms yet itself formless.

12.291.40 Subject to a Nature whose law is creation and dissolution, it is itself without creation or dissolution; it ever ranges within her domain, free of the qualities yet called by their name.

12.291.41 Thus this Great Soul, skilled in creation and dissolution, undergoing transformation and possessed of Nature, in its want of wisdom takes these to be its own.

12.291.42 Yoked to darkness, goodness, and passion, it dissolves into one womb after another here below, through its failure to awaken and its keeping company with the unawakened.

12.291.43 Its very nature being to dwell in fellowship, it thinks, 'I am no other than this'; and saying, 'What I am, that I am,' it turns and follows after the qualities.

12.291.44 Through darkness it attains to manifold states marked by darkness, through passion to those marked by passion, and through resort to goodness to those that are good.

12.291.45 White, red, and black—these are the three colors; know that all these colors belong to Nature.

12.291.46 Those of darkness go to hell, those of passion to the human estate, while the partakers of goodness, sharing in happiness, go to the world of the gods.

12.291.47 By unmixed sin one reaches the animal womb, by merit and sin together the human state, and by merit alone the rank of the gods.

12.291.48 Thus the wise call that whose sphere is the Unmanifest the Perishable; but this twenty-fifth one comes forth into action through knowledge alone.

12.292.1 Vasiṣṭha said: Thus, through its failure to awaken, the unawakened one follows along, and so passes from one body into thousands of bodies.

12.292.2 Now into thousands of animal wombs, now even among the gods, it is born—through its conjunction with the qualities and, again, through the wasting of those qualities.

12.292.3 From manhood it goes to heaven, and from heaven back to manhood; from manhood it attains the place of hell, in endless succession.

12.292.4 As the cocoon-spinning worm binds itself fast forever with the threads and strands it spins, so does this one, though itself qualityless, bind itself with the qualities.

12.292.5 Though beyond all pairs of opposites, it meets with them in womb after womb here below—in headache and eye-disease, in toothache and quinsy,

12.292.6 in dropsy and the disease of piles, in fever, swellings, and cholera, in leucoderma, leprosy, and burning fever, and in skin-eruption and epilepsy too,

12.292.7 and whatever other manifold pairs of opposites, born of Nature, arise in embodied beings—these too this one claims as its own; out of conceit it claims them, and its good deeds likewise.

12.292.8 Clad in a single garment, or ill-clad; sleeping ever upon the bare ground; lying crouched like a frog; or seated in the hero's posture;

12.292.9 wearing rags; sleeping or standing under the open sky; lying upon a bed of bricks, or upon a bed of thorns;

12.292.10 lying upon a bed of ashes; sleeping on bare earth and smearing the body; resting in the hero's stance, in water, or in mire, or upon wooden planks;

12.292.11 upon couches of many kinds—craving reward yet itself reaping none; girt with the muñja-grass cord or going naked, clad in linen or in black antelope-skins;

12.292.12 wrapped in hempen cloth, covered with a tiger's hide, draped in a lion's skin, or clothed in fine silk;

12.292.13 clad in cocoon-silk or dressed in rags—and many other garments besides does the unwise one claim as its own.

12.292.14 Manifold foods and jewels of many kinds; eating with but a single cloth between, and taking food but once a day;

12.292.15 eating at every fourth or eighth watch, or at every sixth meal-time; breaking fast only after six nights, or likewise only after eight days;

12.292.16 eating once in seven nights or once in ten days, or even once in twelve; fasting a whole month; living on roots, or living on fruits;

12.292.17 feeding on air, or on water, oil-cake, and cow-dung; drinking cow's urine; eating herbs and flowers;

12.292.18 living on water-moss, or subsisting on rice-water; sustaining itself on withered leaves, or eating only fruits that have fallen of themselves;

12.292.19 it practices manifold austere penances in its longing for happiness—the moon-fasts duly performed, and the various outward marks of asceticism;

12.292.20 it resorts to the path of the four orders of life and to the hermitages, attending upon heretics, dwelling in caves and upon mountains as well,

12.292.21 in lonely places, in the shade of rocks, and beside the springs; with manifold prayers murmured low and manifold vows;

12.292.22 with most varied observances and austerities of many kinds, with sacrifices of many forms and rites of many sorts;

12.292.23 the trader's calling, the estates of Brāhmaṇa and Kṣatriya, of Vaiśya and Śūdra alike, and charity of many kinds, even to the poor, the blind, and the wretched—

12.292.24 all this it claims as its own through want of true understanding; and so too the threefold qualities—goodness, passion, and darkness—and righteousness, wealth, and desire. Thus does the self, which is but Nature, divide up its own self in this way.

12.292.25 The cries of svadhā and vaṣaṭ, of svāhā and the acts of homage; officiating at sacrifices and teaching, giving and—so they say—receiving gifts, sacrificing and studying, and whatever else there is besides—

12.292.26 and in birth and death, in dispute, and in slaughter too—all this, made up of good and evil, they call the path of action.

12.292.27 It is Nature, the goddess, who brings about the great dissolution as well; at the day's end she gathers in these qualities, and the One alone abides.

12.292.28 As the sun draws in its net of rays at the appointed time, so does this one, again and again, claim all things as its own for the sake of sport.

12.292.29 These manifold qualities, in the likeness of its own self and dear to its heart, it transforms in just this way, performing the works of creation and dissolution.

12.292.30 Attached to the path of action and inaction, it becomes endowed with the three qualities though it transcends them; engaged upon the path of action and inaction, it thinks, 'This is indeed I.'

12.292.31 It thinks: 'Thus these pairs of opposites are ever present with me; these arise for me alone, and these afflict me.'

12.292.32 'And all these are to be surmounted by me'—so it thinks, O lord of men, in its want of wisdom; and it thinks the like of its good deeds as well.

12.292.33 'These fruits are to be enjoyed by me when I have gone to the world of the gods; and here itself I shall enjoy this harvest of good and evil that ripens.'

12.292.34 'And happiness alone is to be pursued; once I have secured my happiness, my felicity shall endure to the very end, birth after birth.'

12.292.35 'Yet sorrow without end shall also be mine here, through what I have done; for the human state is great suffering, and so too is the plunge into hell.'

12.292.36 'And from hell I shall in time come again to the human state.' From manhood to godhood, from godhood back to manhood, and from manhood to hell it passes by turns.

12.292.37 He who thinks thus, forever selfless yet enveloped by the qualities of the self, by reason of that is born again among gods and men and in hell.

12.292.38 Forever wrapped in the sense of 'mine,' it revolves there alone, through thousands upon millions of creations, in forms that all end in death.

12.292.39 Whoever performs action whose nature is fruit good and evil, he himself, embodied, eats of that fruit throughout the three worlds.

12.292.40 It is Nature that performs the action whose nature is fruit good and evil, and it is Nature, roaming where she wills, that eats of it throughout the three worlds.

12.292.41 In the animal womb, in the human state, and likewise in the world of the gods—these three stations one should know to belong to Nature.

12.292.42 Nature they declare to be without distinguishing mark, yet by its marks we infer it; and the mark of the Spirit too one perceives only by inference.

12.292.43 Having taken on another mark—the wound-free mark of Nature—and presiding over the gateways of the wounds, it imagines the actions to be in the self.

12.292.44 All the organs beginning with the ear, and the five organs of action beginning with speech, function only amid the qualities, together with the qualities; yet it thinks, 'It is I who do these, and these senses are mine.'

12.292.45 Though devoid of the senses, he imagines, "I am wounded," though he is woundless; though without attribute, he conceives the marked self as his own, and the self that is beyond time he takes for one bound by time.

12.292.46 The unreal he takes for the real self, the untrue for the true; deathless, he conceives the self as subject to death; unmoving, he takes the self to be in motion.

12.292.47 Fieldless, he takes the field to be the self; uncreated, he conceives himself as created; though beyond austerity, he thinks the self performs austerities; though without going, he imagines the self to have a course.

12.292.48 Free of becoming, he takes the self as caught in becoming; free of fear, as fearful; imperishable, he conceives the self as perishable — thus, lacking awakened insight, he misconceives.

12.293.1 Vasiṣṭha said: Thus, through being unawakened and through keeping company with the unawakened, he passes through thousands of millions of creations, each ending in a fall.

12.293.2 From abode to abode he passes through thousands of dwellings, each ending in death — in the wombs of beasts, in the human state, and likewise in the world of the gods.

12.293.3 As the moon dissolves within its sheaths, so this man, lacking insight, dissolves there again and again by the thousand, all through being unawakened.

12.293.4 The womb is the fifteen digits, and that, it is taught, is the abode; know this for certain — the moon is the sixteenth digit.

12.293.5 In the digit the man without insight is born ceaselessly, again and again; they consume his dwelling, and yet once more he is born.

12.293.6 But the sixteenth digit is subtle — let that be understood as the moon; it is not consumed by the gods, rather it is that which sustains the gods.

12.293.7 Thus, having wasted away that digit, he is born again, O best of kings; for this is seen to be his very nature, and from the wasting of it release is declared to come.

12.293.8 So, taking this sixteen-digit body, which bears the name of the Unmanifest, to be "mine," he keeps revolving within that very round.

12.293.9 So too the twenty-fifth principle, the Self — through its failure to awaken, though it is stainless and wholly pure and frequents the pure breath of liberation —

12.293.10 the pure Self becomes as if impure, O lord of earth; and even one awakened, by keeping company with the unawakened, may sink back into unawakening.

12.293.11 In that very way the unawakened one is to be understood, O best of kings; through resorting to threefold-strained Nature he becomes a creature of Nature.

12.293.12 Karāla-Janaka said: This union of the two, the Imperishable and the perishable, is held to exist; and the union of woman and man too, O blessed one, is said to be of just that kind.

12.293.13 Without the man no woman here conceives a child, and without the woman no man can bring a form into being.

12.293.14 By their mutual union, by their resting one upon the other's qualities, form is brought forth — and so it is in all the wombs.

12.293.15 Through the union sought for pleasure, by their resting on one another's qualities, in due season form is brought forth — and I shall set out the proof of this.

12.293.16 What qualities are the man's here, and what the mother's qualities — bone, sinew, and marrow we know to come from the father, O brāhmaṇa,

12.293.17 while skin, flesh, and blood are mother-born — so we have heard; thus, O best of the twice-born, it is taught in the Vedas and the treatises.

12.293.18 What the Veda declares is authority, and what the treatise declares and is recited; and the authority of Veda and treatise is the eternal standard.

12.293.19 Just so I see Nature and Spirit forever bound together, O blessed one; and therefore no path of release exists, it seems to me.

12.293.20 Or if there be some other proof drawn from a different ground, declare it to me truly, for you are in every way one of direct vision.

12.293.21 We too long for release, and we yearn for that which is free of affliction — bodiless, ageless, divine, beyond the senses, owning no master.

12.293.22 Vasiṣṭha said: This proof from Veda and treatise that you have stated is indeed so — but you have not grasped it as it truly is.

12.293.23 You hold the text of both the Veda and the treatise in your memory, O lord of men, but you do not know the truth of the text as it really is.

12.293.24 For one bent on retaining the text in Veda and treatise, yet who does not know the truth of the text's meaning — his retaining of it is in vain.

12.293.25 He merely carries a burden who does not know the meaning of the text; but for one who knows the truth of the text's meaning, his learning of the text is not in vain.

12.293.26 Such a man, when asked the meaning of the text, is fit to declare it; for by approaching its truth he attains the meaning of that text.

12.293.27 But one of coarse understanding who would expound the text's meaning in assemblies — how, being dull of discernment, shall he expound the text with sure conclusion?

12.293.28 A flawed mind cannot state the conclusion truly; and even a man of some self-command thereby falls into a state of ridicule.

12.293.29 Therefore listen, O lord of kings, to how this is rightly seen as it is, among the great souls who follow Sāṃkhya and Yoga.

12.293.30 What the followers of Yoga see is followed also by the Sāṃkhyas; and he who sees Sāṃkhya and Yoga as one — he is the man of true insight.

12.293.31 Skin, flesh, blood, fat, bile, marrow, bone, and sinew — all this belongs to the senses, dear one, this of which you have just spoken.

12.293.32 From substance arises substance, and likewise sense from sense; one obtains body from body, and seed from seed in the same way.

12.293.33 But for this embodied Self, which is without sense, without seed, without substance, how shall there be qualities, since the great Self is free of qualities?

12.293.34 Qualities arise within qualities and there too they subside; thus qualities are born of Nature, and yet in themselves they have no being.

12.293.35 Skin, flesh, blood, fat, bile, marrow, bone, and sinew — know these eight, together with semen, to be of Nature indeed.

12.293.36 Male and not-male and the threefold-marked — this is held to belong to Nature; he who is neither truly male nor not male is called the one possessed of marks.

12.293.37 Nature, herself without mark, is apprehended through the marks born of her, just as the seasons are ever made manifest in form by their flowers and fruits.

12.293.38 In the same way, even the markless is apprehended through inference; the twenty-fifth, dear one, is of unbound nature amid the marks.

12.293.39 Without beginning or end, infinite, all-seeing, free of affliction — yet merely through self-conceit it is called, amid the qualities, the qualityless one.

12.293.40 Qualities belong to one possessed of qualities; whence should there be qualities for the qualityless? Thus do those people understand it who discern the qualities.

12.293.41 But when this Self conceives all the qualities of Nature as its own, then it appears as one possessed of qualities — though by the highest view it is otherwise.

12.293.42 That which the Sāṃkhyas and the Yogins everywhere declare to be beyond the intellect — the awakening, the supremely wise — comes through the forsaking of the unawakened state.

12.293.43 The unawakened Unmanifest, endowed with qualities, they call the Lord; and the qualityless Lord too, eternal and the abiding overseer.

12.293.44 The twenty-fifth, beyond Nature and the qualities, the wise ones understand — they who are skilled in Sāṃkhya and Yoga and who seek the highest.

12.293.45 When the awakened ones, fearful of the births that come with worldly states, fully comprehend the awakening one beyond the Unmanifest, then they bring it to that selfsame oneness.

12.293.46 This is the right discernment and that the wrong discernment, drawn severally from the awakening one and the unawakened, O subduer of foes.

12.293.47 Thus, set one against the other, is told the proof of the perishable and the Imperishable: oneness they call the Imperishable, and manifoldness is called the perishable.

12.293.48 When this one, grounded in the twenty-fifth, proceeds wrongly, then his vision is of oneness, and yet there is also a failure to see, in manifoldness.

12.293.49 This is the distinct proof of the principled and the unprincipled; but the creation that ends in the twenty-fifth the wise call the principled.

12.293.50 That which is beyond the twenty-fifth they call the proof of the unprincipled; class upon class, and discipline, and principle beyond principle — eternal.

12.294.1 Karāla-Janaka said: Manifoldness and oneness — this you have declared, O best of seers; yet I see the proof of these two as still beset with doubt.

12.294.2 So too of the unawakened and the awakened and of the awakening one, O sinless one, with my coarse understanding I do not see the truth of this — there is no doubt.

12.294.3 And the cause you declared concerning the Imperishable and the perishable — that too, through my unsteady understanding, has all but slipped away from me, O sinless one.

12.294.4 This I wish to hear: the vision of manifoldness and oneness, and the awakened, the unawakened, and the awakening one, in their truth.

12.294.5 And knowledge and ignorance, O blessed one, the Imperishable and the perishable, and Sāṃkhya and Yoga in their fullness — both severally and together.

12.294.6 Vasiṣṭha said: Come then, I shall set forth for you that which you ask — the practice of Yoga, O great king; hear it from me first, by itself.

12.294.7 The chief practice of the followers of Yoga is meditation, their supreme strength; and that meditation, those versed in the Veda declare to be of two kinds.

12.294.8 Single-pointedness of mind, and likewise the restraint of breath: the restraint of breath belongs to the qualified, while the stilling of the mind belongs to the unqualified.

12.294.9 In passing water, in voiding the bowels, and in eating, O ruler of men — at these three times let him not yoke himself; the rest of the time, intent, let him practice the yoga.

12.294.10 Withdrawing the senses from the objects of sense by the mind, the sage — by tens or by twelves, and then beyond the twenty-fourth —

12.294.11 with urgings the wise man should urge on that Self, the ageless one abiding there, of which the thoughtful have spoken.

12.294.12 And by these the Self is ever to be known — so we have heard in succession; it is a thing graspable only by one whose mind is undiminished, and not otherwise — this is the settled truth.

12.294.13 Freed from all attachments, light in his eating, his senses conquered, in the first watch of the night and in the last let him fix the mind upon the Self.

12.294.14 Having steadied the host of the senses by the mind, O lord of Mithilā, and having made the mind firm by the intellect, let him be unmoving like a stone,

12.294.15 unshaken as a post, immovable as a mountain; then the wise, who know the ordinances of the rule, declare him to be yoked.

12.294.16 He hears not, nor smells, nor tastes, nor sees, nor is aware of touch, nor does the mind form any intention;

12.294.17 he conceives nothing, nor is he aware of aught, like a log of wood — then the thoughtful call him yoked, returned to his own Nature.

12.294.18 As a lamp burning in a windless place — so is he seen: steady and unmoving, rising upward, taking no sideways course.

12.294.19 Then let him behold that Self, on whose being seen it is said — "the inner Self that dwells in the heart" — the Knower to be known, dear one, by such as I am.

12.294.20 Like the seven-tongued fire without smoke, like the sun bright with rays, like the fire of lightning in the sky — so is the Self seen within the self.

12.294.21 Whom the great souls behold, the steadfast and the thoughtful, the brāhmaṇas grounded in the womb of Brahman — the wombless one, immortal in essence.

12.294.22 That very one they call subtler than the subtle, greater than the great; it abides within, fixed in all beings, yet is not seen.

12.294.23 By the instrument of the intellect, by the lamp of the mind, the maker of the world may be seen — dwelling beyond the great darkness, dear one, himself untouched by darkness.

12.294.24 He is called the dispeller of darkness by those who know the truth and have crossed to the far shore of the Veda — stainless, free of gloom, without mark, known by the name of the markless.

12.294.25 This indeed I deem the Yoga of those who practice Yoga, the very mark of Yoga; seeing thus, they behold the Self, the ageless and supreme.

12.294.26 Thus far have I declared to you, in truth, the vision of Yoga; now I shall set forth the knowledge of Sāṃkhya, the proof by full enumeration.

12.294.27 The expounders of primal nature call the Unmanifest the supreme Prakṛti; and from it, O best of kings, there arose the Great Principle (mahat), which is the second.

12.294.28 From the Great Principle comes the I-sense (ahaṃkāra), the third, so we have heard; and from the I-sense, the followers of Sāṃkhya declare, arise the five elements.

12.294.29 These are the eight sources of evolution; and the modifications are sixteen — the five gross particulars together with the five senses.

12.294.30 Just this is the enumeration of the principles, say the wise ones learned in the rules and ordinances of Sāṃkhya, ever devoted to the Sāṃkhya path.

12.294.31 Whatever is born from a given source dissolves again into that very source; in reverse order they are reabsorbed, and they are sent forth by the inner Self.

12.294.32 In forward order they come to be, and in reverse order they dissolve; constantly the qualities merge into the qualities, as the waves of the ocean into the sea.

12.294.33 Such is the creation and dissolution of Prakṛti, O best of kings: oneness in dissolution, and multiplicity when it sends forth creation. Thus, O lord of kings, is it to be understood by those who ponder what is to be known.

12.294.34 The Unmanifest is its presiding ground — this too is the illustration. The knower of truth sees the oneness and the multiplicity that follow upon Prakṛti: oneness in dissolution, and multiplicity in active unfolding.

12.294.35 Making itself manifold, it brings forth Prakṛti, whose nature is to generate; and over that Field the Great Self, the twenty-fifth principle, presides.

12.294.36 He is called the Presider, O lord of kings, by the best of ascetics; because he presides over the Fields, he is the Presider — so we have heard.

12.294.37 He knows the Field, the Unmanifest, and so is called the Knower of the Field; and because he lies within the city of the Unmanifest, he is also called the Puruṣa, the indwelling Person.

12.294.38 The Field is one thing, and the Knower of the Field is said to be another; the Field is declared to be the Unmanifest, while the Knower is the twenty-fifth principle.

12.294.39 Knowledge is one thing, and the object of knowledge is said to be another; the knowledge is declared to be the Unmanifest, while the object to be known is the twenty-fifth principle.

12.294.40 The Unmanifest is called the Field, and likewise sattva, and likewise the Lord; it is without lordship and without selfhood, while the twenty-fifth is the true principle endowed with selfhood.

12.294.41 So much is the Sāṃkhya doctrine, the teaching of full enumeration; it carries out the reckoning, and it declares the nature of Prakṛti.

12.294.42 The followers of Sāṃkhya, reckoning truly the twenty-four principles together with Prakṛti, hold that the twenty-fifth is free of those principles and stands beyond them.

12.294.43 As long as the twenty-fifth has not awakened its self, it is called the one who is awakening; but when it knows the Self, then it becomes the Absolute, alone and unconditioned.

12.294.44 Thus has the right vision been truly expounded to you; and they who know it in this way attain to oneness and equality.

12.294.45 This is rightly named the demonstration, the direct apprehension of Prakṛti; these are the principles bound up with the qualities, while the Other, devoid of qualities, stands apart.

12.294.46 For those who abide thus there is no returning again; because of their imperishable being there is for them an undecaying state, free of mutual involvement.

12.294.47 Those of single-minded fixity may see, yet their vision is not perfect; again and again, O subduer of foes, they fall back into the Unmanifest.

12.294.48 Though they know all this, yet for want of full awakening to the whole they will become manifest once more, falling under the sway of the manifest.

12.294.49 All this has been called the Unmanifest, the All; but the twenty-fifth is not the All. For those who know him truly, no fear is to be found.

12.295.1 Vasiṣṭha said: So much of the Sāṃkhya doctrine has been told to you, O best of kings; now learn from me, in due order, of Knowledge and Ignorance.

12.295.2 The Unmanifest, subject to creation and dissolution, they call Ignorance; and the twenty-fifth, free from creation and dissolution, they call Knowledge.

12.295.3 Learn, in due order, of their mutual relation in ignorance, my son, as the seers have expounded the teaching of this Sāṃkhya.

12.295.4 For all the organs of action, the organs of perception are reckoned their knowledge; and for the organs of perception, the gross particulars are their knowledge — so we have heard.

12.295.5 For those gross particulars, the wise declare the mind to be their knowledge; and for the mind, they call the five elements its knowledge.

12.295.6 For the five elements, the I-sense is their knowledge — herein is no doubt; and for the I-sense, the intellect is its knowledge, O lord of men.

12.295.7 For the intellect, Prakṛti, the Unmanifest, the supreme lord of the principles, is to be known as its knowledge, O best of men; and it is reckoned the highest ordinance.

12.295.8 Of the Unmanifest, they declare the twenty-fifth to be the supreme Knowledge; the All of all has been called the object to be known of knowledge, O king.

12.295.9 Knowledge is called the Unmanifest, while the object to be known is the twenty-fifth; and so again the Unmanifest is the knowledge, while the knower is the twenty-fifth.

12.295.10 In the truth of the meaning of Knowledge and Ignorance I have told you in detail; now learn from me what is meant by the Imperishable and the Perishable.

12.295.11 Both these have been called perishable, and both these also imperishable; but I shall declare the reason why they are so set forth in truth.

12.295.12 Both these are held to be without beginning and without end, both indeed lords; both are spoken of as bearing the name of true principle by those who ponder knowledge.

12.295.13 Because it is subject to creation and dissolution, they call the Unmanifest perishable; for it transforms itself again and again for the creation of the qualities.

12.295.14 It gives rise, one from another, to the qualities beginning with the Great Principle; and because it presides over them, this twenty-fifth is called the Field.

12.295.15 But when it draws that net of qualities back into the Unmanifest as its self, then together with those qualities the twenty-fifth dissolves away.

12.295.16 The qualities merge into the qualities, and then Prakṛti alone remains; and when, my son, even the Knower of the Field dissolves into that Field —

12.295.17 then Prakṛti, named after the qualities, attains imperishability; and from the withdrawal of the qualities, O prince of Videha, it attains the state of being without qualities.

12.295.18 And just so the Knower of the Field, when the knowledge of the Field is exhausted, becomes through Prakṛti free of qualities — thus have we heard it taught.

12.295.19 When this one becomes perishable, it then comes to recognize Prakṛti as endowed with qualities, and likewise the quality-less nature of its own Self.

12.295.20 Then he becomes wholly pure through the abandonment of Prakṛti, when the wise one knows, 'I am one thing, and she is another.'

12.295.21 Then he attains to separateness and no longer falls into commingling; and with Prakṛti, O lord of kings, he is seen as unmingled and other.

12.295.22 But when he comes to loathe that net of qualities born of Prakṛti, and beholds the Other as the seer, then, seeing, he is no longer consumed by fever.

12.295.23 'What have I done all this while, I who through all this time have followed birth after birth, as a fish, through want of knowledge, follows the net!'

12.295.24 'For I myself, through delusion, have pursued one birth after another from birth to birth, as a fish, mistaking the net for water, follows after it here.'

12.295.25 'As a fish, through ignorance, does not perceive its distinctness from the water, so I, through ignorance, fail to know my own Self and its separateness.'

12.295.26 'Shame upon me, the unawakened, who, sunk again in this, have through delusion pursued one birth after another, from birth to birth!'

12.295.27 'This other here shall be my kinsman; with this one comes my liberation. Having come to equality and oneness, I am of the same nature as he.'

12.295.28 'I see here an equality: I am indeed like unto him; for he is stainless and manifest, and I too am even such as he.'

12.295.29 'I, who through the delusion of ignorance entered into activity with the unknowing one — I, unattached, have dwelt all this time with her who is attached.'

12.295.30 'Brought under her power, I did not awaken all this time. How shall I dwell with her any longer, the cause of high, middling, and low estates?'

12.295.31 'How could I, in my unawakened condition, have come into this dwelling-together with her? Now at last let me be steadfast.'

12.295.32 'No longer will I enter into dwelling with her; for all this time I have been deceived. I, the changeless, have been deceived by her who is full of change.'

12.295.33 'Yet this is no fault of hers; the fault herein is mine, who became attached here and turned my face away from the truth.'

12.295.34 'Hence, formless, I have dwelt within manifold embodied forms; and though formless, I have taken on a bodied self, overpowered by the sense of "mine."'

12.295.35 'Through the leadership of Prakṛti, dwelling in this womb and that, what has been done to me — to one free of "mine" — by the sense of "mine," as I passed through womb after womb with a mind whose awareness was lost!'

12.295.36 'I have no further business here with her, whose very self is made of the I-sense, who, making herself manifold, would yoke me to herself again and again. Now have I awakened, free of "mine," free of the I-sense.'

12.295.37 'Casting off the sense of "mine" ever wrought by her through the I-sense, and forsaking her, I shall take refuge in the One free of all affliction.'

12.295.38 'With him I shall attain equality, not with this unconscious one; fitting for me is union with him, not oneness with her.' Thus, through supreme awakening, the twenty-fifth comes to enlightenment.

12.295.39 He attains imperishability, the unafflicted, abandoning the perishable — the Unmanifest, whose nature is to become manifest, both with qualities and without. Having first beheld the Quality-less, he becomes such as It, O prince of Mithilā.

12.295.40 This demonstration of the Imperishable and the Perishable, replete with knowledge, has been told to you by me here, according to the testimony of sacred tradition.

12.295.41 What is free of doubt, subtle, enlightened, and stainless I shall declare to you yet further; learn it as it has been heard.

12.295.42 Sāṃkhya and Yoga have been expounded by me from the testimony of the two scriptures; and that very teaching declared in Sāṃkhya is itself the doctrine of Yoga.

12.295.43 The awakening knowledge of the followers of Sāṃkhya, O lord of the earth, is therein set forth with full clarity, out of desire for the good of disciples.

12.295.44 And the skilled declare that scripture to be vast; yet in this scripture of the followers of Yoga it is, as it were, curds again and arrow again — set forth ever afresh.

12.295.45 Beyond the twenty-fifth they see no further principle, O ruler of men; for the followers of Sāṃkhya, the supreme has been there described just as it is.

12.295.46 The Awakened, the Unawakened, and the one in the act of awakening, truly considered — the one in the act of awakening and the Awakened — such, they declare, is the teaching of Yoga.

12.296.1 Vasiṣṭha said: Now hear of the Unmanifest, the Unawakened, and this ordering of the qualities; for she upholds the qualities, sends them forth, and withdraws them again.

12.296.2 Ceaselessly here, for the sake of play, transforming herself, O ruler of men, and making her self manifold, she beholds those very forms.

12.296.3 Her, thus transforming herself, the one in the act of awakening does not yet comprehend; and because of his awareness of the Unmanifest, they call him the one in the act of awakening.

12.296.4 Yet he does not comprehend the Unmanifest, whether with qualities or without; and therefore at times indeed they call this Unmanifest the Unawakened.

12.296.5 If the twenty-fifth comes to comprehend this Unmanifest, he becomes the one in the act of awakening, yet still of the nature of attachment — so runs the sacred word.

12.296.6 On this account they call the unfailing Unmanifest the Unawakened; and because of his awareness of the Unmanifest, they call him the one in the act of awakening.

12.296.7 And that twenty-fifth, the great Self, does not yet comprehend the twenty-sixth — the stainless, the Awakened, the immeasurable, the eternal.

12.296.8 But the twenty-sixth ever comprehends both the twenty-fifth and the twenty-fourth; for he pervades both the seen and the unseen — both, those of great splendor.

12.296.9 But the Unmanifest does not comprehend that Brahman, the Absolute, my son; the twenty-fifth alone does not behold the twenty-fourth as the Absolute.

12.296.10 As long as the one awakening thinks of himself, 'I am other,' so long is he still possessed of Prakṛti, with his vision fixed upon the Unmanifest.

12.296.11 But when he comes to know the supreme Intelligence, wholly pure and stainless — the twenty-sixth — then, O tiger among kings, he attains to the state of the Awakened.

12.296.12 Then he forsakes the Unmanifest, whose nature is creation and dissolution; free of the qualities, he knows Nature to be bound up with the qualities and devoid of consciousness.

12.296.13 Thereupon, through his vision of the Unmanifest, he becomes one whose nature is absolute; uniting with the Absolute and liberated, he attains the Self.

12.296.14 This, they say, is that Reality, itself beyond the principles, ageless and deathless; through its dependence on the principles it seems to possess them, yet it does not, O bestower of honor. The wise declare that the principles are twenty-five.

12.296.15 This one, my son, does not possess the principles; rather, the wise one is beyond the principles. He swiftly relinquishes the principles, for that is the mark of the awakened.

12.296.16 "I am the twenty-sixth"—when the wise man is grasped by this knowledge, ageless and deathless, by the power of the Absolute alone he attains identity with it, beyond all doubt.

12.296.17 Awakened by the twenty-sixth yet still in the act of awakening, he is not yet fully wise: this is what is called their difference, taught from the testimony of the Sāṃkhya scriptures.

12.296.18 For the twenty-fifth principle, joined with the conscious one, there arises oneness with it, so long as it does not awaken through the intellect to the distinction.

12.296.19 Awakening, it attains identity with the unawakened, O Maithila; this Self, free of attachment by nature, thus comes to bear the character of attachment, O lord of men.

12.296.20 But on reaching the Self that is free of attachment, they know the twenty-sixth, the unborn; the all-pervading one forsakes the Unmanifest when it awakens to this, and through the awakening of the twenty-sixth it forsakes also the unfathomable twenty-fourth.

12.296.21 This, O sinless one, has been explained to you as the unawakened, the awakening, and the truly awakened, according to the testimony of scripture; just so much of their difference and oneness is to be discerned by those whose sight is the teaching.

12.296.22 As the gnat is other than the fig in which it dwells, so are these two distinct; as a fish in water is other than the water, so is their difference perceived.

12.296.23 Just so is the difference and the oneness of these two to be understood; this, bound up with the knowledge of the Unmanifest, is declared to be liberation.

12.296.24 This twenty-fifth principle, which abides within bodies, is the one that must be set free—so they declare—out from the domain of the Unmanifest.

12.296.25 Thus and not otherwise is it freed: such is the settled conclusion. Uniting with the Supreme, it takes on the nature of the Supreme.

12.296.26 Uniting with the pure, it becomes pure in nature; with the awakened, it becomes wise; with the liberated, its nature becomes that of the liberated, O bull among men.

12.296.27 Uniting with one bound to duty, it takes on the character of duty; and uniting with the liberator, it likewise becomes liberation itself here.

12.296.28 Of pure deeds and pure it becomes, of measureless radiance; and uniting with the stainless Self, it too becomes stainless of soul.

12.296.29 So too, uniting with the Absolute, it becomes absolute in soul; and uniting with the independent, it attains independence.

12.296.30 This much have I told you truly, O great king, in its real and very essence; receive this teaching without envy—the eternal Brahman, pure and primordial.

12.296.31 To a man merely devoted to the letter of the Veda, O king, this supreme teaching should not be given by you; but to one who longs to know, this enlightening instruction—for the sake of awakening—should be given to him who bows in reverence.

12.296.32 Nor is it to be given to the man of false soul, to the deceitful, to the coward, to the crooked of mind, nor to one who flaunts learning to torment others; learn now to whom you should give it.

12.296.33 To one endowed with faith and with virtues, ever turned away from slandering others, to one of pure discipline and wise, active in rites, forbearing, and benevolent.

12.296.34 To one of solitary conduct who loves the sacred rule, free of contention, deeply learned and discerning, who does not condone what is harmful, and is capable of restraint and of the inner peace of embodied beings.

12.296.35 To one most destitute of these virtues it must not be given—this supreme Brahman, which they call utterly pure; what is bestowed on such a one will not be joined with blessing, and by giving to the unworthy the teacher of dharma himself loses his merit.

12.296.36 Even though one offered this whole earth filled with jewels, this is not to be given to a man without vows; but to one who has mastered his senses, this supreme teaching should without doubt be imparted by you, O lord of men.

12.296.37 Karāla, let no fear of any kind be yours; today you have heard this supreme Brahman, declared just as it is—most sacred, sorrowless, utterly without beginning or middle.

12.296.38 Unfathomable in birth, deathless, O king, free of disease, fear gone, and auspicious—looking upon it, cast off now all delusion, having understood this, the very essence of knowledge.

12.296.39 This was obtained of old from the eternal Hiraṇyagarbha as he spoke it, O lord of men, when by earnest effort that one of fierce splendor had been won over—just as the eternal Brahman has now been won by you.

12.296.40 As you have questioned me, O lord of men, so have I declared this to you today; thus did I obtain from Brahman that great and ancient knowledge of those who know liberation, O lord of men.

12.296.41 Bhīṣma said: This has been declared the supreme Brahman, from which the twenty-fifth returns no more, O great king, according to the testimony of the highest seers.

12.296.42 He who, even after attaining supreme knowledge, does not truly awaken, though awakening, undergoes return again; but the one who knows it as it is becomes ageless and deathless.

12.296.43 This highest of all knowledges, which brings the supreme good, I have told you truly, my son, having myself heard it from the divine seer, O king.

12.296.44 From Hiraṇyagarbha the great-souled seer Vasiṣṭha received it, and from Vasiṣṭha, tiger among seers, Nārada obtained this.

12.296.45 From Nārada this eternal Brahman became known to me. Grieve not, O lord of the Kurus, now that you have heard this supreme state.

12.296.46 For him by whom the perishable and the imperishable are known, no fear exists; but fear does exist for him who does not know this, O son of Pṛthā.

12.296.47 And the deluded soul, through ignorance, suffering torment again and again, undergoes after death thousands of births, each ending in death.

12.296.48 He passes through the world of the gods, the animal realm, and the human state as well, if in time he is purified out of that ocean of ignorance.

12.296.49 The dreadful ocean of ignorance is called the Unmanifest, the unfathomable, wherein day after day living beings are submerged, O Bhārata.

12.296.50 Since you have crossed beyond that unfathomable, eternal Unmanifest, therefore you are free of passion and free of darkness, O son of Pṛthā.

12.297.1 Bhīṣma said: A certain son of Janaka, while roaming in the hunt through a lonely place, beheld in the forest a lord of brahmins, a seer who carried on the lineage of Bhṛgu.

12.297.2 Seating himself near that seated sage and bowing his head in reverence, then with the seer's leave, the prince Vasumat asked him this.

12.297.3 "Holy one, what is that good which avails a man, here or hereafter, when his body is impermanent and he is in the grip of desire?"

12.297.4 Thus honored and questioned, the great-souled one of mighty austerity then spoke to him this word that brings about the good.

12.297.5 "If you desire what is not contrary to the mind, here and hereafter, then with senses restrained turn away from whatever is hurtful to living beings.

12.297.6 Dharma is the welfare of good men; dharma is the refuge of the good. From dharma, my son, the three worlds with all that moves and is unmoving have come forth.

12.297.7 O craver of sweet things, why do you not reach freedom from thirst for desires? You see the honey, dull-witted one, but you do not see the precipice beneath.

12.297.8 Just as familiarity with knowledge must be cultivated by one who seeks its fruit, so too familiarity with dharma must be cultivated by one who seeks its fruit.

12.297.9 For a bad man who desires dharma, pure action is hard to accomplish; but for a good man who desires dharma, even hard action is easily done.

12.297.10 He who in the forest pursues the pleasures of the village is no better than a villager; while he who in the village lives by the conduct of the forest is as one who dwells in the wild.

12.297.11 In the dharma of thought, word, and deed place your faith with a collected mind, having weighed the merits and demerits of withdrawal or of action.

12.297.12 And one should ever give abundantly to good men, free of envy, what has been sought with vows and purity and offered with honor at the proper place and time.

12.297.13 What has been gained by righteous means one should bestow upon the worthy, casting off anger; and having given, one should neither regret it nor boast of it.

12.297.14 Free of cruelty, pure, self-controlled, truthful of speech, established in uprightness, pure in birth and conduct, and learned in the Veda—such a brahmin is a worthy recipient.

12.297.15 A wife honored and devoted to one husband is desired here for the purity of lineage in birth; and the learned one who chants Ṛk, Yajus, and Sāman and performs the six rites is called a worthy recipient.

12.297.16 The very same act may be dharma or adharma with respect to each particular man, according to the distinction of recipient and deed, and with regard to place and time.

12.297.17 As a man wipes a little dust from his limb with ease, so the removal of sin is accomplished only by great and strenuous effort.

12.297.18 As clarified butter becomes a wholesome medicine for one who has been duly purged, so the dharma that bears on the hereafter brings happiness to one whose faults have been expelled.

12.297.19 The mind moves among all beings, toward the good and toward the evil; drawing it away from the evil, one should set it down upon the good alone.

12.297.20 Honor all that is done, by all, everywhere; and wherever your inclination lies within your own dharma, there let dharma be ordained at your pleasure.

12.297.21 O man of unsteady soul, stand firm in resolve; dull-witted one, become wise; O unquiet one, grow calm; O foolish one, conduct yourself as the wise do.

12.297.22 The good, here and hereafter, can be attained by inner energy accompanied by right means; and the root of that is supreme steadfastness.

12.297.23 The royal seer Mahābhiṣa, lacking steadfastness, fell from heaven; while Yayāti, his merit spent, regained the worlds through steadfastness.

12.297.24 By attending upon ascetics, the righteous, and the learned, you will gain abundant understanding, and so will you come to the good."

12.297.25 And he, endowed with a noble nature, having heard the words spoken by the sage, turned his mind away from desire and set his understanding upon dharma.

12.298.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That which is freed from dharma and adharma, freed from all dependence, freed from birth and death, and freed from merit and demerit—

12.298.2 that which is auspicious, eternal, fearless, ever imperishable and undecaying, pure, eternal, and effortless—of that you ought to speak.

12.298.3 Bhīṣma said: On this I shall relate to you an ancient tale, the dialogue of Yājñavalkya with Janaka, O Bhārata.

12.298.4 The illustrious Janaka, son of Daivarāti, foremost among those skilled in questioning, put a question to Yājñavalkya, the best of seers.

12.298.5 "How many are the senses, O brahmin-seer? How many are the primary natures held to be? What is the Unmanifest, what the supreme Brahman, and what lies beyond even that?

12.298.6 Of the origin and the dissolution, and likewise of the reckoning of time, you ought to speak, O lord of brahmins, to me who longs for your grace.

12.298.7 Out of ignorance I question you, for you are a treasury made wholly of knowledge; I wish to hear all of this beyond any doubt."

12.298.8 Yājñavalkya said: Hear, O guardian of the earth, what you ask after—the supreme knowledge of the followers of Yoga, and of the followers of Sāṃkhya especially.

12.298.9 There is nothing unknown to you; yet you wish to test me. Still, when questioned one must answer—this is the eternal law.

12.298.10 Eight are the primary natures declared, and sixteen the modifications; and the contemplators of the inner self say there are seven that are manifest.

12.298.11 The Unmanifest, the Great One, and the I-maker; earth, wind, ether, water, and fire as the fifth—

12.298.12 these are the eight primary natures; now hear from me also the modifications: hearing, skin, eye, tongue, and smell as the fifth—

12.298.13 sound and touch, form, taste, and likewise smell; speech, the two hands, the two feet, the organ of excretion, and the organ of generation as well—

12.298.14 these are the particulars within the five great elements, O lord of kings; and these, the organs of cognition together with their particulars, O Maithila—

12.298.15 the mind they declare to be the sixteenth—they who contemplate the course of the inner self, both you and other learned men skilled in the discernment of the principles.

12.298.16 From the Unmanifest the Great Self arises, O son of Pṛthā; this the wise call the first creation, born of the primordial Nature.

12.298.17 From the Great Principle, O lord of men, arises the I-sense; this they call the second creation, and it is remembered as having the nature of intellect.

12.298.18 From the I-sense comes into being the mind, whose nature is the qualities of the elements; this third creation is called that which springs from the I-sense.

12.298.19 From the mind, O lord of men, arise the great elements; this fourth creation they designate as the mental one.

12.298.20 Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell as well — this the contemplators of the elements call the fifth creation, the elemental one.

12.298.21 Ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose as the fifth — this they call the sixth creation, remembered as the seat of manifold reflection.

12.298.22 Below arises the host of organs of action, O lord of men; this they call the seventh creation, remembered as that pertaining to the lower organs.

12.298.23 The upward-flowing and the crosswise-flowing then arise, O lord of men; this the wise call the eighth creation, the natural one.

12.298.24 The crosswise-flowing and the downward-flowing then arise, O lord of men; this the wise call the ninth creation, the natural one.

12.298.25 These nine creations, and the four-and-twenty principles, O lord of men, have been declared according to scripture and tradition.

12.298.26 Now hereafter, O great king, learn from me, in truth, the reckoning of time for this quality, as it has been declared by the great-souled ones.

12.299.1 Yājñavalkya said: Learn from me, O best of men, the reckoning of time for the Unmanifest. Five thousand kalpas, doubled, are called its day.

12.299.2 Its night, too, is of the same length, O lord of men; and when awakened, it first creates the herbs, the sustenance of all embodied beings.

12.299.3 Then it created Brahmā, born from the golden egg; that form is the embodiment of all beings — thus have we heard.

12.299.4 Having dwelt a year within the egg and come forth, the great sage, the Prajāpati, formed of half the whole earth and of half the heaven.

12.299.5 This is recited in the Vedas, O king, concerning heaven and earth; and between those two halves the Lord made the sky.

12.299.6 And for this one too the reckoning, declared by those versed in the Vedas and their auxiliaries, is: ten thousand kalpas less a quarter are called its day; and the contemplators of the inner self declare its night to be of the same length.

12.299.7 The sage creates the I-sense, a being of divine nature, and four other sons; before his body, the Great Sage. These, it is heard, are the fathers of the very forefathers, O best of kings.

12.299.8 The gods are the sons of the forefathers, and by the gods the worlds, moving and unmoving, are pervaded, O best of men — thus have we heard.

12.299.9 The I-sense, the supreme abode, created the elements in five ways: earth, air, sky, water, and light as the fifth.

12.299.10 For this one too, while it performs the third stage, they declare its night to be five thousand kalpas, and its day is said to be just as long.

12.299.11 Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell as the fifth — these are the particular qualities, O king of kings, in the five great elements, by which beings are pervaded day after day, O lord of the earth.

12.299.12 These long for one another, delight in one another's welfare, esteem one another, and likewise contend with one another.

12.299.13 Slain by one another through their alluring qualities, yet imperishable, they revolve here in this very world, entering the wombs of beasts.

12.299.14 Three thousand kalpas are called the day of these, and the night is of the same length — and so too for the mind, O lord of men.

12.299.15 The mind ranges, O king of kings, over all that is experienced by the senses; yet the senses do not see — here it is the mind alone that sees.

12.299.16 The eye sees forms, but through the mind, not through the eye alone; when the mind is distracted, the eye, though looking, does not see. So it is said that all the senses perceive only thus.

12.299.17 When the mind is stilled, O king, the senses too come to rest; but when the senses are stilled, the mind does not come to rest. Thus one should recognize that the senses have the mind as their chief.

12.299.18 For the mind is called the lord of all the senses; into it all beings here enter, O greatly renowned one.

12.300.1 Yājñavalkya said: The reckoning of the creation of the principles, and likewise the reckoning of time, have been declared by me in order; now hear from me the dissolution as well.

12.300.2 How Brahmā — without beginning or end, eternal and imperishable — withdraws creatures and creates them again and again.

12.300.3 Then, perceiving the waning of his day, his mind turned to slumber as the night comes on, the blessed Unmanifest urged onward the I-sensed Person.

12.300.4 Then the sun of a hundred thousand rays, urged on by the Unmanifest, made himself twelvefold, blazing like fire.

12.300.5 Swiftly with his blaze he burns up the fourfold web of creatures — the womb-born, the egg-born, the sweat-born, and the sprout-born, O lord of men.

12.300.6 In the mere twinkling of an eye, all that is fixed and moving is destroyed, and the earth becomes everywhere level like the back of a tortoise.

12.300.7 Having burnt the world, he of boundless might leaves the earth alone; then swiftly it is filled on every side with mighty waters.

12.300.8 Then, encountering the fire of Time, that water passes to destruction; and when the water is gone, O king of kings, the great fire blazes forth.

12.300.9 That immeasurable, exceedingly mighty, blazing fire, the warmth of all beings, the seven-flamed — straightway then,

12.300.10 the mighty wind, eightfold and powerful, of boundless breath, ranging crosswise, upward, and downward, devoured it.

12.300.11 That irresistible and terrible wind the sky swallows into itself; and roaring beyond the sky, the mind swallows up the ranging sky.

12.300.12 The I-sense, the Prajāpati, the Self of all, swallows the mind; and the Great Self, knower of past, present, and future, swallows the I-sense.

12.300.13 And even that incomparable Self, the universe — Śambhu the Prajāpati, possessed of minuteness, lightness, and attainment, the Lord, the imperishable light —

12.300.14 with hands and feet on every side, with eyes, heads, and faces on every side, with ears on every side, abides in the world, enveloping all.

12.300.15 The heart of all beings, of the measure of a thumb at the joint, the infinite great-souled Lord swallows up the universe.

12.300.16 Then all became imperishable, undecaying, and flawless — the sinless creator of beings past, future, and present.

12.300.17 This dissolution has been duly expounded to you, O king of kings; now let the relation to the self, to the elements, and to the deities be heard.

12.301.1 Yājñavalkya said: The feet, say the Brāhmaṇas who perceive the truth, are the inner principle; that which is to be traversed is the elemental aspect; and Viṣṇu is the presiding deity there.

12.301.2 The organ of excretion, say those who see the true meaning, is the inner principle; voiding is the elemental aspect; and Mitra is the presiding deity there.

12.301.3 The organ of generation, they say according to the teaching of yoga, is the inner principle; pleasure is the elemental aspect; and Prajāpati is the deity.

12.301.4 The hands, they say according to the teaching of Sāṃkhya, are the inner principle; the deed to be done is the elemental aspect; and Indra is the presiding deity there.

12.301.5 Speech, they declare according to the teaching of scripture, is the inner principle; what is to be spoken is the elemental aspect; and Fire is the presiding deity there.

12.301.6 The eye, they say according to the teaching of scripture, is the inner principle; form here is the elemental aspect; and Sūrya is the presiding deity there.

12.301.7 The ear, they say according to the teaching of scripture, is the inner principle; sound there is the elemental aspect; and the quarters of space are the presiding deity there.

12.301.8 The tongue, they say according to the teaching of the principles, is the inner principle; taste alone is the elemental aspect; and the Waters are the presiding deity there.

12.301.9 The nose, they say according to the teaching of scripture, is the inner principle; smell alone is the elemental aspect; and Earth is the presiding deity.

12.301.10 The skin, declare those skilled in the discernment of the principles, is the inner principle; touch alone is the elemental aspect; and the Wind is the presiding deity.

12.301.11 The mind, they declare according to the teaching of scripture, is the inner principle; what is to be thought is the elemental aspect; and the Moon is the presiding deity.

12.301.12 That which springs from the I-sense, they say according to the teaching of the principles, is the inner principle; self-conceit is the elemental aspect; and Bhava is the presiding deity there.

12.301.13 The intellect, they say according to the teaching of the Veda, is the inner principle; what is to be known is the elemental aspect; and the Knower of the Field is the presiding deity here.

12.301.14 This manifest power has been described to you in due order, O king, at the beginning, the middle, and the end, in truth, by one who knows the truth.

12.301.15 Nature transforms the qualities by her own will, of her own desire, for the sake of play, O great king, by hundreds and by thousands.

12.301.16 As mortals kindle thousands of lamps from a single lamp, so Nature transforms the many qualities of the Person.

12.301.17 Goodness, delight, abundance, gladness, and luminosity; happiness, purity, health, contentment, and faithfulness;

12.301.18 freedom from meanness, absence of agitation, forbearance, firmness, harmlessness, evenness, truth, freedom from debt, gentleness, modesty, and steadiness;

12.301.19 purity, uprightness, good conduct, freedom from greed, absence of inner turmoil, and not boasting of deeds done amid the partings from the loved and the unloved;

12.301.20 showing favor through giving, working for another's good without craving gain, and compassion for all beings — these are remembered as the qualities of goodness.

12.301.21 The mass of the qualities of passion: form embodied in dominion, excessive eating, mercilessness, and the pursuit of pleasure and pain;

12.301.22 delight in reviling others and the practice of quarrels, egotism, discourtesy, anxiety, and the cultivation of enmity;

12.301.23 torment, plundering, loss of shame, and crookedness; division, harshness, lust and anger, intoxication, pride, hatred, and abusive speech — these are declared to be the qualities of passion.

12.301.24 Now I shall declare the mass of those belonging to darkness; let it be marked: delusion, obscurity, gloom, and that known as blinding gloom;

12.301.25 death is called blinding gloom, and anger is called gloom. Here are the marks of darkness: a craving for things to be eaten;

12.301.26 insatiability in food and likewise no satisfaction in drink; indulgence in perfumes and garments, in amusements, in beds and seats;

12.301.27 delight in sleeping by day, in dispute, and in heedlessness; faith placed in dancing, instruments, and song through ignorance; and hatred of the particular duties of dharma — these are the qualities of darkness.

12.302.1 Yājñavalkya said: These three are the qualities of Primal Nature, O best of men; and they abide ever inseparable from the whole world.

12.302.2 A hundredfold, a thousandfold, and likewise a hundred-thousandfold, and by tens of millions, this one makes the indwelling self by the self.

12.302.3 The contemplators of the inner self declare that for the man of goodness the highest station, for the man of passion the middle, and for the man of darkness the lowest station.

12.302.4 By merit alone here one attains the upward course; by merit mixed with sin, the human state; and by unrighteousness, the downward course.

12.302.5 Now hear from me in truth the pairing of these three and their commingling — of goodness, of passion, and of darkness.

12.302.6 In goodness passion is seen, and in passion likewise darkness; in darkness, too, goodness; and in goodness, the Unmanifest itself.

12.302.7 He who is joined with the Unmanifest and goodness attains the world of the gods; he who is joined with passion and goodness is born among men.

12.302.8 He who is joined with passion and darkness is born in the wombs of beasts; and he who is joined with passion, darkness, and goodness attains the human state.

12.302.9 The wise declare that, for those freed from both merit and demerit, there is an abode that is everlasting, imperishable, indestructible, and without fear.

12.302.10 It is the highest origin of the knowers — a station flawless and unfailing, beyond the senses, without seed, the dispeller of birth, death, and darkness.

12.302.11 That supreme thing seated in the Unmanifest, about which you have questioned me, O lord of men — this very one, abiding in primordial Nature, is called the Stationary.

12.302.12 And this one, O king, is held to be without consciousness and seated in Nature; yet, presided over by the conscious Self, it both creates and withdraws the world.

12.302.13 Janaka said: Both of these, O great sage, are without beginning or end, formless, unmoving, unshakable, and without flaw.

12.302.14 Both are imperceptible, O tiger among sages — how then is the one said to be without consciousness, while the other, possessed of consciousness, is called the Knower of the Field?

12.302.15 For you, O chief of brāhmaṇas, cultivate the doctrine of liberation in its entirety; I wish to hear, in truth, the whole of the law of liberation.

12.302.16 Its existence, its solitary state, and likewise its separateness — and also the station of departure for the embodied soul when it is loosed from the body.

12.302.17 Tell me, O twice-born, what station it reaches in due time, and the knowledge of Sāṃkhya in its essence, and Yoga as well, each apart.

12.302.18 And you ought to declare, in truth, the omens of death, O best of men; for all this is known to you as clearly as an āmalaka fruit upon the palm.

12.303.1 Yājñavalkya said: The qualityless one cannot be made to possess qualities, my friend, O lord of peoples; and how the qualified one is also unqualified — learn that from me as it truly is.

12.303.2 For it is by reason of the qualities that one is called qualified, and the qualityless one is without qualities — thus have the great-souled sages, the seers of truth, declared.

12.303.3 The Unmanifest, whose nature is the qualities, abides amid the very qualities and makes use of those same qualities; and by its very nature it is unknowing.

12.303.4 The Unmanifest does not know, while the Spirit by its very nature is the knower; yet it forever imagines, 'There is nothing higher than I.'

12.303.5 For this reason the Unmanifest must be without consciousness; and by its eternity and imperishability it is, in truth, otherwise than the perishable things.

12.303.6 When, through unknowing, it brings forth the creation of the qualities again and again, and when it does not know itself, then it is here called the Unmanifest.

12.303.7 Because it is the maker of the elemental principles, it is called the bearer of the nature of those principles; and because it is the maker of the wombs, it is called the bearer of the nature of the womb.

12.303.8 Because it is the maker of the primal natures, it bears the nature of primal Nature; and because it is the maker of seeds, it is called the bearer of the nature of the seed.

12.303.9 And because it gives birth to the qualities, it bears the nature of bringing-forth; and because it is the maker of dissolutions, it bears the nature of dissolution.

12.303.10 By its being seed, by its being Nature, and by its being dissolution as well, by its indifference, its otherness, and its self-conceit — it is the Sole.

12.303.11 The pure ascetics, whose fever is gone through the science of the Self, deem the Unmanifest now transient, now eternal — thus indeed have we heard.

12.303.12 They declare the Unmanifest to be a oneness, and the Spirit likewise to be a manyness — those who, full of compassion for all beings, abide in pure knowledge alone.

12.303.13 The Spirit is one thing, and the Unmanifest another — the latter unsteady yet bearing the name of steady; for just as the muñja reed is drawn from its inner stalk, so does this come to be.

12.303.14 One should know the gnat to be one thing and the fig-tree another; the gnat is not stained there by its contact with the fig.

12.303.15 Likewise the fish is one thing, and the water is held to be another; and the fish is in no way stained by the touch of the water.

12.303.16 For the fire is one thing and the cauldron another — know it ever thus, good sir; and that fire is not defiled by its contact with the cauldron.

12.303.17 And here the lotus-leaf is one thing, while the water is held to be another; the lotus-leaf is not stained there by the touch of the water.

12.303.18 The dwelling-together and the parting of these pairs are perpetual; but common folk do not always see it as it truly is.

12.303.19 But those who see it otherwise have no right vision; they enter manifestly into dreadful hell, again and again.

12.303.20 This supreme vision of the Sāṃkhyas has been fully reckoned out for you; for having reckoned it thus, the Sāṃkhyas have attained to absolute solitude.

12.303.21 And for those others skilled in the principles, this is the teaching; hereafter I shall expound the vision of the Yogins as well.

12.304.1 Yājñavalkya said: The knowledge of Sāṃkhya has been declared by me; now learn from me the knowledge of Yoga, as heard and as seen, in its truth, O best of kings.

12.304.2 There is no knowledge equal to Sāṃkhya, no power equal to Yoga; both walk a single path, and both are held to be without end.

12.304.3 Men of little understanding see them as separate, each apart; but we, O king, with certainty see them as one and the same.

12.304.4 That very thing which the Yogins behold is also seen by the followers of Sāṃkhya; he who sees Sāṃkhya and Yoga as one is the knower of truth.

12.304.5 Know the other Yogins to have Rudra as their chief, O scorcher of foes; and in that very body they roam through the ten directions.

12.304.6 Until the dissolution of the world, my friend, by means of the subtle eightfold Yoga he roams happily through the worlds, having renounced all, O sinless one.

12.304.7 In the Vedas, too, the wise call Yoga eightfold; they declare the subtle eightfold Yoga, and no other, O best of kings.

12.304.8 They declare the highest practice of the Yogins to be twofold — with qualities and without qualities — even as the scriptures teach.

12.304.9 There is the fixing of the mind and the restraint of the breath, O king: the restraint of breath is with quality, while the fixing of the mind is without quality.

12.304.10 Where one would be seen letting go of the vital breaths, O best of the Maithilas, there an excess of wind arises; therefore one should not practise it so.

12.304.11 In the first watch of the night twelve exercises are enjoined; and having slept at midnight, in the last watch likewise twelve exercises.

12.304.12 Thus, by one grown calm, self-controlled, given to solitude, delighting in the Self, and awakened, the Self must be yoked — of this there is no doubt.

12.304.13 Having cast off the fivefold faults of the five senses — sound, touch, and form, taste, and smell as well —

12.304.14 and having drawn back imagination and its surrender, O Maithila, having settled the whole host of the senses within the mind,

12.304.15 and having established the mind likewise in the I-sense, O lord of men, the I-sense in the intellect, and the intellect too in primal Nature,

12.304.16 having thus reckoned it out, one should then meditate upon the Sole alone — stainless and spotless, eternal, infinite, pure, and without flaw,

12.304.17 the abiding Spirit, the Real, indivisible, free from age and death, everlasting and imperishable, the Lord, the unfailing brahman.

12.304.18 One should mark the signs of the man who is yoked, O great king: the mark of his serenity is that, like one who is sated, he sleeps in ease.

12.304.19 As a lamp fed with oil burns in a windless place, its flame steady and upright, so the wise describe the man who is yoked.

12.304.20 As a stone struck by the raindrops born of the clouds cannot be made to stir, such is the mark of the man who is yoked.

12.304.21 By the blare of conch and kettledrum, by manifold songs and instruments being played, he would not be shaken — this is the token of the man who is yoked.

12.304.22 As a man, grasping a brimful vessel of oil in both his hands, would mount a stairway, fearful, threatened by men with swords in hand,

12.304.23 and, his self controlled, would not for fear of them spill a drop from the vessel — even so is it with one who is ascending, his mind made single-pointed.

12.304.24 By the steadiness of his senses and likewise by their stillness, one should thus mark the signs of the sage who is yoked.

12.304.25 That yoked one beholds the brahman, which is supreme and imperishable, set in the midst of the great darkness, blazing like fire.

12.304.26 By this he attains the Absolute, having cast aside the unwitnessed body, after a great length of time, O king — this is the eternal revelation.

12.304.27 This indeed is the Yoga of the Yogins — what other mark of Yoga could there be? Having known it, the wise hold themselves to have done all that is to be done.

12.305.1 Yājñavalkya said: Hear now attentively of the soul's departing, O king. For one departing through the feet, the station of Viṣṇu is declared.

12.305.2 Through the shanks he would attain the Vasu gods — so have we heard — and through the knees he would reach the greatly blessed Sādhya gods.

12.305.3 Departing through the fundament, he would attain the station of Mitra; through the hips, the Earth; and through the thighs, Prajāpati.

12.305.4 Through the two flanks the Marut gods, and through the nostrils the Moon; through the arms, they say, Indra; and through the breast, Rudra.

12.305.5 Through the neck he attains that best of seers, the unsurpassed Nara; through the mouth, the All-Gods; and through the ear, the quarters of space.

12.305.6 Through the sense of smell, the bearer of fragrance, the Wind; through the eyes, Sūrya; through the brows, the two Aśvin gods; and through the forehead, the Fathers.

12.305.7 Through the crown of the head he attains the all-pervading Brahmā, foremost of the gods. These are the stations of departure, O lord of Mithilā.

12.305.8 Now I shall declare the omens of death, set forth by the wise, which would arise in an embodied one a year before his parting.

12.305.9 He who can no longer see Arundhatī, though he has seen her before, and likewise the Pole-star, the full moon, and a lamp — or who sees them broken in appearance on the right — such men too have but a year to live.

12.305.10 And those who do not see themselves in another's eye, formed as the image of their own shadow, O king — they too have but a year to live.

12.305.11 Excess of splendor, excess of insight, loss of insight, and loss of splendor — this change-and-disorder of one's nature is a sign of death within six months.

12.305.12 He who scorns the gods and quarrels with the brāhmaṇas, whose hue grows dark, dusky, and corpse-like — that is a sign of death within six months.

12.305.13 He who sees the moon pierced like a wheel with a worn-out nave, and likewise the thousand-rayed sun, is doomed to die within seven nights.

12.305.14 The man who smells the stench of a corpse though a sweet fragrance is at hand, while standing in the temple of a god, is doomed to die within six nights.

12.305.15 A drooping of the ears and nose, a fading of the teeth and the sight, a loss of awareness, and a lack of warmth — these are tokens of immediate death.

12.305.16 And he whose left eye streams without cause, O lord of men, and from whose head smoke seems to rise — these are tokens of immediate death.

12.305.17 Having known these many omens, the self-possessed man should, by night and by day, yoke his own self to the Supreme Self.

12.305.18 Awaiting that hour, whatever the hour against which it is to come — but if death is not desired by him and he wishes to remain, let him perform this practice.

12.305.19 Composed, let him hold fast all scents and tastes; for in this way, with the inmost self intent upon That, he conquers death.

12.305.20 And having learned the practice of fixation together with Sāṃkhya, O bull among men, he may conquer death by Yoga, with the inmost self intent upon That.

12.305.21 He would attain and pass on to the imperishable Whole — unborn, blessed, and unfailing — the everlasting, unmoving station, hard to win for those whose selves are unperfected.

12.306.1 Yājñavalkya said: That supreme thing seated in the Unmanifest, about which you have questioned me, O lord of men — hear attentively this most secret question, O king.

12.306.2 By following here the ancient seers' ordinance, even one held in disregard, I obtained the Yajus verses from the Sun himself, O lord of Mithilā.

12.306.3 With great austerity I served the god of fiercest heat; and well pleased, the all-pervading Sūrya then spoke to me, O sinless one.

12.306.4 "Choose a boon, O sage among brāhmaṇas, whatever you desire, however hard to win; that I shall grant you with a gladdened heart, for my favor is hard to obtain."

12.306.5 Then, bowing my head, I said to the best of those who give heat: "The Yajus verses not yet possessed — these I wish to learn quickly."

12.306.6 Then the Blessed One said to me: "I shall impart them to you, O brāhmaṇa; Sarasvatī, become speech, will enter into your body."

12.306.7 Then the Blessed One said to me: "Open wide your mouth." And when I had opened my mouth, Sarasvatī entered it.

12.306.8 Then, burning, I plunged into the water, O sinless one, out of ignorance and impatience toward the great-souled maker of light.

12.306.9 Then, as I burned, the Blessed Sun said to me: "Bear the burning for a moment, and thereafter you shall become cool."

12.306.10 And seeing me grown cool, the Blessed maker of light said: "The Veda, with its supplements and its appendices, shall be established in you, O brāhmaṇa.

12.306.11 And you shall set forth the whole of the Śatapatha, O bull among brāhmaṇas; and at its end your mind shall be set upon nonrebirth.

12.306.12 And you shall attain what you desire, that state sought by the followers of Sāṃkhya and Yoga." Having said only this much, the Blessed One went to his setting.

12.306.13 Then, having heard what was declared, when the radiant god had departed, I returned home and, full of joy, I meditated upon Sarasvatī.

12.306.14 Then the goddess Sarasvatī came forth in me, most auspicious, adorned with vowels and consonants, making the syllable Oṃ at the beginning.

12.306.15 Then I duly offered the guest-water to Sarasvatī and to the most excellent of those who give heat, seated and wholly devoted to them.

12.306.16 Then I composed the whole Śatapatha, with its esoteric portions, its compendium, and its appendices, with the utmost delight.

12.306.17 And having taught it, I produced a hundred excellent disciples — to the displeasure of my great-souled maternal uncle and his pupils.

12.306.18 Then by me together with my disciples, as the Sun pervades with his rays, the sacrifice of your great-souled father was overspread, O great king.

12.306.19 Then, even as Devala looked on, I carried off half the sacrificial fee due to my own Veda, in contest with my maternal uncle.

12.306.20 Then by Sumantu, by Paila, by Jaimini, by your father, and by the sages, I was honored and acknowledged.

12.306.21 Fifteen Yajus recensions I obtained from the Sun, O sinless one; and likewise from Lomaharṣaṇa the Purāṇa lore was ascertained.

12.306.22 Placing this seed before me, and the goddess Sarasvatī, and by the power of the Sun, I set to work, O ruler of men,

12.306.23 to compose the Śatapatha Veda, never before made; and it was brought about by me, accomplished in the manner I had wished.

12.306.24 To my disciples the whole of it entire, together with its compendium, was imparted; and all the disciples, pure, departed in supreme delight.

12.306.25 Having established at will these fifteen branches of lore shown by the maker of light, I then pondered upon that which is to be known:

12.306.26 "What here is the holy truth, and what is the supreme object of knowledge?" As I was reflecting on this, a gandharva came and questioned me —

12.306.27 Viśvāvasu, O king, skilled in the knowledge of the Vedānta; having asked twenty-four questions about the Veda, O lord of the earth, he asked a twenty-fifth question, concerning the science of reasoning.

12.306.28 The universal and the non-universal; the pervading and the unpervading; Mitra and Varuṇa; knowledge and the knowable; the unknowing and the knowing; who is the warm and the not-warm; the devourer of the Sun and the Sun; knowledge and ignorance, likewise;

12.306.29 the knowable and the unknowable, O king; the unmoving and the moving; the unprecedented, the imperishable, and the perishable — this was that incomparable question.

12.306.30 Then I addressed him, O king — that king among gandharvas — who had asked, in due order, a question lofty and full of meaning:

12.306.31 "Let it be borne with for a moment, until I reflect upon it." Saying "So be it," the gandharva remained silent.

12.306.32 Then once more I called to mind the goddess Sarasvatī; and in my mind that question was churned out, as clarified butter is drawn from curds.

12.306.33 There I churned, in my mind, both the Upaniṣad and the appendix, O son, having beheld the supreme science of reasoning.

12.306.34 This, O tiger among kings, is the fourth science, that which avails for the world beyond; it was declared by me to you, founded upon the twenty-fifth principle.

12.306.35 Then I addressed him, O king — King Viśvāvasu — at that time: "Hear now the answer to the question you have here asked of me."

12.306.36 "As for this universal and non-universal about which you inquire, O lord of gandharvas, let one know the supreme Unmanifest as the universal, the dread of all that has been and shall be.

12.306.37 It is threefold through the agency of the qualities; the non-universal, again, is the partless one. The 'pervading' is likewise seen as a pair, even so.

12.306.38 They call the Unmanifest Prakṛti, and the quality-less they call Puruṣa; likewise Mitra is the Puruṣa, and Varuṇa is Prakṛti.

12.306.39 Knowledge they call Prakṛti, and the knowable is the partless one; the Puruṣa is both unknowing and knowing, and therefore he is called partless.

12.306.40 Who is the warm, who is called the not-warm, and who is he said to be the Puruṣa? The warm, they say, is Prakṛti; the not-warm is held to be the partless one.

12.306.41 So too the Unmanifest is the unknowable, while the Puruṣa is called the knowable. As for the 'moving and unmoving' you have spoken of, hear that also from me.

12.306.42 They call Prakṛti the moving, the cause of casting forth and creation; the Puruṣa, who neither casts forth nor creates, is held to be the unmoving.

12.306.43 Both are unborn and offspringless, and both also imperishable; both, they say, are unborn and eternal — those who are firm in the knowledge of the higher Self.

12.306.44 Because it is imperishable in begetting, they call it here unborn and undecaying; the Puruṣa they call imperishable, for no decay is found in him.

12.306.45 Because of the perishing of its qualities it is Prakṛti; yet because it is the agent, the wise call it imperishable. This is for you the science of reasoning, the fourth, which avails for the world beyond.

12.306.46 Having made wealth endowed with knowledge by action in the perpetual rite — all the Vedas are held to be of single, definite vision, O Viśvāvasu.

12.306.47 They who do not know the purpose of the Veda — that wherein these beings are born and die, and whence they have fallen — they do not know the knowable, O best of gandharvas.

12.306.48 Even if one studies the five Vedas with all their limbs and sub-limbs, yet does not know what the Veda is to make known, he is but a bearer of the Veda's burden.

12.306.49 He who, desiring butter, should churn the milk of a she-ass, O best of gandharvas, would find there only dung — neither cream nor butter.

12.306.50 Even so, one who knows the Veda's letter does not find the knowable and the unknowable; he, of merely deluded mind, is held a bearer of the burden of knowledge.

12.306.51 These two are ever to be discerned, by the inner Self devoted to that supreme end, so that for him birth and death may not be, again and again.

12.306.52 Having pondered the ceaseless round of birth and death, and abandoning this triple Veda — which is here perishable — one takes his stand upon the imperishable dharma.

12.306.53 But when, O Kāśyapa, he sees utterly, day after day, then, become wholly isolated, he beholds the twenty-sixth.

12.306.54 One is the ever-Unmanifest, and other is the twenty-fifth; though there be these two of his, the good behold him as one alone.

12.306.55 For this reason they do not recognize the twenty-fifth as imperishable — the followers of Yoga and Sāṃkhya, seekers of the highest, dreading birth and death.

12.306.56 Viśvāvasu said: As for this twenty-fifth that has been declared by you, O best of brāhmaṇas — whether it is so or not so, it behooves you to tell.

12.306.57 I have heard the teaching of Jaigīṣavya, of Asita, and of Devala; of the sage Parāśara, and of the wise Vārṣagaṇya;

12.306.58 of the mendicant Pañcaśikha, of Kapila and Śuka, of Gautama, of Ārṣṭiṣeṇa, and of the great-souled Garga;

12.306.59 of Nārada and of Āsuri, and of the wise Pulastya; of Sanatkumāra, then, and of the great-souled Śukra;

12.306.60 of Kaśyapa and of my own father, all this I heard long ago; and thereafter of Rudra of universal form, the wise one,

12.306.61 and from the gods, the ancestors, and the daityas, here and there; all this has been gained by me — what they ever call the knowable, the eternal.

12.306.62 Therefore I wish to hear it through your understanding, O brāhmaṇa; you are the foremost of the treatises, bold and of surpassing intellect.

12.306.63 Nothing is unknown to you; you are held to be a treasury of sacred lore, O brāhmaṇa — so it is told in the world of the gods and in the world of the ancestors.

12.306.64 The great sages who have gone to the world of Brahmā recount it, and the lord of those who give heat, the Sun himself, ever speaks of you.

12.306.65 The knowledge of Sāṃkhya has been obtained by you whole and entire, O brāhmaṇa, and likewise the knowledge of Yoga in particular, O Yājñavalkya.

12.306.66 Beyond all doubt you are awakened, comprehending the moving and the unmoving; I wish to hear that knowledge, even as one would the cream-rich butter.

12.306.67 Yājñavalkya said: I deem you to be one who has grasped the whole, O best of gandharvas; yet you would test me, O king. Learn it, then, as I have heard it.

12.306.68 The twenty-fifth knows Prakṛti, who herself does not know; but Prakṛti, O gandharva, does not know the twenty-fifth.

12.306.69 Because of this non-awareness they call her the Pradhāna — both the Sāṃkhyas and the Yogas, knowers of the truth, according to the testimony of scripture.

12.306.70 Seeing and likewise not-seeing, yet another one sees, O sinless one: the twenty-sixth sees both the twenty-fifth and the twenty-fourth; but, though seeing, the one he sees does not see him in return.

12.306.71 The twenty-fifth would imagine: "There is no other higher than I" — yet the twenty-fourth is not ungraspable to men who behold by knowledge.

12.306.72 As a fish follows the water and moves by reason of its movement, even as the fish has awareness, so too does this one come to awareness — bound by affection, by shared dwelling, and ever by self-conceit.

12.306.73 He sinks in time when he does not comprehend his oneness; and he rises in time, enveloped by the sense of "mine."

12.306.74 But when the twice-born thinks, "I am other, and this is other," then, become wholly isolated, he beholds the twenty-sixth.

12.306.75 One, O king, is the lower, and other is the twenty-fifth; yet because the one abides within the other, the good behold them as one alone.

12.306.76 For this reason they do not delight in the twenty-fifth as imperishable; afraid of the dread of birth and death, the Yogas and the Sāṃkhyas, O Kāśyapa, the pure and wholly devoted, behold the twenty-sixth.

12.306.77 When, become wholly isolated, he beholds the twenty-sixth, then that learned one, all-knowing, does not undergo birth again.

12.306.78 Thus the unawakened, the awakening, and the awakened have been declared to you, O sinless one, according to their truth, by me, from the testimony of scripture.

12.306.79 Whoever should behold the seen and the unseen, O Kāśyapa, and the blissful Reality — the isolated and the non-isolated, the primal, and that which is beyond the twenty-fifth —

12.306.80 Viśvāvasu said: True and auspicious is this that has been spoken by you, sir — rightly, bringing peace, beginning with the deity, exactly so. May there be welfare imperishable to you for ever; ever joined with wisdom through your wisdom — homage to you!

12.306.81 Yājñavalkya said: Having spoken thus, he set forth to heaven, shining indeed with a glorious aspect; and well content, with the highest contentment, that great-souled one rejoiced and made his rightward circuit around me.

12.306.82 To Brahmā and the rest, to the sky-faring ones, O lord of men, and to those who dwell upon the earth and in the realms below — to all of them he revealed this very vision, that auspicious vision granted to those who have taken to the path that leads aright.

12.306.83 All the followers of Sāṃkhya who delight in the Sāṃkhya discipline, and likewise the Yogins who delight in the discipline of Yoga, and whatever other men there are who long for liberation — for them this vision is the one seen through knowledge.

12.306.84 From knowledge is liberation born for men; from ignorance there is none — so they declare, O lord of men. Therefore knowledge is to be sought in its very truth, by which one may free the self from birth and death.

12.306.85 Having gained knowledge from a brāhmaṇa or a kṣatriya, from a vaiśya or a śūdra, even from a lowly man, the believer must ever and constantly hold it in faith; into the man of faith birth and death shall not enter.

12.306.86 All the classes are brāhmaṇas, all are sprung from Brahman, and all forever utter Brahman. The truth, the teaching, I declare with a mind fixed on Brahman: this whole universe, in its entirety, is Brahman.

12.306.87 From the mouth of Brahman the brāhmaṇas were brought forth, from the arms the kṣatriyas were brought forth, from the navel the vaiśyas, and from the feet the śūdras; all the classes are to be understood thus and not otherwise.

12.306.88 Out of ignorance they resort, O king, to this or that womb whose source is karma, and so pass into nothingness; even so the classes, bereft of knowledge, fall — out of dread ignorance into the natural web of wombs.

12.306.89 Therefore knowledge is to be sought on every side; it abides everywhere, as I have told you. Brahman stands fast, and that other one who likewise stands fast — for him the chief of the twice-born declare eternal liberation.

12.306.90 What you asked, that I have taught according to its very truth; be free of sorrow, O king. Reach the far shore of this matter. It has been rightly declared — may all be well with you herein for ever.

12.306.91 Bhīṣma said: Thus instructed by the wise Yājñavalkya, the king, the lord of Mithilā, was then filled with joy.

12.306.92 When that best of sages had departed, after the circumambulation had been performed, the king Daivarāti, knower of liberation, sat there.

12.306.93 He caused ten million cows to be touched in gift, and likewise gold, and a single handful of gems besides he then bestowed upon the brāhmaṇas.

12.306.94 And having established the kingdom of Videha upon his son, the lord of Mithilā lived on, devoting himself to the discipline of the renunciant.

12.306.95 Studying the knowledge of Sāṃkhya and the science of Yoga in its entirety, and condemning, O lord of kings, both dharma and adharma as belonging to mere nature,

12.306.96 holding the eternal and the absolute alone to be endless, he reckoned dharma and adharma, merit and demerit, the true and the false alike,

12.306.97 and birth and death too, O lord of kings, as belonging to nature; thus he meditated ever, O ruler of men: this is the work of the Unmanifest, of Brahman.

12.306.98 The Yogins and the Sāṃkhyas, defined each by their own teaching, behold it thus: severed from the welcome and the unwelcome, Brahman stands, higher than the highest. The wise call it eternal and pure; therefore be pure.

12.306.99 Whatever is given and whatever is received, what is bestowed and what is approved, and what a man gives, O best of men, and what he accepts — it is the Unmanifest alone that gives this, and the Unmanifest that receives it.

12.306.100 For the Self alone is the one Self; who other than yourself could be greater than you? Think thus continually; do not ponder it otherwise.

12.306.101 He by whom the Unmanifest is not known — whether with its qualities or beyond all qualities — by that unwise man holy fords and sacrifices must be frequented.

12.306.102 Not by recitations, nor by austerities, nor by sacrifices, O joy of the Kurus, does one attain abidance in the Unmanifest; only by knowing the Unmanifest, O lord of the earth.

12.306.103 Likewise one may attain the station of the Great Principle, and the station born of egoity, and the stations that lie even beyond egoity.

12.306.104 But those, devoted to the scriptures, who know the eternal that is beyond the Unmanifest — that which is free of birth and death, and free of both being and non-being —

12.306.105 This I obtained of old from Janaka, and he in turn obtained it, O king, from Yājñavalkya. Knowledge is supreme; sacrifices are not its equal. By knowledge one crosses the hard passage, not by sacrifices.

12.306.106 Birth and death are a hard passage, O king, and yield no abiding good — so say the knowers of knowledge. By sacrifices, austerities, observances, and vows men reach heaven, only to fall again to earth.

12.306.107 Therefore worship that which is supreme, great, pure, gracious, the spotless and hallowed liberation, O knower of the field-knower. Worshipping, O king, the sacrifice of knowledge and the truth, you shall become a seer.

12.306.108 This secret doctrine Yājñavalkya then imparted of old to King Janaka — that by which, when the eternal and imperishable is reckoned and known, one attains the auspicious, sorrowless state of immortality.

12.307.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Having won great lordship, O bull of the Bhāratas, or wealth, or having gained a long span of life — how then may one pass beyond death?

12.307.2 By great austerity, by action, by sacred learning, or by the application of elixirs — by what means does one escape old age and death?

12.307.3 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale — the dialogue here of the mendicant Pañcaśikha with Janaka.

12.307.4 Janaka, king of Videha, questioned the great seer Pañcaśikha, foremost knower of the Vedas, who had cut away every doubt concerning dharma and the goal of life.

12.307.5 By what course of conduct, O blessed one, might one pass beyond old age and death — by austerity, by understanding, by action, or by sacred learning?

12.307.6 Thus addressed, the knower of the unseen replied to the king of Videha: there is no halting these two, nor is there any way to keep them from halting all else.

12.307.7 For the days do not turn back, nor the months, nor again the nights; this fleeting creature sets out upon the long, unending road.

12.307.8 The destruction of all beings is borne along forever as if by a current; and as he is swept along and sinks in the boatless ocean of time, where old age and death are the great sea-monster, no one comes to his aid.

12.307.9 No one shall belong to him, nor does he belong to anyone; this gathering with wife and other kinsfolk is but a meeting upon the road. No lasting companionship has ever yet been won by anyone.

12.307.10 Begotten by time, born again and again, they are flung this way and that, groaning over and over — like masses of cloud driven by the wind.

12.307.11 For old age and death are the devourers of beings, like two wolves — of the strong and the weak, of the small and the great alike.

12.307.12 When beings are of such a nature, ever coming to be yet never enduring, how should one rejoice when they are born, and how burn with grief when they die?

12.307.13 Whence have I come, who am I, where shall I go, and to whom do I belong? In what do I abide, where shall I be? Wherefore, and over what, do you grieve?

12.307.14 For there is no one who has beheld heaven, nor likewise hell; yet without transgressing the sacred tradition one should give gifts and offer sacrifice.

12.308.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: O best of the royal seers of the Kurus, without forsaking the householder's life, who has attained, by his understanding, the discipline of restraint? Tell me the truth of liberation.

12.308.2 How is this self renounced, and what is he who has renounced the self, and what is the supreme goal of liberation — tell me that, O grandfather.

12.308.3 Bhīṣma said: On this too they recount an ancient tale — the dialogue of Janaka and Sulabhā, O Bhārata.

12.308.4 There once was a certain king who had won the fruit of renunciation, a man of Mithilā, Janaka by name, known as Dharmadhvaja.

12.308.5 Versed in the Veda, in the science of liberation, and in his own kingly science, he held his senses in check and ruled this earth.

12.308.6 Hearing of that virtuous conduct of his, the wise who know the Veda, and other men throughout the worlds, looked upon him with longing, O lord of men.

12.308.7 Now in that righteous age a certain wandering mendicant woman named Sulabhā, who practised the discipline of Yoga, was roaming over the earth.

12.308.8 As she wandered through all this world, she heard the lord of Mithilā spoken of, here and there, by the triple-staffed ascetics in their discourse on liberation.

12.308.9 Having heard the most subtle account, but in doubt whether it was true or not, she conceived a resolve to behold Janaka in person.

12.308.10 Then, casting off her former shape by the power of Yoga, the faultless-limbed one took on another, surpassing form.

12.308.11 In the mere blink of an eye, moving with the swiftness of a flying arrow, the fair-browed, lotus-eyed woman came to the city of the Videhas.

12.308.12 Reaching lovely Mithilā, thronged with prosperous folk, on the pretext of seeking alms she came to behold the lord of Mithilā.

12.308.13 Beholding her surpassing delicacy and her form, the king was struck with wonder: Who is this, whose is she, and whence?

12.308.14 Then, bidding her welcome and assigning her an excellent seat, he honoured her with water for her feet and gratified her with choice food.

12.308.15 Then, having eaten and well pleased, the mendicant woman challenged the king — surrounded by his ministers, in the midst of all who were skilled in disputation.

12.308.16 But Sulabhā, in doubt whether he was truly liberated in his observances or not, being skilled in Yoga, entered his being with her own being, O lord of the earth.

12.308.17 Joining the rays of her eyes to the rays of his eyes, she bound him, as he was about to challenge her, with the bonds of Yoga.

12.308.18 And King Janaka, smiling, discerning her intent, the best of kings, met her purpose with his own purpose.

12.308.19 Let this dialogue now be heard, set within one and the same seat — between him who, though amid parasol and the rest, was liberated, and her who was liberated within the triple staff.

12.308.20 "Where, lady, has this wandering of yours been undertaken, and where will you go? Whose are you, and whence?" — thus the lord of the earth questioned her.

12.308.21 "In learning, in age, and in birth, true worth is not discerned; therefore in these matters an answer must be made known when the good come together.

12.308.22 Know me to be wholly liberated, despite the parasol and such distinctions. I wish to take counsel with you, for you are deemed by me worthy of honour.

12.308.23 From whom of old I gained this distinctive knowledge, of whose teaching on liberation there is no other expounder — hear of him too from me.

12.308.24 Of the aged, great-souled mendicant Pañcaśikha, of the lineage of Parāśara, I am the most esteemed disciple.

12.308.25 In the knowledge of Sāṃkhya, in Yoga, and in the rule of kings, and in this threefold law of liberation, he had traversed the whole path and cut away every doubt.

12.308.26 Wandering forth by the path laid down in the scriptures, he once dwelt happily with me for the four months of the rainy season.

12.308.27 By that foremost of Sāṃkhyas, who had clearly seen the truth, I was instructed in the threefold liberation according to its very essence, yet was not swayed from my kingdom.

12.308.28 So I, freed of passion, follow that whole threefold way joined to liberation, moving alone, established in the supreme station.

12.308.29 Dispassion, again, is the supreme rule of this liberation; and dispassion is born of knowledge alone, by which one is set free.

12.308.30 By knowledge one makes the effort, and by effort the great is attained; the great leads to release from the pairs of opposites — that perfection which transcends the passing of age.

12.308.31 This supreme wisdom, this freedom from the pairs of opposites, has been won by me even here, as I move with delusion gone and attachment cast off.

12.308.32 As a field made soft and flooded with water brings forth the sprout, so does the action of men bring forth rebirth.

12.308.33 And as a seed scorched in a potsherd, set down anywhere, though it has the capacity to sprout, is no longer seed and does not sprout,

12.308.34 even so, by that blessed mendicant whom Pañcaśikha taught, my knowledge has been made seedless, and amid the objects of sense it sprouts no more.

12.308.35 It clings to nothing — neither to harm nor to possession — nor does it take delight in these, since passion and its faults are seen to be in vain.

12.308.36 He who should anoint my right arm with sandal, and he who should hack at my left with an axe — these two are alike to me.

12.308.37 Happy am I, my purpose accomplished, regarding clod and stone and gold alike; free of attachment, seated upon my throne, I surpass the other triple-staffed ascetics.

12.308.38 For in liberation a threefold ground has been seen by the great seers of old: knowledge that transcends the world, and the utter renunciation of all actions —

12.308.39 Some men, versed in the science of liberation, declare it grounded in knowledge; while others, ascetics of subtle vision, declare it grounded in action.

12.308.40 Renouncing both of these alike—pure knowledge and action—that great-souled one has declared this third as the firm ground of consummation.

12.308.41 In restraint and observance, in hatred, desire, and possession, in pride, hypocrisy, and likewise affection, those ascetics are no different from householders.

12.308.42 If liberation comes through some knowledge while one yet holds the triple staff and the rest, why should it not come amid parasols and such, the cause of attachment being equal?

12.308.43 For whatever object serves a man's purpose, for whatever reason, that very thing he clings to—each to his own possessions.

12.308.44 He who, seeing fault in the householder's life, passes to another stage—renouncing one thing while grasping another—he too is not freed from attachments.

12.308.45 When their sovereignty is alike, its essence the power to punish and to favor, by what cause are royal sage, mendicant, and teacher set free?

12.308.46 And if even amid real lordship men are freed here by knowledge alone, why should those who abide established in the supreme state not be freed?

12.308.47 The wearing of ochre robes, the shaven head, the triple staff held upright, the water-pot—these outward signs serve excessively little for liberation: such is my view.

12.308.48 If, even when this badge is present, knowledge alone is the cause here of release from suffering, then the mere badge is without purpose.

12.308.49 Or if, seeing some slackening of suffering, one's mind is set upon the badge—why is that same common benefit not to be discerned amid parasols and the rest?

12.308.50 In utter destitution there is no liberation; in having something there is no bondage; whether having something or not, the creature is freed by knowledge.

12.308.51 Therefore, amid dharma, wealth, and desire, and likewise the holding of a kingdom—in these abodes of bondage—know me to stand established in the state where no bond is.

12.308.52 The noose made of royal dominion, the fetter that is the abode of affection—here I have cut it with the sword of renunciation, whetted upon the stone of liberation.

12.308.53 I, having come to this state, am free; yet I have grown wary of you, O mendicant woman, for your guise is false—I shall tell you why; hear that from me.

12.308.54 Your delicacy, your beauty, your superb body, and your youth—all these together, set beside your ascetic discipline, breed doubt.

12.308.55 And since your conduct ill befits this badge you wear, my retinue has been thrown into agitation, wondering whether this one be liberated or not.

12.308.56 In one yoked to desire there is no triple staff, even were such a one freed; and you do not keep this discipline—yet for the liberated there is nothing to conceal.

12.308.57 And hear too this transgression of yours, arising from your resort to my side—you who by your own nature have entered into what is already mine.

12.308.58 By whom was your entry made into my realm and my city? And by whose leave have you entered into my very heart?

12.308.59 You are foremost of the highest class, a brāhmaṇa woman, while I am a kṣatriya; there is no joining of us two—do not work a confusion of the orders.

12.308.60 You dwell in the duties of liberation, while I am in the householder's stage; this is your second grievous fault—a confounding of the stages of life.

12.308.61 Whether of my lineage or of another, I do not know you, nor do you know me; in entering one of the same lineage lies your third fault—a confounding of clans.

12.308.62 And if your husband yet lives, though abroad or somewhere away—another man's wife is not to be approached: this is the fourth, a confounding of right.

12.308.63 You, then, with an eye to some end, undertake these things that ought not be done—whether possessed of mere ignorance, or again of false knowledge.

12.308.64 Or else you act on your own authority, through some fault of your own; and if you possess any learning at all, you have rendered it wholly useless.

12.308.65 This is yet a third thing of yours, frustrating the touch of true intent: the badge of a corrupt woman is plain to see, and must be openly declared.

12.308.66 Your design, in your longing for victory, was not set upon conquering me alone; this whole assembly of mine too you wish to conquer.

12.308.67 For thus, again and again, you let loose your own doctrine—to strike down my position and to set up your own.

12.308.68 You, bewildered by the delusion born of your own impatience for mastery, again loose the weapon of yoga, like poison and nectar mingled into one.

12.308.69 For when both desire it, the union of woman and man is like nectar; but the failure of it, for one who feels no passion, is here a flaw like poison.

12.308.70 Touch me not; know rightly; keep faithful to your own teaching. This examination has been made by you—whether I am liberated or not—and all this, concealed within me, you ought not to hide from me.

12.308.71 Whether you act for your own purpose or for that of some other king, the truth—disguised under a pious pretext—you ought not to hide from me.

12.308.72 None should approach a king with falsehood, nor a brāhmaṇa in any wise, nor a woman endowed with womanly virtues; for these, falsely approached, can destroy.

12.308.73 For the strength of kings is their dominion; the strength of those who know the sacred is the sacred itself; beauty, youth, and good fortune are the unsurpassed strength of women.

12.308.74 Mighty therefore by these strengths, such ones must be approached with straightforwardness by him who seeks his own good; for crookedness leads to ruin.

12.308.75 You, then, ought to tell me truly your birth, your learning, your conduct, your intent, your nature, and your errand in coming.

12.308.76 Thus rebuked by the king with these unpleasant, unjust, and ill-ordered words, Sulabhā was not shaken.

12.308.77 When the king had finished speaking, the fair-faced Sulabhā then set herself to utter words still fairer.

12.308.78 Free from the eighteen faults—nine and nine again—that vitiate speech and understanding, well furnished with meaning and endowed with the eighteen merits:

12.308.79 Subtlety, enumeration, and sequence—these two—decision, and purpose: these five orders of meaning together are called a true utterance, O king.

12.308.80 Hear the proper mark of each one of these meanings—subtlety and the rest—as they are set forth in due order through the senses of words, word by word and sentence by sentence.

12.308.81 When, among distinct objects of knowledge, cognition proceeds according to their distinctions, there the surpassing keenness of the intellect operates as what is called subtlety.

12.308.82 The measuring out of faults and merits, severally and apart, with some particular aim in view—that is to be understood as enumeration.

12.308.83 "This is to be said first, this afterward"—the ordering of what one means to express: that too those who know speech call the conjunction of sequence within an utterance.

12.308.84 Having made a particular proposition concerning dharma, wealth, desire, or liberation, that which is declared at the close of the speech as "this is that" is the decision.

12.308.85 Where, through the sufferings born of desire and aversion, some impulse arises, the activity that follows there, O king, is held to be the purpose.

12.308.86 These, then, just as stated—subtlety and the rest, O lord of men—joined together upon a single meaning: mark well my utterance.

12.308.87 Furnished with meaning, undivided in meaning, neither digressive nor excessive, not rough, not doubtful—such supreme speech shall I utter to you.

12.308.88 Not cumbered with heavy syllables, nor turned away from its subject, not false, not opposed to the three aims, nor uncultivated;

12.308.89 not deficient, nor of harsh words, nor uttered out of order, not left incomplete, nor by way of mere makeshift, not causeless nor without ground.

12.308.90 Out of desire, anger, fear, greed, abjectness, or baseness, out of shame, pity, or pride—from none of these shall I speak in any wise.

12.308.91 When speaker, listener, and speech, O king, come together unimpaired and matched in the intent to convey, then that meaning shines forth.

12.308.92 But when, in what is to be spoken, the speaker holds the listener in contempt, declaring his own meaning or another's, then the speech does not take root.

12.308.93 And when a man, abandoning his own meaning, declares another's, mistrust arises toward him, and that speech too is faulty.

12.308.94 But the speaker who declares a meaning unopposed to both—to the listener's and to his own—he is the true speaker, no other, O king.

12.308.95 This speech of mine, then, full of meaning and endowed with the perfections of utterance, you ought to hear, O king, with mind undistracted and intent.

12.308.96 "Who are you, whose, and whence?"—thus you have challenged me; to that, hear this answer of mine, O king, with single mind.

12.308.97 As lac and wood and grains of dust are closely held together by drops of water, even so, O king, is the coming-to-be of living creatures here.

12.308.98 Sound, touch, taste, form, and smell; the five sense-faculties; and the self apart—these ten realities are bound together like lac and wood.

12.308.99 Among these there is no prompting of one by another—this is the settled conclusion; here no single one has cognition of itself or of another.

12.308.100 The eye does not know its own eye-hood, nor does hearing turn upon itself; and likewise they do not act upon one another by deviation; though bound together, they do not arise from one another, as grains of dust do not from water here.

12.308.101 They depend on other, external factors—hear those too from me: form, the eye, and light are the three causes of seeing; and just as here, so in the other cases the causes of cognition and its objects hold.

12.308.102 In that interval between cognition and its object there is another factor named mind, by which this being deliberates, in deciding, upon what is right and what is wrong.

12.308.103 And there a twelfth, another factor named intellect, is remembered, by which one comes to resolution upon things to be understood that were first beset with doubt.

12.308.104 Then, beyond that twelfth, another factor named disposition, by which a creature is inferred to be of great spirit or of little.

12.308.105 And the knower-of-the-field is yet another, the fourteenth factor there, by which one thinks "this is mine," and again thinks it not.

12.308.106 Then a fifteenth, O king, another factor there is remembered: the gathering into wholeness of the aggregate of parts otherwise separate—that is here so called.

12.308.107 And yet another factor there, the combination, is the sixteenth, in which these two factors—shape and manifest form—are conjoined.

12.308.108 Pleasure and pain, old age and death, gain and loss, the pleasant and the unpleasant—this, the nineteenth, is remembered as the conjunction of opposites.

12.308.109 Above the nineteen there is another factor named time; know thereby, in these twenty, the arising and passing-away of beings.

12.308.110 This combination of twenty, and the five great elements, and the conjunction of being and non-being—these are two further illuminating factors.

12.308.111 Thus the twenty-seven factors that are remembered; and ordinance, generative seed, and force—these three are yet further factors.

12.308.112 Thirty parts in all are remembered by enumeration; that wherein they all together subsist is remembered as the body.

12.308.113 As the unmanifest source of these parts some hold their nature to be; while another, of grosser sight, beholds their manifest form alone.

12.308.114 Whether unmanifest or manifest, twofold or fourfold, the nature of all beings—so the meditators on the inmost self behold it.

12.308.115 This very nature, unmanifest, comes through its parts to manifestation—I and you, O lord of kings, and all others that are embodied.

12.308.116 The states beginning with the deposit of the drop, arising from seed and blood—by the very falling-together of which there comes to be what is called the embryonic film.

12.308.117 From the film arises the swelling mass, and from the mass the fleshy lump; from the lump the formation of limbs, and from the limbs the nails and hairs.

12.308.118 When the ninth month is full and the creature is born, O king of Mithilā, name-and-form comes to be, marked as woman or man by its sign.

12.308.119 But that form just newly born, seen with its copper-hued nails and fingers, once it has assumed the form of childhood, is no longer recognized by its earlier shape.

12.308.120 From childhood comes youth, and from youth comes old age; by this sequence of stages the earlier condition can never be regained.

12.308.121 The transformation of the constituent parts, each with its own function, proceeds moment by moment in all beings; but because it is so subtle it is not perceived.

12.308.122 Neither their passing away nor their arising can be marked, O king, from one state to the next—it is like the motion of a lamp's flame.

12.308.123 And of this whole world, possessed of such power and ceaselessly running like a fine horse, who is it, and whence, or who is not, and from where?

12.308.124 Whose is this, or whose is it not, whence is this, or whence is it not? What connection have living beings here even with their own bodily parts?

12.308.125 As fire arises from the sun, from the crystal, and from kindling-plants, so too do living creatures arise from the assemblage of constituent parts.

12.308.126 Just as you behold the self in the self by the self, why do you not likewise behold the self by the self in another—if you hold to the sameness of the self in yourself and in another?

12.308.127 Then why do you keep asking me, 'Who are you, whose are you?' For one freed from the pairs of opposites—'this is mine, this is not'—O king of Mithilā, what purpose has the question, 'Who are you, whose, and whence?'

12.308.128 In one who still acts toward foe, friend, and the neutral party, toward conquest, peace, and war, O ruler of the earth—what mark of the liberated is there in him?

12.308.129 In one who does not clearly know the sevenfold division within the threefold aim amid his deeds, and who is still attached to that triad of aims—what mark of the liberated is there in him?

12.308.130 In one whose eye is not equal toward the pleasant and the unpleasant, toward the weak and the strong—what mark of the liberated is there in him?

12.308.131 Therefore, O king, that conceit of yours regarding liberation, while you are yet unliberated, ought to be checked by your friends, as a madman's delusion is checked by remedies.

12.308.132 Reviewing one by one these many seats of attachment, O subduer of foes, one should examine the self within the self—what mark of the liberated is there in him?

12.308.133 Hear from me these and certain other subtle seats of attachment, bearing on liberation, that pertain to the fourfold array of kingship.

12.308.134 He who rules this whole earth beneath a single parasol—that one king, after all, dwells in but a single city.

12.308.135 And in that city he occupies but a single house; in that house but a single bed, where at night he sinks to rest.

12.308.136 And of that bed too only half is his, the other side first taken by a woman; thus, by this reasoning, he is joined here only to that much fruit.

12.308.137 Just so it is with his enjoyments, with his food and clothing, with his measurable pleasures, and with regard to punishment and favor.

12.308.138 The king is ever dependent on others; even in trifling matters he is entangled. In the affairs of peace and war, where then is the king's independence?

12.308.139 In matters of women, sport, and recreation his lack of freedom is constant; and in counsel and in the assembly of ministers, where then is there independence?

12.308.140 It is only when he commands others that he is called independent; yet there too he is made to act against his will, bound to each particular obligation.

12.308.141 Wishing to sleep, he is not allowed to sleep by people seeking his judgment on their affairs; even when granted leave to lie down and asleep, he is roused up against his will.

12.308.142 'Bathe! Touch this in consecration! Drink! Eat! Pour the oblations into the fires! Sacrifice! Speak! And listen!'—thus is he made to act, powerless, by others.

12.308.143 Coming to him again and again, people constantly beg of him; yet, guarding his wealth, he cannot bring himself to give freely, fearing the multitude.

12.308.144 For in giving there is loss to his treasury, and in withholding there is enmity; in a moment there crowd upon him faults that breed disaffection.

12.308.145 The wise, the brave, and the wealthy—even gathered in one place—he distrusts; even in safety the king feels fear of the very men by whom he is constantly attended.

12.308.146 And when those whom I have named turn corrupt, O king, then fear of them is born in him—behold of what kind it is.

12.308.147 Every man is a king in his own house, every man a householder in his own house; in dealing out punishment and favor he is the equal of kings, O Janaka.

12.308.148 Sons, wife, and even his own self, treasury, friends, and his stores—all these he shares in common with others, through this cause or that.

12.308.149 'The land is ravaged, the city burned, the chief elephant is dead'—over these things, which he holds in common with all the world, he grieves through false understanding.

12.308.150 Unliberated, he is afflicted by mental sorrows born of desire, hatred, and affection, and likewise by diseases such as headache and the rest that strike him down.

12.308.151 Smitten by these various pairs of opposites, suspicious on every side, he tends a kingdom beset with many adversaries, counting out the nights.

12.308.152 Who would take up a kingship of such scant happiness, exceeding sorrow, and no substance—and, having gained it, find peace thereby?

12.308.153 This city and realm that you think 'this is mine,' this army, treasury, and ministers—whose are they, or are they no one's, O king?

12.308.154 Allies and ministers, city and realm, the rod of punishment, treasury, and sovereign—this seven-limbed assemblage, this wheel, is what is called the kingdom, O king.

12.308.155 In this seven-limbed kingdom, standing firm like a tripod, its parts bound to one another in mutual benefit, which is superior to which in worth?

12.308.156 For in each particular circumstance, this or that limb becomes preeminent; whichever accomplishes the task at hand is fit to be reckoned the foremost.

12.308.157 The seven-limbed aggregate, with three others besides, O best of kings, together make this tenfold group, which enjoys the kingdom even as the king himself does.

12.308.158 And the king who is of great energy and devoted to the duty of the warrior should be content with a tenth share; another, however, with less than a tenth.

12.308.159 There is no king who possesses anything not held in common, nor any kingdom without a king. Without a kingdom, whence dharma? Without dharma, whence the supreme goal?

12.308.160 And even that supreme dharma which is the purifier of king and kingdom—the horse-sacrifice whose sacrificial fee is the whole earth—does not exist for me.

12.308.161 I am able, O king of Mithilā, to recount these deeds and the sorrows of kingship by the hundreds, or even by the thousands.

12.308.162 I have no clinging even to my own body; how then to another's possessions? You ought not to speak so to me, who am liberated in this way.

12.308.163 Surely you have heard the whole doctrine of liberation from Pañcaśikha—with its means, its esoteric teachings, its disciplines, and its settled conclusions.

12.308.164 How then, O king, do you, who are free of attachment yet stand trampling upon its very bonds, have attachment once more to such distinctions as the royal parasol and the rest?

12.308.165 What you have heard, I think, you have not truly heard; or else what you heard you heard wrongly; or what merely resembled the teaching you heard; or you heard something else than the teaching.

12.308.166 And if you still take your stand upon these worldly notions, then, bound by clinging and by restraint, you are judged by me to be but an ordinary man.

12.308.167 As for this entering into you that I have effected by the power of mind—what harm has been done to you thereby, if you are indeed liberated in every respect?

12.308.168 For this is the rule among the disciplines of ascetics—that they should dwell as in a void; and by me, dwelling thus within a void, what has been defiled, and whose?

12.308.169 Not with hands, not with arms, not with feet or thighs, O sinless one, nor with any other limb of the body do I touch you, O ruler of men.

12.308.170 By one born in a great family, possessed of modesty and far-sighted wisdom, what is done privately between two people, whether proper or improper, ought not to be spoken of in the assembly.

12.308.171 These Brāhmaṇas are venerable, and these ministers most worthy of honor; and you, moreover, are venerable even to them—thus there is mutual reverence among you.

12.308.172 Therefore, reflecting in this way and examining what should and should not be said, you ought not to speak of this meeting of a woman and a man in the assembly.

12.308.173 As water resting on a lotus-leaf abides upon that leaf without touching it, so shall I dwell within you, O king of Mithilā.

12.308.174 And if you fancy any contact in me, who touch nothing at all, then how, by this mendicant woman, has your seedless knowledge been rendered fruitful here?

12.308.175 Fallen from the householder's life, yet not having attained that liberation so hard to know, you remain in the middle between the two, a mere pretender to release.

12.308.176 For between one liberated and a liberated knower, in the matter of oneness and separateness, in the conjunction of being and non-being, no confusion of classes can arise.

12.308.177 And though the classes and orders be distinct, for one who has seen the truth and is himself undivided, knowing that the one is not the other, the one does not pass over into the other.

12.308.178 The bowl in the hand, the milk in the bowl, the flies in the milk—by the relation of the supported to its support, we abide each one separately upon our support.

12.308.179 But the milk has no part in the nature of the bowl, nor the flies in the milk; these things rest each upon its own support, not by merging with another.

12.308.180 Since the orders of life are distinct, and the classes likewise are diverse, and since all stand separate from one another, how can there be any confusion of classes for you?

12.308.181 I am not of the highest class by birth, nor a Vaiśyā, nor of a lower order; I am, O king, of your own class, of pure lineage and unsullied.

12.308.182 There was a royal sage named Pradhāna—surely his name has reached your ears; know me to be born in his line, Sulabhā by name.

12.308.183 Droṇa, Śataśṛṅga, and the mountain Vakradvāra—these were heaped up at the sacrifices of my forebears, together with Maghavat.

12.308.184 Born in that lineage, and finding no husband fit for one like me, schooled in the disciplines of liberation, I wander alone, keeping the vow of a sage.

12.308.185 I am no one concealed under a deceitful guise, nor one who lays false claim to others' goods, nor one who causes confusion of dharma; I am steadfast in my vow within my own dharma.

12.308.186 I am not unsteady in my own resolve, nor one who speaks without consideration; nor have I come into your presence, O ruler of men, without due reflection.

12.308.187 Having heard that your mind was set upon liberation, and wishing you well, I have come here desiring to know the truth of this liberation of yours.

12.308.188 I do not say this as a partisan of either side, my own or another's: whether one is liberated or not liberated, whether one is at peace or not at peace.

12.308.189 As a mendicant might lodge a single night in an empty house in the city, so shall I dwell this one night within this body of yours.

12.308.190 Honored thus with the gift of a seat and the hospitality of speech, having slept well sheltered and content, tomorrow I shall depart, O king of Mithilā.

12.308.191 Having heard these words, well-reasoned and full of meaning, the king could find nothing further to say in answer beyond this.

12.309.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How did Śuka, the son of Vyāsa, come of old to detachment from the world? This I wish to hear, O Kaurava, for great is my curiosity.

12.309.2 Bhīṣma said: When his son, of fair conduct and fearing nothing, was going his natural way, the father, having taught him the whole of sacred study, instructed him thus.

12.309.3 Cleave to dharma, my son, for sharp indeed are cold and heat; conquer hunger and thirst and the wind, ever having mastered your senses.

12.309.4 Truth, uprightness, freedom from anger, freedom from envy, self-restraint, austerity, non-injury, and gentleness—observe these duly.

12.309.5 Stand fast in truth, delighting in dharma, casting off all crookedness; sustain the journey of your life on what remains after the gods and guests are served.

12.309.6 While the body is like a vessel of foam and the soul perches in it like a bird, and the company of loved ones is impermanent—how can you sleep, my child?

12.309.7 While the foes are watchful, awake, ever intent, and seeking an opening, you, in your childishness, do not awaken to it.

12.309.8 As the years are being counted off, as your life-span dwindles and the time left to live grows ever less, why do you not rise up and run?

12.309.9 Those hardened unbelievers strive only after worldly things that nourish flesh and blood, while toward the works that bear upon the world beyond they lie fast asleep.

12.309.10 As for the men, deluded in mind, who cavil at dharma, of those who walk the wrong road even one who merely follows after them comes to grief.

12.309.11 But those who are content, well-controlled, devoted to the scripture of truth, who have mounted the path of dharma — attend upon them and question them.

12.309.12 Having marked well the counsel of those elders who behold dharma, restrain with the highest understanding your mind that strays onto wrong paths.

12.309.13 With a mind fixed on the present hour, thinking "tomorrow is far off," fearless and devouring all things, the senseless do not see the field of works.

12.309.14 Mounting the ladder of dharma, climb it rung by little rung. Like the silkworm that wraps itself round, you do not awaken to your own confinement.

12.309.15 The unbeliever, who has broken every bound, unsteady as a collapsing riverbank, set him at your left without misgiving — a man arrogant as a reed shooting up.

12.309.16 Across the river whose waters are desire, anger, and death, fed by the five senses, make for yourself a boat of steadfastness and cross over the strongholds of birth.

12.309.17 In a world struck down by death and oppressed by old age, while the unerring arrows fall, cross over by the vehicle of dharma.

12.309.18 Since death seeks out the man who stands and the man who lies down alike, from where will you find ease, when without warning you are undone by death?

12.309.19 Even while he goes on heaping up, still unsated in his desires, death comes upon him as a she-wolf upon a lamb, seizes him, and is gone.

12.309.20 Let the great lamp whose flame is gathered step by step, fashioned of the resolve toward dharma, be held with care against the darkness that must be entered.

12.309.21 Falling through the meshes of body after body, only now and then in the human state does a creature attain brahminhood; guard it well, my son.

12.309.22 For this body of the brahmin is not born for the sake of pleasure: here it is for hardship and austerity, but beyond, for happiness beyond compare.

12.309.23 Brahminhood is won by many austerities; having gained it, one must not make light of it for any wage. Ever yoked to recitation, to austerity, and to self-restraint, seeking your welfare and intent on the good, strive always.

12.309.24 Unmanifest in its nature, bodied in fractions, subtle of self, made of moments and instants, its hairs the blinks of an eye, its mouth the seasons, its eyes the bright and dark halves equal in force, its limbs of flesh — the horse of men's lifetime gallops on.

12.309.25 Seeing it loosed, unceasing, fierce in its speed, going on forever here without a backward glance — if your eye is not one to be led by another's leading, then, having grasped the highest, let your mind rest upon dharma.

12.309.26 But those whose conduct has slipped from dharma into craving, forever crying out, yoked to what they would not have, are afflicted, their bodies wholly encompassed by pain, harried sorely by the many residues of unrighteousness.

12.309.27 The king devoted to dharma, ever the guardian of good, after due regard bestows their worlds upon the doers of good; and to one who fares in manifold ways he allots a happiness unattained before, and blameless.

12.309.28 Dogs with dread iron jaws, and birds, and the flocking hosts of herons and vultures, drinkers of blood, in the slaughter of men tear apart the one who, ceasing to heed, has spurned his teacher's word.

12.309.29 He who, following the bent of his mind, shatters tenfold these bounds laid down here by the Self-Born — that sinner dwells in deep misery, plunged into the wilderness of the realm of the fathers.

12.309.30 The man who is wholly greedy and loves falsehood, who takes ceaseless delight in cheating and deceit, who works misery with deposits entrusted to him — that doer of evil deeds goes to the deepest hell and there suffers misery without end.

12.309.31 Plunged into the scalding Vaitaraṇī, that great river, his limbs torn in the forest of sword-leaf trees, fallen to lie in the forest of axes, he dwells in the great hell, sore-stricken.

12.309.32 You boast of mighty exploits, yet you do not look to what lies beyond; you do not perceive the long-deferred summoner, death, until it has come.

12.309.33 For those who must depart, why this sitting still? A great terror has risen up, crushing and dreadful: see to your own well-being.

12.309.34 Before, struck dead, you are led away by Yama's death-decree, against that drawing-near make harsh effort toward uprightness.

12.309.35 Before the Lord who knows no sorrow carries off your life here together with kin and root — and there is none to hold him back — act.

12.309.36 Before the wind that is Yama's herald blows, before you are led off, you alone — make provision for the journey beyond.

12.309.37 Before the wind of the Ender blows upon you with the death-rattle, and before, at the coming of the great terror, the quarters reel about you — act.

12.309.38 Before your memory is choked off here, my son, and you depart in utter confusion — achieve the highest concentration.

12.309.39 Before you grieve, recalling the good and evil done and left undone, ruined by the works of heedlessness — lay up the one true treasure.

12.309.40 Before old age, robber of strength and limb and form, wears your frame to ruin — lay up the one true treasure.

12.309.41 Before the Ender, with the arrows of disease, by main force splits your body at the wasting of life — practice great austerity.

12.309.42 Before the dread wolves whose range is the human body rush upon you from every side — strive in the cultivation of merit.

12.309.43 Before, alone, you behold the darkness, make haste indeed; before you gaze upon the golden trees on the mountain's crest — act.

12.309.44 Before bad company and foes wearing the faces of friends shake you from your vision — strive, my son, for what is highest.

12.309.45 That wealth which fears nothing from the king nor from the thief, and which does not forsake even the dead — gather that wealth.

12.309.46 There no man shares with another out of his own deeds; whatever is each one's own portion, that alone he enjoys there.

12.309.47 That by which one lives in the world beyond — that, my son, is what should be given. Gather for yourself, with your own hand, the wealth that is imperishable and sure.

12.309.48 As long as the gruel of the great host is not yet cooked — while that gruel is still raw — before you are led away, make haste.

12.309.49 Neither mother, father, and kin, nor any well-known and beloved person follow after him who passes through the strait, going down alone.

12.309.50 Whatever deed, good or evil, one has done by oneself alone — that, and that only, becomes his portion as he goes to the world beyond.

12.309.51 Hoards of gold and jewels, amassed by fair means or foul, do not, at the dissolution of his body, serve to accomplish his purpose.

12.309.52 Of your deeds done and left undone that travel with you to the world beyond, there is among men here no witness equal to your own self.

12.309.53 For him who goes to the world beyond, the human body becomes void and empty; behold this with the eye of understanding, for so it is shown on every side.

12.309.54 Here three — Agni, Sūrya, and Vāyu — dwell within the body; these very ones become his witnesses, the beholders of his dharma.

12.309.55 While they pass through every night, touching all things, rending all things, working now openly and now in secret — guard your own dharma.

12.309.56 On a road beset by many highwaymen, watched over by misshapen and terrible guards, let one's own deed be one's safeguard, for it is one's own deed that goes thither.

12.309.57 There no man shares with another out of his own deed; the fruit, born of one's own deed and shaped just as the deed was done — that alone is tasted.

12.309.58 As the throngs of apsarases, together with the great sages, attain their fruit and their joy, so men, by their deeds, attain it — borne in flying chariots at their will.

12.309.59 Whatever good is done here by the sinless and the perfected of soul, that the men of purified birth likewise attain.

12.309.60 By the causeways of the householder's dharma they go to the supreme goal — to a shared world with Prajāpati, with Bṛhaspati, and with the Hundred-Sacrificer.

12.309.61 A thousandfold, in manifold ways, I am eager to declare it; yet without the Lord, the gruel of folly that deludes the mind is not undone.

12.309.62 Your twice-eight years are gone; soon, surely, you will be twenty-five. Make your store of dharma, for your lifetime slips past you.

12.309.63 Before that Ender lays his curb, whose mouth gapes upon the heedless — even as it was grasped, so it has risen up — make haste in the keeping of dharma.

12.309.64 When you yourself shall go behind, and you yourself before, what use are self or other to one bound on that road?

12.309.65 That which serves the good who go down alone to the world beyond — that great treasure for the journey amid its terrors — lay it up.

12.309.66 The Lord, unhindered, carries off a man with his line, his root, and his kin, and there are none who can stop him; therefore lay up a store of dharma.

12.309.67 This teaching, my son, that I hold fitting for you here, set forth from my own insight and inference — act upon it.

12.309.68 He who by his own deed bestows his wealth on this man or that, through qualities born of folly and delusion, finds but one reward in a hundred.

12.309.69 Let your sacred learning be made to bear fruit as you perform good works; that alone is the wisdom there which knows its debts and is joined to true aim.

12.309.70 This delight in dwelling in the village is the tethering rope; the doers of good cut it and depart, but the doers of evil cannot cut it.

12.309.71 What is your wealth to you, what your kinsmen, what your sons, my son, you who must die? Seek out the Self that has entered into the cave of the heart. And your grandfathers — where have they all gone?

12.309.72 Let tomorrow's task be done today, and the afternoon's in the morning; for who knows whose, and on what day, the army of death will come knocking?

12.309.73 Having followed as far as the edge of the burning ground, the kinsmen here turn back, casting the man into the fire — both kin and friends alike.

12.309.74 The unbelievers, the pitiless, men fixed in evil intent — set them at your left without misgiving, you who, untiring, seek what is highest.

12.309.75 While the world is thus struck down and pressed hard by Time, lay hold of a very great steadfastness and practice dharma with your whole soul.

12.309.76 And the man who rightly knows this way of insight, having here done dharma aright, thrives in happiness in the world beyond.

12.309.77 For those who truly know, the breaking of the body is not death, nor is there annihilation when the path is well kept; he who makes dharma grow is the wise one, while he who falls away from dharma is the deluded.

12.309.78 Of one's own two kinds of deed set going upon the road of action, the doer reaps the fruit according to law: the man of base deeds comes to hell, while he who has crossed to the far shore of dharma goes to the triple heaven.

12.309.79 Having gained the hard-won human state, which is the stairway to heaven, one should so compose oneself that one does not fall away again.

12.309.80 He whose mind, faithful to the path to heaven, does not stray from it — him they call a doer of meritorious deeds, one not to be mourned by friends and kin.

12.309.81 He whose unmarred understanding rests firm in its resolves, who has made his place secure in heaven — for him there is no great terror.

12.309.82 Those who are born in the groves of austerity and there meet their death — their dharma is the lesser, since they have never known the enjoyment of desire.

12.309.83 But he who, having renounced pleasures, practices austerity with his body — by him there is nothing that is not attained; that, in my judgment, is the high fruit.

12.309.84 Thousands of mothers and fathers, and hundreds of sons and wives, are yet to come and have already passed away. Whose are they, and whose are we?

12.309.85 You have no business with them, nor they any with you; they have gone, each by his own deeds, and you too shall go.

12.309.86 For in this world even a stranger acts as kin to the rich man, while the very kinsmen of the poor desert them while they yet live.

12.309.87 A man heaps up evil deeds out of regard for wife and household, and thereby comes to suffering, both in the world beyond and here as well.

12.309.88 See for yourself how the world of the living is riddled with holes by one's own deeds; therefore, my son, do in full all that has been declared.

12.309.89 Seeing all this clearly, one who longs for the world beyond should enter this realm of action and there perform what is holy and good.

12.309.90 By the fire of the sun, which turns the round of months and seasons, fed with the fuel of night and day, witness to the fruit that follows upon each being's own works, Time ripens all creatures by main force.

12.309.91 What is the use of wealth from which one neither gives nor enjoys? Of strength by which one does not subdue one's foes? Of learning by which one does not practice the dharma? Of a self that has not mastered and made obedient the senses?

12.309.92 Having heard this wholesome counsel spoken by Dvaipāyana, Śuka departed, leaving behind his father, the teacher of liberation.

12.310.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: How was Śuka, righteous of soul and of great austerity, born to Vyāsa, and how did he attain the supreme perfection? Tell me this, grandsire.

12.310.2 And upon whom did Vyāsa, rich in austerity, beget Śuka? For we do not know the mother of that great soul, nor his surpassing birth.

12.310.3 And how, while still a child, did his mind reach into subtle knowledge, such as the mind of no other, no second, in this whole world has done?

12.310.4 This I wish to hear at length, O most radiant one, for there is no satiety for me here as I listen to this supreme nectar.

12.310.5 Tell me, grandsire, faithfully and in due order, the greatness of Śuka, his union with the Self, and his deep wisdom.

12.310.6 Bhīṣma said: Not by years, not by grey hairs, not by wealth, not by kinsmen did the sages measure dharma: he who is learned in the Veda, he is great among us.

12.310.7 All this about which you ask me, son of Pāṇḍu, has austerity for its root; and only by restraining the senses does austerity arise, and in no other way.

12.310.8 By attachment to the senses a man surely meets with ruin; but by subduing those very senses he attains perfection.

12.310.9 The fruit of a thousand horse-sacrifices and of a hundred Vājapeyas, my son, is found not to equal even a fraction of yoga's reward.

12.310.10 On this I shall relate to you the fruit of Śuka's birth and of his yoga, and that supreme course of his, hard to be known by the unperfected.

12.310.11 Of old, they say, upon the peak of Meru, thick with groves of karṇikāra trees, the Great God roamed, surrounded by his terrible hosts of spirits.

12.310.12 There too of old was the goddess, daughter of the king of mountains; and there the lord Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana performed his divine austerity.

12.310.13 Entering into his own self through yoga, wholly devoted to the discipline of yoga, holding fast, he wrought austerity for the sake of a son, O best of the Kurus.

12.310.14 "May a son be born to me, O mighty one, equal in power to fire, to earth, to water, to wind, and to the firmament" — so he prayed.

12.310.15 With this resolve, hard to be reached by the unperfected, established in the highest austerity, he sought a boon of the Lord of the gods.

12.310.16 Feeding only on air, the lord stood firm, they say, for a hundred years, worshipping the Great God of many forms, the consort of Umā.

12.310.17 There gathered all the brahmin-sages and the divine sages too, the guardians of the worlds before the Lord of the worlds, and the Sādhyas together with the Vasus.

12.310.18 The Ādityas and the Rudras, the maker of day and the maker of night, the Maruts and the Wind, the oceans and the rivers as well.

12.310.19 The two Aśvins, the celestial gandharvas, and the pair Nārada and Parvata, Viśvāvasu the gandharva, the Siddhas, and the hosts of apsarases.

12.310.20 There Rudra, the Great God, wearing a fair garland wrought of karṇikāra blossoms, shone like the moon clothed in its moonlight.

12.310.21 In that lovely divine forest, thronged with gods and divine sages, the seer, established in the supreme yoga, stood intent upon his desire for a son.

12.310.22 His radiance did not fade, nor did any weariness arise in him; and to all three worlds this seemed a wonder.

12.310.23 And the matted locks of that yoked one of measureless splendor were seen ablaze with his fiery power, like tongues of the all-consuming fire.

12.310.24 For the blessed Mārkaṇḍeya it was who told me this; he it was who ever recounted to me the deeds of the gods.

12.310.25 Even to this day, my son, those matted locks of the great-souled Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, kindled by that austerity and fire-hued, shine forth.

12.310.26 By austerity of such a kind and by his devotion, O Bhārata, the Great Lord, his heart made gracious, formed a resolve within his mind.

12.310.27 And the blessed three-eyed god spoke to him, as though smiling: "A son of just such a kind shall be yours, O Dvaipāyana."

12.310.28 "Pure as fire, pure as wind, pure as earth, pure as water, and pure as space — so shall your great son be."

12.310.29 "Sharing that nature, that understanding, that very self, taking refuge in that alone, enveloping the three worlds with his splendor, he shall win unrivalled glory."

12.311.1 Bhīṣma said: Having won this supreme boon from the god, the son of Satyavatī took up the fire-drilling wood and churned it, wishing to kindle the sacred fire.

12.311.2 Then, O king, the blessed seer beheld an apsaras named Ghṛtācī, bearing a surpassing beauty radiant with her own glow.

12.311.3 Beholding the apsaras, the blessed seer Vyāsa was on the instant overpowered by desire there in that forest, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.311.4 And she, having made Vyāsa's mind tremble with longing, then became a parrot-hen, O great king, and so Ghṛtācī drew near.

12.311.5 Seeing that apsaras cloaked in another form, he was followed close by the body-born god of love that surged through all his limbs.

12.311.6 Though with great firmness the sage strove to hold down the desire lodged in his heart, Vyāsa could not restrain his mind once it had streamed forth; for, the passion being destined to be, he was carried away by the form of Ghṛtācī.

12.311.7 As the sage labored to restrain himself in his wish to kindle the fire, his seed fell suddenly upon the very drilling-wood.

12.311.8 With a mind untroubled, that best of the twice-born, the brahmin-sage, churned the drilling-wood even so; and therein was Śuka born, O king.

12.311.9 As the seed was being churned forth, Śuka was born, of great austerity, a supreme seer, a mighty yogin, sprung from the womb of the drilling-wood.

12.311.10 As the kindled fire at the sacrifice shines forth when it has received the oblation, so was Śuka born in that very likeness, blazing as it were with splendor.

12.311.11 Bearing his father's matchless form and hue, O Kaurava, that perfected soul then shone like a smokeless flame ablaze.

12.311.12 Then Gaṅgā, the best of rivers, taking her own embodied shape, came to him on Meru's height, O lord of men, and bathed him in her waters.

12.311.13 And from the sky, O Kaurava, a staff and a black antelope-skin fell to earth, O sovereign of kings, for the sake of the great-souled Śuka.

12.311.14 The gandharvas sang again and again, the hosts of apsarases danced, and the kettledrums of the gods sounded forth with mighty peals.

12.311.15 And Viśvāvasu the gandharva, and Tumburu and Nārada, and the gandharvas Hāhā and Hūhū extolled the birth of Śuka.

12.311.16 There assembled the guardians of the worlds, with Śakra at their head, the gods and the divine sages, and the brahmin-sages too.

12.311.17 The Wind rained down there every kind of celestial flower, and the whole world, moving and unmoving, was filled with joy.

12.311.18 The great-souled god of mighty splendor, together with the goddess, then with affection himself performed in due rite the investiture of the sage's son, scarcely born.

12.311.19 To him Śakra, lord of the gods, gave with affection a water-pot of marvellous, divine appearance, and celestial garments, O mighty one.

12.311.20 Geese and hundred-petalled cranes and sārasa birds by the thousand, and parrots and blue jays, O Bhārata, circled him in reverence.

12.311.21 Thus the son of the drilling-wood, of great splendor, having gained his divine birth, dwelt there, wise, a keeper of vows, and inwardly composed.

12.311.22 No sooner was he born than the Vedas, with their mysteries and their compendia, came and waited upon him, O great king, even as they had upon his father.

12.311.23 Knower of the Vedas, their auxiliaries, and their commentaries, he chose Bṛhaspati for his teacher, O great king, meditating ever upon dharma alone.

12.311.24 Having studied all the Vedas with their mysteries and compendia, and the ancient lore in its entirety, and the sciences of statecraft, O mighty one,

12.311.25 the great sage gave his teacher the closing fee, returned home, and, a chaste student inwardly composed, undertook a fierce austerity.

12.311.26 Even in childhood, that one of great austerity was fit to be consulted by gods and seers, and honored by them for his knowledge and his penance.

12.311.27 Yet his mind, O lord of men, looking ever toward the discipline of liberation, took no delight in the three orders of life that have the householder's state for their root.

12.312.1 Bhīṣma said: Brooding upon liberation alone, Śuka went to his father, and, seeking the highest good, full of humility, he saluted his teacher and spoke:

12.312.2 "You, blessed one, are skilled in the laws of liberation: instruct me, lord, in such a way that the supreme peace of mind may arise in me."

12.312.3 Hearing his son's words, the supreme seer said to him: "Study, my son, both liberation and the manifold dharmas as well."

12.312.4 At his father's bidding Śuka, best of those who know the Brahman, mastered the whole science of yoga and also the Kāpila teaching, O Bhārata.

12.312.5 When Vyāsa saw his son endowed with the splendor of the Brahman, his prowess equal to Brahmā's, and accomplished in the lore of liberation,

12.312.6 he said: "Go now to Janaka, the lord of Mithilā; he will expound to you the whole matter of liberation, fully and in detail."

12.312.7 At his father's bidding he set out toward Janaka, king of Mithilā, to ask of him the consummation of dharma and the highest goal of liberation.

12.312.8 And he was told, unsurprised: "You are to go by a human road; you must not travel by your power, coursing through the sky."

12.312.9 "You must go by the straight way, not by a path that seeks comfort; nor must distinctions be sought after, for distinctions breed attachment."

12.312.10 "No pride is to be shown before that king for whom we serve as priests; you must remain subject to him, and he will cut away your doubt."

12.312.11 "That king is skilled in dharma and accomplished in the science of liberation; he is one for whom I officiate, and whatever he says is to be done without misgiving."

12.312.12 Thus addressed, that righteous sage went on foot to Mithilā, though he was able to traverse the sea-girt earth through the air.

12.312.13 Crossing over mountains, fording rivers and lakes, and the manifold forests thronged with many serpents and beasts of prey,

12.312.14 passing in turn beyond the two regions of Meru and Hari and the region of Himavat, he reached the land of Bhārata.

12.312.15 Beholding various lands inhabited by the Cīnas and the Hūṇas, the great sage came at last to this land of Āryāvarta.

12.312.16 Mindful of his father's word and pondering that very purpose, he passed along the road, a sky-farer faring as it were through the sky.

12.312.17 Lovely market-towns and prosperous cities and jewels of varied kinds — Śuka, though he saw them, saw them not.

12.312.18 Lovely gardens, and temples, and holy fording-places too he passed by upon his road,

12.312.19 and in no long while he came to the land of the Videhas, guarded by the great-souled Janaka, that righteous king.

12.312.20 There he saw many villages where food and savory fare abounded, and thriving hamlets and herdsmen's settlements teeming with many a cattle-fold.

12.312.21 He passed teeming lands rich with rice and barley, frequented by swans and cranes, and adorned by the hundreds with stately, beautiful lotus-pools.

12.312.22 Having crossed through the Videha country, thronged with prosperous folk, he reached the lovely, richly endowed pleasure-grove of Mithilā.

12.312.23 Crowded with elephants, horses, and chariots, thronging with men and women — the steadfast one passed through it, seeing it yet as though he saw it not.

12.312.24 Bearing that burden in his mind and pondering that single aim, delighting in the Self, serene of spirit, he came at last to Mithilā.

12.312.25 Reaching her gate, he was barred by the gatekeepers; rapt in meditation he stood, the liberated one, and only when recognized did he enter.

12.312.26 Coming to the royal highway, crowded with prosperous people, and reaching the king's palace, without hesitation he entered in.

12.312.27 There too the gatekeepers with harsh words forbade him, and Śuka, free of all anger, simply stood his ground.

12.312.28 Though scorched by sun and road, beset by hunger, thirst, and weariness, he neither grew faint nor wilted, nor did he withdraw from that heat.

12.312.29 But one of those gatekeepers, filled with compassion, beheld Śuka standing there like the sun arrived at its zenith.

12.312.30 Having honored him as was fitting and saluted him with folded hands, he led him then into the second court of the king's palace.

12.312.31 Seated there, my child, Śuka of great splendor pondered liberation alone, looking with equal eye upon shade and upon sun.

12.312.32 After but a moment the king's minister came to him with folded hands and led him into the third court of the king's palace.

12.312.33 There, adjoining the inner apartments, was a great park like Citraratha's own, with well-laid bathing-pools, lovely, its trees in flower.

12.312.34 Having shown Śuka that finest of groves and appointed him a worthy seat, the minister then withdrew once more.

12.312.35 Then young women, fair to behold, in graceful attire, shapely of hip, clad in fine red garments and decked in refined gold ornaments,

12.312.36 skilled in converse and witty repartee, accomplished in dance and song, speaking always with a smile, in beauty the equals of the apsarases —

12.312.37 adept in the arts of love, reading every mood, accomplished in all things — these chief courtesans, more than fifty women, came hastening near.

12.312.38 Receiving him with water for his feet and the rest, honoring him with the highest reverence, they refreshed him too with wholesome food befitting the place and the hour.

12.312.39 When he had eaten, my child, they showed him that delightful garden of the inner court, O Bhārata, one part after another.

12.312.40 Sporting and laughing and singing, those women, all skilled in the ways of the heart, then waited upon Śuka of noble spirit.

12.312.41 But the son of the fire-sticks, pure of soul, free of the three doubts, performer of the threefold rite, his senses mastered and his anger conquered, neither rejoiced nor grew wroth.

12.312.42 To him those choice women gave a divine couch and seat, worthy of the best, jeweled and spread with coverlets such as men contend to own.

12.312.43 Having washed his feet and worshiped at the twilight hour, Śuka sat down upon that holy seat, pondering still that single aim.

12.312.44 In the first watch of the night he gave himself wholly to meditation; at midnight, as was proper, that self-possessed one took his sleep.

12.312.45 Then, rising after a brief while and at once performing his ablutions, the wise one, though surrounded by women, betook himself again to meditation alone.

12.312.46 In this manner the steadfast son of Kṛṣṇa-Dvaipāyana passed the remainder of that day and that night within the royal household, O Bhārata.

12.313.1 Bhīṣma said: Then, O Bhārata, that king Janaka, together with his ministers, putting his household priest at the fore and all the women of the inner apartments,

12.313.2 and bearing before him a seat, and jewels of many kinds, and carrying the welcome-offering upon his head, drew near to the teacher's son.

12.313.3 Taking up that seat, adorned with many jewels, spread with enviable coverlets, auspicious on every side and richly wrought,

12.313.4 which the priest held ready — the king, touching it with his hand, gave it, most reverently honored, to the teacher's son Śuka.

12.313.5 When the son of Kṛṣṇa-Dvaipāyana had taken his seat there, the king honored him according to the scriptures: offering first water for his feet, then the welcome-draught and a cow; and Śuka received that worship with its sacred verses in due form.

12.313.6 And having accepted that worship from Janaka, the best of the twice-born gave leave for the cow to be spared, and showing honor to the king,

12.313.7 Śuka of great brilliance inquired, O lord of kings, after the king's welfare, his unfailing prosperity and his health, and that of his retinue as well.

12.313.8 Then, granted leave by him, the king of noble nature and high lineage sat down upon the ground with his attendants, his hands folded in reverence.

12.313.9 And the king, having inquired after the welfare and well-being of Vyāsa's son, then asked him this: 'What is the purpose of your coming?'

12.313.10 Śuka said: My father told me — blessings upon you — 'The king of Videha, renowned as Janaka, is one for whom I have officiated, and he is versed in the law and aim of liberation.

12.313.11 Go to him at once, if any doubt lingers in your heart, whether concerning action or withdrawal from action; he will cut your doubt away.'

12.313.12 So I, at my father's bidding, have come here to question you; therefore, O best of those who uphold the law, you should tell me truly:

12.313.13 What ought a brāhmaṇa to do in this world, and of what nature is the aim of liberation? And how is liberation to be attained — by knowledge, or by austerity?

12.313.14 Janaka said: Hear, then, what a brāhmaṇa ought to do in this world from his birth onward. Once invested with the sacred thread, my child, he should be wholly devoted to the Veda;

12.313.15 by austerity, by service to his teacher, and by chastity, O mighty one, he becomes free of debt to the gods and to the ancestors, and free of all envy.

12.313.16 Having studied the Vedas, self-controlled, and having bestowed the teacher's fee, and then obtaining leave, the twice-born one should return home from his studentship.

12.313.17 Having returned, he should dwell in the householder's state, self-restrained and with a wife, free of envy, and, as is proper, keeping the sacred fires kindled.

12.313.18 And having begotten sons and grandsons, he should dwell in the abode of the forest hermitage, tending those same fires as the scriptures prescribe, and welcoming guests gladly.

12.313.19 Then in the forest, the knower of dharma, having in due form laid those fires within his own self, beyond the pairs of opposites and freed of passion, should dwell in the abode of the renunciant devoted to Brahman.

12.313.20 Śuka said: When knowledge and discernment have arisen, immediate and abiding within the heart, must one then perforce dwell through the orders of life and in the forests?

12.313.21 This I ask of you, and you should answer it; tell me, O ruler of men, in accord with the very truth of the Veda's meaning.

12.313.22 Janaka said: Without knowledge and discernment there can be no attaining of liberation; and without the bond with a teacher, no attaining of knowledge is taught.

12.313.23 The teacher is the ferryman, and knowledge is here called the raft; but once he has understood and accomplished his task, having crossed over, he should let both go.

12.313.24 For the unbroken continuance of the worlds and the unbroken continuance of rites, the dharma told of in the teaching of the four orders of life was practiced by the ancients.

12.313.25 By this disciplined sequence, through many births, having performed both good and ill deeds, what is called liberation is here attained.

12.313.26 Through causes ripened in many wombs of recurring existence, this man of purified soul reaches liberation even in the first order of life.

12.313.27 But for one who has attained it — liberated, having seen the truth, wise, and longing for the supreme — what need is there of the three remaining orders of life?

12.313.28 Let him ever shun the faults born of passion and of darkness; treading the path of purity, let him behold the Self by the self.

12.313.29 Seeing the Self in all beings and all beings within the Self, he is not tainted, as the water-creature is not wetted by the water.

12.313.30 Like a bird soaring up in flight, he wins endlessness in the world beyond; casting off the body, released, beyond the pairs of opposites, he attains to perfect peace.

12.313.31 On this, hear the verses sung of old by King Yayāti, which, my child, are held in memory by the twice-born skilled in the science of liberation.

12.313.32 The light is within the Self, nowhere else, and it delights in that alone; and it can be seen of oneself by a mind well composed.

12.313.33 He of whom no other is afraid, and who fears no other, and who neither craves nor hates — then he becomes Brahman.

12.313.34 When he harbors no evil intent toward any being, in deed, in thought, or in word — then he becomes Brahman.

12.313.35 Yoking the self by austerity, casting off bewildering envy, and abandoning desire and greed — thereupon he attains to the state of Brahman.

12.313.36 When toward all that is heard and seen, and toward all beings and their dissolution, he becomes the same, beyond the pairs of opposites — then he becomes Brahman.

12.313.37 When he looks with equal eye upon praise and blame alike, upon gold and upon iron, and upon pleasure and pain the same,

12.313.38 upon cold and heat, upon gain and loss, the dear and the unwelcome, upon life and death alike — then he becomes Brahman.

12.313.39 As a tortoise, having stretched forth its limbs here, draws them in again, so should the mendicant restrain the senses by the mind.

12.313.40 As a house enveloped in darkness is made visible by a lamp, so by the lamp of the intellect can the Self be perceived.

12.313.41 All this I see in you, O best of the wise; and whatever else there is to be known, that too you know in its very truth.

12.313.42 O brāhmaṇa-sage, you are known to me as one who has reached the end of all objects of sense, by the grace of your teacher and by your own diligent learning.

12.313.43 And by that same grace, O great sage, this divine knowledge has arisen in me also; therefore are you known to me.

12.313.44 Greater is your discernment, and higher your attainment, and greater your sovereign power — yet of this you yourself are not aware.

12.313.45 Whether through immaturity, or doubt, or fear born of not yet being released, a man may fail to reach that goal even when discernment has arisen.

12.313.46 But with pure resolve, his doubt severed by such as I am, loosing the knots of the heart, he attains that goal.

12.313.47 And you, in whom discernment has arisen, steadfast of mind and free of craving — even without such resolve, O brāhmaṇa, you attain that supreme state.

12.313.48 For you there is no distinction in pleasures and pains, there is no craving; no eagerness for dance and song, and no passion arises in you.

12.313.49 You have no bondage to kinsmen, and amid terrors there is no fear in you; I see you, O greatly blessed one, holding a clod, a stone, and gold as all alike.

12.313.50 I, and the other thinkers as well, behold you as having entered upon the supreme path, the imperishable and the free of all affliction.

12.313.51 That which is the fruit of a brāhmaṇa's life here, and of what nature is the aim of liberation — in that very state you abide, O brāhmaṇa; what more do you ask?

12.314.1 Bhīṣma said: Having heard this counsel, the perfected one, his resolve now firm, taking his stand upon the Self by the self, and beholding the Self by the self,

12.314.2 his purpose accomplished, happy and at peace, set forth in silence facing the north, making for the snow-clad mountain, of a nature like unto the Wind.

12.314.3 And at that very time the divine sage Nārada was on his way to behold the Himavat, frequented by the perfected ones and the celestial wanderers.

12.314.4 That mountain was thronged with troops of apsarases and resounded with the strains of song; it teemed with bands of kiṃnaras and with kingfishers as well,

12.314.5 with cormorants and wagtails, with bright-hued jīvajīvaka birds, with peacocks of brilliant plumage radiant with a hundred cries, with flocks of royal swans, and with joyous cuckoos.

12.314.6 There the king of birds, Garutmān, comes ever and again; and there the four guardians of the world, the gods together with their hosts of sages, repair continually, desiring the welfare of the world.

12.314.7 There the great-souled Viṣṇu once performed austerities for the sake of a son; and there in his childhood Kumāra hurled defiance at the dwellers in heaven,

12.314.8 when Skanda, scorning the three worlds, planted his spear upon the surface of the earth, and the lord of the world spoke these challenging words:

12.314.9 "If there be another mightier than I, O brāhmaṇas, one dearer to you and more devoted to brahman, a second hero of valor in the three worlds—

12.314.10 let him lift up this spear, or even make it tremble!" Hearing this, the worlds were thrown into dismay, wondering, "Who could lift this up?"

12.314.11 Then the blessed Viṣṇu beheld the whole host of gods, with senses and minds bewildered, dismayed together with the asuras and rākṣasas, and he pondered, "What deed well done would here be fitting?"

12.314.12 He would not brook that challenge, and he looked upon the son of Fire. Then the Supreme Person, pure of soul, laughed, and with his left hand made the blazing spear tremble.

12.314.13 And when the spear was set trembling by the mighty Viṣṇu, the whole earth was shaken, with its mountains, woods, and forests.

12.314.14 Though able to wrench it up, the lord Viṣṇu only made it tremble and did not draw it forth, sparing thereby the glory of King Skanda's challenge.

12.314.15 Having made it tremble, the blessed one said this to Prahrāda: "Behold the valor of Kumāra—no other could do this deed."

12.314.16 Unable to bear those words, Prahrāda, resolved to wrench it up, seized the spear of Skanda—yet he could not so much as make it tremble.

12.314.17 Letting forth a mighty cry, the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, swooning and overcome, fell to the ground upon the summit of the mountain.

12.314.18 There, my son, having gone to the northern quarter beside the king of mountains, the unassailable god whose banner bears the bull performed his austerities without ceasing.

12.314.19 His hermitage was encircled by blazing fire—a place named Ādityabandhana, unapproachable by those who have not subdued themselves.

12.314.20 There no yakṣas, rākṣasas, or dānavas can pass; ten yojanas in extent, it is wholly wrapped in flames of fire.

12.314.21 There the blessed and valorous Fire-god himself abides, quelling every obstacle for the wise Mahādeva.

12.314.22 For a thousand divine years Mahādeva, firm in his vow, stood there upon a single foot, scorching the gods with the heat of his penance.

12.314.23 But upon the eastern quarter of the wise king of mountains, on a secluded slope, the son of Parāśara, the great ascetic Vyāsa, of mighty penance, instructed his disciples in the Vedas.

12.314.24 He taught the illustrious Sumantu, and Vaiśaṃpāyana, and the deeply wise Jaimini, and Paila too, the ascetic—

12.314.25 surrounded by these disciples sat Vyāsa of great penance. There the son sprung from the kindling-sticks, pure of soul, beheld his father's holy and excellent hermitage, shining like the sun in the sky.

12.314.26 Then Vyāsa beheld his son drawing near—encircled with radiance, blazing like fire, splendid as the sun itself.

12.314.27 Unimpeded by trees, by crags, or by rugged ground, the great-souled one, yoked in yoga, came like an arrow loosed from the bowstring.

12.314.28 Approaching, the son born of the kindling-sticks clasped his father's feet; and the great sage greeted those disciples too, each according to his pleasure.

12.314.29 Then Śuka, his heart full of joy, reported to his father in full and without omission his colloquy with King Janaka.

12.314.30 Thus instructing his disciples and his son, the valorous son of Parāśara, the great sage Vyāsa, dwelt upon the flank of the Himavat.

12.314.31 Then on a certain day the disciples gathered round him and stood before him—accomplished in the study of the Vedas, tranquil of soul, their senses conquered.

12.314.32 Having attained mastery in the Vedas with their auxiliary sciences, those disciples of surpassing austerity then spoke to Vyāsa, their teacher, with hands joined in reverence:

12.314.33 "Blessed with great good fortune and enriched with renown are we; yet now we desire one favor to be granted us by our teacher."

12.314.34 Hearing their words, the brahmarṣi said to them, "Speak it, my children—whatever you would have done, that is dear to me."

12.314.35 Hearing this word of their teacher, the disciples, glad at heart, again folded their hands and, bowing their heads to their guru,

12.314.36 spoke together, O king, this excellent word: "If our preceptor is pleased with us, then blessed are we, O best of sages.

12.314.37 We all crave one boon granted by the great sage: that no sixth disciple of yours should attain renown in this lore. Be gracious to us in this."

12.314.38 "We four are your disciples, and the teacher's son is the fifth; let the Vedas be established here in us alone—this is the boon we crave."

12.314.39 Hearing the disciples' words, Vyāsa, knower of the truth of the Vedas' meaning, the wise son of Parāśara, mindful of the good of the world beyond, righteous of soul, spoke to his disciples a word in accord with dharma and conducing to the highest weal:

12.314.40 "The sacred lore must ever be imparted to a brāhmaṇa who is eager to learn, by one who steadfastly desires a dwelling in the world of brahman.

12.314.41 Let your numbers grow many; let this Veda be spread abroad. Yet it must not be bestowed upon one who is no true disciple, nor upon one without vows, nor upon one whose soul is unperfected.

12.314.42 All these marks of a true disciple are to be known according to their truth; to one whose conduct has not been tested, knowledge must in no wise be given.

12.314.43 For as pure gold is tested by heating, cutting, and rubbing, so should one examine disciples by their lineage, their virtues, and the rest.

12.314.44 And your disciples must not be set to a task that is no fit task and that is fraught with great peril. According to one's understanding and one's recitation, so will the knowledge bear its fruit.

12.314.45 Let every man cross over hardships; let every man behold good fortune. One may cause the four varṇas to hear the lore, placing the brāhmaṇa foremost.

12.314.46 This study of the Veda is indeed a great duty, so it is held; for the praise of the gods were the Vedas created by the Self-Existent.

12.314.47 Whoever out of delusion should revile a brāhmaṇa versed to the end in the Vedas, that man, through the brāhmaṇa's ill-wishing, will without doubt come to ruin.

12.314.48 He who expounds against dharma and he who questions against dharma—one or the other of the two perishes, or else incurs enmity.

12.314.49 All this has been declared to you concerning the rule of sacred recitation. One should do good to his disciples, and let this abide within your hearts."

12.315.1 Bhīṣma said: Hearing this word of their teacher, the mighty disciples of Vyāsa, glad of heart, then embraced one another.

12.315.2 "What the blessed one has spoken to us, joined to the present and to the future, is firmly rooted in our minds, and we shall do even so."

12.315.3 Thus honoring one another, their hearts well pleased, they—skilled in speech—again made their request to their teacher:

12.315.4 "We desire, O great sage, to go from this mountain down to the earth, to multiply the Vedas in their many forms—if it be your pleasure, O lord."

12.315.5 Hearing the disciples' words, the lord, the son of Parāśara, then replied with a word joined to dharma and to wealth, and conducing to their good:

12.315.6 "Go to the earth or to the world of the gods, whichever pleases you; but you must be ever vigilant, for the sacred lore abounds in pitfalls."

12.315.7 Then all of them, granted leave by their truth-speaking teacher, departed, having circled Vyāsa from the right and saluted him with their heads bowed.

12.315.8 Descending to the earth, they then ordained the office of the four priests, conducting sacrifices for brāhmaṇas, for kṣatriyas, and for vaiśyas alike.

12.315.9 Ever honored by the twice-born, rejoicing and content in the householder's life, devoted to officiating at sacrifice and to teaching, they were prosperous and renowned throughout the world.

12.315.10 When his disciples had gone down to the earth, the wise Vyāsa, with only his son for company, sat down in solitude, silent and absorbed in meditation.

12.315.11 Nārada, of exceeding great penance, beheld him at the hermitage, and in due season addressed him in a voice of honeyed syllables:

12.315.12 "Ho there, great sage, descendant of Vāsiṣṭha! The chant of the Veda is heard no more. Why do you sit alone, silent and absorbed in thought, as though brooding?"

12.315.13 "Bereft of the chant of the Veda, this mountain has no splendor, even as the moon, when eclipsed, is dimmed by dust and darkness.

12.315.14 Though frequented by hosts of divine sages, yet emptied of the sound of the Veda, it shines no longer as before, but is like a dwelling-place of niṣādas.

12.315.15 And the sages, the gods, and the mighty gandharvas, forsaken by the chant of the Veda, shine not as they did of old."

12.315.16 Hearing Nārada's words, Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana said: "Great sage, skilled in the discourse of the Veda, what you have spoken—

12.315.17 this is wholly agreeable to my mind, and you are worthy to declare it, being all-knowing, all-seeing, and ever curious in all things.

12.315.18 Whatever has come to pass in the three worlds rests entire within your knowledge. Command me then, O brāhmaṇa sage; tell me, what shall I do for you?"

12.315.19 "Declare, O brahmarṣi, what I am to perform; for parted now from my disciples, my mind here is not greatly glad."

12.315.20 Nārada said: The Vedas are sullied by neglect of recitation; the lack of vows is the brāhmaṇa's stain; the Vāhīkas are the stain of the earth, and idle curiosity the stain of women.

12.315.21 Let your honor recite the Vedas together with your wise son, dispelling by the chant of the Veda the darkness wrought by the terror of the rākṣasas.

12.315.22 Bhīṣma said: Hearing Nārada's words, Vyāsa, supreme knower of dharma, said "So be it," rejoicing, and firm of vow in the practice of the Veda.

12.315.23 Then with his son Śuka he set about the recitation of the Veda, with a loud voice trained in the science of accent, as though filling the worlds with sound.

12.315.24 As the two recited thus, expounding the manifold doctrines of dharma, a wind blew beyond all measure, driven by the gale off the ocean.

12.315.25 Thereupon Vyāsa checked his son, saying, "This is a time when study must cease." But Śuka, no sooner checked, was filled with curiosity,

12.315.26 and asked his father: "O holy one, whence has this wind arisen? Be pleased to tell me all the workings of the wind."

12.315.27 Hearing this word of Śuka, Vyāsa, exceedingly amazed, spoke this word concerning the occasion of the suspension of study:

12.315.28 "A divine eye has arisen in you; your mind is steady and unsullied. Free from darkness and from passion, you are established in goodness.

12.315.29 As one beholds his own reflection in a mirror, so do you behold the Self by the self. Laying the Vedas within yourself, ponder them well with your intellect.

12.315.30 The path of the gods belongs to Viṣṇu; the path of the fathers is of the dark quality. These are the two roads beyond death—the one leading upward to heaven, the other downward.

12.315.31 Upon the earth and in the firmament, where the winds blow together, there are these seven paths of the wind. Learn them now from me in their order.

12.315.32 There the troops of gods, the Sādhyas, came into being, of mighty strength; and their son too was born, Samāna by name, hard to conquer.

12.315.33 Udāna was his son; Vyāna was Udāna's offspring; and after him is to be known Apāna, and Prāṇa beyond him.

12.315.34 Prāṇa was without offspring, unassailable, the scorcher of foes. But the several functions of these winds I shall now declare to you according to the truth.

12.315.35 In all living beings the wind sustains, severally, the diverse motions of life; and because it makes creatures breathe, it is called prāṇa, the breath of life.

12.315.36 That wind which drives onward the massed banks of cloud, those born of smoke and those born of heat, is the first, moving upon the first path; it is the wind named Pravaha.

12.315.37 That of surpassing splendour which gathers the moisture in the sky from the clouds and from the lightnings is the second; named Āvaha, it blows roaring as it breathes.

12.315.38 That which ceaselessly brings about the rising of the luminaries, of the moon and the rest, and which within the bodies of beings the great seers call by the name of udāna,

12.315.39 that wind which holds up the waters drawn from the four oceans, and which, lifting them, draws the waters from the rain-clouds into the sky,

12.315.40 that which, charging the rain-clouds with water, delivers them to Parjanya, the rain-god — most abundant in showers, the third, ever in motion, is named Udvaha.

12.315.41 By it the dark clouds, borne along in many directions and gathered apart, set themselves to release their rain and become massed thunderheads piled cloud on cloud.

12.315.42 Welded together and pierced through by it, the clouds become the rivers of the thundering sky; gathered for the protection of the world, they take on the form of clouds.

12.315.43 That which bears the celestial cars of the gods through the firmament is the fourth, the wind named Saṃvaha, the crusher of mountains.

12.315.44 That swift and parching wind which shatters the clouds and dries up their savour — struck by it, the clouds break apart and form no thunderheads.

12.315.45 Coursing on with dreadful portents, carrying the thunder of the heavens, of mighty speed, is the fifth wind, named Vivaha.

12.315.46 Upon it, as upon a floating raft, the celestial waters are borne through the sky, and the holy water of the heavenly Gaṅgā is held up and abides.

12.315.47 Within it the maker of day, the sun, whose single ray is turned back from afar, becomes the source of a thousand beams by which the earth is made to shine.

12.315.48 By it the moon, that celestial treasury of nectar, is replenished; the sixth, named Parivaha, is that wind, foremost among the swift.

12.315.49 That which at the hour of the end casts forth the life-breaths of all that breathe, in whose track both Death and the son of Vivasvat — Yama — follow after,

12.315.50 that which, for those who look rightly with the understanding by an ever-spiritual peace and who delight in the practice of meditation, conduces to immortality —

12.315.51 reaching which with its swiftness, the ten thousand sons of Dakṣa, the lord of creatures, attained to the ends of the quarters,

12.315.52 that which, once it has cast a thing forth, vanquished, it goes on and never returns — that highest wind, hard to withstand, is named Parāvaha.

12.315.53 Thus these sons of Aditi, the most wondrous Maruts, never resting, blow on every side, pervading all, upholding all.

12.315.54 And here is the great marvel: that this noblest of mountains was suddenly set trembling by that wind as it blew full against it.

12.315.55 This wind is the breath of Viṣṇu, my son; when, driven by its own force, it is suddenly stirred up, the whole world quakes in distress.

12.315.56 Therefore the knowers of the Veda do not recite the sacred word while the wind blows too strongly; for fear of the wind is enjoined, and that recitation would be marred.

12.315.57 Having spoken these words, the lord, the son of Parāśara, and having bidden his son, "Resume thy study," then betook himself to the heavenly Gaṅgā of the sky.

12.316.1 Bhīṣma said: In this interval, when the place was empty, Nārada drew near to Śuka, who was absorbed in his recitation, intending to expound the meanings of the Vedas that he longed to hear.

12.316.2 Beholding the divine sage Nārada come before him, Śuka honoured him with the rite ordained in the Veda, offering first the welcome-water.

12.316.3 Then Nārada said, well pleased and joyful, "Speak, O best of those who know the Absolute; with what blessing, my son, shall I unite thee?"

12.316.4 Hearing Nārada's words, Śuka replied, O descendant of Bharata: "With that which would be of benefit in this world it is fitting that thou shouldst unite me."

12.316.5 Nārada said: In olden days, to the seers of disciplined souls who sought to know the truth, the blessed Sanatkumāra spoke these words.

12.316.6 There is no eye like knowledge, there is no austerity like knowledge; there is no sorrow like passion, there is no happiness like renunciation.

12.316.7 To turn away from sinful action, to be ever of meritorious disposition, good conduct and right behaviour — this is the unsurpassed good.

12.316.8 He who, having attained this joyless human state, clings to it is deluded; he is unequal to release from sorrow, for attachment is the very mark of sorrow.

12.316.9 The mind of the man who clings wavers, swelling the net of delusion; wrapped in the net of delusion, he reaps sorrow both here and hereafter.

12.316.10 By every means the man who seeks the good must subdue desire and anger; for these two stand ready to destroy the good.

12.316.11 Let a man ever guard his austerity from anger, his prosperity from envy, his learning from honour and dishonour, and his own self from heedlessness.

12.316.12 Freedom from cruelty is the highest dharma, and forbearance the highest strength; knowledge of the self is the highest knowledge, and nothing is found higher than truth.

12.316.13 To speak the truth is good, yet even better than truth may be that which benefits; that which is of utmost benefit to living beings — this, in my view, is truth.

12.316.14 He who renounces the fruit of all his undertakings, free of desire and free of possessions, he by whom all has been wholly let go — he is the wise, he is the learned man.

12.316.15 With senses subject to the self he moves here among the objects of sense without cleaving to them, his soul at peace, unaltered, composed.

12.316.16 Himself not bound to them, whether among those who are like himself or apart from them, he, being freed, before long attains the highest good.

12.316.17 He who, O sage, keeps ever without seeing, without touching, and without converse together with living beings — he finds the highest good.

12.316.18 Let him do no harm to any living being, and let him walk in the way of friendliness; having attained this birth, let him bear enmity toward none.

12.316.19 Possessing nothing, perfect contentment, freedom from craving, and steadiness — this, they say, is the highest good for the self-knower who has conquered himself.

12.316.20 Renouncing possessions, become, my son, the conqueror of thy senses; take thy stand in the sorrowless state, free from fear both here and hereafter.

12.316.21 They who are without craving do not grieve; cast away the lure of the senses from thyself. Having renounced that lure, gentle one, thou shalt be freed from the burning of sorrow.

12.316.22 The sage ever fixed in austerity, self-controlled, with disciplined soul, who longs to conquer the unconquered, must remain unattached amid all attachments.

12.316.23 Unattached to the bonds of the qualities, ever delighting in the solitary life, the brāhmaṇa before long attains unsurpassed happiness.

12.316.24 Among beings that take their pleasure in pairs of opposites, the sage who delights alone — know him to be content in true wisdom; the one content in knowledge does not grieve.

12.316.25 By good deeds one wins godhood, by mixed deeds a human birth, and by evil deeds, helpless, one wins a lowly birth.

12.316.26 Therein, ceaselessly assailed by the sorrows of death and old age, the creature is cooked in the round of rebirth: how is it that thou dost not perceive this?

12.316.27 In the harmful thou takest the harmful for the good, in the unstable for the stable, in the worthless for the worthwhile: why dost thou not awaken?

12.316.28 Wrapping thyself round, like a silkworm spinning its cocoon, with the many threads of delusion that are thine own offspring, thou dost not awaken.

12.316.29 Enough of possessions here, for possession is a thing of fault; the silkworm, that little spinner, is bound by the very cocoon it makes its own.

12.316.30 Clinging to sons, wives, and household, creatures sink down, foundering like aged forest elephants drowned in the mire of a pool.

12.316.31 Behold these creatures, sorely afflicted, dragged in by the net of affection, like fish drawn in by a great net and cast up upon dry land.

12.316.32 Household, sons and wife, the body, hoards of wealth — all belongs to others and is unstable; what is truly thine own save the good and ill that thou hast wrought?

12.316.33 When, abandoning all, thou must depart helpless, why art thou bent upon the worthless and dost not pursue thine own true good?

12.316.34 How wilt thou travel alone that road which is the wilderness of darkness — without rest, without support, without provisions, without a guide?

12.316.35 For when thou hast set forth, none will follow at thy back; only thy good and ill deeds will go after thee as thou departest.

12.316.36 Learning, action, valour, and far-reaching knowledge are pursued for the sake of gain; but he whose end is achieved is set free.

12.316.37 That delight of one who dwells in the village is the binding rope; cutting it, the doers of good go free, but the doers of evil cut it not.

12.316.38 Whose banks are forms, whose current is the mind, whose island is touch, that bears along taste; whose mud is smell, whose water is sound, hard to ferry on the road to heaven —

12.316.39 that swift river, whose oar is forbearance, whose substance is truth, whose harbour-banyan is steadfastness in dharma, traversed by the wind of renunciation — let him cross it by the boat of the understanding.

12.316.40 Renounce dharma and unrighteousness, renounce both truth and falsehood; and having renounced both truth and falsehood, renounce that by which thou renouncest.

12.316.41 Renounce dharma by ceasing to will, and unrighteousness by non-harming; renounce both truth and falsehood by the understanding, and the understanding itself by the highest resolve.

12.316.42 Its pillars are bones, knit together by sinews, plastered over with flesh and blood, bound round with skin, foul-smelling, filled with urine and dung —

12.316.43 beset by age and grief, the abode of disease, ailing, defiled with passion and impermanent — cast off this dwelling-place of the elements.

12.316.44 This whole moving universe and whatever is unmoving — all that is great and all that is the minutest atom — is in essence composed of the great elements.

12.316.45 The five senses, and tamas, sattva, and rajas — thus this aggregate of seventeen is named the Unmanifest.

12.316.46 Joined here with all the objects of sense, both manifest and unmanifest, this becomes the group of twenty-five, the principle made up of the manifest and the unmanifest.

12.316.47 United with all these, it is called the Person; herein lie the triad of aims, pleasure and pain, life and likewise death.

12.316.48 He who knows this in truth knows the origin and the dissolution of things; here, O son of Parāśara's line, is what is to be understood, and whatever else there is of all the kinds of knowledge.

12.316.49 Whatever is grasped by the senses, that stands as the manifest; what lies beyond the senses, apprehended only by its marks, is to be known as the unmanifest.

12.316.50 The embodied one is nourished by the restrained senses, as if by streams of water; he beholds the self spread through the world, and the world within the self.

12.316.51 The power of one who sees the higher and the lower beholds no shore of knowledge, even as he sees all beings in every condition and at all times.

12.316.52 For one who has become the Absolute no contact with evil arises; for him who by knowledge has transcended the manifold afflictions born of delusion, the path of the world is not lost in the light of his understanding.

12.316.53 The creature without beginning or end, abiding in the self, imperishable, the non-doer and the formless — so the blessed knower of the sacred fords has declared.

12.316.54 The creature ever made wretched by those very deeds he himself has done, in order to ward off his own pain, slays other creatures in manifold ways.

12.316.55 Thereupon he takes on yet again much fresh deeds, and again is tormented by them, like a sick man who has eaten what is harmful to him.

12.316.56 Stricken with delusion without cease, taking his sorrows for happiness, he is bound and churned forever by his deeds, as butter is churned by the churning-stick.

12.316.57 Then, even when freed from one bond of his own, through the rising up of fresh deeds here below, he wanders round the round of rebirth like a wheel, suffering many pains.

12.316.58 And so you, having turned away from bondage and turned away likewise from action, become one who knows all, conquers all, and is perfected — wholly free of clinging to existence.

12.316.59 By self-restraint and through the power of austerity, having warded off any new bondage, many have attained perfection — unhindered and dawning into bliss.

12.317.1 Nārada said: There is a sorrowless teaching, made to destroy sorrow, peace-bestowing and benign; hearing it, one gains wisdom, and gaining that wisdom one flourishes in happiness.

12.317.2 Thousands of occasions for grief and hundreds of occasions for fear, day after day, beset the fool — but never the wise.

12.317.3 Therefore, for the destruction of all that is unwelcome, mark well this ancient tale of mine; if the mind is held under control, it attains the undoing of sorrow.

12.317.4 From union with what is unwelcome and from separation from what is dear, men of meager understanding are yoked to the sufferings of the mind.

12.317.5 When possessions have passed away, one should not dwell upon the merits they had; for him who ceases to prize them, the bond of affection is loosed.

12.317.6 Wherever passion arises, there one should become a discerner of faults; one should regard even what is cherished as if unwelcome, and so quickly grow dispassionate.

12.317.7 He who grieves over what is past gains thereby no profit, no merit, no renown; he may even be brought to ruin, and yet the lost thing does not return to him.

12.317.8 By the strands of nature all beings are joined together, and just so are they parted; this is no ground for the grief of any single one.

12.317.9 He who grieves over the past — whether one dead or one lost — gains only sorrow upon sorrow, and falls into a twofold misfortune.

12.317.10 Those who, beholding through wisdom the unbroken succession in the worlds, shed no tears — for one who sees all things rightly, no occasion for weeping arises.

12.317.11 When an affliction of suffering befalls, whether of the body or of the mind, and nothing can be done against it, one should not brood upon it.

12.317.12 This is the medicine for sorrow: that one should not dwell upon it; for sorrow brooded over does not depart, but rather grows the greater.

12.317.13 Mental suffering one should slay with wisdom, and bodily suffering with remedies; this is the power of discernment — let him not sink to the level of the foolish.

12.317.14 Youth, beauty, life, the hoarding of wealth, health, the company of loved ones — all are impermanent; in these the wise man does not grasp with greed.

12.317.15 A man ought not, by himself alone, to grieve over a calamity that has befallen a whole land; without grieving he should act against it, if he sees a course of remedy.

12.317.16 In life there is far more suffering than happiness — of this there is no doubt; through delusion comes attachment to the objects of sense, and death is held unwelcome.

12.317.17 The man who utterly renounces both pain and pleasure alike attains absolutely to Brahman; for him the wise do not grieve.

12.317.18 Riches are won with pain and given up with pain; in their keeping there is no happiness, and with pain are they gained — at their loss one should not grieve.

12.317.19 Attaining one greater state of wealth after another, men remain unsatisfied and go to their destruction; the wise, however, attain contentment.

12.317.20 All hoards end in depletion, all risings end in falling, all unions end in separation, and life itself ends in death.

12.317.21 There is no end to thirst, but contentment is the supreme happiness; therefore the wise look upon contentment itself as wealth in this world.

12.317.22 Not even for the space of an eyeblink does the passing of one's years stand still; when one's own body is impermanent, why brood as though anything were eternal?

12.317.23 Reflecting on the non-being inherent in all beings, those who have come to know what lies beyond darkness do not grieve; their journey is accomplished, and they behold the supreme goal.

12.317.24 This man, still gathering and never sated in his desires — death, falling upon him as a tiger upon its prey, seizes him and is gone.

12.317.25 Yet should one see a means for the release from suffering, without grieving he should set to work upon it, steadfast and free of vice.

12.317.26 In sound, in touch, in form, in smells, and in tastes, there is nothing more than their enjoyment — for the rich man or the poor alike.

12.317.27 Before beings come together there is no suffering, but only well-being; at the separation of all things, however, let him not grieve who abides in his own nature.

12.317.28 By firmness one should guard the loins and the belly, the hands and the feet by the eye, the eye and the ear by the mind, the mind by speech, and speech by knowledge.

12.317.29 Withdrawing affection from both the familiar and the stranger, he who moves through the world unpuffed by pride — he is happy, and he is wise.

12.317.30 Seated and rejoicing in the inner Self, free of expectation, free of craving, he who goes through the world with the Self alone for his companion becomes happy.

12.318.1 Nārada said: When the reversal of happiness and sorrow comes to pass, neither wisdom, nor sound policy, nor manly effort can save a man from it.

12.318.2 By his very nature a man should persist in effort, for the diligent man does not sink down; from old age, death, and disease he should rescue the self that is dear to him.

12.318.3 For diseases, of the body and of the mind, torment the bodies of men like sharp-pointed arrows loosed by mighty bowmen.

12.318.4 The body of the sick man — anxious in his cravings, trembling, longing to live yet helpless — is dragged away to its destruction.

12.318.5 The nights and days flow on and never return, like the currents of rivers, bearing away the lifespan of mortals again and again.

12.318.6 This unceasing alternation of the bright and the dark fortnights ages the mortal who is born, and does not pause even for the blink of an eye.

12.318.7 That sun, ageless yet aging the joys and sorrows of beings, goes down to its setting and rises again, again and again.

12.318.8 Taking up the never-before-seen, unsuspected conditions of men — the welcome and the unwelcome alike — the nights pass on to their setting.

12.318.9 Whatever a man might wish, according to his desire, that very thing among objects of longing he would attain — if only the fruit of a man's action were not subject to another power.

12.318.10 For men who are self-controlled, capable, and wise are seen to come to nothing, deprived of the fruit of their own labors.

12.318.11 While others, foolish, devoid of merit, the basest of men, though joined to no blessings, are seen to have every desire fulfilled.

12.318.12 Yet another, ever bent upon doing harm to creatures and upon deceiving the world, grows old amid nothing but pleasures.

12.318.13 Upon one man, idle and sitting still, Fortune comes to wait; while another, for all his pursuit of action, does not attain what he seeks.

12.318.14 Declare, then, what the fault of a man is, given his own nature: the seed conceived in one place goes again to another.

12.318.15 When that seed has lodged in the womb, an embryo may form or may not; its failure to develop is found to be like the falling of the mango's blossom.

12.318.16 For some who long for sons, who desire continuance of their line and strive with all their power for success, no fertile seed comes to be at all.

12.318.17 And for those who recoil from offspring as from an enraged venomous serpent, a long-lived son is nonetheless born — how is it that the father himself becomes, in him, but a ghost made manifest?

12.318.18 Having worshipped the gods and performed austerities, by wretched men greedy for sons, and borne in the womb ten months — there are born defilers of the family.

12.318.19 Others are born to wealth and grain and enjoyments amassed by their fathers in abundance, obtained through those very auspicious rites.

12.318.20 When two come together, drawn to one another in the union of intercourse, the embryo enters the womb as though it were a calamity taking possession.

12.318.21 Worn away within another's body, stripped of its skin, the embodied thing — amid the obstruction of the living creature's breath, a stirring of flesh and phlegm —

12.318.22 scorched by another's body, itself a wavering further body, perishing at the term of its perishing, like one boat made fast to another.

12.318.23 A drop of seed, lifeless, set by chance within the belly — by what striving do you behold it here as a living embryo?

12.318.24 In that very belly where food and drink are digested and what is eaten is consumed — why is the embryo not digested like food?

12.318.25 The course of the embryo, of urine, and of excrement is fixed by their own nature; in their retention or their release, the agent has no power.

12.318.26 For some embryos flow out from the belly even as they are being born; and of others the destruction comes about along with their very coming-to-be.

12.318.27 He who escapes alive from this entanglement of the womb, and gains some offspring, sinks once more into the play of opposites.

12.318.28 Of a hundred born together, some reach the seventieth and some the hundredth stage of life — yet of these, five do not attain a hundred years.

12.318.29 There are, beyond doubt, no fixed means by which men may rise up again; they are churned and crushed by diseases, as small beasts by serpents.

12.318.30 For those devoured by diseases, who give up vast wealth, the physicians, for all their striving, cannot draw off the pain.

12.318.31 And even those skilled physicians, expert and well-stocked with remedies, are themselves dragged off by diseases, like deer harried by hunters.

12.318.32 They too, drinking decoctions and clarified butters of many kinds, are seen broken by old age, like elephants overthrown by mightier elephants.

12.318.33 And who on earth tends the beasts and birds afflicted by disease, the wild creatures and the destitute? Yet for the most part they are not so tormented.

12.318.34 Even kings, terrible, unassailable, and of fierce splendor, disease overpowers and carries off, as a herdsman takes his cattle.

12.318.35 So is this world, none coming to its aid, overwhelmed by delusion and grief, hurled all at once into the current and swept away by that mightier force.

12.318.36 Not by wealth, nor by kingdom, nor by fierce austerity, do those innate natures, appointed to embodied beings, ever be set aside.

12.318.37 They would not die, they would not grow old, all would have every desire fulfilled, and none would meet with anything unwelcome as the fruit of their striving — were it otherwise.

12.318.38 Higher and ever higher above the world each man wishes to be, and strives to the limit of his power — and yet it does not come to pass so.

12.318.39 And upon men drunk with the intoxication of power, and drunk with the intoxication of liquor, the vigilant, the crafty, the cruel, the bold dance attendance — biding their time.

12.318.40 For some, troubles turn back unforeseen of their own accord; while for others, strive as they will, nothing whatever is attained.

12.318.41 And a great disparity of reward is seen in the conjunctions of action: some bear the palanquin, while others ride within it.

12.318.42 Though all alike long for prosperity, some go forth with chariots leading the way; and there are men with a hundred wives, and women widowed by the hundred.

12.318.43 Among beings that take their delight in the pairs of opposites, men go their way one by one, each alone; behold now this other, higher truth — do not give yourself over to delusion.

12.318.44 Renounce both righteousness and unrighteousness, renounce both truth and falsehood; and having renounced both truth and falsehood, renounce that by which you renounce.

12.318.45 This supreme secret has been declared to you, O best of seers — that by which the gods, abandoning the world of mortals, went to heaven.

12.318.46 Bhīṣma said: Having heard the words of Nārada, Śuka, supreme in wisdom and steadfast, pondered them in his mind, yet could not arrive at a settled resolve.

12.318.47 "In sons and wives there is great affliction, in the recitation of sacred lore great toil — what then might be the everlasting abode, of little affliction and great fruition?"

12.318.48 Then, pondering for a moment, he who knew the higher and the lower of righteousness fixed upon the goal determined for himself — the supreme path that leads to highest beatitude.

12.318.49 How then, untainted, might I reach the supreme goal, so that I never again return into the ocean of birth and transmigration?

12.318.50 For I long for that highest state from which there is no returning, abandoning all attachments and the resolute course of the mind.

12.318.51 There I shall go, where my self will attain peace, where, imperishable and undecaying, I shall abide everlasting.

12.318.52 But that supreme goal cannot be reached without yoga, for no bondage through deeds can befall the one who is liberated.

12.318.53 Therefore, taking my stand in yoga and casting off this dwelling that is the body, becoming wind itself I shall enter the mass of radiance, the sun, maker of day.

12.318.54 For this does not meet with the waning that the moon, Soma, suffers among the host of gods: shaken, it falls toward the earth and rises up again, for Soma ever wanes and is filled full once more.

12.318.55 The sun, however, scorches the worlds with its fierce rays and draws in radiance from every side, its orb forever undiminished.

12.318.56 Therefore it pleases me to go to the Āditya of blazing splendor; there I shall dwell, unassailable, with an inner self free of all attachment.

12.318.57 And in the abode of Sūrya I shall lay down this body and, together with the seers, pass into the solar radiance that none can scarcely bear.

12.318.58 I take my leave of the trees and the serpents, of the mountains, the earth, the quarters and the sky, of the gods, the Dānavas and Gandharvas, of Piśācas, Uragas, and Rākṣasas.

12.318.59 Free of doubt, I shall enter into all beings throughout the worlds; let all the gods, together with the seers, behold the power of my yoga.

12.318.60 Then, asking leave of that seer Nārada, renowned throughout the worlds, and having received his leave, he went toward his father.

12.318.61 Saluting the great-souled seer, the sage Dvaipāyana, and circling Kṛṣṇa reverently, the sage Śuka took his leave of him.

12.318.62 Hearing those words of Śuka, the great-souled seer, well pleased, spoke to him once more: "O my son, my son, stay yet this one day, so that I may gladden my eyes for your sake."

12.318.63 But Śuka, become indifferent, free of affection, his bonds undone, fixing his thought on liberation alone, set his mind on departure; and that best of the twice-born, taking leave of his father, went his way.

12.319.1 Bhīṣma said: Ascending the mountain's ridge, O descendant of Bharata, the son of Vyāsa sat down in a level and secluded spot, wholly free of thorns and distractions.

12.319.2 And that great sage, skilled in the graded discipline, held his self in restraint according to the scriptures, fixing it limb by limb, beginning from the feet, in due order.

12.319.3 Then the learned one, facing east while the sun had risen but a little while, composing hands and feet, sat down with humble bearing.

12.319.4 There where the wise son of Vyāsa set himself to enter into yoga, there was no flock of birds, no sound, and nothing to be seen.

12.319.5 He then beheld his own self released from every attachment; and gazing upon the sun, Śuka broke into laughter.

12.319.6 Again taking his stand in yoga to win the path of liberation, and becoming a great lord of yogins, he soared up into the sky.

12.319.7 Then, circling reverently the divine seer Nārada, he made known his yoga to that supreme seer.

12.319.8 "The path is seen, and I have set forth. May it be well with you, O treasury of austerity. By your grace I shall go, O greatly resplendent one, to the goal I desire."

12.319.9 Granted leave by Nārada, the son of Dvaipāyana then, saluting him, took his stand once more in yoga and entered the sky.

12.319.10 Springing up from the ridge of Kailāsa, he then flew into the heavens, the glorious son of Vyāsa, mover through the firmament, wholly resolved.

12.319.11 As that best of the twice-born rose up, splendid as the son of Vinatā and swift as mind and wind, all beings beheld him.

12.319.12 By his resolve contemplating all the three worlds entire, he held to the divine course, his radiance equal to fire and sun.

12.319.13 All beings, both the moving and the unmoving, beheld him as he went, single of mind, untroubled, and fearing nothing from any quarter.

12.319.14 Then, each as best they could and as was fitting, they worshipped him; and the dwellers of heaven covered him with showers of divine flowers.

12.319.15 Beholding him, all the hosts of Gandharvas and Apsarases were amazed, and the seers who had attained perfection fell into utter wonder.

12.319.16 "Who is this that travels the firmament, come to perfection through austerity, his body downward and his face turned up, borne onward by the eyes of all?"

12.319.17 Then that supremely steadfast one, renowned throughout the three worlds, gazing upon the sun, went onward facing east with speech restrained, as though filling the whole of space with sound on every side.

12.319.18 Seeing him suddenly approaching, all the hosts of Apsarases, O king, were bewildered in mind and seized with the greatest wonder—Pañcacūḍā and the rest, their eyes opened wide.

12.319.19 "Which deity is this, set upon the highest goal, who comes here so wholly resolved, like one liberated and without desire?"

12.319.20 Then he passed beyond the mountain named Malaya, which Urvaśī and Pūrvacitti ever frequent; and they came to the utmost wonder at the son of the brahman-seer.

12.319.21 "Ah, the steadiness of mind in this brahman devoted to the study of the Vedas! In so short a time he ranges the sky like the moon. Through obedient service to his father he has attained perfection beyond compare."

12.319.22 "Devoted to his father, firm in austerity, a son most dear to his father—how was he forsaken by that father whose mind was set on nothing else?"

12.319.23 Hearing the words of Urvaśī, Śuka, supreme knower of dharma, looked out upon all the quarters, his mind intent upon their speech.

12.319.24 He gazed then upon the firmament and the earth with its mountains, woods, and forests, and likewise upon the lakes and the rivers.

12.319.25 Then all the deities, their palms joined in reverence, gazed upon the son of Dvaipāyana with the highest honor.

12.319.26 Then Śuka, supreme knower of dharma, spoke these words to them: "If my father should come after me, crying out 'Śuka! Śuka!'—

12.319.27 "then an answer should be given by all of you, with one accord. Out of affection for me, may you all see fit to do as I say."

12.319.28 Hearing the words of Śuka, the quarters with their groves and forests, the oceans, the rivers, and the mountains answered him from every side:

12.319.29 "As you command, O brahman, so verily shall it be. When the seer utters his words, we shall make answer."

12.320.1 Bhīṣma said: Having spoken these words, the brahman-seer Śuka of mighty austerity set forth to perfection, leaving behind the fourfold worlds.

12.320.2 Casting off the eightfold darkness and forsaking the fivefold passion, the wise one then forsook even goodness; and it was as if a marvel.

12.320.3 Then in that eternal state, free of the qualities and bereft of all mark, in Brahman he stood firm, blazing like a smokeless fire.

12.320.4 Falling meteors, burnings of the quarters, and earthquakes too broke forth in that instant; and it was as if a marvel.

12.320.5 The trees let fall their branches and the mountains their peaks, and Himavān, with the sound of thunderclaps, seemed as though it were splitting apart.

12.320.6 The thousand-rayed sun shone no more, and the fire blazed no more; the pools and the rivers, and the oceans likewise, were thrown into turmoil.

12.320.7 Vāsava rained down water savory and sweet of scent, and the wind too blew, pure and bearing the fragrance of heaven.

12.320.8 There were two peerless, divine peaks, born of Himavān and Meru, joined together, the one white and the other golden, made of silver and of gold, both fair—

12.320.9 a hundred yojanas in breadth, across and upward, O descendant of Bharata; and resting toward the northern quarter, those two resplendent peaks he beheld.

12.320.10 With a mind free of all hesitation Śuka flew straight at them; whereupon the two mountain peaks, O great king, all at once appeared cleft in twain; and it was as if a marvel.

12.320.11 Then he passed out from between the two mountain peaks all at once, and that best of mountains did not hinder his passage.

12.320.12 Then a great cry arose in heaven from all the dwellers of the sky, from the Gandharvas and the seers, and from those who dwell upon the mountains.

12.320.13 Beholding Śuka passed beyond and the mountain cleft in twain, there arose on every side the cry "Well done! Well done!", O descendant of Bharata.

12.320.14 He was honored by the gods and the Gandharvas and the seers, and by the hosts of Yakṣas and Rākṣasas and the throngs of Vidyādharas.

12.320.15 The firmament was strewn on every side with divine flowers, O great king, at the soaring of Śuka in that hour.

12.320.16 Then, passing above the lovely Mandākinī, the righteous Śuka beheld it with its forests of trees in flower.

12.320.17 In its waters the hosts of Apsarases sport with delight and bathe; unclothed, and themselves heedless of form, they beheld Śuka who was empty of all form.

12.320.18 Aware that he was departing, his father, filled with affection, took to the highest course and followed after him from behind.

12.320.19 But Śuka, having made his course through the firmament swifter than the wind and shown forth his own power, then became one with all beings.

12.320.20 And Vyāsa of great austerity, rising up by the foremost course of mighty yoga, in the mere space between two blinks went after Śuka's flight.

12.320.21 He beheld where Śuka had passed, having cleft the mountain's summit in twain; and the seers then recounted to him that deed of his son.

12.320.22 Then "Śuka!" with a long and trained call was the cry his father himself raised aloud, his voice resounding through the three worlds.

12.320.23 Śuka, become all-pervading, the self of all, facing every way, the righteous one answered back, making all resound with the sound "Bhoḥ!"

12.320.24 Then, sounding forth the single-syllabled cry "Bhoḥ!", the whole world, moving and unmoving, gave it back aloud.

12.320.25 And from that time even to this day, in the caverns and ridges of the mountains, sounds severally uttered have echoed back in answer to "Śuka."

12.320.26 But having shown forth his power, Śuka then vanished from sight, and forsaking the qualities, sound and the rest, he attained the supreme state.

12.320.27 But beholding that greatness of his son of boundless splendor, he sat down upon the mountain's tableland, brooding upon his son alone.

12.320.28 Then the hosts of Apsarases, sporting on the bank of the Mandākinī, all came upon that seer and were bewildered, their senses fled.

12.320.29 Some hid themselves in the water, some took refuge in the thickets, and some, beholding that best of sages, snatched up their garments.

12.320.30 But the sage, perceiving that liberation of his son and his own attachment, was at once gladdened and ashamed.

12.320.31 To him, surrounded by gods and Gandharvas and honored by the hosts of great seers, came the blessed Śaṃkara, the Pināka in his hand.

12.320.32 To Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, then scorched with grief for his son, Mahādeva spoke these words, with consolation foremost:

12.320.33 "A son equal in power to fire, to earth, to the waters, to wind, and to the firmament itself you once asked of me long ago.

12.320.34 "Such, marked with those very signs, was the son born to you, nurtured by your austerity and by my power—pure, made wholly of the splendor of Brahman.

12.320.35 "He has attained the supreme goal, hard to win even for the gods whose senses are unconquered, O brahman-seer. Why then do you grieve for him?

12.320.36 "As long as the mountains shall stand, as long as the oceans shall endure, so long shall your fame, together with your son's, remain imperishable."

12.320.37 A shadow resembling your own son, never departing from you on any side, you shall behold always in this world, O great sage, by my grace.

12.320.38 Thus consoled by the blessed Lord Rudra himself, O descendant of Bharata, that sage, beholding the shadow, returned home with the highest joy.

12.320.39 Thus the birth and the destiny of Śuka, O bull of the Bhāratas, have I recounted to you in full, even as you questioned me.

12.320.40 This the divine seer Nārada related to me of old, O king, and so too the great yogin Vyāsa, again and again in our converse.

12.320.41 Whoever, devoted to inward peace, holds fast to this holy narrative, fraught with the law and aim of liberation, attains the supreme goal.

12.321.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: A householder, a student of sacred lore, a forest-dweller, or a mendicant — whoever should desire to attain perfection, which deity is he to worship?

12.321.2 Whence comes to him an enduring heaven, whence the highest beatitude? By what rite should he make oblation to the gods and likewise to the fathers?

12.321.3 To what goal does the liberated man go, and of what nature is liberation itself? And one who has reached heaven, what should he do so that he does not fall from that realm?

12.321.4 Who is the god of the gods, and who the father of the fathers, and what is higher still than these — that tell me, O grandsire.

12.321.5 Bhīṣma said: A hidden question you put to me here, O sinless one, you who know how to question; for this cannot be answered by reasoning, not even in a hundred years.

12.321.6 Save by the grace of the god, O king, or by the coming of true knowledge — for profound is this teaching that must be expounded to you, O scourge of foes.

12.321.7 On this point too they relate an ancient tale: the colloquy of Nārada and of the seer Nārāyaṇa.

12.321.8 For Nārāyaṇa, the Self of all, fourfold in form, eternal, came to be born as the son of Dharma — thus did my father declare to me.

12.321.9 In the Kṛta age of old, O great king, in the epoch of Svāyaṃbhuva, there were Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and Hari and Kṛṣṇa as well.

12.321.10 Of these, the imperishable Nara and Nārāyaṇa practised austerity, having reached the hermitage of Badarī, seated in a chariot wrought of gold.

12.321.11 Eight-wheeled was that conveyance, yoked with living powers and delightful; there those two primordial lords of the worlds sat, lean, their veins standing forth.

12.321.12 By their austerity and their splendour hard to look upon even for the gods — he upon whom the two bestow their grace is fit to behold those divinities.

12.321.13 Surely by their leave, urged in his heart by the longing that dwells in the heart, Nārada slipped from the peak of the great mountain Meru toward Gandhamādana.

12.321.14 Nārada, that mighty being, who had ranged through all the worlds, came swift as the wind to that region, O king, the hermitage of Badarī.

12.321.15 At the hour of their daily rites a wonder arose in him: This is the whole foundation upon which the worlds are established.

12.321.16 With its gods, asuras, and gandharvas, with its seers, kiṃnaras, and serpents — this was at first a single form, then became fourfold.

12.321.17 The great lineage of Dharma has been increased by these. Ah, today is Dharma graced here by these gods — by Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and by Kṛṣṇa and Hari likewise.

12.321.18 There Kṛṣṇa and Hari, abiding upon some other occasion, intent upon righteousness, were thus established in austerity.

12.321.19 These two are the supreme abode — what then is their daily rite? Fathers of all beings, themselves divine and glorious, what deity do these two of great mind worship, or what fathers?

12.321.20 Reflecting thus in his mind, through devotion to Nārāyaṇa, he at once appeared near the two gods at that moment.

12.321.21 When the rites to the gods and to the fathers had been performed, he was then beheld by the two and honoured with the rite as prescribed by scripture.

12.321.22 Beholding that great marvel, that unprecedented fullness of ritual, the blessed seer Nārada, well pleased, took his seat beside them.

12.321.23 Gazing upon Nārāyaṇa with a serene inmost soul, having bowed to the Great God, he spoke these words.

12.321.24 In the Vedas together with the Purāṇas, with their limbs and sub-limbs, you are sung: you the unborn, the eternal, the ordainer, held to be the imperishable beyond which there is none higher; in you stands all that has been and is to be, this whole world.

12.321.25 The four orders of life, O god, all rooted in the householder's state, worship you day after day, you who abide established in manifold forms.

12.321.26 Father and mother and eternal teacher of the whole world are you — yet whom do you today worship as god, and whom as father? We do not know.

12.321.27 The blessed Lord said: This is the unspeakable that must be spoken, the eternal mystery of the Self; yet to you who are full of devotion, O brāhmaṇa, I shall declare it as it truly is.

12.321.28 That which is subtle, unknowable, unmanifest, unmoving, abiding, devoid of the senses and the objects of the senses and of all elements —

12.321.29 That is the inner Self of beings, and it is called the Knower of the Field; transcending the three strands, it is conceived as the Spirit. From it arose the Unmanifest, made of the three strands, O best of the twice-born.

12.321.30 The Unmanifest, abiding in the state of the manifest, that is imperishable Nature; know her to be the womb of us two — and that which is of the nature of being and non-being is worshipped by us both in the rites ordained for gods and for fathers.

12.321.31 There is no other higher than That, no father or god, O brāhmaṇa; that is to be known as the very Self of us two, and therefore we worship it.

12.321.32 By That, O brāhmaṇa, has this bound been laid down, that shapes the worlds: the rite to the gods and to the fathers is to be performed — such is its ordinance.

12.321.33 Brahmā, Sthāṇu, Manu, Dakṣa, Bhṛgu, Dharma, Tapas, Dama, Marīci, Aṅgiras and Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu,

12.321.34 Vasiṣṭha and Parameṣṭhin, Vivasvat and Soma, he who is called Kardama, and Krodha and Vikrīta —

12.321.35 twenty-one in number arose, and these are remembered as the Lords of Creatures; they honour the eternal bound of that god.

12.321.36 Knowing truly the rites to the gods and to the fathers as ever belonging to That, the best of the twice-born thereby come to know the things that are attained within the Self.

12.321.37 Whatever embodied beings, even those dwelling in heaven, bow down to That, they by its grace go to the goal whose fruit has been appointed by it.

12.321.38 Those who are freed of the seventeen attributes and of works as well, and have cast off the fifteen parts — these, it is determined, are the liberated.

12.321.39 But the goal of the liberated, O brāhmaṇa, is conceived as the Knower of the Field; for he is declared to be all-pervading and devoid of attributes.

12.321.40 He is seen through the discipline of knowledge, and from him we two have issued forth; so, having known that Self, we worship the Eternal.

12.321.41 Him the Vedas and the orders of life, abiding in their manifold forms, worship with devotion as the Primeval One, and he grants them their goal.

12.321.42 But those who, filled with the thought of That, have taken their stand in single-minded devotion — this is the surpassing portion of theirs: that they indeed enter into Him.

12.321.43 Thus the exposition of the mystery has been declared to you, Nārada; through devotion and love, O sage among brāhmaṇas, and through your devotion to us, you have heard it.

12.322.1 Bhīṣma said: Thus addressed by Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Person, that noblest of two-footed beings spoke this word to Nārāyaṇa, the noblest of two-footed beings, the dwelling-place of the welfare of the worlds:

12.322.2 For whatever purpose, O self-originated one, your supreme fourfold birth has come to be here in the house of Dharma — let that be accomplished today for the good of the worlds. I go to behold your primal Nature.

12.322.3 The Vedas I have well studied, O Lord of the worlds; austerity I have practised; never before have I spoken falsehood; I render worship to my teachers without ceasing, and never before have I betrayed another's secret.

12.322.4 The four are guarded by me according to scripture; toward foe and friend I am ever the same; taking refuge unceasingly in that Primal God, I choose Him without ceasing in single-minded spirit. With my being made wholly pure by these excellences, why should I not behold the infinite Lord?

12.322.5 Hearing that word of the son of the Supreme One, Nārāyaṇa, the guardian of the Sātvata law, having honoured Nārada with the rites prescribed for himself, said to him, "Go."

12.322.6 Then, dismissed, the son of the Supreme One, having reverenced that ancient seer, sprang up into the sky with the highest speed, and thereupon swiftly came to rest upon Meru's height.

12.322.7 And there the sage halted for a moment, having gained a solitary spot upon the mountain's peak; gazing toward the northwest, he beheld a region endowed with a most wondrous form.

12.322.8 To the north of the Ocean of Milk lies an island, vast, renowned by the name of Śveta, the White; thirty-two thousand leagues beyond Meru it is reckoned by the wise.

12.322.9 There the men are beyond the senses, without need of food, free of all motionlessness, and most fragrant — white men, with all sin departed, who rob the very sight of evil-doing men.

12.322.10 Their bodies are of adamantine bone, equal in measure and proportion, of celestial lineage and form, endowed with auspicious strength; their heads shaped like parasols, their voices like a mass of thunderclouds, with four fair lotus-marks, and a hundred lotuses upon their feet.

12.322.11 Furnished with sixty white teeth and with eight tusks, they are such as lick on every side, with their tongues, a face that shines like the sun.

12.322.12 With devotion they worship the god, the source of all, from whom all the worlds are brought forth; the Vedas, the laws, the tranquil sages, and all the gods are his emanations.

12.322.13 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Beyond the senses, without food, unmoving, fragrant — how were these men born, and what is their highest goal?

12.322.14 This indeed is the mark of those men who become liberated here, O best of the Bhāratas — the mark of the dwellers of Śvetadvīpa.

12.322.15 Therefore cut away my doubt, for great is my curiosity; for you are the pleasure-garden of all tales, and upon you we have taken our stand.

12.322.16 Bhīṣma said: This is a far-reaching tale, O king, heard by me in my father's presence; and it must be told to you, for it is remembered as the very essence of narratives.

12.322.17 There was a sovereign of the earth named Uparicara, a renowned friend of Indra the Cleaver, devoted to Nārāyaṇa Hari.

12.322.18 Righteous, ever devout, and unwearied in his constant service to the fathers, he had obtained imperial sway of old through a boon of Nārāyaṇa.

12.322.19 Following the Sātvata rite, which issued forth of old from the mouth of the Sun, he worshipped the Lord of the gods, and with the remnant of that worship he honoured his forefathers.

12.322.20 And with what remained from the fathers he shared among the brāhmaṇas and among his dependants; eating only the leavings, devoted to truth, harming no creature, he worshipped with his whole being the God of gods, Janārdana.

12.322.21 As he bore this devotion to Nārāyaṇa, O harrier of foes, Śakra the king of the gods himself granted him a shared couch and seat.

12.322.22 Himself, his kingdom and his wealth, his wife and his mounts — all this is the blessed Lord's: thus was it ever regarded by him.

12.322.23 The voluntary, the occasional, and the perpetual sacrificial acts, the highest rites — all of them he performed with collected mind, following the Sātvata ordinance.

12.322.24 The foremost knowers of the Pañcarātra in the house of that great-souled king observed the discipline taught by the Lord and partook of the first-offered food.

12.322.25 While that slayer of foes ruled his kingdom by righteousness, no false word arose from him, nor did his mind grow corrupt, nor did he commit by his body any sin, not even the most minute.

12.322.26 Those seven sages renowned as the Citraśikhaṇḍins — being of one mind, they proclaimed the supreme scripture.

12.322.27 Marīci, Atri, and Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasiṣṭha of great splendour — these are the Citraśikhaṇḍins.

12.322.28 These are the seven primary principles, and Svāyaṃbhuva is the eighth; by these the world is upheld, and from them the scripture has issued forth.

12.322.29 Single-minded, self-controlled, the sages delighting in restraint — "This is the good, this is the Absolute, this is the highest welfare" — pondering the worlds in their minds, they then composed the scripture.

12.322.30 Therein righteousness, gain, and desire, and liberation thereafter, are proclaimed; and manifold bounds besides, established in heaven and upon earth.

12.322.31 Having propitiated by austerity the god Hari Nārāyaṇa, the Lord, for a thousand celestial years, all of them together with the seers —

12.322.32 then the goddess Sarasvatī, instructed by Nārāyaṇa, entered into all those seers, out of desire for the welfare of the worlds.

12.322.33 Then this teaching was rightly set in motion by the twice-born who knew austerity, perfect in word, in meaning, and in reasoning—born of the first creation.

12.322.34 At the very beginning that scripture, adorned with the sound of Oṃ, was meditated upon by the seers in that place where the Compassionate One dwells.

12.322.35 Then the Blessed One, well pleased, his body undisclosed, unseen, the Supreme Person, spoke to all those seers.

12.322.36 This supreme work of a hundred thousand verses has been composed, from which proceeds the dharma of the whole order of the world.

12.322.37 This shall be the source of both engagement and renunciation, honored by the Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāman, and by the Atharva-Āṅgirasa hymns as well.

12.322.38 As it is authoritative, so too by me was Brahmā made, born of my grace, and Rudra, born of my wrath, O brahmins, and you yourselves as the primal natures.

12.322.39 The sun and moon, the wind, the earth, the waters, and fire too, and all the hosts of stars, and whatever is named as a created being—

12.322.40 all abide within their offices, each according to its own; and as the expounders of Brahman are each authoritative, so is this supreme scripture.

12.322.41 This my teaching shall be authoritative, and from it Manu, the self-existent one's son, shall himself proclaim the dharmas.

12.322.42 And when Uśanas and Bṛhaspati shall come into being, then they shall expound the scripture drawn forth from your own minds.

12.322.43 When the dharmas of Svāyaṃbhuva, the scripture composed by Uśanas, and the doctrine of Bṛhaspati have been pondered throughout the worlds,

12.322.44 this scripture, made by you, shall the protector of his people, Vasu, then receive from Bṛhaspati, O best of the twice-born.

12.322.45 For that king shall be devoted in thought to me and shall be my worshipper, and by that scripture he shall perform all rites throughout the worlds.

12.322.46 For this, of all scriptures, is the one named supreme; this is rich in meaning, conformable to dharma, and conducive to glory—this is the highest.

12.322.47 And by setting this in motion you shall be blessed with offspring, and that king, the great Vasu, shall be endowed with majesty.

12.322.48 But when that king has passed away, this eternal scripture shall vanish from sight. This is the truth I have declared to you.

12.322.49 Having spoken these words, the unseen Supreme Person dismissed all those seers and departed for some quarter unknown.

12.322.50 Then those fathers of the world, who meditate on the welfare of all worlds, set in motion that eternal scripture, the womb of dharma.

12.322.51 And when the son of Aṅgiras had come to be, in the first-ordained age, they established the scripture, with its limbs and Upaniṣads, in Bṛhaspati,

12.322.52 and went, resolved upon austerity, to the region of their desire—they who sustain all the worlds and set in motion all the dharmas.

12.323.1 Bhīṣma said: Then, when the great aeon had passed and the son of Aṅgiras had been born, the gods were content, for the chaplain of the gods had come into being.

12.323.2 "Vast," "Brahman," "great"—these are words that signify the same; endowed with these qualities, O king, was the learned Bṛhaspati.

12.323.3 His foremost pupil was the king Uparicara Vasu, who then studied thoroughly the scripture born of the Citraśikhaṇḍins.

12.323.4 That king Vasu, ordained beforehand by divine decree, ruled the earth as Indra, the Render-asunder, rules heaven.

12.323.5 That great-souled king held a great sacrifice, a horse-sacrifice, and Bṛhaspati, his preceptor, served there as the hotṛ priest.

12.323.6 And there the three sons of Prajāpati were the assessors—Ekata, Dvita, and Trita, those great seers.

12.323.7 Dhanuṣākṣa and Raibhya, Arvāvasu and Parāvasu, the seer Medhātithi too, and Tāṇḍya, the great seer,

12.323.8 the illustrious seer Śakti, and he who was Vedaśiras, and Kapila, best of seers, grandsire of Śālihotra,

12.323.9 the first Kaṭha, and Taittiri, the forerunner of Vaiśaṃpāyana, Kaṇva, and Devahotra—these sixteen are renowned. All the appurtenances were gathered, O king, for that great rite.

12.323.10 There was no slaying of any animal there; the king stood firm in this way—free of harm, pure, free of meanness, free of craving, lauded for his deeds—and the shares were apportioned there as chanted in the verses of the Āraṇyaka.

12.323.11 Then the Blessed One, the ancient God of gods, well pleased with him, showed himself to him in person, though he was unseen by any other.

12.323.12 He himself, smelling the share, took up the sacrificial cake; by the unseen God, whose intent is Hari, the share was carried off.

12.323.13 Then Bṛhaspati, enraged, swiftly raised the ladle, and striking at the sky with blows of the ladle, in his fury he let his tears flow.

12.323.14 And he said to Uparicara: "This share offered up by me was taken by the God himself, before my very eyes—of this there is no doubt.

12.323.15 For when sacrificial shares are offered up, the gods receive them here in person; why then has the all-pervading Hari not granted his appearance here?"

12.323.16 Then the great lord of earth, Vasu, and all the assessors together, soothed that agitated sage.

12.323.17 And, unperturbed, they said to him: "You ought not to give way to anger; it is no part of dharma in the Kṛta age that you should have stirred up such wrath.

12.323.18 For that God, to whom this share was offered, is free of anger; he cannot be seen by you, nor by us, O Bṛhaspati. He upon whom He bestows His grace—he alone is worthy to behold Him."

12.323.19 Ekata, Dvita, and Trita said: "We are renowned as the mind-born sons of Brahmā; once, for the sake of the highest good, we journeyed to the northern quarter.

12.323.20 For four thousand years we practiced the highest austerity, standing perfectly upon one foot, motionless as logs, our minds composed,

12.323.21 in the northern part of Meru, along the shore of the Ocean of Milk—that region where we performed our most terrible austerity, thinking, 'How might we behold the God Nārāyaṇa?'

12.323.22 Then, at the final ablution of our vow, a bodiless voice spoke: 'Well practiced is your austerity, O brahmins, with an inmost self made serene.

12.323.23 You are seekers, devoted—how shall you behold that Lord? North of the Ocean of Milk lies the White Island of great splendor.

12.323.24 There dwell men devoted to Nārāyaṇa, radiant as the moon, who have attained single-minded devotion, worshippers of the Supreme Person.

12.323.25 They enter into the eternal God of a thousand rays—beyond the senses, taking no food, motionless, sweetly fragrant.

12.323.26 Those single-hearted men dwell on the White Island; go there, O sages, for there my Self is made manifest.'

12.323.27 Then, having all heard that bodiless voice, we made our way to that region by the path that had been told.

12.323.28 Reaching the great White Island, our hearts set upon Him, longing to behold Him—then the very range of our sight was struck back.

12.323.29 And we could not see the Person, our vision carried off by His radiance; then there arose in us a knowledge born of union with the God.

12.323.30 Truly He cannot readily be beheld by one whose austerity is unperformed; so once more we practiced for a hundred years a great austerity suited to the hour.

12.323.31 At the close of our vow we beheld men most fair, white, resembling the moon, marked with every auspicious sign,

12.323.32 with hands ever folded, murmuring Brahman, facing the east and north. That muttered prayer, called the Mental, is murmured by those great-souled ones, and by that single-mindedness of theirs Hari is well pleased.

12.323.33 What the radiance of the sun would be at the dissolution of an age, O tiger among sages, such was the splendor of each single one of those men.

12.323.34 'That island is the abode of splendor,' so indeed we deemed; none there was greater than another, for all were equal in their radiance.

12.323.35 Then suddenly we beheld, O Bṛhaspati, the splendor of a thousand suns risen all at once, once again.

12.323.36 And those men ran swiftly forward together, their hands folded in cupped reverence, rejoicing, crying out only, 'Homage!'

12.323.37 Then, as they uttered their praise, we heard a vast sound; an offering, it seemed, was being presented to that God by those men.

12.323.38 But we, our minds suddenly carried away by His radiance, could see nothing at all, our sight, strength, and senses borne away.

12.323.39 But one sound, unceasing, we heard uttered: 'Victory to You, lotus-eyed One! Homage to You, maker of the universe!

12.323.40 Homage be to You, Hṛṣīkeśa, firstborn of the great Person!'—such was the sound we heard, sounded forth in the syllables of correct articulation.

12.323.41 In that interval a pure wind, bearing every fragrance, wafted divine flowers and herbs fit for the rite.

12.323.42 By those single-hearted men, knowers of the five sacred times, Hari was worshipped; surely the God had come there, as their utterance declared—yet we did not see Him, bewildered by His māyā.

12.323.43 And when the wind had ceased and the offering had been made, we became troubled in mind with anxious thought, O best of the Āṅgirasas.

12.323.44 Among those thousands of men of pure birth, not one honored us with so much as a thought or a glance.

12.323.45 Those hosts of sages too, self-possessed, vowed to the one Being, set no regard upon us, abiding in the state of Brahman.

12.323.46 Then, as we were sorely wearied and wasted by our austerity, some being there, abiding in the sky, bodiless, addressed us:

12.323.47 'You have seen the white men, devoid of all sensory cravings; when these have been seen, the Lord of gods is seen, O best of the twice-born.

12.323.48 Go, all you sages, soon and the way you came; that God can in no way be seen by one without devotion.

12.323.49 In the fullness of a long time, by those who have attained single-heartedness, that Blessed One may indeed be seen—He who is hard to behold for His orb of radiance.

12.323.50 But a great task is to be accomplished by you, O best of the twice-born, when this Kṛta age has passed and the reversal of things has come.

12.323.51 In the age of Vaivasvata, O brahmins, when the Tretā age has come, you shall be helpers for accomplishing the task of the gods.'

12.323.52 Then, having heard that wondrous speech, O drinker of soma, by His grace we readily reached the region of our desire.

12.323.53 Thus, even with our high austerity and with offerings to gods and ancestors, that God was not seen by us; how then could you be fit to see Him? Nārāyaṇa is the great Being, the maker of the universe, the eater of oblations to gods and ancestors."

12.323.54 Bhīṣma said: Thus, conciliated by the speech of Ekata and by the counsel of Dvita and Trita, and by the assessors, the noble-minded Bṛhaspati then brought the sacrifice to completion and worshipped the deity.

12.323.55 His sacrifice ended, King Vasu too protected his people; but, fallen from heaven by a brahmin's curse, he thereafter entered the earth.

12.323.56 And though gone within the earth, ever cherishing dharma, becoming wholly devoted to Nārāyaṇa, he chanted the word of Nārāyaṇa.

12.323.57 And by His grace alone he rose up once more, and passing from the surface of the earth he went straightway to the abode of Brahmā, attaining the supreme goal—such, truly, was his final consummation.

12.324.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: When King Mahāvasu was a devotee of the Blessed One, why did he fall and enter a crevice of the earth?

12.324.2 Bhīṣma said: On this too they tell this ancient tale, the dispute between the seers and the gods, O descendant of Bharata.

12.324.3 "One must sacrifice with an aja," the gods told the best of the twice-born; "and by aja the goat is to be understood, no other beast"—such was their position.

12.324.4 The seers said: The Vedic revelation declares that one should sacrifice in the rites with seed-grains; the grains themselves are called 'aja' — therefore you ought not to slay a goat.

12.324.5 O gods, that is no dharma of the virtuous wherein a living creature is slain. This is the most excellent Kṛta age — how then should a beast be killed?

12.324.6 Bhīṣma said: While the seers were disputing thus with the gods, the foremost of kings, Vasu, came upon that place along his path — that glorious one who roamed the sky, with all his forces and chariots about him.

12.324.7 Seeing Vasu come suddenly, coursing through the air, the twice-born said to the gods: 'This one will resolve the doubt.'

12.324.8 'A performer of sacrifices, the foremost of lords of giving, devoted to the welfare of all beings — how could this great Vasu speak a word that is otherwise than true?'

12.324.9 Having thus made their agreement, the gods and the seers alike approached King Vasu at once and questioned him at close hand.

12.324.10 'Ho, King! With what should one sacrifice — with a goat, or rather with the herbs? Resolve this doubt of ours; you are held to be our authority.'

12.324.11 Vasu, joining his palms in reverence, questioned them in turn: 'Which view does each of you hold? Speak the truth, you who are assembled here.'

12.324.12 The seers said: 'That one should sacrifice with grains — this is our position, O ruler of men; but the gods' position favors the beast. Pronounce for us, O King.'

12.324.13 Bhīṣma said: Then Vasu, knowing the opinion of the gods and inclining to their side, spoke these words: 'One should sacrifice with a goat — with the aja.'

12.324.14 At this all those sages, radiant as the sun, grew angry and said to Vasu, seated upon his flying chariot, who had spoken in support of the gods' cause:

12.324.15 'Since you have taken the gods' side, therefore fall from heaven! From this day on, O King, your course through the sky is severed; struck by our curse, you shall cleave the earth and sink into it.'

12.324.16 Then in that very moment King Uparicara at once sank downward, the monarch passing into a cleft of the earth; yet by the command of Nārāyaṇa his memory did not desert him then.

12.324.17 But all the gods together, unperturbed, took thought for Vasu's release from the curse, for that deed of the king had been a meritorious one.

12.324.18 'On our account this great-souled king has incurred a curse. We dwellers in heaven must together render him a kindness in return.'

12.324.19 Having resolved thus in their minds and swiftly reached their decision, the lords, glad of heart, then said to King Uparicara:

12.324.20 'You are devoted to Hari, the god who befriends the brāhmaṇas, the teacher of gods and demons; well-pleased of soul, he may at will work your deliverance from the curse.'

12.324.21 'Yet honor must be shown to the high-souled twice-born; their austerity must inevitably bear its fruit, O best of kings.'

12.324.22 'Since you have fallen suddenly from the sky to the surface of the earth, this one favor we grant you, O most excellent of kings.'

12.324.23 'For as long a time as you must dwell through the fault of the curse, O sinless one, sunk in the cleft of the earth, for just so long you shall receive the well-offered stream of Vasu's draught, poured by the high-souled brāhmaṇas in their sacrifices.'

12.324.24 'By our favoring thought you shall obtain it; let no weariness touch you, nor hunger and thirst, O lord of kings, while you abide in the fissure of the earth.'

12.324.25 'Nourished by drinking the stream of Vasu and replenished in your splendor, that god, pleased by our boon, shall lead you to the world of Brahmā.'

12.324.26 Having thus granted the boon to the king, all the dwellers in heaven there — the gods and the seers rich in austerity — departed to their own abodes.

12.324.27 And ever, O descendant of Bharata, he paid worship to Viṣvaksena, and ceaselessly chanted the prayer that had issued from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa.

12.324.28 Even there, O subduer of foes, sunk in the cleft of the earth though he was, he worshipped Hari, the lord of the gods, with five sacrifices at the five appointed times.

12.324.29 Then the Lord Nārāyaṇa, Hari, was pleased by the devotion of that virtuous man — one whose devotion was undivided, who was wholly given to him, master of himself.

12.324.30 The Lord Viṣṇu, the granter of boons, spoke as if smiling to the foremost of the twice-born who stood near him — Garutmān of mighty speed:

12.324.31 'O best of the twice-born, greatly blessed one, go at my word: the sovereign king named Vasu, a soul devoted to dharma, has taken refuge in me.'

12.324.32 'By the wrath of the brāhmaṇas he entered the floor of the earth; yet those foremost of brāhmaṇas have been honored. Go now, O best of the twice-born.'

12.324.33 'O Garuḍa, by my command make that foremost of kings, hidden in the cleft of the earth and now moving below, a sky-rover once more — and do it without delay.'

12.324.34 Then Garutmān, swift as the wind, spreading wide his wings, entered the cleft of the earth where Vasu abode in restrained speech.

12.324.35 Then the son of Vinatā, lifting him up at once, sprang swiftly into the sky and there released him.

12.324.36 In that very moment King Uparicara came to be again, and that best of kings went, in his own body, to the world of Brahmā.

12.324.37 Thus, O son of Kuntī, even by him, that high-souled one, through a fault of speech and the curse of the brāhmaṇas, a destiny befitting one who offers no sacrifice was incurred — and reversed by the gods' command.

12.324.38 Solely because he had served the Supreme Person, Hari the Lord, he swiftly cast off the curse and attained the world of Brahmā.

12.324.39 All this I have related to you — how the mortals came to be. And how the seer Nārada too went to the White Island, all of that I shall now declare to you; listen with single mind, O King.

12.325.1 Bhīṣma said: Having reached the great White Island, the venerable seer Nārada beheld those very men — white, radiant as the moon, and fair.

12.325.2 He honored them with his bowed head and with his mind, and was honored by them in turn; longing for the vision, supremely given to silent prayer, bearing every austerity, he abode there.

12.325.3 With mind made single-pointed, the brāhmaṇa, that great sage, his arms upraised, chanted a hymn to the Universal One, the One free of qualities, the Great Soul.

12.325.4 Nārada said: Homage to you, God of gods [1], Actionless [2], Free of qualities [3], Witness of the worlds [4], Knower of the field [5], Endless [6], Spirit [7], Great Spirit [8], the One of three strands [9], Primordial nature [10], Deathless [11], Sky [12], Eternal [13], the Being and Non-being, Manifest and Unmanifest [14], whose dwelling is cosmic order [15], the First and Foremost god [16], Bestower of wealth [17], Lord of creatures [18], Best Lord of creatures [19], Lord of the woodland [20], Great Lord of creatures [21], Lord of vigor [22], Lord of speech [23], Lord of mind [24], Lord of the world [25], Lord of heaven [26], Lord of the Maruts [27], Lord of the waters [28], Lord of the earth [29], Lord of the quarters [30], the First-dwelling [31], Brahmā's chaplain [32], the Brahmā-bodied [33], the Great-bodied [34], the Mahārājika [35], the Fourfold-Mahārājika [36], the Radiant [37], the Greatly-radiant [38], the Sevenfold-greatly-radiant [39], the Yāmya [40], the Great Yāmya [41], the Named-and-Nameless [42], the Tuṣita [43], the Great Tuṣita [44], Pratardana [45], the Wholly-fashioned [46], the One whose will prevails [47], the Un-fashioned [48], Sacrifice [49], Great Sacrifice [50], Origin of sacrifice [51], Womb of sacrifice [52], Embryo of sacrifice [53], Heart of sacrifice [54], Praised in sacrifice [55], Receiver of the sacrificial portion [56], Upholder of the five sacrifices [57], Goal of those who perform the five rites at their times [58], the Pāñcarātrika [59], Vaikuṇṭha [60], Unconquered [61], the Mental One [62], Supreme Master [63], the Well-purified [64], the Swan [65], the Supreme Swan [66], the Supreme Sacrificer [67], Sāṃkhya-and-Yoga [68], the One who reposes in the deathless [69], the One who reposes in gold [70].

12.326.1 Bhīṣma said: Praised thus with secret and true names, that Lord, bearer of the universal form, revealed himself to the sage Nārada.

12.326.2 In part pure of self as the moon, in part surpassing even the moon; in part of the color of fire, and in part the Lord shaped like a blazing altar-hearth.

12.326.3 In part the color of a parrot's wing, and in part with the luster of crystal; like a heap of dark collyrium, and somewhere with the radiance of pure-born gold.

12.326.4 And of the hue of a coral shoot, and white in places he shone; somewhere with the gleam of gold, and somewhere like a beryl gem.

12.326.5 Like a blue beryl, and somewhere like the sapphire of Indra; with the sheen of a peacock's neck, and somewhere like a necklace of pearls.

12.326.6 Bearing these manifold colors in his form, the Eternal One — thousand-eyed, glorious, hundred-headed, thousand-footed.

12.326.7 Thousand-bellied and thousand-armed, and somewhere the Unmanifest — uttering from his mouth the syllable Oṃ, and the Sāvitrī that follows upon it.

12.326.8 And from his remaining mouths the god Hari Nārāyaṇa, the self-controlled, chanted the wealth that springs from the four Vedas, the Āraṇyaka.

12.326.9 An altar, a water-pot, darbha-grass, gem-like stones, a deerskin, a staff of wood, and the blazing fire that devours oblations — these the Lord of gods, the master of sacrifice, then held in his hands.

12.326.10 Nārada, that best of the twice-born, his own self serene, with restrained speech and purified, did homage to the gracious Supreme Lord; and to him, bowed in head, the imperishable First of the gods spoke:

12.326.11 'The great seers Ekata, Dvita, and Trita came to this place, longing to behold me.'

12.326.12 'But they did not see me, nor shall anyone see me, save the best of the single-minded devotees — and you are accounted single-minded.'

12.326.13 'These excellent embodiments of mine were born in the house of Dharma, O brāhmaṇa; worship them ever, and accomplish your purpose as you have come to do.'

12.326.14 'And choose a boon from me, O brāhmaṇa, whatever you desire here; I, of universal form and imperishable, am pleased with you this day.'

12.326.15 Nārada said: 'This day, O god, the fruit of my austerity, my restraints and my observances, has been at once obtained — in that I have beheld you, Lord.'

12.326.16 'This is my utmost boon — that I have seen you, the Eternal: the Lord, the all-seeing, the lion, of every form, the great sovereign.'

12.326.17 Bhīṣma said: Having thus revealed himself to Nārada, son of the Supreme One, he spoke again these words: 'Go, Nārada, without delay.'

12.326.18 'For these devotees of mine, moon-bright, who take no food through the senses, would meditate upon me single-mindedly — let no hindrance arise for them.'

12.326.19 'These greatly blessed ones are perfected; long ago they became single-minded. Freed from darkness and passion, they shall enter into me beyond all doubt.'

12.326.20 'He who is not to be seen by the eye, nor touched by the sense of touch, nor smelled by way of scent, and is void of taste —'

12.326.21 'whom the qualities — goodness, passion, and darkness — do not attend; who is all-pervading, the witness, and is called the Self of the world —'

12.326.22 'when the bodies of the host of beings perish, he does not perish: unborn, eternal, everlasting, free of qualities, and without parts.'

12.326.23 'Beyond the twice-twelve principles, he who is renowned as the twenty-fifth is the Spirit, the actionless, and is said to be perceived through knowledge.'

12.326.24 'Having entered into whom men become liberated here, O best of the twice-born — he is to be known as Vāsudeva, the Supreme Self, the Eternal.'

12.326.25 'Behold the greatness and the majesty of the god, O Nārada, who is never tainted by deeds, whether pure or impure.'

12.326.26 'Goodness, passion, and darkness — these they declare to be the qualities; these abide in all bodies and move within them.'

12.326.27 'These qualities the Knower of the field enjoys, yet by them he is not enjoyed: free of qualities, yet the enjoyer of qualities, their creator, and surpassing them.'

12.326.28 'O divine seer, earth is the foundation of the world; earth dissolves into the waters, the waters dissolve into fire, and fire dissolves into wind.'

12.326.29 'Wind passes into dissolution in space, and space into mind; for mind is the highest element, and that dissolves into the Unmanifest.'

12.326.30 'The Unmanifest, O brāhmaṇa, dissolves wholly into the Spirit, the actionless; there is nothing higher than that Spirit, the Eternal.'

12.326.31 'For in the world there is no eternal being, moving or unmoving, save that one Spirit, Vāsudeva the Eternal; for Vāsudeva of great might has become the Self of all beings.'

12.326.32 'Earth, wind, space, water, and fire as the fifth — these great elements, when joined together, are designated a body.'

12.326.33 'He who enters into that, O brāhmaṇa — unseen, of swift action — comes into being therein at once, the Lord who sets the body in motion.'

12.326.34 'Nowhere does a body come to be without the assemblage of elements; nor, O brāhmaṇa, do the elements stir without the living self.'

12.326.35 'That living self is reckoned to be Śeṣa, the Lord Saṃkarṣaṇa; from him one may attain, by his own works, the state of Sanatkumāra.'

12.326.36 'And he into whom all beings pass at the dissolution — he, the mind of all creatures, is proclaimed to be Pradyumna.'

12.326.37 'From him is born the doer who is both the effect and the cause, and from whom springs the whole world, moving and unmoving — he is Aniruddha, he is the Lord, the manifestation present in all works.'

12.326.38 'He who is the Lord Vāsudeva, the Knower of the field, of nature free from qualities — that very Lord is to be known as the living self, the Lord Saṃkarṣaṇa.'

12.326.39 'From Saṃkarṣaṇa comes Pradyumna, who is said to be of the nature of mind; and the Aniruddha who comes from Pradyumna is the principle of ego, the Great Lord.'

12.326.40 'From me arises the whole world, moving and unmoving — the imperishable and the perishable, the being and the non-being alike, O Nārada.'

12.326.41 Those devotees of mine who are liberated enter into me and abide here. For I am to be known as the Puruṣa, actionless, the twenty-fifth principle.

12.326.42 Devoid of qualities, without parts, free from the pairs of opposites, without possessions am I. This you cannot fully grasp — though I am seen to possess a form. Should I so wish, I could vanish in an instant, for I am the Lord, the teacher of the world.

12.326.43 For this is māyā, fashioned by me, that you behold me, O Nārada, as endowed with the qualities of all beings; thus you ought not to know me. By me has been rightly told to you my fourfold manifestation.

12.326.44 For these greatly blessed men have become perfected, single-minded ones; freed from darkness and passion they shall enter into me, O sage.

12.326.45 I am the doer, the deed, and the cause as well, O Nārada; I indeed am that which bears the name of the living soul, and in me the living soul is gathered up. Let not this thought arise in you here: 'the living soul has been seen by me.'

12.326.46 I am all-pervading, O brahmin, the inner self of the host of beings; though the bodies in the host of beings perish, I do not perish.

12.326.47 Hiraṇyagarbha, the origin of the worlds, the four-faced one, versed in etymology, Brahmā the eternal god, is the ponderer of my manifold purposes.

12.326.48 Behold my eleven Rudras stationed at my right side, and likewise the twelve Ādityas standing together at my left.

12.326.49 And before me behold the eight Vasus, foremost of the gods; and behind me behold the two physicians, Nāsatya and Dasra.

12.326.50 Behold all the Prajāpatis, behold too the seven seers, the Vedas, and the sacrifices by the hundreds; behold the nectar of immortality and the healing herbs.

12.326.51 Behold the austerities and the observances, and the restraints of various kinds, and the eightfold lordly power gathered in one place, embodied in form.

12.326.52 Behold Śrī, and Lakṣmī, and Kīrti, and the Earth bearing her summits, and the goddess Sarasvatī, mother of the Vedas, abiding in me.

12.326.53 And behold Dhruva, best of the heavenly lights, the sky-traveler, O Nārada; the rain-bearing clouds, the oceans, the lakes, and the rivers as well.

12.326.54 Behold the four hosts of the fathers in embodied form, O most excellent one; and behold these three qualities, abiding in me yet devoid of form.

12.326.55 More distinguished even than rites for the gods, O sage, is the rite for the fathers; for of both the gods and the fathers I alone am the one father from the beginning.

12.326.56 Becoming Hayaśiras, the horse-headed one, in the northwestern ocean, I drink the well-offered oblation and the offering to the fathers, both attended with faith.

12.326.57 Of old Brahmā was created by me, and he himself offered sacrifice to me; then, well pleased, I granted him boons beyond compare.

12.326.58 Sonship to me at the dawn of each aeon, and overlordship of the worlds, and a name born of self-consciousness that designates him by his synonyms.

12.326.59 'No one shall transgress the boundary that you have set, and you yourself, O brahmin, shall be the bestower of boons to those who desire boons.'

12.326.60 'Of the hosts of gods and demons, and of the seers, O wealthy in austerity, and of the fathers, O greatly blessed one of rigorously kept vows, and of the manifold beings, you shall ever be the worshipful one.'

12.326.61 'And I, having come into manifestation in the affairs of the gods, am ever to be instructed by you, O brahmin, and to be set to my task, as a son is.'

12.326.62 Having granted these and other splendid boons to Brahmā of measureless splendor, I, well pleased, became wholly devoted to withdrawal.

12.326.63 The extinction of all duties — withdrawal — is remembered as the supreme state; therefore, having attained withdrawal, let one move through the world with every faculty at rest.

12.326.64 Me, accompanied by knowledge, abiding in the sun, the eternal one, the teachers whose convictions are settled by Sāṃkhya call Kapila.

12.326.65 This blessed Hiraṇyagarbha, well praised in the Vedic hymns — that am I, named in the Yoga treatises as the goal of yoga, O brahmin.

12.326.66 Having come into manifestation, I abide everlasting in heaven; then, at the end of a thousand ages, I shall withdraw the world again, having drawn into myself the beings, both the unmoving and the moving.

12.326.67 Alone, together with knowledge, I shall sport, O best of the twice-born; then once more I shall fashion the whole world here through knowledge.

12.326.68 That fourth form of mine created the imperishable Śeṣa; he indeed is called Saṃkarṣaṇa, and he too begot Pradyumna.

12.326.69 From Pradyumna I am Aniruddha — my creation recurs again and again; and from Aniruddha comes Brahmā, born from the primal lotus there.

12.326.70 From Brahmā arise all beings, both the moving and the unmoving. Know this to be the creation that recurs again and again at the dawn of each aeon.

12.326.71 As Time of measureless brilliance forcibly brings back again the sun's rising and setting once they have vanished from the sky here, so by my power do I, for the welfare of all beings, restore the Earth —

12.326.72 — her whole body overrun by creatures, sunk away, girded by the ocean, I shall bring back to her own place, having taken on the boar's form.

12.326.73 I shall slay Hiraṇyākṣa, the son of Diti, drunk with his strength; and again, taking on the man-lion form, for the gods' sake I shall slay Hiraṇyakaśipu, that destroyer of sacrifice, the son of Diti.

12.326.74 Bali, the mighty son of Virocana, a great demon, shall come to be, and he shall cast Śakra down from his own sovereignty.

12.326.75 When the three worlds have been carried off by him, and the lord of Śacī is turned away helpless, I shall be born as the twelfth son in Aditi, from Kaśyapa.

12.326.76 Then I shall restore the kingdom to Śakra of measureless splendor; I shall establish the gods in their own stations, O Nārada, and Bali I shall make a dweller in the depths of the netherworld.

12.326.77 In the Tretā age I shall become Rāma, upholder of the lineage of Bhṛgu, and I shall root out the warrior order, abounding in forces and mounts.

12.326.78 And when the juncture of the Tretā and the Dvāpara has arrived, becoming Rāma the son of Daśaratha, I shall be the lord of the world.

12.326.79 Through harm done to Trita, the two seers, sons of Prajāpati — Ekata and likewise Dvita — incurring disfigurement, shall attain the condition of monkeys.

12.326.80 Those forest-dwellers who shall be born in their line shall become my helpers in the gods' undertaking, O twice-born.

12.326.81 Then in battle I shall slay the terrible lord of the rākṣasas, Rāvaṇa, the defiler of Pulastya's line, that thorn in the world's side, together with his host.

12.326.82 At the final juncture of the Dvāpara and the Kali ages, my manifestation, for the sake of Kaṃsa, shall come to be in Mathurā.

12.326.83 There, having slain very many dānavas, those thorns in the gods' side, I shall make Kuśasthalī, the city of Dvārakā, my dwelling.

12.326.84 Dwelling there in that city, I shall slay Naraka the son of the Earth, doer of displeasure to Aditi, and Mura, and the dānava Pīṭha.

12.326.85 The lovely city of Prāgjyotiṣa, filled with manifold treasures, I shall carry off to Kuśasthalī, having slain the foremost of the dānavas.

12.326.86 And Śaṃkara and Mahāsena, who seek the welfare and pleasure of Bāṇa, both girded for the fight and honored by the world of the gods — these I shall vanquish.

12.326.87 Then, having conquered Bali's son Bāṇa of the thousand arms, I shall destroy thereafter all the dwellers in Saubha.

12.326.88 He who shall be known as Kālayavana, enveloped in the splendor of Garga — his slaying shall come from me alone, O best of the twice-born.

12.326.89 And the mighty Jarāsaṃdha, opposer of all kings, shall come to be a swollen demon, a ruler of the earth in Girivraja; his slaying shall come about through the working of my design.

12.326.90 When the powerful ones, all the kings upon the earth, are gathered together, the son of Vāsava alone shall be my good helper.

12.326.91 Thus the worlds shall say: 'The two seers Nara and Nārāyaṇa, the two lords, girded for the work, are consuming the warrior order for the sake of the world's purpose.'

12.326.92 Having relieved the Earth of her burden as I desired, O most excellent one, I shall bring about a terrible dissolution of all the chief Sātvatas and of Dvārakā, destroying my own kinsmen.

12.326.93 For I, bearer of the fourfold form, having performed deeds beyond all measure, shall go to my own worlds, honored by Brahman.

12.326.94 The Swan and the Horse-headed one too were manifestations, O best of the twice-born; when the sacred utterance of the Veda was lost, then it was recovered by me — and with their Vedas and revealed texts restored, men were set aright of old in the Kṛta age.

12.326.95 These have passed away in ages gone by, whether heard of in the ancient lore or somewhere else; and many of my surpassing manifestations have passed away, having done the works of the world and then returned to their own essential nature.

12.326.96 For not even by Brahmā has such a vision of me been gained as you have gained today here, your mind set upon the single-pointed path.

12.326.97 All this has been declared to you, O brahmin, devoted as you are, by me — the past and the future, together with its secret, O most excellent one.

12.326.98 Thus that blessed god, bearer of the universal form, the imperishable one, having spoken just so much speech, vanished there and then.

12.326.99 And Nārada of great splendor, having received the grace he longed for, hastened to the hermitage of Badarī to behold Nara and Nārāyaṇa.

12.326.100 This great Upaniṣad, conjoined with the four Vedas, wrought of Sāṃkhya and Yoga, named in keeping with the Pañcarātra —

12.326.101 — sung forth from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa, Nārada recited again in the abode of Brahmā, my son, just as he had seen and just as he had heard.

12.326.102 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Wondrous indeed is the greatness of that wise one; does Brahmā not know it, that he had to hear of it from Nārada?

12.326.103 For the blessed Grandsire stands next after that god; how should he not know the power of him whose might is measureless?

12.326.104 Bhīṣma said: Thousands of great aeons and hundreds of great aeons have passed away, O lord of kings, and creations too, and dissolutions.

12.326.105 At the dawn of creation Brahmā is remembered as the lord, maker of the bringing forth of creatures; he knows the foremost of gods, and beyond that yet more, O king — the Supreme Self, the ruler, and the source of his own being.

12.326.106 And to those other gathered companies of the perfected ones in Brahmā's abode, he made heard that ancient lore, equal in authority to the Veda.

12.326.107 And the Sun, having heard it from those purified souls who follow the Self, made the sacred teaching heard, O Bhārata.

12.326.108 For sixty-six thousand seers of purified souls, who were created as the forerunners of the Sun as he warmed the worlds — to all those purified souls the Sun recounted it.

12.326.109 By those great-souled seers who follow the Sun, my son, the gods gathered upon Meru were made to hear this supreme teaching.

12.326.110 And the brahmin Asita, having then heard it from the gods, made it heard to the fathers, that best of sages, O lord of kings.

12.326.111 And my father too, Śaṃtanu, my son, recounted it; thus, having heard it, I have related it to you, O Bhārata.

12.326.112 Whether gods or sages, all those by whom this ancient lore has been heard worship the Supreme Self again and again.

12.326.113 This tale, sprung from the seers and come down through the unbroken succession, O king, you must in no way give to one who is not a devotee of Vāsudeva.

12.326.114 And of the other hundreds of righteous narratives that you have heard from me, O king, this is the essence drawn forth.

12.326.115 As the nectar of immortality was churned and drawn forth of old by gods and demons, O king, so this nectar of discourse was here drawn forth by the brahmins.

12.326.116 And the man who recites this constantly, and who listens to this, having come to single-minded devotion, well composed in solitude —

12.326.117 — that man, having reached the great White Island and become radiant as the moon, shall enter into the god of a thousand rays; of this there is no doubt.

12.326.118 The afflicted one would be freed from his sickness by hearing this tale from the beginning; the seeker after knowledge gains his desires, and the devotee attains the goal of the devotees.

12.326.119 By you too, O king, the Supreme Person is ever to be worshipped; for he is the mother and the father, and the teacher of the entire world.

12.326.120 May the blessed, eternal god, friend of the brahmins, be gracious to you — the mighty-armed Janārdana, O mighty-armed Yudhiṣṭhira.

12.326.121 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard this most excellent narrative, O Janamejaya, the king of righteousness and all his brothers became wholly devoted to Nārāyaṇa.

12.326.122 Saying "Victory belongs to that blessed Person," O Bhārata, they became ever intent on silent recitation, lifting up their voices to Sarasvatī.

12.326.123 He who is our most excellent teacher, the sage Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana, himself chanted that supreme litany, sounding forth the name of Nārāyaṇa.

12.326.124 Passing ever through the sky to the Ocean of Milk, that abode of nectar, and having worshipped the Lord of the gods, he would return again to his own hermitage.

12.327.1 Janamejaya said: How is it that this blessed Lord, the god who is foremost receiver of offerings at sacrifices, who upholds the sacrifice and forever knows the Vedas and their ancillary sciences—

12.327.2 —how is it that this same blessed Lord, secure in peace and dear to His devotees, though established in the dharma of withdrawal, yet ordained the dharmas of active engagement?

12.327.3 How were the deities, worthy of a share of offerings, made for the dharmas of engagement, and how were the followers of the dharma of withdrawal made, their minds turned away from the world?

12.327.4 Cut away this doubt of ours, O brahmin—this eternal mystery—for by you the tale of Nārāyaṇa, that compendium of dharma, has been heard.

12.327.5 These worlds, together with Brahmā, with gods and demons and men, are seen everywhere bound to ritual acts that are said to yield prosperity; and yet liberation too has been declared by you, O brahmin—extinction, the supreme bliss.

12.327.6 And those who become liberated here, freed from merit and sin—we have heard that they enter into the god of a thousand rays.

12.327.7 Ah, how hard to follow is the eternal dharma of liberation—forsaking which all the deities became eaters of the oblations offered to gods and to the ancestors!

12.327.8 What then of Brahmā and Rudra, and the lord Śakra who shattered Bala, of Sūrya, the Moon who is lord of stars, of Vāyu, Agni, and Varuṇa, of Space and Earth, and all the remaining dwellers of heaven?

12.327.9 They do not perceive the dissolution that has been fashioned for their own selves; and so they have not entered upon the path that is fixed, imperishable, and unchanging.

12.327.10 Recalling the measure of time, they who have taken their stand on active engagement—this is the great flaw, bound up with the measure of time, that besets those given to ritual works.

12.327.11 Cut away this doubt of mine, O brahmin, that is lodged like a barb in my heart; great is my longing to hear the telling of this ancient lore.

12.327.12 How is it, O twice-born, that the deities are declared receivers of a share at sacrifices, and to what end, O brahmin, are the dwellers of the triple heaven worshipped at the rite?

12.327.13 And those who receive a share at the sacrifices, O best of the twice-born—when they themselves sacrifice with great offerings, to whom do they give a share?

12.327.14 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Ah, a most hidden question you have asked, O lord of men! For one who has not practiced austerity, who does not know the Veda, who is not versed in the ancient lore—by such a one it cannot readily be expounded.

12.327.15 Come then, I shall tell you that which long ago my teacher was asked—Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa, the great sage, the arranger of the Vedas.

12.327.16 Sumantu and Jaimini, and Paila of firm vows, I myself the fourth pupil, and Śuka counted the fifth—

12.327.17 these five pupils all assembled together, endowed with self-restraint, joined to purity of conduct, masters of their anger and of their senses—

12.327.18 to these he taught the Vedas, with the Mahābhārata as a fifth, upon Meru, that lovely chief of mountains, frequented by Siddhas and Cāraṇas.

12.327.19 As they were reciting the Vedas, a doubt once arose among them—the very one that you have asked—and by him it was proclaimed to them; thus it was heard by me as well, and today, O Bhārata, it is to be told to you.

12.327.20 Having heard the words of his pupils, the dispeller of all the darkness of ignorance, the illustrious son of Parāśara, Vyāsa, spoke these words:

12.327.21 "By me has been practiced a very great and most severe austerity, that I might know what has been, what is, and what shall be, O most excellent ones.

12.327.22 And for me, who had practiced austerity and held my senses in check, by the grace of Nārāyaṇa, on the favoring shore of the Ocean of Milk—

12.327.23 —this knowledge of the three times arose, even as I desired. Hear it: according to my knowledge I shall expound this supreme doubt, just as it came to pass at the beginning of the aeon, seen by me with the eye of wisdom.

12.327.24 That which the knowers of Sāṃkhya and Yoga call the Supreme Self attains, by its own action, the appellation of the Great Person.

12.327.25 From that the Unmanifest is brought forth—the wise know it as the Primal Matter; and from the Unmanifest, from the Lord, the manifest arose, for the sake of the creation of the worlds.

12.327.26 Aniruddha is spoken of in the worlds as the Great Self; and he who, having come into manifestation, fashioned the Grandfather—he is called the principle of I-ness, for he is wholly made of radiance.

12.327.27 Earth, wind, space, water, and light as the fifth—these great elements are born of the principle of I-ness, O Bhārata.

12.327.28 Having created the great elements, He then fashioned their qualities anew; and from the elements there came forth eight embodied beings—hear of them.

12.327.29 Marīci, Aṅgiras, and Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, the great-souled Vasiṣṭha, and Manu the self-born—these are to be known as the eight primal natures upon which the worlds are established.

12.327.30 The Vedas joined with their ancillary sciences, and the sacrifices joined with their constituent parts, Brahmā the Grandfather of the worlds fashioned for the world's accomplishment; and from these eight primal natures was born this whole universe.

12.327.31 Rudra, whose very nature is wrath, was born, and he himself created ten others; these eleven Rudras are remembered as the modifications, the personal forms.

12.327.32 Those Rudras, and the primal nature, and all the divine seers, having arisen for the world's accomplishment, drew near to Brahmā.

12.327.33 "We have indeed been created by you, O blessed and almighty Lord; tell us, O Grandfather, by whom and in what office each is to act.

12.327.34 That charge which has been assigned by you, fixed upon its purpose—how is that charge to be carried out and upheld by the one charged with it?

12.327.35 Grant the power befitting each one who is charged with his appointed task." So addressed, the Great God spoke thus to those gods:

12.327.36 "Well have I been reminded by you, O gods—may good befall you! This very concern that is in your minds has arisen in mine as well.

12.327.37 How shall the management of the whole framework of the worlds be undertaken? How may there be no waning of strength—neither yours nor my own?

12.327.38 From here let us all go for refuge to the Witness of the worlds, the Great Person, the Unmanifest; He will tell us what is for our good."

12.327.39 Then those seers and gods, together with Brahmā, went to the northern shore of the Ocean of Milk, seeking the welfare of the worlds.

12.327.40 There they undertook the austerity declared by Brahmā and ordained by the Veda—that very severe practice of penance named the Great Observance.

12.327.41 Their gaze upraised and their arms uplifted, their minds became one-pointed; standing each upon a single foot, motionless as wood, they were wholly collected.

12.327.42 For a thousand divine years having practiced that supreme austerity, they heard a sweet voice, adorned with the Vedas and their ancillary sciences:

12.327.43 "Hail, hail, O gods together with Brahmā, and you seers rich in austerity! Honoring you all with welcome, I cause a supreme utterance to be heard by you.

12.327.44 Your purpose has been understood by me—it is the great welfare of the worlds; the duty bound up with active engagement is to be done, and it shall give increase to your very breath of life.

12.327.45 Well practiced is your austerity, O gods, out of the desire to gratify me; you shall enjoy, O mighty beings, the supreme fruit of this penance.

12.327.46 This is Brahmā, the teacher of the worlds, the Grandfather of all the worlds; and you, O most excellent of the wise, worship me with collected minds.

12.327.47 Apportion to me a share in your sacrifices, all of you, perpetually; thus shall I bestow well-being upon each according to his office, O lords.

12.327.48 Hearing this utterance of the God of gods, the hair of their bodies bristling with joy, then all those wise ones, and Brahmā, and the great seers—

12.327.49 —by the rite seen in the Veda performed a sacrifice to Viṣṇu; at that session Brahmā himself apportioned a share, and the gods and divine seers all apportioned their shares.

12.327.50 Those shares, dharmic with the dharma of the Kṛta age and most reverently offered, reached that Person of the sun's own color, beyond darkness, the vast, all-pervading god, the sovereign, the boon-giving Lord.

12.327.51 Then the boon-giving god, the Great Lord, bodiless and abiding in the sky, spoke this utterance to all those immortals as they stood:

12.327.52 "By whomsoever a share has been apportioned, even so has it duly come to me; pleased, I now grant the fruit that is marked by recurrence.

12.327.53 This is your mark, O gods, arising from my grace: being worshipped with sacrifices furnished with their full and blessed sacrificial fees, in age after age you shall be enjoyers of the fruit of active engagement.

12.327.54 And those men who shall sacrifice with sacrifices throughout all the worlds, O gods, they shall apportion to you your shares as ordained by the Veda.

12.327.55 He who has apportioned to me his share in this great sacrifice—him, accordingly, have I made worthy of a sacrificial share in the canon of the Veda.

12.327.56 Sustain you the worlds, made to flourish by the fruit of your sacrificial shares, mindful of every purpose in the world, each fashioned according to his office.

12.327.57 Whatever ritual acts shall be performed, hallowed with the fruit of active engagement, by these your strength shall be nourished, and so you shall sustain the worlds.

12.327.58 For you shall be made to thrive in the world by men at all their sacrifices, and thereby you shall make me thrive in turn: this is my conception of you.

12.327.59 To this end were fashioned the Vedas, and the sacrifices together with their herbs; for by these rightly employed the deities upon the earth are gratified.

12.327.60 This your making, fashioned of the quality of active engagement, has been wrought by me, O best of gods, to endure until the dissolution of the aeon; therefore take thought for the welfare of the worlds, each according to his office, O lords."

12.327.61 Marīci, Aṅgiras, and Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasiṣṭha—these seven were indeed fashioned from the mind.

12.327.62 These were appointed the foremost knowers of the Veda and the teachers of the Veda, and were ordained as followers of the dharma of active engagement by the lordship of Prajāpati.

12.327.63 This is the eternal path of those given to ritual works, now made manifest; the Lord who is the maker of the creation of the worlds is called Aniruddha.

12.327.64 Sana and Sanatsujāta, Sanaka and Sanandana, Sanatkumāra and Kapila, and the seventh, Sanātana—

12.327.65 these seven are declared the mind-born seers, the sons of Brahmā, who attained knowledge of themselves and took their stand upon the dharma of withdrawal.

12.327.66 These are the foremost knowers of Yoga, knowers likewise of the dharma of Sāṃkhya, teachers in the science of liberation, and the promulgators of the dharma of liberation.

12.327.67 From the Unmanifest, whence I first issued forth as the Great One of the three qualities—higher than that is He who is appointed the Knower of the Field; that very I am the path of those given to ritual works, hard to win without return again."

12.327.68 As each creature has been fashioned, and for whatever work, whether in engagement or in withdrawal, the fruit of that he reaps, helpless to do otherwise.

12.327.69 "This is Brahmā, teacher of the worlds, the Lord who is the first maker of the universe; he is your mother and father, and your Grandfather too. Instructed by me, he shall become the bestower of boons upon all beings.

12.327.70 And his younger brother Rudra, who arose from the forehead, instructed by Brahmā, shall become the bestower of boons upon all that moves.

12.327.71 Go forth, take thought for your several offices as ordained; let all ritual acts proceed throughout all the worlds without delay.

12.327.72 Let the works of living creatures be made manifest, and their destinies likewise, and their lifespans, whose seasons have been fully fashioned, O best of the gods.

12.327.73 This age called the Kṛta, the most excellent of times, now sets in; in this age the sacrificial beasts are not to be slain—it shall be no otherwise—and here, O gods, dharma shall stand whole, upon all four feet.

12.327.74 Then comes the age called the Tretā, wherein the threefold Veda shall hold sway, and wherein the sprinkled beasts shall meet their slaughter at the rite; there a fourth part of dharma shall be no more.

12.327.75 Then comes the one called the Dvāpara, a mingled time, and in that age dharma shall be diminished by two feet.

12.327.76 Then, when the Tiṣya age has come, ushered in by the Kali, dharma shall stand there upon a single foot."

12.327.77 The gods said: When dharma stands upon a single foot, ranging wherever it will, how then must we conduct ourselves? Tell us this, O Blessed One.

12.327.78 The Blessed Lord said: Where the Vedas and the sacrifices, austerity, truth, and self-restraint flourish, joined to the dharma of non-injury, O best of gods — that is the country you must dwell in, lest unrighteousness so much as touch you with its foot.

12.327.79 Vyāsa said: Thus instructed by the Blessed Lord, the gods together with the throngs of seers bowed in homage to him and departed, each to the regions of his desire.

12.327.80 When the dwellers of the triple heaven had gone, Brahmā alone remained standing there, longing to behold that Blessed Lord abiding in the form of Aniruddha.

12.327.81 The God showed himself to him, having made his great horse-head, chanting the Vedas with their auxiliary lore, and bearing the water-pot and the prayer-beads.

12.327.82 Then, beholding that horse-headed God of measureless might, the lord Brahmā, maker of worlds, moved by his wish for the welfare of the worlds —

12.327.83 — bowed his head before the giver of boons and stood before him with hands joined. The God embraced him, and then he was made to hear these words:

12.327.84 Take thought, as is fitting, of all the courses of the world's business. You are the ordainer of all beings, you are the lord, the teacher of the universe. With the burden laid upon you, I shall at once attain my repose.

12.327.85 And whenever some task of the gods shall prove beyond your bearing, I shall come forth into manifestation, the guide who imparts knowledge of the Self.

12.327.86 Having spoken thus, the Horse-headed One vanished on that very spot; and Brahmā too, instructed by him, soon departed to his own world.

12.327.87 Thus this most blessed one, the lotus-naveled Eternal One, is declared to be the first receiver of offerings in the sacrifices, and forever the upholder of sacrifice.

12.327.88 Established in the dharma of withdrawal — the goal of those whose dharma is imperishable — he yet ordained the dharmas of active engagement, fashioning thereby the manifold variety of the world.

12.327.89 He is the beginning, he the middle, and he the end of all creatures; he is the ordainer and the ordained, the doer and the deed. At the end of an age he sleeps, having drawn the worlds compactly in; at the dawn of an age he wakes and pours forth the world anew.

12.327.90 Bow down to that God, free of the strands yet the very Self of the strands, the unborn, of universal form, the abode of all the dwellers in heaven.

12.327.91 To the lord of the great elements, the lord of the Rudras likewise, to the lord of the Ādityas, and to the lord of the Vasus,

12.327.92 to the lord of the two Aśvins and the lord of the Maruts, to the lord of the Vedas and their sacrifices, and to the lord of the Vedic sciences —

12.327.93 to Hari who dwells forever upon the ocean, whose locks are like muñja-grass; to the peace of all beings, the proclaimer of the dharma of liberation;

12.327.94 to the lord of austerities and of splendors and of glory, the eternal lord of speech, and likewise the lord of the rivers;

12.327.95 to the one of matted locks, to the Boar, to the wise One-Horned, to Vivasvat, to the Horse-headed, who bears forever the fourfold form;

12.327.96 to the hidden one, to him who is seen by knowledge, to the imperishable and to the perishable alike. This God moves abroad, all-pervading in his motion, undecaying.

12.327.97 All this I myself beheld of old with the eye of knowledge, and, being asked, I have told it all to you according to the truth.

12.327.98 Do as my words bid you, O disciples: serve Hari the Lord, sing his praise with the words of the Veda, and worship him as the rite ordains.

12.327.99 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed by the wise Vedavyāsa, we — all his disciples, and his son Śuka, knower of the highest dharma —

12.327.100 and our teacher himself together with us, O lord of peoples, hymned that One with verses drawn forth from the four Vedas.

12.327.101 All this that you asked of me I have now declared to you. Even so, O king, did my teacher Dvaipāyana relate it to me of old.

12.327.102 Whoever should constantly hear this, and whoever should proclaim it abroad — a man who, with mind composed, has uttered his homage to the Blessed Lord —

12.327.103 becomes free of sickness, radiant, endowed with strength and beauty; the afflicted is released from his ailment, and the bound is freed from his bondage.

12.327.104 He who desires his heart's desire attains it and wins long life: the brāhmaṇa becomes versed in all the Vedas, the kṣatriya becomes victorious, the vaiśya wins abundant gain, and the śūdra attains his ease.

12.327.105 The sonless gains a son, and the maiden the husband she has wished for; she whose womb is bound is delivered, the pregnant woman bears a son, and the barren attains a fruitful birth, rich in sons and grandsons.

12.327.106 He who recites this upon the road shall journey his way in safety; and whatever desire a man desires, that he surely attains.

12.327.107 This is the assured word of the great seer, the proclamation of the great-souled, supreme Person; and the faithful, having heard this assembly of the seers and the dwellers of heaven, attain the highest bliss.

12.328.1 Janamejaya said: With what manifold names did Vyāsa together with his disciples hymn this slayer of Madhu? Their derivation, O Blessed One, is what I would have.

12.328.2 You should declare to me, who long to hear it, the names of Hari, the lord of the lords of creatures, that, having heard them, I may become pure and spotless as the autumn moon.

12.328.3 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hear, O king, how the all-pervading Hari, his Self made gracious, declared to Phalguna the derivation of his own names, born of his qualities and his deeds.

12.328.4 Concerning the names already proclaimed of that great-souled Keśava, Phalguna, slayer of the heroes of the foe, put his question to Keśava, O king.

12.328.5 Arjuna said: O Blessed Lord, ruler of what has been and what shall be, undecaying maker of all beings, abode of the worlds, master of the universe, giver of fearlessness to the worlds —

12.328.6 those names of yours, O God, that are proclaimed by the great seers in the Vedas and the Purāṇas, and those that are kept secret, derived from your deeds —

12.328.7 their derivation I wish to hear from you, Keśava; for no other than you, O Lord, could expound the derivation of these names.

12.328.8 The Blessed Lord said: In the Ṛgveda with the Yajurveda, and likewise in the Atharva and the Sāma, in the Purāṇa together with the Upaniṣads, and so too in the lore of the heavenly lights, O Arjuna,

12.328.9 and in the Sāṃkhya and the science of Yoga, and in the Āyurveda as well — many are the names of mine that the great seers have proclaimed.

12.328.10 Among these, some names are figurative and some are born of my deeds. Hear now, with attentive devotion, O sinless one, the derivation of those born of deeds, as I tell it, dear friend — for you of old are remembered as the half of me.

12.328.11 Homage to that one of surpassing glory, the supreme Self of all embodied beings, to Nārāyaṇa, the All, free of the strands yet the very Self of the strands.

12.328.12 From whose grace Brahmā was born, and Rudra from whose wrath came into being — who is the very womb of all that is, whether unmoving or moving.

12.328.13 That essence which possesses the eighteen attributes, O best of the steadfast — that is the supreme Nature belonging to me, the sustainer of heaven and earth through yoga, the ordered Truth, unconquerable by the immortals, named the Self of the worlds.

12.328.14 From it proceed all the transformations of creation and dissolution; thence come the sacrifice and the sacrificer. The ancient Person, the Cosmic Vast, is declared Aniruddha, the origin and the ending of the worlds.

12.328.15 When the night of Brahmā reached its close, by the grace of that one of measureless splendor there appeared a lotus, O you whose eyes are like the lotus; and there Brahmā came into being, himself the offspring of that grace.

12.328.16 And at the close of the day, from the forehead of the God, possessed by wrath, there was born his son Rudra, the worker of destruction.

12.328.17 These two, foremost among the wise, are remembered as born of grace and of wrath, treading the path he appointed, the makers of creation and destruction; yet here they are but the instrumental cause, those givers of boons to all living things.

12.328.18 Of braided crest, matted-haired, or shaven; haunter of the burning-ground as his home; bearer of fierce vows is Rudra, the yogin, terrible to the Triple City.

12.328.19 Destroyer of Dakṣa's sacrifice, and despoiler of Bhaga's eyes — he is to be known, O son of Pāṇḍu, as having Nārāyaṇa for his very Self, age after age.

12.328.20 For when that God of gods, Maheśvara, is worshipped, then, O Pārtha, the lord God Nārāyaṇa is worshipped too.

12.328.21 For I am the Self of all the worlds, O delight of Pāṇḍu; and therefore it is my own Self, as Rudra, that I worship first of all.

12.328.22 Were I not to worship Īśāna, the boon-giving Śiva, then no one would worship the Self — so has my mind reflected. For the standard is set by me, and the world follows after.

12.328.23 For what serves as a standard must be honored; therefore do I worship him. He who knows him knows me, and he who follows after him follows after me.

12.328.24 Rudra and Nārāyaṇa are one single essence made twofold, that moves through the world, O son of Kuntī, present in manifest form in all its works.

12.328.25 There is none from whom a boon need be granted to me, O delight of the Pāṇḍavas; yet, reflecting thus in mind, for the sake of a son I propitiated the ancient Lord of the universe — my own Self, by my own self.

12.328.26 For Viṣṇu bows down to no god whatsoever, save to his own Self alone; and therefore it is Rudra that I revere.

12.328.27 The gods, with Brahmā, with Rudra, with Indra, and with the seers, all worship the God Nārāyaṇa, Hari, the best of the celestials.

12.328.28 Of all beings yet to come and of those now present, O Bhārata, Viṣṇu is the foremost, ever to be served and ever to be worshipped.

12.328.29 Bow to Viṣṇu, the giver of oblations; bow likewise to the giver of refuge; bow to the giver of boons, O son of Kuntī; bow to him who consumes the offerings to gods and to ancestors.

12.328.30 Of four kinds are my devoted people, as you have heard; among them the single-minded are the best, those who hold to no other deity. I alone am the goal of those who act without craving for reward.

12.328.31 And the remaining three kinds of devotees are accounted as desirous of reward; all of them are of a nature that falls away, save that the awakened one wins the better portion.

12.328.32 Those eminent among the awakened who serve Brahmā and the Blue-throated and whatever other deities are remembered, shall come to me, the supreme. This distinction among devotees, O Pārtha, has now been declared to you.

12.328.33 You and I, O son of Kuntī, are remembered as Nara and Nārāyaṇa, who for the sake of lightening the earth's burden have entered into human form.

12.328.34 I know the disciplines of the inner Self, and who I am and whence, O Bhārata — both the dharma marked by withdrawal and the dharma that leads to worldly flourishing.

12.328.35 The refuge of men is renowned; I alone am the Eternal. The waters are declared to be 'nāra,' for the waters are indeed the offspring of Nara; they were of old my resting-place, and therefore I am Nārāyaṇa.

12.328.36 I overspread the whole universe, becoming like the sun with its rays; and I am the dwelling-place of all beings — therefore am I Vāsudeva.

12.328.37 I am the goal of all beings and of all creatures, O Bhārata; heaven and earth are pervaded by me, O Pārtha, and surpassing is my radiance.

12.328.38 At the end I overspread the elements, and I am so by my own will, O Bhārata; and because of my striding forth, O Pārtha, I am named Viṣṇu.

12.328.39 Through self-restraint men seek perfection, and so they yearn for me; and because I encompass heaven, earth, and the region between as with a girdle, therefore am I Dāmodara.

12.328.40 Food is called 'pṛśni,' and so too the Vedas, the waters, and the nectar of immortality; these are forever within my womb — therefore am I Pṛśnigarbha.

12.328.41 Thus the seers called upon me, when Trita had been cast into the well by Ekata and Dvita: 'O Pṛśnigarbha, save Trita who has been hurled down!'

12.328.42 Then that Trita, the firstborn son of Brahmā, the best of seers, climbed up out of the well, by the very proclaiming of Pṛśnigarbha's name.

12.328.43 The rays that shine forth from the sun as it scorches the worlds, and from fire and from the moon, are mine, and are called my locks (keśa); therefore the all-knowing, the most excellent of the twice-born, call me Keśava.

12.328.44 A child had been begotten in his own wife by the great-souled Utathya; and once, when Utathya had vanished from sight through the gods' enchantment, Bṛhaspati found that wife of his, O Bhārata.

12.328.45 Then, O son of Kuntī, the child within the womb, already endowed with the five elements, spoke thus to that best of seers as he came to the act of union:

12.328.46 'I have come here before you, O giver of boons; you ought not to trouble my mother.' Hearing this, Bṛhaspati grew wrathful and pronounced a curse.

12.328.47 'Since you have turned me back as I came to the act of union, therefore you shall be born blind by my curse — herein is no doubt.'

12.328.48 By the curse of that chief of seers he passed into long darkness; and so that seer was of old known by the name Dīrghatamas, 'Long-Darkness.'

12.328.49 Having mastered the four eternal Vedas with their primary and secondary auxiliaries, he then made use of this secret name of mine.

12.328.50 By the prescribed rite, in due order, calling "Keśava" again and again, that Gautama regained his sight and became whole once more.

12.328.51 Thus, O Arjuna, this name "Keśava" of mine is a boon-granting name to all the gods and to all the great-souled sages.

12.328.52 Agni joined with Soma was made a single womb, a single mouth; therefore this whole world, moving and unmoving, has the nature of Agni and Soma.

12.328.53 And so it is said in the Purāṇa: Agni and Soma share one and the same womb, and the gods have Agni for their mouth; and because they share one womb, exalting each other, they uphold the worlds.

12.329.1 Arjuna said: How were Agni and Soma first brought forth from a single womb? This doubt has arisen in me; cut it away, O slayer of Madhu.

12.329.2 The Blessed Lord said: Come then, O son of Pāṇḍu, I shall relate to you an ancient tale, arisen from my own splendour; listen to me, O Pārtha, with single-minded attention.

12.329.3 When the time of the great dissolution had passed, at the end of the fourth thousand of the ages, when all beings, moving and unmoving, had merged into the Unmanifest, when light and earth and wind were no more, in blind darkness, the world a single ocean of water, overwhelmed by darkness alone, without consciousness, without a second, established—neither in night nor in day, neither in being nor in non-being, neither in the manifest nor in the unmanifest abiding—in this state, resting on the qualities of Nārāyaṇa, who is imperishable, ageless, beyond the senses, ungraspable, unborn, true, free from injury, the crest-jewel, the source of the manifold special activities, imperishable, ageless and deathless, formless, all-pervading, doer of all, eternal—from that darkness arose the Puruṣa, Hari the undecaying.

12.329.4 And there is an illustration here: "There was no day, there was no night; there was no being, there was no non-being; darkness alone was there at first, having all forms—it was the mother of the universe." Thus is the meaning of this expounded.

12.329.5 Now of that Puruṣa born from the darkness—at the appearance of Brahmā, the lotus-born—that Puruṣa, desiring to create offspring, brought forth Agni and Soma from his two eyes. Then, when the creation of beings had begun, according to the order of progeny, the priestly and the warrior orders came into being: what is Soma, that is the Brahman; what is Brahman, those are the Brāhmaṇas; what is Agni, that is the Kṣatra. Yet the Brahman is mightier than the Kṣatra. Why? This is a quality plain to the world's sight, namely that no being higher than the Brāhmaṇas has ever arisen before; this I say, since it is into kindled fire that one offers oblation.

12.329.6 There is also the declaration of the mantra: "You, O Agni, are the hotṛ of all sacrifices, set among the race of men by the gods." And there is an illustration of this: "O Agni, you are the hotṛ of all sacrifices, set by the gods for men, for the world." For Agni is indeed the hotṛ, the performer of sacrifices.

12.329.7 For without the mantra there is no offering of oblation, and without a man no austerity comes about; the oblation is the honouring of the mantras of gods and men—by this you are appointed as hotṛ. And those human privileges of the hotṛ-office are ordained for the sacrificing of the Brāhmaṇa, not for the Kṣatriya and the Vaiśya, the twice-born. Therefore the Brāhmaṇas, having become Agni, bear up the sacrifices; the sacrifices satisfy the gods; and the gods foster the earth.

12.329.8 For in the Śatapatha there is a Brāhmaṇa text: "It is into kindled fire that he offers, the learned one who offers the oblation of the gift into the mouth of a Brāhmaṇa." Thus too, the learned Brāhmaṇas, having become Agni, foster the fire. Agni is Viṣṇu; entering into all beings, he sustains their vital breaths. And here too there are verses sung by Sanatkumāra:

12.329.9 In the beginning Brahmā created the universe, the source of all, free of impurity; by the chants of the Brahman the immortals, born of the Brahman, abide in heaven.

12.329.10 The thought, the speech, the rites, the faith, and the austerities of the Brāhmaṇas uphold the earth and the sky, as the cool water sustains by its coolness, like nectar.

12.329.11 There is no dharma higher than truth; there is no teacher equal to a mother; there is nothing higher than the Brāhmaṇas for one's welfare, here and in the world to come.

12.329.12 For them no bull thrives, nor any draught-ox; no churn is plied at the sacrificial offering. Cast down, turned to barbarians, do those become in whose kingdom the Brāhmaṇas are bereft of their livelihood.

12.329.13 On the authority of the Vedas, the Purāṇas, and the histories, the Brāhmaṇas—issued from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa, having all for their self, doing all, fostering all—the Brāhmaṇas came forth first, simultaneously with the speech of that boon-granting god; and from the Brāhmaṇas the remaining castes came forth. Thus the Brāhmaṇas, distinguished above gods and demons, when of old by me, having become the Brahman, they were myself produced, then the gods, the demons, and the great sages, those distinct kinds of beings, were established and held in check.

12.329.14 For on account of the violation of Ahalyā, Indra received from Gautama a green-tinged beard; and on the Kauśika's account Indra suffered the loss of his testicles and obtained those of a ram. When Purandara had raised his thunderbolt to forbid the libation to the Aśvins, his arm was made rigid by Cyavana. And by Dakṣa, wrathful at the destruction of his sacrifice, having again joined himself to austerity, another eye in the shape of an eye was produced on the forehead of Rudra.

12.329.15 When Rudra had undertaken the consecration for the slaying of Tripura, Uśanas tore the matted locks from his head and cast them down; from them serpents came forth. Tormented by those serpents, his throat was brought to a dark-blue hue. Or else his blue-throatedness came in the former age of Manu Svāyaṃbhuva, from the grip of Nārāyaṇa's binding hand.

12.329.16 At the churning out of the nectar, when Bṛhaspati of the line of Aṅgiras, undertaking the preliminary rite, touched the waters, they did not, it is said, become clear. Then Bṛhaspati grew angry at the waters: "Since, when I touch you, you grow turbid and do not become clear, therefore from this day onward become turbid, teeming with great fish, makaras, fish, tortoises, and creatures." From that day onward the waters became filled with aquatic beasts.

12.329.17 Viśvarūpa, son of Tvaṣṭṛ, was the chaplain of the gods and the sister's son of the demons. Openly he gave the sacrificial portion to the gods, but secretly to the demons.

12.329.18 Then, putting Hiraṇyakaśipu at their head, the demons begged a boon of their sister, the mother of Viśvarūpa: "O sister, this son of yours, Viśvarūpa the three-headed, son of Tvaṣṭṛ, the chaplain of the gods, openly gives the portion to the gods but secretly to us. Thereby the gods wax strong and we wane. You ought therefore to restrain him, so that he may favour us."

12.329.19 Then, when Viśvarūpa had come to the Nandana grove, his mother said to him: "My son, why do you, a fosterer of the other side, work the ruin of your maternal uncles' party? You ought not to do thus." And Viśvarūpa, deeming his mother's word not to be transgressed, did honour to Hiraṇyakaśipu and went over to him.

12.329.20 And from Vasiṣṭha, born of Hiraṇyagarbha, Hiraṇyakaśipu received a curse: "Since another was chosen by you as hotṛ, therefore, with your sacrifice left unfinished, you shall meet your death from a kind of being never seen before." By the giving of that curse Hiraṇyakaśipu met his death.

12.329.21 Viśvarūpa, fosterer of his mother's side, gave himself exceedingly to austerity. To break his vow Indra dispatched many lovely apsarases; and at the sight of them his mind grew troubled, and before long he became attached to those apsarases. Knowing him attached, the apsarases said: "We are going, back the way we came."

12.329.22 To them the son of Tvaṣṭṛ said: "Where will you go? Stay awhile here with me; it will be for your good." They said to him: "We are women of the gods, apsarases; long ago we chose Indra, the boon-giver, the mighty, as our lord."

12.329.23 Then Viśvarūpa said to them: "This very day the gods, with Indra, shall be no more." Then he muttered his mantras, and by those mantras the three-headed one grew great. With one mouth he drank the soma well offered in the sacrifices of ritual-performing twice-born throughout all the worlds; with another he drank the waters; with another he would swallow the gods together with Indra. Then Indra, seeing him swelling, all his limbs nourished by the drinking of soma, fell into anxious thought.

12.329.24 And those gods, together with Indra, went to Brahmā and said: "By Viśvarūpa the soma well offered in all sacrifices is being drunk; we are left without our portion. The demons' party waxes; we wane. You ought therefore to ordain for us whatever good may follow."

12.329.25 To them Brahmā said: "The sage Dadhīca of Bhṛgu's line is performing austerities. Let him be entreated for a boon, that he may give up his body; from his bones let the thunderbolt be made."

12.329.26 The gods went there, where the blessed sage Dadhīca performed his austerities. The gods, with Indra, approached him and said: "O blessed one, is your austerity faring well and without hindrance?" To them Dadhīca said: "Welcome to you. What shall be done? Whatever you shall say, that I will do." They said to him: "For the good of the worlds the blessed one ought to give up his body." Then Dadhīca, untroubled even at this, even-minded in pleasure and pain, the great yogin, collecting himself, made the abandonment of his body.

12.329.27 When his soul had departed into the Supreme Self, the Ordainer took up those bones and made the thunderbolt. With that thunderbolt, unbreakable and unassailable, born of a Brāhmaṇa's bones and entered by Viṣṇu, Indra slew Viśvarūpa and severed his heads. Thereafter Indra slew the foe Vṛtra, arisen from the churning of Viśvarūpa's body and produced by Tvaṣṭṛ.

12.329.28 When that guilt of Brāhmaṇa-slaughter had become twofold, Indra, out of fear, abandoned the kingship of the gods and took refuge in a cool lotus growing in the waters, in Lake Mānasa; and there, by the power of his lordly might, becoming no larger than an atom, he entered into the fibre of a lotus-stalk.

12.329.29 Then, when the lord of the three worlds, the husband of Śacī, had vanished out of fear of the Brāhmaṇa-slaughter, the world became without a ruler. Passion and darkness entered the gods; the mantras of the great sages no longer availed; the rākṣasas came forth; the Brahman went to ruin; and the worlds, without Indra and powerless, became easy prey.

12.329.30 Then the gods and the sages consecrated to the kingship of the gods the son of Āyus, Nahuṣa by name. Nahuṣa, with five hundred blazing luminaries on his forehead that stole away all splendour, governed the heaven; and the worlds returned to their natural state and grew at ease.

12.329.31 Then Nahuṣa said: "All that was enjoyed by Śakra has come to me, save Śacī alone." Having said this, he went near to Śacī and said to her: "O fair one, I am the Indra of the gods; give yourself to me." Śacī answered him: "By nature you are devoted to dharma and sprung from the lineage of Soma; you ought not to do violence to another's wife."

12.329.32 Then Nahuṣa said to her: "The seat of Indra is occupied by me; I am the bearer-off of Indra's royal treasures; there is no unrighteousness in this—you were Indra's enjoyment." She said to him: "I have a certain vow not yet completed. At its concluding bath I shall come to you, in but a few days." Thus addressed by Śacī, Nahuṣa went away.

12.329.33 Then Śacī, afflicted with grief and sorrow, longing for the sight of her husband, seized with fear of Nahuṣa, went to Bṛhaspati. And he, the moment he saw her come, entered into meditation, and knowing her intent upon her husband's cause, Bṛhaspati said: "Endowed with this very vow and austerity, summon the boon-granting goddess Upaśruti; she will show you Indra."

12.329.34 Then she, undertaking a great observance, summoned by mantras the boon-granting goddess Upaśruti. That Upaśruti came near to Śacī and said to her: "Here I am, summoned by you and present. What dear thing shall I do for you?" Bowing to her with her head, Śacī said: "O blessed lady, you ought to show me my husband; you are held to be true." Then Upaśruti led her to Lake Mānasa and showed her Indra, gone into the fibre of a lotus-stalk.

12.329.35 Indra, seeing his wife wasted and worn, fell to thinking: "Alas, this great grief has now come upon me, that she, afflicted with sorrow, has come seeking me out who was lost." Indra said to her: "How do you fare?" She said to him: "Nahuṣa summons me, and a time has been appointed by me for him."

12.329.36 Indra said to her: "Go, and say this to Nahuṣa: 'Mount and bear me away in a wondrous, unheard-of car yoked with sages; for Indra has great vehicles, the heart's delight, which I have mounted. You ought to come to me by some other means.'" Thus addressed, she went gladly; and Indra entered once more into the fibre of the lotus-stalk.

12.329.37 Then, seeing Indra's consort approach, Nahuṣa said: "That time is fulfilled." Śacī told him what Śakra had said; and mounting a vehicle yoked with great sages, he came near to Śacī.

12.329.38 Then Agastya, son of Mitra and Varuṇa, the pitcher-born, saw those great sages being maltreated by Nahuṣa, and was touched by his feet; whereupon he said to Nahuṣa: "Set upon a deed undone, O sinner, fall to the earth; become a serpent, and so remain for as long as the earth and mountains shall stand." And at the very moment of the great sage's word, he fell down from that car.

12.329.39 Then the three worlds were again without an Indra. Thereupon the gods and the sages went for refuge to the blessed Viṣṇu for Indra's sake and said to him: "O blessed one, you ought to deliver Indra, overwhelmed by the guilt of Brāhmaṇa-slaughter." Then that boon-giver said to them: "Let Śakra offer the horse-sacrifice, the Vaiṣṇava rite; thereby he shall regain his own station."

12.329.40 Then, when the gods and the sages did not see Indra, they said to Śacī: "Go, O fair one, and fetch Indra." She again went to that lake, and Indra, rising up out of that lake, went to Bṛhaspati. And Bṛhaspati performed the horse-sacrifice, the great rite, for Śakra; then, releasing a dappled black horse fit for sacrifice and making that his vehicle, Bṛhaspati restored Indra, the lord of the Maruts, to his own station.

12.329.41 Then that king of the gods, praised by gods and sages, abiding in heaven, became free of stain; he distributed the guilt of Brāhmaṇa-slaughter among four receptacles—women, fire, trees, and cattle. Thus Indra, strengthened by the might and splendour of the Brahman, having slain his foe, was restored to his own station.

12.329.42 And of old the great sage Bharadvāja, having come to the celestial Gaṅgā and touching its water, was approached by Viṣṇu as he strode his three steps; he was struck on the chest by Bharadvāja with a water-filled hand, and so came to bear that mark upon his breast.

12.329.43 Cursed by the great sage Bhṛgu, Agni was reduced to the state of devourer of all things.

12.329.44 Aditi cooked food for the gods, thinking, "Having eaten this, they shall slay the demons." There came Budha at the completion of his observance and said to Aditi: "Give me alms." But "this is to be eaten first by the gods, by no other," thought Aditi, and gave no alms. Then Budha, enraged at the refusal of alms, having become the Brahman, killed the egg of Aditi—the egg-named one at the second birth of Vivasvān; that dead egg became Vivasvān, the Mārtaṇḍa, the god of the funeral offerings.

12.329.45 Dakṣa had sixty daughters; of them he gave thirteen to Kaśyapa, ten to Dharma, ten to Manu, and twenty-seven to the Moon. Though all these were equal and bore the names of the lunar mansions, Soma showed excessive affection to Rohiṇī. Then the rest of his wives, grown jealous, went to their father and told him this matter: "O blessed one, though we are of equal worth, Soma favours Rohiṇī above us." He said: "Consumption shall enter him."

12.329.46 By Dakṣa's curse consumption entered King Soma; and seized by consumption he went to Dakṣa. Dakṣa said to him: "You do not deal evenly." Thereupon the sages said to Soma: "You are wasting away with consumption. In the western quarter, in the ocean, is the holy ford of the Golden Lake; go there and bathe yourself." Then Soma went there, to the holy ford of the Golden Lake.

12.329.47 The great sage Sthūlaśiras performed austerities in the north-eastern region of Meru. As he performed his austerity, a pure breeze, bearing all fragrances and blowing gently, touched his body. With his body heated and wasted by austerity, fanned by the wind, he came to gladness of heart. But there, while he took delight in the wind's fanning, the trees did not at once display the beauty of their blossoms; so he cursed them: "You shall not bear flowers at all seasons."

12.329.48 Of old Nārāyaṇa, for the good of the worlds, became a great sage named Vaḍavāmukha. As he performed his austerities on Meru, the ocean, when summoned, did not come. Enraged thereby, by the heat of his own body he made the ocean's waters still, and brought into being its salt nature, like the trickling of sweat. And he said: "You shall become undrinkable, and this water of yours, when drunk by one bearing the name Vaḍavāmukha, shall become sweet." So even to this day the ocean's water is drunk by him called Vaḍavāmukha, ever continuing.

12.329.49 Rudra loved Umā, daughter of the mountain Himavat. The great sage Bhṛgu too came to Himavat and said: "Give me the maiden Umā." Himavat said to him: "Rudra is the suitor desired." Bhṛgu said to him: "Since I, intent on choosing the maiden, have been refused by you, therefore you shall not be a receptacle of jewels." From that day onward this word of the sage has held firm.

12.329.50 Such is the greatness of the Brāhmaṇas. The Kṣatra too, having wedded the everlasting, imperishable Earth as its wife, enjoyed her. This is the Brahman, born of Agni and Soma; by it the world is upheld.

12.330.1 The Blessed Lord said: The sun and the moon, ever with my rays that are called my hair, awakening and warming the world, rise up severally.

12.330.2 By this awakening and warming the gladdening of the world comes about; by these deeds wrought of Agni and Soma, O son of Pāṇḍu, I am Hṛṣīkeśa, the lord, the boon-giver, the fosterer of the worlds.

12.330.3 Through the summoning of the iḍā-offering I take, O tawny one, my portion in the sacrifices; and my colour is the finest tawny-green; therefore am I remembered as Hari.

12.330.4 My abode is the essence of the worlds, and the cosmic order has been discerned; therefore by the wise I am proclaimed Ṛtadhāman, abode of order, and the True.

12.330.5 And of old I recovered the lost earth that had gone into the cavern; therefore the gods extolled me with their voices as Govinda.

12.330.6 And in the name "Śipiviṣṭa": he who is without hair, and whatever is pervaded by him—that is remembered as śipiviṣṭa.

12.330.7 The sage Yāska, untroubled, sang of me in many sacrifices as Śipiviṣṭa; therefore I bear this hidden name.

12.330.8 Having praised me as Śipiviṣṭa, the sage Yāska of noble mind, by my grace, recovered the lost etymology that had fallen away.

12.330.9 I have not been born, I am not born, nor shall I ever be born; I am the Knower of the Field in all beings; therefore am I remembered as the Unborn.

12.330.10 Never before have I uttered anything mean or unseemly; true is that goddess Sarasvatī, daughter of the Brahman, true and unfailing, who is mine.

12.330.11 Both being and non-being, O son of Kuntī, have been set by me within myself; in the lotus-seat, the abode of the Brahman, the sages know me as the True.

12.330.12 Never before have I fallen from goodness; know that goodness is wrought by me; in this birth the goodness that became mine was of an earlier time, O Dhanaṃjaya.

12.330.13 Conceive of me as the Sātvata, joined to action without desire for reward; seen through the knowledge of the Sātvatas, I am the Sātvata, the lord of the Sātvatas.

12.330.14 I plough the earth, O Pārtha, becoming the great ploughshare of black iron; and since my colour is dark, therefore am I Kṛṣṇa, O Arjuna.

12.330.15 By me the earth has been joined with the waters, and the sky with the wind, and the wind together with fire; thence comes my state of Vaikuṇṭha, the unhindered.

12.330.16 Nirvāṇa is the supreme bliss; that is called the highest dharma; and since I have never before fallen from it, by that deed I am Acyuta, the Unfallen.

12.330.17 The earth and the sky are both renowned, belonging to the whole world; and for the upholding of these two, I am rightly called Adhokṣaja.

12.330.18 Those learned in the Veda and those who ponder the meaning of words sing of me by this etymology in the eastern sacrificial hall: "Adhokṣaja" is the established name.

12.330.19 This word has been uttered with one accord by the supreme sages; for there is in the world no other Adhokṣaja than the lord Nārāyaṇa.

12.330.20 The ghee of my flames in the world is the sustenance of the breath of creatures; I am proclaimed Ghṛtārcis, the ghee-flamed, by the untroubled knowers of the Veda.

12.330.21 Three humours are declared, and they are remembered as born of action: bile, phlegm, and wind; this is called their combination.

12.330.22 By these the creature is sustained, and when these decay it decays; therefore those versed in the science of life declare me to be the threefold humour.

12.330.23 The blessed Dharma is renowned in the worlds as the Bull, O Bhārata; know me as the supreme Bull, declared by the word of the lexicon.

12.330.24 Kapi is the boar, the best, and dharma is called the Bull; therefore Kaśyapa the Prajāpati called me Vṛṣākapi.

12.330.25 Neither my beginning nor my middle, nor yet my end, do gods and demons ever know; for, without beginning, without middle, and likewise without end, I am hymned as the Lord, the all-pervading, the witness of the worlds.

12.330.26 Pure things, worthy to be heard, do I hear here, O Dhanaṃjaya, and I take no heed of sinful things; therefore am I Śuciśravas, of pure renown.

12.330.27 Of old, having become the single-tusked boar of divine aspect, I lifted up this earth; and thus am I called Ekaśṛṅga, the One-Tusked.

12.330.28 Likewise was I Trikakud, having taken on the boar's form; through the measure of that body I became renowned as Trikakud, the Three-Peaked.

12.330.29 He who is named Viriñca by those who ponder the wisdom of Kapila — that very Prajāpati am I, the maker of all the worlds out of consciousness.

12.330.30 Me, attended by knowledge, eternal, abiding in the sun, the teachers of Sāṃkhya, firm in their settled certainties, call Kapila.

12.330.31 That radiant Hiraṇyagarbha who is praised in the sacred metres and is ever worshipped by the masters of yoga — that very one am I, remembered as the all-pervading Lord.

12.330.32 Those who know the Vedas declare me to be the Ṛgveda of twenty-one branches, and the Sāman of a thousand branches; and the brāhmaṇas devoted to me who chant the Āraṇyaka — even these are hard to find.

12.330.33 That Yajurveda in which the branches number fifty-six, and eight, and thirty-seven — that am I, remembered in the office of the Adhvaryu priest.

12.330.34 The brāhmaṇas learned in the Atharvan ordain me likewise as the Atharvaveda of five ritual procedures, swollen full with its rites of sorcery.

12.330.35 Whatever divisions of the branches there are, and whatever chants are sung within those branches, and the utterance of their tones and syllables — know all these to be made by me.

12.330.36 That Horse-Headed form, O Pārtha, which rises up bestowing boons — that am I myself in the northern quarter, knower of the divisions of the syllable-sequence.

12.330.37 By the path taught by Rāma, through my grace, the great-souled Pāñcāla obtained the krama-recitation from that eternal Being; and he of the Bābhravya lineage shone forth as the first who reached the far shore of the krama.

12.330.38 Having received a boon from Nārāyaṇa and attained the supreme yoga, that Gālava set forth the krama-recitation and composed the science of phonetics.

12.330.39 And Kaṇḍarīka, and the mighty King Brahmadatta, recalling again and again the suffering born of birth and death, attained the fullness of the yogas through their eminence across seven births.

12.330.40 Of old, O Pārtha, for a certain cause I was made known as the son of Dharma, O tiger of the Kurus; and thus am I remembered as Dharmaja, Dharma-born.

12.330.41 In ancient days Nara and Nārāyaṇa, mounted upon the vehicle of dharma, performed imperishable austerity upon Mount Gandhamādana.

12.330.42 At that very season came to pass the sacrifice of Dakṣa; and Dakṣa apportioned no share to Rudra, O Bhārata.

12.330.43 Then, at the word of Dadhīci, he carried off Dakṣa's sacrifice; in wrath he hurled his trident, blazing forth again and again.

12.330.44 That trident, having reduced Dakṣa's sacrifice in its full extent to ashes, came rushing all at once toward the hermitage of Badarī, near to us both, falling with great force, O Pārtha, upon the breast of Nārāyaṇa.

12.330.45 Then the hairs of Nārāyaṇa, suffused with his own fiery splendour, took on the colour of muñja-grass; and thus am I called Muñjakeśa, he of the muñja-coloured hair.

12.330.46 And that trident, flung back by the great-souled one with a sound of 'Huṃ' and struck aside by Nārāyaṇa, returned to the hand of Śaṃkara.

12.330.47 Then Rudra rushed upon those two sages endowed with austerity; and Nārāyaṇa, the Soul of all, seized him as he sprang up, by the throat with his hand — and from that came Rudra's dark-throated state.

12.330.48 Then, to ward off Rudra, Nara took up a blade of reed-grass and swiftly charged it with sacred formulas; and it became a mighty axe.

12.330.49 Cast suddenly at Rudra, it then met with breaking; and thus am I remembered as Khaṇḍaparaśu, he of the Broken Axe, from the shattering of that axe.

12.330.50 Arjuna said: But in this battle, O Vārṣṇeya, this churning of the three worlds, who then won the victory there? Declare this to me, Janārdana.

12.330.51 The blessed Lord said: When those two, Rudra and Nārāyaṇa in their persons, were locked in combat, all the worlds entire grew suddenly stricken with dread.

12.330.52 The fire would not accept the bright oblation duly offered in the sacrifices; the Vedas no longer shone forth for the sages of disciplined soul.

12.330.53 Passion and darkness then entered into the gods alike; the earth trembled, and the firmament split asunder.

12.330.54 The luminaries lost their radiance, and Brahmā himself was cast down from his seat; the ocean went dry, and the Himālaya crumbled away.

12.330.55 When such a portent had thus arisen, O son of Pāṇḍu, Brahmā, encircled by the hosts of gods and by the great-souled sages, came swiftly to that place where the battle was being waged.

12.330.56 The Four-Faced one, versed in the etymologies, with joined palms held forth, spoke these words to Rudra: 'Let there be welfare for the worlds; lay down your weapons, O Lord of the Universe, for the desire of the good of all that is.'

12.330.57 'That which is the Imperishable and the Unmanifest, the Lord, the source of the world, fixed upon its summit, the agent free of all duality, whom they also know as the non-agent —'

12.330.58 '— of this Being come into manifest form, this is one auspicious embodiment: Nara and Nārāyaṇa, born to uphold the lineage of Dharma.'

12.330.59 'Joined with mighty austerity, foremost of gods, mighty in their vows — I was born of his grace upon some occasion, and you yourself, my son, the eternal one, were born of his wrath in the former creation.'

12.330.60 'Together with me and with the gods and the great sages, swiftly conciliate the boon-giver, that peace may come to the worlds without delay.'

12.330.61 Thus addressed by Brahmā, Rudra let go the fire of his wrath and then conciliated the divine Lord Nārāyaṇa, and took refuge in Hari, the primal, the most excellent, the giver of boons.

12.330.62 Then the boon-giving god, his anger conquered and his senses mastered, became gladdened there, reconciled together with Rudra.

12.330.63 Well honoured by the sages and by Brahmā and the gods, that Hari, the Lord of the world, spoke to the god Īśāna:

12.330.64 'He who knows you knows me; he who follows you follows me. Between us two there is no difference whatever; let your understanding not be otherwise.'

12.330.65 'From this day forward let this Śrīvatsa mark of mine bear the sign of the trident; and marked by my hand, you shall become Śrīkaṇṭha, the Glorious-Throated.'

12.330.66 Having thus brought into being these mutually given marks, and having made an unmatched friendship with Rudra, the two sages, untroubled, dismissed the dwellers of heaven and performed their austerities.

12.330.67 Thus has the victory of Nārāyaṇa in battle been told to you, O Pārtha, and the secret names with their etymologies, O Bhārata, which were spoken here by the sages and which have been proclaimed to you.

12.330.68 Thus in manifold forms do I range over this earth, and over the realm of Brahmā, O son of Kuntī, and the eternal realm of cows; guarded by me in battle, you have won a mighty victory.

12.330.69 And he who goes before you when the battle is joined — know him to be Rudra, O son of Kuntī, the god of gods, the one with matted locks.

12.330.70 That same one I have named to you as Time, born of wrath; those foes already slain by him, those have you in truth struck down.

12.330.71 That god of gods of immeasurable power, the lord of Umā — bow down, intent and reverent, to the god Hara, the Lord of the Universe, the imperishable.

12.331.1 Janamejaya said: O brāhmaṇa, a most lofty narrative has been recounted by you, on hearing which all the sages have passed into the utmost wonder.

12.331.2 For out of the hundred thousand verses of the vast Bhārata narrative, by the churning-staff of the intellect this incomparable ocean of knowledge has been churned —

12.331.3 — as butter is drawn from curds, as sandal from the Malaya hills, as the Āraṇyaka from the Vedas, as the nectar of immortality from the healing herbs —

12.331.4 — so has this peerless nectar of story been drawn up, O brāhmaṇa; for it has been spoken by you, O treasury of austerity, resting upon the tale of Nārāyaṇa.

12.331.5 For he is the Lord, the blessed god, the inmost soul and source of all beings; ah, hard to behold is the splendour of Nārāyaṇa, O best of the twice-born!

12.331.6 Into whom, at the end of an aeon, all the gods led by Brahmā enter, and the sages with the gandharvas, and whatever moving or unmoving thing there is — than him I deem there is nothing higher or more purifying, in heaven or here on earth.

12.331.7 The visiting of all hermitages, the bathing at all sacred fords — none of these is so fruitful as the tale of Nārāyaṇa.

12.331.8 In every way are we here made pure, having heard from the beginning this story of Hari, the Lord of the Universe — a tale that destroys all sins.

12.331.9 It is no marvel that my noble forebear Dhanaṃjaya wrought such deeds there — he who, with Vāsudeva for his ally, attained the highest victory.

12.331.10 And I deem there was nothing unattainable for him in all the three worlds, he for whom Viṣṇu, the Lord of the three worlds, was the friend who lent his aid.

12.331.11 And blessed, O brāhmaṇa, were all those forebears of mine, for whose good and welfare Janārdana stood.

12.331.12 For the blessed one, worshipped of the worlds, is not to be seen even by austerity — yet they beheld him face to face, adorned with the Śrīvatsa mark.

12.331.13 And more blessed than they is Nārada, the son of the Supreme One; nor do I count the imperishable sage Nārada as one of slender splendour, for, reaching the White Island, by him was Hari himself beheld.

12.331.14 Plainly that vision of his came in the train of the god's grace, in that he then beheld the god abiding in the form of Aniruddha.

12.331.15 But that Nārada hastened again to the hermitage of Badarī to behold Nara and Nārāyaṇa — what, O sage, was the cause of that?

12.331.16 And Nārada, the son of the Supreme One, returning from the White Island, having reached the hermitage of Badarī and met with those two sages —

12.331.17 — for how long did he dwell there, and what discourses did he ask of them, when that most great-souled one had returned from the White Island?

12.331.18 What did those two great-souled sages, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, say? All this you ought to tell me in full accordance with the truth.

12.331.19 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Homage to that blessed Vyāsa of measureless splendour, by whose grace I shall recount this tale of Nārāyaṇa.

12.331.20 Having reached the great White Island and beheld the imperishable Hari, Nārada, on his return, O king, came swiftly to Meru, bearing in his heart the burden of what had been spoken by the Supreme Soul.

12.331.21 Afterward, O king, a great trembling came over his spirit, in that, having gone so far a road, he had come back here again safe and sound.

12.331.22 Then he set forth from Meru toward Mount Gandhamādana, and descended swiftly from the sky beside the wide-spreading Badarī.

12.331.23 There he beheld the two ancient gods, foremost of sages, performing mighty austerity, fixed upon the Self, steadfast in great vows —

12.331.24 — surpassing in splendour the Sūrya that illumines all the worlds, bearing the Śrīvatsa mark, worthy of worship, wearing crowns of matted hair —

12.331.25 — their hands and feet webbed, marked with the sign of the wheel upon their soles, broad-chested, long-armed, and bearing the fourfold sign —

12.331.26 — with sixty teeth and eight tusks, their voices like a mass of thunderclouds, fair of face and broad of brow, well-jawed, with handsome brows and noses —

12.331.27 — the heads of those two gods like parasols: endowed with such marks, they were known by the name of the Great Persons.

12.331.28 Beholding the two, Nārada rejoiced, and was honoured by them in return; greeted with words of welcome, he was then asked after his well-being.

12.331.29 Gazing upon those supreme persons, his mind turned inward — recalling those who, present in the assembly there, are saluted by all beings:

12.331.30 'On the White Island I beheld two such foremost sages' — thus reflecting in his mind, and making his reverent circuit about them, he seated himself there upon a fair seat made of kuśa-grass.

12.331.31 Then those two sages, the abode of austerities, of glories, and of splendours, possessed of calm and self-restraint, having performed the rite of the forenoon —

12.331.32 — thereafter, unhurried, having honoured Nārada with water for his feet and the guest-offering, those two seated themselves upon their seats, their rites of hospitality and of the day fulfilled, O king.

12.331.33 When they were seated there, that place shone resplendent, as a sacrificial enclosure shines with the great flames of its fires fed by oblations of clarified butter.

12.331.34 Then Nārāyaṇa there spoke these words to Nārada, who was seated at ease, rested, his hospitality received, and abiding in comfort:

12.331.35 'Has that blessed one, the eternal Supreme Soul, the higher nature of us both, now indeed been beheld by you on the White Island?'

12.331.36 Nārada said: I have beheld the glorious, imperishable Person who bears the form of the universe. All the worlds abide within Him, and the gods together with the seers. Even now I see Him, as I gaze upon you two, O eternal ones.

12.331.37 With the very marks that Hari bears, He who wears an unmanifest form, with those same marks are you two endowed, who wear a manifest form.

12.331.38 There I beheld you two at the side of that God, and now this very day I have come here, sent forth by the Supreme Self.

12.331.39 For who indeed could be His equal in splendor, in glory, in majesty, throughout the three worlds, save you two, the sons of Dharma?

12.331.40 By Him was disclosed to me before His name, which is called the Knower of the Field; and the manifestations were told to me, how and which shall come to be.

12.331.41 There the men who are white, free from the five senses, are all of them awakened and devoted to the Supreme Person.

12.331.42 They forever worship the God, and with them He takes delight; for the Lord, the Supreme Self, loves His devotees and is dear to the twice-born.

12.331.43 He delights when worshiped, ever loving of His votaries—the All-devourer, the all-pervading God, the kinsman, tender to the faithful; He of surpassing might and radiance is the doer, the cause, and the effect alike.

12.331.44 Joining Himself to Him through austerity, He attains that which lies beyond Śvetadvīpa, that which is renowned as the splendor, illumined by its own self-shining radiance.

12.331.45 That is the peace, throughout the three worlds, of the perfected ones whose selves are made pure; with this auspicious understanding He has undertaken the steadfast vow.

12.331.46 There the sun gives no heat, nor does the moon shine forth, nor does the wind blow, while in the Lord of gods austerity hard to perform is practiced.

12.331.47 Mounting upon an altar of eight palms' height set upon the ground, the All-devouring God, standing upon one foot, with arms upraised and face turned northward, reciting the Vedas together with their auxiliary lore, performed austerity most hard to bear.

12.331.48 That which Brahmā and the seers, and the Lord of creatures himself, and all the rest, the foremost of the wise, the Daityas, Dānavas, and Rākṣasas—

12.331.49 the Nāgas, the Suparṇas, the Gandharvas, the Siddhas, and the royal seers, all of the oblation to the gods and to the fathers that they ceaselessly offer according to rule—the whole of it draws near to the feet of that God.

12.331.50 And those rites that are duly performed by men whose minds are bent on Him alone—all of these the God Himself receives upon His head.

12.331.51 None dearer to Him than the awakened great souls is found throughout the three worlds; therefore have I gone to single-minded devotion, and have come here, sent forth by Him, the Supreme Self.

12.331.52 Thus did the blessed God Hari Himself declare to me; intent on Him, I shall dwell forever together with you two.

12.332.1 Nara and Nārāyaṇa said: Blessed are you, and graced, in that the Lord Himself was beheld by you; for none has ever seen Him, not even the lotus-born one himself.

12.332.2 Of unmanifest origin is the blessed Supreme Person, hard to behold; O Nārada, true indeed is the word you have spoken.

12.332.3 None in the world is found dearer to Him than His devotees; therefore He revealed His own Self to you, O best of the twice-born.

12.332.4 That station of the Supreme Self who is performing austerity, none attains it, save we two alone, O best of the twice-born.

12.332.5 Whatever the radiance of a thousand suns gathered together might be, such is the radiance of that station, shining of its own accord through Him.

12.332.6 From that God, the All-pervading Lord, O brāhmaṇa, arises forbearance—O foremost of the forbearing—wherewith the earth is endowed.

12.332.7 And from that God arises savor, the benefactor of all beings, wherewith the waters are endowed and attain their fluidity.

12.332.8 From Him alone has arisen the brilliance whose essence is the quality of form, wherewith the sun is endowed, and thereby illumines the worlds.

12.332.9 From that God, the Supreme Person, has arisen touch, wherewith the wind is endowed, and thereby blows through the worlds.

12.332.10 And from that Lord, the Master of all worlds, arises sound, wherewith space is endowed, and thereby it stands unbounded.

12.332.11 And from that God arises mind, which pervades all beings, wherewith the moon is joined, the bearer of the quality of light.

12.332.12 That station, named the generator of the six elements, is called the Veda, wherein the blessed Lord abides, companioned by knowledge, the enjoyer of oblations to gods and fathers.

12.332.13 For those in the world who are stainless, free of merit and demerit, as they travel the path of safety, O best of the twice-born, the sun, dispeller of the darkness of all worlds, is said to be the gate.

12.332.14 With all their limbs consumed by the sun, unseen by anyone anywhere, having become atoms, they then enter into that God.

12.332.15 Released even from Him, abiding in the body of Aniruddha, become as mind, they then further enter into Pradyumna.

12.332.16 Released also from Pradyumna, the foremost of brāhmaṇas, the followers of Sāṃkhya together with the votaries of the Lord, enter then into Saṃkarṣaṇa, who is the living soul.

12.332.17 Then, freed of the three qualities, they enter straightway into the Supreme Self, O best of the twice-born, the Knower of the Field, whose nature is without quality; know in truth that Vāsudeva, the dwelling-place of all, is the Knower of the Field.

12.332.18 With minds composed, restrained, their senses curbed, attained to single-minded devotion, they enter into Vāsudeva.

12.332.19 We two also were born in the house of Dharma, O best of the twice-born, and, resorting to the lovely and broad Viśālā, have undertaken fierce austerity.

12.332.20 And those manifestations of that very God, dear to the gods, which shall arise abiding within the three worlds—to them be welfare, O brāhmaṇa.

12.332.21 By us two, joined to our own ordinance as of old, O best of the twice-born, the all-difficult vow has been duly upheld, that highest of vows.

12.332.22 By us two also were you seen in Śvetadvīpa, O treasury of austerity, when, having come together with the Lord, you held converse with Him.

12.332.23 For all is fully known to us two, throughout the three worlds with their moving and unmoving things, whatever good or evil shall come to pass, or has passed, or now passes.

12.332.24 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing this speech of theirs, Nārada gave himself to fierce austerity, and, with palms joined, became wholly devoted to Nārāyaṇa.

12.332.25 He muttered duly many sacred formulas turned toward Nārāyaṇa for a celestial thousand years in the hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa.

12.332.26 There dwelt that mighty-splendored, blessed seer Nārada, worshiping that very God, and those two, Nara and Nārāyaṇa.

12.333.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, after some time, Nārada, born of the Lord Supreme, having performed the rite to the gods according to ordinance, performed thereafter the rite to the fathers.

12.333.2 Then the elder one, the lordly son of Dharma, spoke this word: Who is worshiped, O best of the twice-born, when the rite to the gods and the rite to the fathers are ordained?

12.333.3 O foremost of the wise, declare this to me as it is handed down: why is this rite performed, and what fruit of it is sought?

12.333.4 Nārada said: By you it was told before that the rite to the gods is to be done; and the deity, the highest sacrifice, is the eternal Supreme Self.

12.333.5 Therefore, ever absorbed in Him, I worship the imperishable Vaikuṇṭha; and from Him there issued of old Brahmā, the grandsire of the worlds.

12.333.6 It was indeed my father whom the gracious Supreme One begot; and I am that one's son, born of his will, fashioned first of all.

12.333.7 I worship the fathers, O virtuous one, once the ordinance of Nārāyaṇa is fulfilled; thus that very blessed Lord, father, mother, and grandsire, the Master of the world, is forever worshiped by me in the sacrifices to the fathers.

12.333.8 And there is yet another sacred tradition, O god: the fathers worshiped their sons. The Vedic lore, once lost, was again taught by the sons; therefore those sons who gave the sacred formulas attained the rank of fathers.

12.333.9 Surely this was known of old to you two of purified souls: the sons and the fathers worshiped one another.

12.333.10 "Having first strewn the kuśa grass, then set down three rice-balls upon the earth"—but how did those fathers of old come to bear the name of the rice-ball?

12.333.11 Nara and Nārāyaṇa said: This earth, girdled by the sea, once lost, Govinda swiftly raised up, having assumed the form of a boar.

12.333.12 And having set the earth in its own place, the Supreme Person, His limbs smeared with water and mire, rose up for the sake of the world's work.

12.333.13 And when the time for the daily rite had come, the sun having reached the midpoint of the day, the Lord, swiftly shaking off the clods of earth clinging to His tusk, set them down upon the ground, having spread out kuśa grass, O Nārada.

12.333.14 Designating Himself in them, the Lord performed the rite to the fathers as prescribed, having consecrated three rice-balls by His own ordinance.

12.333.15 With sesame seeds born of the warmth of His own body and laden with their oil, the Lord of gods, facing eastward, Himself sprinkled them and brought the rite to its close.

12.333.16 And to establish the bounds of right usage He then spoke this word: I, the maker of the world, am Myself set upon creating the fathers.

12.333.17 As He pondered at once the supreme ordinance of the rite to the fathers, "These clods of mine, shaken from My tusks, have come to rest upon the earth in the southern quarter; therefore these are indeed the fathers."

12.333.18 "These three, though formless, now bearing the form of the rice-ball, let them become the eternal fathers in the world, created by Me."

12.333.19 "Father, grandfather, and likewise great-grandfather—I alone am to be known here, abiding within the three rice-balls."

12.333.20 "There is none greater than Me; whom then should I Myself worship? Who is My father in the world? I alone am the grandsire."

12.333.21 "And the father of the grandsire—I alone am the cause herein." Having spoken this word, the God of gods, Vṛṣākapi,—

12.333.22 on the Boar Mountain, O brāhmaṇa, having offered the rice-balls in full ceremony, and having worshiped His own Self alone, vanished from sight there itself.

12.333.23 For this reason, O fair-minded one, the fathers, called by the name of the rice-ball, ever receive worship, according to the word of Vṛṣākapi.

12.333.24 Those who worship the fathers, the gods, the teachers, and likewise guests, and the cows, and the foremost of the twice-born, and the earth their mother—by deed, by thought, by word, they worship Viṣṇu alone.

12.333.25 That blessed Lord dwells within, abiding in the bodies of all beings, the same in all creatures, the Master over pleasure and pain, the great, the great-souled, the Self of all, who is heard of as Nārāyaṇa.

12.334.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing this speech uttered by Nara and Nārāyaṇa, Nārada, supremely devoted to the God, attained to single-minded devotion.

12.334.2 Having dwelt a thousand years in the hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, having heard the tale of the Lord and beheld the imperishable Hari, he swiftly went to the Himālaya, where his own hermitage lay.

12.334.3 And those two seers, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, renowned for their austerity, in that same lovely hermitage practiced the highest austerity.

12.334.4 You too, of measureless valor, upholder of the line of the Pāṇḍavas, have this day become purified of soul, having heard this tale from its beginning.

12.334.5 Neither the world beyond nor this world is his, O best of kings, who by deed, by thought, by word, should hate the imperishable Viṣṇu.

12.334.6 The fathers of that man sink in hell for everlasting years, who should hate the foremost of the wise, the God Nārāyaṇa, Hari.

12.334.7 How indeed could the Self of anyone in the world be an object of hatred? For the Self, O tiger among men, is to be known as Viṣṇu—such is the settled truth.

12.334.8 He who is our teacher, the seer, the son of Gandhavatī—by him was this greatness of the Supreme Self told, my child; and so it was heard by me and told to you, O sinless one.

12.334.9 Know Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa to be the Lord Nārāyaṇa; for who else, O tiger among men, could be the maker of the Mahābhārata? And who, save that Lord, could declare the manifold ordinances of dharma?

12.334.10 Let your great sacrifice proceed as you have resolved upon it; you have vowed the horse-sacrifice and have truly learned the law.

12.334.11 And the king, the son of Parīkṣit, having heard this great narrative, then set about all the rites for the completion of the sacrifice.

12.334.12 This narrative of Nārāyaṇa I have told you, O king, which was declared of old by Nārada to my teacher, while the seers and the Pāṇḍavas listened, and Kṛṣṇa and Bhīṣma too.

12.334.13 For he is the supreme teacher, the lord of the worlds, the bearer of the earth, the treasury of tranquility and restraint, the treasury of scripture and discipline, the highest benefactor of the twice-born—may Hari, the friend of the gods, be your refuge.

12.334.14 He is the treasury of the greatest austerities, the vessel of mighty glory, the slayer of misfortune, the giver of refuge to the single-minded devotees, the bestower of fearlessness—may he who receives his portion of the sacrifice be the granter of your final goal.

12.334.15 Transcending the three qualities, upholder of the four and the five, the receiver of the fruit-share of works of charity and sacrifice—the unconquered one of surpassing strength ever ordains the goal that leads to himself for the virtuous sages.

12.334.16 To him, the witness of the worlds, the unborn Person, sun-hued, the lord's own goal, bow down again and again, O ascetics of single mind; even the lotus-born Brahmā bowed low before that seer.

12.334.17 For he is the womb of the worlds, the abode of immortality—subtle, ancient, unmoving, supreme; held high by the followers of Sāṃkhya and Yoga, ever known through intellect by those whose selves are restrained.

12.335.1 Janamejaya said: I have heard the greatness of that blessed Supreme Self—his birth in the house of Dharma in the twofold form of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and the ancient origin of the earth-mass brought forth by the Great Boar.

12.335.2 How he is ordained in the path of action and in the path of withdrawal—just so have we heard it, O brāhmaṇa, as it was recounted by you, O sinless one.

12.335.3 And that great Horse-Head of Viṣṇu, the devourer of oblations to gods and ancestors, which you described before as being in the great ocean to the north-east—that too was seen by the blessed Brahmā, the supreme lord.

12.335.4 What was that form, unprecedented among beings of great power, brought forth of old by Hari, the upholder of the worlds, O best of the wise?

12.335.5 For when he beheld that holy Horse-Head, the foremost of the gods, unprecedented and of immeasurable might, what did Brahmā do, O sage?

12.335.6 Resolve this doubt of ours, O brāhmaṇa—a doubt born of ancient lore and fashioned by the Great Person—O you of supreme mind; we have been purified by you, O brāhmaṇa, as you recount this holy tale.

12.335.7 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: I shall tell you the whole of it—the ancient tale equal in worth to the Veda, which the blessed Vyāsa sang to the king, the son of Dharma.

12.335.8 Having heard of the Horse-Headed form of the god whose intelligence is Hari, the king, in whom a doubt had arisen, pressed him with a question.

12.335.9 Yudhiṣṭhira said: That god bearing the horse's head whom Brahmā revealed—for what purpose did that body, fashioned by the god, come into being?

12.335.10 Vyāsa said: Whatever in this world is bound within a body, O lord of peoples, all of it is pervaded by the five elements, born of the Lord's intelligence.

12.335.11 For the Lord, creator of the world, is the sovereign Nārāyaṇa, the all-pervading; he is the inner Self of beings, the giver of boons, possessed of qualities and yet without qualities. Hear now of the unmanifest dissolution of beings, O best of kings.

12.335.12 When of old the earth had dissolved into the waters, and they into the single ocean; when the water, become fire, had dissolved into light, and the light into wind—

12.335.13 when the wind had dissolved into space, and space had followed into mind; when the manifest had dissolved into mind, and the manifest had passed into the unmanifest—

12.335.14 when the unmanifest had gone into the Person, and the Person too into the all-pervading—then there was only darkness, and nothing whatsoever could be discerned.

12.335.15 From that darkness arose Brahman, rooted in darkness, having truth for its essence; it, ending in the name of universal being, took on a body of the Person.

12.335.16 That is called Aniruddha; that they declare to be the Primordial Nature. It is to be known as the Unmanifest, composed of the three qualities, O best of kings.

12.335.17 The god Viṣvaksena, the lord Hari, accompanied by his power of wisdom, made his couch upon the waters and entered the yoga of sleep, pondering the creation of the world—a wondrous creation arising from manifold qualities.

12.335.18 As he pondered creation, the Great Principle, called the quality of the Self, arose; from it was born self-consciousness, and thence Brahmā of the four auspicious faces, the blessed Hiraṇyagarbha, grandfather of all the worlds.

12.335.19 Sprung then from Aniruddha upon a lotus, lotus-eyed and radiant, the eternal one sat upon the thousand-petalled flower.

12.335.20 In that wondrous expanse the lord beheld the worlds made wholly of water; abiding in goodness, the supreme one then brought forth the hosts of beings.

12.335.21 And even before that, upon the petal of the lotus, bright as the sun's rays, there were two drops of water made by Nārāyaṇa, surpassing in their qualities.

12.335.22 The blessed one, without beginning or end, the unfallen, beheld those two; one drop there was the color of honey, of lovely radiance.

12.335.23 That one, born of darkness, became Madhu by the command of Nārāyaṇa; the other drop, hard, born of passion, became Kaiṭabha.

12.335.24 Those two mighty foremost ones, endowed with the qualities of darkness and passion, maces in hand, rushed forth, making their way along the stalk of the lotus.

12.335.25 They beheld Brahmā of immeasurable splendor, seated upon the lotus, first bringing forth the four Vedas of lovely form.

12.335.26 Then those two foremost of demons, having taken bodily form, seeing the Vedas, suddenly seized them as Brahmā looked on.

12.335.27 Then those two foremost of the Dānavas, having seized the eternal Vedas, swiftly entered the netherworld in the great ocean to the north-east.

12.335.28 Then, when the Vedas had been stolen, Brahmā fell into despair; bereft of the Vedas, he spoke these words to the Lord.

12.335.29 "The Vedas are my supreme eye, the Vedas are my supreme strength; the Vedas are my supreme abode, the Vedas are my highest Brahman."

12.335.30 "All my Vedas have been carried off from here by force by the two Dānavas; bereft of the Vedas, my worlds have become wrapped in darkness. What can I do without the Vedas, intent as I am upon creating the worlds?"

12.335.31 "Alas, a great sorrow born of the loss of the Vedas has come upon me; it torments my heart, rending it open to fierce grief."

12.335.32 "Who shall today lift me, sunk in this ocean of grief, out of it, and bring back those lost Vedas? To whom shall I become dear?"

12.335.33 As Brahmā spoke thus, O best of kings, O foremost of the wise, the thought arose in him to praise Hari; then the lord, with hands joined in reverence, intoned a supreme hymn.

12.335.34 "Homage to you, O heart of Brahman; homage to you, my forefather; O first of the worlds, best of all beings, treasury of Sāṃkhya and Yoga, O all-pervading one."

12.335.35 "O inconceivable maker of the manifest and unmanifest, you who abide upon the path of well-being, devourer of the universe, inner Self of all beings, O you who are born of no womb!"

12.335.36 "I am born of your grace, to you the abode of the worlds, the self-existent. From you came my first birth, born of the mind, honored by the twice-born."

12.335.37 "My second birth of old was from the eye; and by your grace my third great birth was from speech."

12.335.38 "From you, too, came my fourth birth, born of the ear, O all-pervading one; and my birth from the nose is called the fifth, again from you."

12.335.39 "And my birth from the egg, the sixth, was fashioned by you; and this is my seventh birth, born of the lotus, O you of measureless splendor."

12.335.40 "In creation after creation I am your son, free of the three qualities, renowned, O lotus-eyed one, fashioned from the qualities of Primordial Nature."

12.335.41 "You are the very nature of the Lord, the self-existent, the supreme Person; by you was I fashioned, having the Vedas for my eye, surpassing all age."

12.335.42 "Those Vedas, my eye, have been stolen; I have become blind. Awake! Restore to me my two eyes. I am dear to you, and you are dear to me."

12.335.43 Thus praised, the blessed Person, facing in every direction, then forsook his sleep, intent upon the task of the Vedas, and by his sovereign power took on a second body.

12.335.44 With a body finely formed and fair as the moon, the lord then made the white horse's head, the abode of the Vedas.

12.335.45 His head became the heavens with their constellations and stars, and his long hairs became bright as the rays of the sun.

12.335.46 His two ears were the sky and the nether regions, his brow the earth that bears all beings; the holy Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī, the great rivers, were his two eyebrows.

12.335.47 His two eyes were the moon and the sun; his nose was held to be the twilight; the syllable Oṃ was his ritual consecration, and lightning was made his tongue.

12.335.48 His teeth, O king, were the ancestors known as the drinkers of soma; the world of cows and the world of Brahmā were the lips of the great one; and his neck, O king, was the Night of Time, surpassing in its qualities.

12.335.49 Having made this horse's head, wrapped about with manifold forms, the lord of all, the sovereign, vanished and entered the netherworld.

12.335.50 Having entered the netherworld once more and taken up the supreme yoga, he, assuming the disciplined tone of the science of recitation, sent forth the sound Oṃ.

12.335.51 That sound, resonant and far-reaching, all-pervading and tender, became hidden within the earth, arising from the qualities of all beings.

12.335.52 Then those two Asuras, having bound the Vedas by a pact and laid them down in the netherworld, rushed toward the place from which the sound came.

12.335.53 In that interval, O king, the god Hari, bearing the horse's head, seized all the Vedas that had been left in the netherworld and gave them back to Brahmā, then returned to his own nature.

12.335.54 Having set the horse's head in the great ocean to the north-east, the Horse-Headed one thus became the abode of the Vedas.

12.335.55 Then the two Dānavas, Madhu and Kaiṭabha, seeing nothing, came rushing back to that place; and they beheld that the spot where the Vedas had been laid was empty.

12.335.56 Then, taking on their utmost speed, those two foremost of the strong rose up swiftly again from the abode of the waters and beheld that very Person, the lord, the first maker.

12.335.57 White, gleaming pure as the moon, abiding in the body of Aniruddha, of immeasurable valor, he had once more entered the yoga of sleep.

12.335.58 He lay upon a couch fashioned to his own measure, set above the waters, made rich with the coils of the serpent and wreathed about with garlands of flame.

12.335.59 Endowed with stainless goodness and of lovely radiance—seeing him, those two lords of the Dānavas burst into great laughter.

12.335.60 And those two, possessed by passion and darkness, said: "This is that white Person who lies here sunk in sleep."

12.335.61 "Surely it is by him that the Vedas were carried off from the netherworld. Whose is he? Who indeed is this? And why does he sleep in such luxury?"

12.335.62 Having uttered these words, the two roused Hari; and the supreme Person, awaking, perceived that they sought battle.

12.335.63 And gazing upon those two lords of the Asuras, he set his mind upon battle; then there arose a war between the two of them and Nārāyaṇa.

12.335.64 Those two, Madhu and Kaiṭabha, their bodies possessed by passion and darkness—the slayer of Madhu killed them, doing a service of recompense to Brahmā.

12.335.65 Then, by the slaying of those two and by the recovery of the Vedas, the supreme Person swiftly dispelled the grief of Brahmā.

12.335.66 Then Brahmā, his foes slain and honored by the restoring of the Vedas, attended by his retinue, created all the worlds, both the moving and the unmoving.

12.335.67 Having granted to the Grandfather the foremost wisdom for the bringing-forth of the worlds, the god Hari vanished thereupon into the very place from which he had come.

12.335.68 Having slain those two Dānavas and made the horse-headed body, Hari, for the sake of the dharma of activity, again established that very body.

12.335.69 Thus did this greatly blessed Hari become the Horse-Headed one; this ancient form, boon-granting and sovereign, has now been told.

12.335.70 For that brāhmaṇa who should ever hear this or hold it in memory—his learning would never come to ruin at any time.

12.335.71 Having propitiated by fierce austerity the god who bears the horse's head, the Pāñcāla attained the method, and Rāma along the path that was pointed out.

12.335.72 This tale of the Horse-Head, O king, has been recounted to you—the ancient story equal in worth to the Veda, about which you questioned me.

12.335.73 Whatever body the god might wish to make at any time in the ordering of his work, that body he would make, transforming his very self by himself.

12.335.74 This glorious one is the treasury of the Vedas; this indeed is the treasury of austerity; this is Yoga and Sāṃkhya and the foremost Brahman—Hari, the all-pervading lord.

12.335.75 The Vedas have Nārāyaṇa for their goal; the sacrifices have Nārāyaṇa for their essence; austerity has Nārāyaṇa as its highest aim; Nārāyaṇa is the supreme destination.

12.335.76 Truth has Nārāyaṇa for its highest ground; the cosmic order is of Nārāyaṇa's very essence. Dharma too is grounded in Nārāyaṇa, that dharma by which return to rebirth is hard to come by.

12.335.77 The dharma marked by active engagement in the world is likewise of Nārāyaṇa's essence. Scent itself, the foremost quality residing in earth, is taught to be of Nārāyaṇa's essence.

12.335.78 And the quality of the waters, O king—taste—is of Nārāyaṇa's essence; the quality of the luminous bodies—form—is taught to be of Nārāyaṇa's essence.

12.335.79 Touch as well, the quality of wind, is taught to be of Nārāyaṇa's essence; and sound, which arises from space, is likewise of Nārāyaṇa's essence.

12.335.80 And mind too, which has come to be from that, marked by the quality of the Unmanifest—time has Nārāyaṇa for its highest ground, as does the course of the heavenly lights.

12.335.81 Fame has Nārāyaṇa for its highest ground, and the goddesses Śrī and Lakṣmī. Sāṃkhya has Nārāyaṇa for its highest ground, and Yoga is of Nārāyaṇa's essence.

12.335.82 For those who hold the Puruṣa to be the cause, and likewise the primordial Nature as cause, and inherent disposition, and deeds, and fate as cause—

12.335.83 reckoned by these five causes, Hari is verily the final ground in every case—for those who seek to know the truth through reasonings that face in every direction.

12.335.84 The one Reality is the great yogin, Hari Nārāyaṇa, the Lord—of the worlds together with Brahmā, and of the great-souled seers,

12.335.85 of the followers of Sāṃkhya and the yogins, and of the ascetics who know the Self—the inmost thought of all these Keśava knows, but they do not know his.

12.335.86 Whoever in all the worlds perform rites for the gods and for the ancestors, and bestow gifts, and practice great austerity—

12.335.87 the refuge of them all is Viṣṇu, who abides in lordly ordinance; because he has made his dwelling in all beings, he is called Vāsudeva.

12.335.88 For he is the eternal, supreme Great Seer, of vast might, possessed of qualities yet called free of qualities; he swiftly enters into union with the qualities, as time, in its season, joins itself to the seasons.

12.335.89 None can find the going of this great-souled one, nor does anyone here perceive his coming. Only the great seers, made of knowledge and self-restrained, behold forever the Puruṣa who transcends the qualities.

12.336.1 Janamejaya said: Ah, the Lord Hari gives delight to all the single-minded devotees, and the Lord himself receives the worship offered according to ordinance.

12.336.2 But for those in the world whose fuel of karma is burnt away, who are free of merit and demerit, you have set forth the goal that is reached by the unbroken succession of the tradition.

12.336.3 By the fourth course they go to the Supreme Person; the single-minded ones indeed go to the highest abode.

12.336.4 Surely this dharma of single-minded devotion is the most excellent, dear to Nārāyaṇa, since its followers, without passing through the three other courses, go straight to the imperishable Hari.

12.336.5 Those brahmins who, abiding rightly, recite the Vedas together with the Upaniṣads, holding fast to ordinance, and those too who follow the dharma of ascetics—

12.336.6 I know that the goal of the single-minded men is more distinguished than theirs. By whom was this dharma declared—by a god, or by a seer?

12.336.7 And what is the practice of the single-minded ones, and when was it brought forth, O mighty one? Cut through this doubt of mine, for great is my curiosity.

12.336.8 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When the armies of the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas had been drawn up for battle, and Arjuna was dispirited, it was sung by the Lord himself.

12.336.9 The coming and the going I have already related to you. For this dharma is profound, hard to comprehend for those who have not perfected the self.

12.336.10 It is measured by the Sāmaveda, established of old in the first age; it is upheld, O king, by the Lord Nārāyaṇa himself.

12.336.11 On this matter, O great king, the highly blessed Nārada, questioned by Pārtha amid the seers, while Kṛṣṇa and Bhīṣma listened—

12.336.12 and this was related by my teacher to me as well, O best of kings. Hear it now just as it was related there by Nārada.

12.336.13 When there was the mind-born birth of Brahmā, sprung from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa, O protector of the earth, then Nārāyaṇa himself, by that dharma, performed the rites for the gods and for the ancestors, O Bhārata.

12.336.14 The Phenapa seers received that dharma; the Vaikhānasas received this dharma from the Phenapas, and from the Vaikhānasas Soma received it; thereafter that god vanished once more.

12.336.15 When there was the second birth of Brahmā, the eye-born one, O king, then from the grandsire Soma he came to know this dharma, of Nārāyaṇa's essence, O king, and he gave it over to Rudra.

12.336.16 Then Rudra, established in yoga, of old in the Kṛta age, O king, taught this dharma to all the Vālakhilya seers; thereafter it vanished once more by the magic power of that god.

12.336.17 When there was the third, the great speech-born birth of Brahmā, then this dharma came forth from Nārāyaṇa himself, O king.

12.336.18 The seer named Suparṇa obtained it from the Supreme Person, through austerity well practiced, through self-control and discipline.

12.336.19 Suparṇa traversed this supreme dharma three times over; for that reason this observance is here called the Trisauparṇa.

12.336.20 This observance, recited in the recitation of the Ṛgveda, is indeed hard to fulfill; and this eternal dharma was obtained from Suparṇa as well.

12.336.21 By Vāyu, O best of bipeds, it was made known—Vāyu, the life-breath of the world; and from the presence of Vāyu it was obtained by the seers who eat the remnants of offerings.

12.336.22 From them the great Ocean obtained this supreme dharma; thereafter it vanished once more, gathered back into Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.23 When once again there was the ear-born creation of the great-souled Brahmā, O tiger among men, listen as I relate it.

12.336.24 The god Hari Nārāyaṇa himself, intent on creating the world, the Lord, brought to mind a Person who would make the creation of the world.

12.336.25 Then, as he was pondering, a Person issued from his two ears—Brahmā, the maker of creatures' generation; and the Lord of the world addressed him:

12.336.26 "Create all the creatures, my son, from the mouth and likewise from the feet; I shall ordain your welfare, your strength and your splendor, O you of good vows."

12.336.27 "And receive from me the dharma named Sātvata by name; by it, establish the whole Kṛta age according to ordinance."

12.336.28 Then Brahmā made obeisance to the god Harimedhas, and he took up the foremost dharma, together with its mystery and its summary, accompanied by the Āraṇyaka, sprung from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.29 Having then imparted to Brahmā of measureless splendor that dharma proper to the Kṛta age, known as action free of desire, he went beyond the darkness, where the Unmanifest abides.

12.336.30 Then the boon-granting god, the grandsire of the world of Brahmā, created at that time all the worlds entire, the unmoving and the moving.

12.336.31 Then at the beginning the auspicious Kṛta age set in; and thereupon the Sātvata dharma, pervading the worlds, stood established.

12.336.32 By that very first dharma, Brahmā, the maker of the worlds' outpouring, worshipped the Lord of gods, Hari Nārāyaṇa, the Master.

12.336.33 And for the sake of establishing dharma, he then taught it to Manu Svārociṣa, out of his desire for the welfare of the worlds.

12.336.34 Then Svārociṣa, undistracted of old, the lord and master of all worlds, himself taught it to his son Śaṅkhapada, O king.

12.336.35 Then Śaṅkhapada too taught it to his own son, born of his body, Sudharman the guardian of a quarter, O Bhārata; thereafter it vanished once more, when the Tretā age had come again.

12.336.36 At the nostril-born birth of Brahmā of old, O best of kings, the god Hari Nārāyaṇa himself, the lotus-eyed Lord, brought forth this dharma while Brahmā looked on.

12.336.37 Then the blessed Sanatkumāra learned it, O king; and from Sanatkumāra the lord of creatures Vīraṇa, at the dawn of the Kṛta age, O tiger of the Kurus, learned this dharma.

12.336.38 And Vīraṇa, having studied it, gave it to Manu Raucya; Raucya gave it to his son, the pure, devout, and wise Suvrata—

12.336.39 that is, he bestowed it upon the righteous guardian of the quarters named Kukṣi; thereafter it vanished once more, the dharma sprung from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.40 At the egg-born birth, again, of Brahmā whose source is Hari, this dharma arose once more from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.41 It was received by Brahmā, O king, and applied according to ordinance; and the sages named the Barhiṣads were instructed in it, O king.

12.336.42 And from the Barhiṣads, Hari—keeper of the observance of the eldest Sāman—passed it on to the twice-born one who had reached the end of the Sāmaveda, renowned by the name Jyeṣṭha.

12.336.43 And from Jyeṣṭha it passed on to King Avikampana; thereafter, O king, this dharma of the Lord Hari vanished away.

12.336.44 This which is the seventh birth of Brahmā, the lotus-born, O king—there this dharma was declared by Nārāyaṇa himself.

12.336.45 To the pure grandsire, the upholder of the worlds at the age's dawn, and the grandsire gave this dharma of old to Dakṣa.

12.336.46 Then Dakṣa bestowed it upon his eldest grandson, O best of kings; and from him Vivasvat received it, the eldest son of Savitṛ among the Ādityas.

12.336.47 And at the dawn of the Tretā age, again, Vivasvat gave it to Manu; and Manu, for the welfare of the worlds, gave it to his son Ikṣvāku.

12.336.48 And declared by Ikṣvāku, it stood pervading the worlds; and at the end of the cosmic dissolution it shall go back again to Nārāyaṇa, O king.

12.336.49 And the dharma which belongs to those who keep the vows, that, O best of kings, was related to you before in the Songs of Hari, set forth in summary form.

12.336.50 By Nārada this dharma was obtained, with its mystery and its summary, directly from the Lord of the world, from Nārāyaṇa, O king.

12.336.51 Thus this great dharma, primordial and eternal, O king, hard to comprehend and hard to practice, is upheld at all times by the Sātvatas.

12.336.52 By this knowledge of dharma, and by action well applied and joined with the dharma of non-injury, the Lord Hari is well pleased.

12.336.53 In one place his distribution is of a single array; somewhere it is called a twofold array; he is reckoned as a threefold array, and a fourfold array too is seen.

12.336.54 For Hari alone is the Knower of the field, free of self-claiming and without parts, and the living soul in all beings, transcending the qualities of the five elements.

12.336.55 He is the renowned mind too, O king, that sets the five senses in motion; he is the wise treasure-house of the worlds, he is the maker of the worlds' outpouring.

12.336.56 He is both the non-doer and the doer, the effect and the cause as well; just as he wishes, O king, so does the imperishable Person play.

12.336.57 This dharma of single-minded devotion has been recounted to you, O best of kings, by me through the grace of my teacher—hard to comprehend for those who have not perfected the self; for single-minded men, O king, are not to be found in great numbers.

12.336.58 If the world were thronged with the single-minded, O joy of the Kurus—men who do no harm, who know the Self, who delight in the welfare of all beings and have renounced action done with desire—then the Kṛta age would be regained.

12.336.59 Thus did the blessed Vyāsa, my teacher, O lord of peoples, the knower of dharma, the best of the twice-born, relate it to the Dharma King.

12.336.60 In the presence of the seers, O king, while Kṛṣṇa and Bhīṣma listened—and to him too, before, Nārada of mighty austerity had related it—

12.336.61 the supreme god, the highest Brahman, white, with the luster of the moon, the unfallen, to whom the single-minded ones go, wholly devoted to Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.62 Janamejaya said: This dharma of many kinds, practiced by the awakened—why do other brahmins, established in their various observances, not follow it?

12.336.63 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Three natures, O king, are fashioned within the bonds of the body—the sāttvika, the rājasa, and the tāmasa, O Bhārata.

12.336.64 Among those bound in the body, the best of men, O upholder of the Kuru line, is the sāttvika one, O tiger among men—he it is who would be resolved upon the goal of liberation.

12.336.65 And here too he discerns the Person abiding in Brahman; since liberation has Nārāyaṇa for its highest ground, the sāttvika one is verily so esteemed.

12.336.66 And he attains the object of his heart's desire, meditating on the Supreme Person—single-minded in devotion forever, wholly given over to Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.67 For all those wise ascetics who long for liberation, who have severed every craving, it is Hari who bears their welfare and their gain.

12.336.68 Whatever man, at his very birth, Madhusūdana looks upon, that man is to be known as endowed with sattva and assured of liberation.

12.336.69 This dharma practised with single-minded devotion is equal in worth to Sāṃkhya and Yoga; through it men attain the supreme goal, the liberation whose very self is Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.70 The man whom Nārāyaṇa beholds is awakened to truth; but one awakened by his own will alone, O king, is not so awakened.

12.336.71 The rājasic and tāmasic natures are remembered to be intermingled; and the man whose self is composed of these, O lord of peoples, born marked by the signs of worldly engagement, Hari himself does not regard.

12.336.72 It is Brahmā, the grandsire of the worlds, who looks upon such a man at his birth—the mortal flooded over by rajas and tamas.

12.336.73 True, the gods and the sages abide in sattva, O best of kings; yet, lacking that subtle sattva, they are accordingly remembered as belonging to the modified order.

12.336.74 Janamejaya said: How can a man of the modified order attain the Supreme Person?

12.336.75 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Joined to the most subtle sattva, joined to the three syllables, the man, ceasing from action, attains that Person, the twenty-fifth principle.

12.336.76 Thus Sāṃkhya and Yoga are one, and so too the Veda and the Āraṇyaka; these, together with the Pañcarātra, are declared to be limbs of one another. This is the dharma of the single-minded devotees, whose supreme Self is Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.77 As the floods of water gone forth from the ocean enter again, O king, that very ocean, so the great floods of knowledge enter again into Nārāyaṇa.

12.336.78 This Sātvata dharma has been told to you, O kinsman of the Yadus; observe it as is fitting, if you are able, O descendant of Bharata.

12.336.79 For thus did the greatly blessed Nārada declare to my teacher the imperishable, single-minded goal of the white-robed ascetics.

12.336.80 And Vyāsa, out of affection, recounted it to the wise son of Dharma; that very teaching, descended from my teacher, I have now set forth to you.

12.336.81 Hard to follow, indeed, is this dharma, O best of kings; even as you do, so others do not embrace it, for they are bewildered.

12.336.82 For Kṛṣṇa alone is the creator of the worlds, their bewilderer, and their destroyer too, and their very cause, O lord of peoples.

12.337.1 Janamejaya said: Sāṃkhya, Yoga, the Pañcarātra, and the Veda with its Āraṇyaka—these bodies of knowledge, O brahmin sage, are current among the worlds.

12.337.2 Do these rest upon a single foundation, or upon separate foundations, O sage? Being asked by me, declare it, and their origin in due order.

12.337.3 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: To that great sage, knowing many things, supreme and most noble, the self-possessed son whom Gandhavatī bore to Parāśara on the island—to him, dispeller of the darkness of ignorance, be salutation.

12.337.4 They declare him the sixth, counting from the Grandsire, the great sage endowed with the glory of the seers, born of a portion of Nārāyaṇa, the only son, Dvaipāyana, the great treasure-house of the Veda.

12.337.5 Him, in the primal ages, did Nārāyaṇa of mighty majesty, the great treasure-house of the Brahman, create for the sake of a son—the unborn, the ancient one of lofty splendour, brought forth the great-souled Vyāsa.

12.337.6 Janamejaya said: By you yourself was his lineage told before, O best of the twice-born: Śakti was the son of Vasiṣṭha, and Parāśara the son of Śakti.

12.337.7 The heir of Parāśara was the sage Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana; yet now you speak of this same one as the son of Nārāyaṇa.

12.337.8 What, then, is the earlier birth of Vyāsa of measureless splendour? Tell me, O man of excellent mind, of his birth that sprang from Nārāyaṇa.

12.337.9 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: While my teacher, most righteous, a treasury of austerity, fixed upon knowledge, longing to understand the meanings of the Vedas, was dwelling at the foot of the Himālaya—

12.337.10 having composed the tale of the Bhārata, the wise one was wearied with austerity; and we, O king, intent upon it, rendered him our devoted service in those days.

12.337.11 Sumantu, and Jaimini, and Paila of firm vows, I myself the fourth disciple, and Śuka, the son of Vyāsa—

12.337.12 surrounded by these five excellent disciples, Vyāsa shone at the foot of the Himālaya like the Lord of beings amid his attendant spirits.

12.337.13 As he recited the Vedas together with their auxiliaries, and the meanings of the Bhārata in every part, we, attentive, waited upon him, the single-minded, the self-controlled.

12.337.14 Then, in the course of some discourse, that best of the twice-born was asked by us about the meanings of the Vedas, the meanings of the Bhārata, and his birth from Nārāyaṇa.

12.337.15 He, the knower of truth, having first spoken of the meanings of the Vedas and of the Bhārata, then set about to relate this birth of his from Nārāyaṇa.

12.337.16 Hear this excellent tale, supreme, belonging to the seers, arising in primal time, O brahmins, attained by me through austerity.

12.337.17 When the time of the creation of creatures had come, in the seventh, the birth from the lotus, Nārāyaṇa, the great yogin, free of good and evil alike—

12.337.18 created from his navel a son, Brahmā of boundless radiance; thereupon that one came forth, and to him he spoke these words:

12.337.19 "You are born from my navel, the lord and maker of the creation of creatures; create manifold beings, O Brahman, both the dull and the wise."

12.337.20 Thus addressed, he turned away, his mind troubled with anxious thought; and bowing to the boon-granting god, he said to Hari, the Lord:

12.337.21 "What power have I, O Lord of the gods, to create creatures? Homage be to you. I am without the requisite wisdom, O god; ordain what is to follow."

12.337.22 Thus addressed, the Blessed One then vanished from sight, and the Lord of the gods, the foremost of the wise, called to mind Buddhi, the faculty of intellect.

12.337.23 Then Buddhi, having taken visible form, presented herself before the Lord Hari; and he, the unattached, himself joined her by his power of yoga.

12.337.24 To that Buddhi, established in the yoga of sovereign power, mighty and true, the imperishable Lord, the god, spoke these words:

12.337.25 "Enter into Brahmā, for the accomplishing of the world's creation." Then, commanded by the Lord, Buddhi swiftly entered into him.

12.337.26 Then Hari beheld him once more, now joined with Buddhi, and again spoke to him this word: "Create these manifold beings."

12.337.27 Having spoken thus, the Blessed One vanished there itself, and in a single moment attained his own abode, named after the gods.

12.337.28 And reaching that very nature, Brahmā came to be one with it; thereupon, it is said, another thought arose within him again.

12.337.29 All these creatures were created by Brahmā the supreme one, thronged with hosts of Daityas, Dānavas, Gandharvas, and Rākṣasas; and this earth, the bearer of wealth, was born, pressed down by the burden and made to suffer.

12.337.30 "Many mighty Daityas, Dānavas, and Rākṣasas shall arise upon the earth, and engaged in austerity they shall obtain the highest boons."

12.337.31 "Inevitably, by all those grown arrogant through the granting of boons, the hosts of gods and the sages rich in austerity shall be oppressed; therefore it is fitting that I should there bring about the lifting of this burden."

12.337.32 "Then, by my various manifestations upon the earth, in due succession, by the curbing of the wicked and the upholding of the good—

12.337.33 I shall sustain this suffering, faithful earth; for by me, in the form of the serpent abiding in the nether world, is she upheld.

12.337.34 Upheld by me, she in turn bears the world with all that moves and is unmoving; therefore, taking birth, I shall accomplish the deliverance of the earth."

12.337.35 Having pondered thus, the Blessed Madhusūdana brought forth many forms, for the sake of his manifestations.

12.337.36 "The boar-form, the man-lion, the dwarf, and the human likewise—by these the unruly foes of the gods are to be destroyed by me."

12.337.37 Then again the creator of the world, making the regions resound with the sound "Bhoḥ!", uttered forth the goddess Sarasvatī; and thereupon arose the Sārasvata one.

12.337.38 Apāntaratamas by name, the son sprung from the speech of the Lord, knower of past, present, and future, a speaker of truth, firm in his vows.

12.337.39 To him, bowed with his head, the imperishable first of the gods said: "By you, O best of the wise, the śruti must be set in order in the expounding of the Vedas; therefore do this my word as it has been commanded, O sage."

12.337.40 By him, in the age of Svāyaṃbhuva Manu, the Vedas were then divided; and thereafter the Blessed Hari was well pleased by that work of his, and by his austerity well practised, by restraint and by observance.

12.337.41 The glorious Lord said: "Through the ages of the Manus, my son, you shall thus be the setter-in-motion of the worlds—unshaken, O Brahman, and forever unassailable.

12.337.42 And again, when the Tiṣya age has come, there shall be the Bhāratas called the Kurus, great-souled kings renowned upon the earth.

12.337.43 Among those descended from you a splitting of the line shall come to pass, ending in their mutual destruction—save for you alone, O best of the twice-born.

12.337.44 There too, endowed with austerity, you shall divide the Vedas in many ways; and when the Kṛṣṇa age has come, you shall be of dark hue.

12.337.45 You shall be the author of manifold dharmas and likewise a maker of knowledge, possessed of austerity; yet you shall not be freed from attachment.

12.337.46 And a son of yours, free of all passion, shall be the Supreme Self, by the grace of Maheśvara; this word shall not prove otherwise."

12.337.47 He whom they call the mind-born son of the Grandsire, endowed with the highest understanding—Vasiṣṭha, the foremost, the treasure-house of austerity, who shines surpassing even the sun—

12.337.48 and in his line, thereafter, the great sage named Parāśara, of mighty power—he, your father, the most excellent treasury of the Veda, of great austerity, the very dwelling-place of penance, born of a maiden upon his father's daughter; of that seer you shall be the son.

12.337.49 You, in whom every doubt about all matters of past, present, and future is severed—those thousand-yuga cycles that have passed away before,

12.337.50 all those pointed out by me you shall behold, endowed with austerity; and again you shall behold the many thousand-yuga cycles to come.

12.337.51 And me, without beginning or end in the world, bearing the discus in my hand, O sage—through meditation upon me, O sage, this word shall not prove otherwise."

12.337.52 "Śanaiścara, the son of Sūrya, shall become the great Manu; and in that age of the Manu, foremost among the host of the Seven Seers, you yourself shall be, my dear child, by my grace—of this there is no doubt."

12.337.53 Vyāsa said: Having spoken thus to the Sārasvata sage Apāntaratamas, the Lord then said, "Go now and accomplish it."

12.337.54 And I, by the grace of that god of Hari's own wisdom, was thus born by the name Apāntaratamas at the command of Hari; and again I was born, renowned, the joy of Vasiṣṭha's line.

12.337.55 Thus has this former birth of my own been told by me, brought about by the grace of Nārāyaṇa, and born of a portion of Nārāyaṇa.

12.337.56 For I performed a most mighty austerity, exceedingly severe, in days of old, O best of the wise, with the highest concentration.

12.337.57 All this has been told to you that you asked of me, my children—my former birth and what is to come—out of affection for the devoted.

12.337.58 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: This lineage of our teacher has now been told to you, O king—of Vyāsa of untroubled mind. Now hear once more what you have asked.

12.337.59 Sāṃkhya, Yoga, the Pañcarātra, the Vedas, and the Pāśupata likewise—know these bodies of knowledge, O royal sage, to be of differing doctrines indeed.

12.337.60 The expounder of Sāṃkhya, it is said, is Kapila, the supreme sage; the ancient knower of Yoga is Hiraṇyagarbha, and no other.

12.337.61 And Apāntaratamas, it is said, is the teacher of the Vedas; some here declare that sage to be Prācīnagarbha.

12.337.62 Umā's consort, the Lord of beings, Śrīkaṇṭha, the son of Brahmā—Śiva, undisturbed, declared this knowledge, the Pāśupata.

12.337.63 But the knower of the whole Pañcarātra is the Blessed One himself; and in all these bodies of knowledge, O best of kings, he is to be seen.

12.337.64 According to the tradition and according to the knowledge, the Lord Nārāyaṇa is the final ground; yet those become darkness do not know him thus, O lord of peoples.

12.337.65 Him alone the wise declare to be the author of the scriptures, and they proclaim that the seer Nārāyaṇa is the final ground, that no other exists beside him.

12.337.66 In all those who are free of doubt Hari dwells forever; but in those still beset by doubt, who lean upon mere argument, Mādhava does not abide.

12.337.67 But those, O king, who know the Pañcarātra and follow its order step by step, who have attained single-minded devotion—they truly enter into Hari.

12.337.68 Sāṃkhya and Yoga are the two eternal paths, O king, and the Vedas entire in all their fullness; by all the seers together it has been declared that Nārāyaṇa is this whole ancient universe.

12.337.69 Whatever deed, good or evil, is set in motion and proceeds in all the worlds—let it be known that it issues from that seer alone, whether in heaven, in the mid-air, on earth, or in the waters.

12.338.1 Janamejaya said: Are the puruṣas many, O brahmin, or is there but one? Who here is the supreme Puruṣa, and what is said to be the source in this matter?

12.338.2 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: For those who reason after the manner of Sāṃkhya and Yoga the puruṣas in the world are many; these do not hold that the Puruṣa is one, O upholder of the Kuru line.

12.338.3 But just as a single source is spoken of for the many puruṣas, so shall I expound that all-pervading Puruṣa who transcends the strands of nature.

12.338.4 Having paid homage to the teacher Vyāsa of measureless splendour, devoted to austerity, self-controlled, worthy of worship, the supreme seer—

12.338.5 This Hymn of the Puruṣa, O lord of the earth, is renowned in all the Vedas as the cosmic order and as truth, pondered by that lion among seers.

12.338.6 By way of general rule and exception, the seers led by Kapila, taking their stand on inquiry into the inner Self, have set forth the scriptures, O Bhārata.

12.338.7 In brief I shall declare to you, by the grace of that one of boundless might, the unity of the Puruṣa even as Vyāsa has proclaimed it.

12.338.8 On this point too they recite this ancient tale, the dialogue between the three-eyed god and Brahmā, O lord of peoples.

12.338.9 In the midst of the Ocean of Milk there stands, gleaming like gold, the foremost of mountains renowned as Vaijayanta, O king.

12.338.10 There the god, dwelling alone and meditating upon the course of the inner Self, ever frequents Vaijayanta from his abode of Virāj.

12.338.11 Now as that wise four-faced one sat there, his son Śiva, born from his brow, came of his own accord—long ago, the lord of yogins, the three-eyed master, gliding through the very sky.

12.338.12 Then he descended swiftly from the heavens upon the summit of that mountain, and stood before him well pleased, and bowed at his feet.

12.338.13 Seeing him fallen at his feet, the lord, the sole Prajāpati, then raised him up with his left hand.

12.338.14 And the Blessed One spoke to his son, come after so long: "Welcome to you, mighty-armed one; by good fortune you have come into my presence."

12.338.15 "Is it well with you, my son, in your study and your austerity always? For you are ever fierce in penance—therefore I ask you again."

12.338.16 Rudra said: By your grace, Blessed One, it is well and undiminished with me in study and austerity, and so it is with the whole world.

12.338.17 Long had I not beheld you, Blessed One, in your abode of Virāj; therefore have I come to this mountain that is hallowed by the service of your feet.

12.338.18 And I am moved with wonder at your going apart into solitude; for the cause of this can be no small one, O grandsire.

12.338.19 What of that supreme dwelling, free from hunger and thirst, inhabited by gods and demons and by seers of measureless lustre—

12.338.20 —forever frequented by gandharvas and apsarases, that you have forsaken to come alone to this best of mountains?

12.338.21 Brahmā said: This best of mountains, Vaijayanta, is ever frequented by me; here, with mind one-pointed, the cosmic Puruṣa, Virāṭ, is meditated upon.

12.338.22 Rudra said: Many puruṣas, O Brahmā, have been created by you the Self-born, and others, O Brahmā, are being created—yet that Puruṣa, Virāṭ, is one.

12.338.23 Who then is he, O Brahmā, the Supreme Puruṣa upon whom you meditate? Resolve me this doubt, for great is my wonder.

12.338.24 Brahmā said: The many puruṣas you have named, my son—this view, though it goes past the mark, is yet to be regarded, and so is the view that it is not so; but I shall declare to you the ground of the one Puruṣa.

12.338.25 As a single source is spoken of for the many puruṣas, so into that all-pervading Puruṣa, supreme and greatest of the great, free of all qualities, men become free of qualities and enter—the eternal one.

12.339.1 Brahmā said: Hear, my son, how this Puruṣa is declared to be everlasting and imperishable, undecaying, immeasurable, and all-pervading.

12.339.2 He cannot be seen by you, nor by me, nor by any other, O best one; with qualities yet without qualities, all-pervading, he is remembered to be visible only to knowledge.

12.339.3 Bodiless, he dwells within all bodies; and though he dwells within bodies, he is not stained by their deeds.

12.339.4 He is the inner Self of me and of you and of all others who bear the name of body; the witness of them all, he cannot be grasped by anyone anywhere.

12.339.5 His head is all heads, his arms all arms, his feet, eyes, and nostrils all of these; alone he moves through the fields, ranging at will and at his ease.

12.339.6 The fields are the bodies, and the seeds are the good and evil deeds; these he, whose essence is yoga, knows—therefore is he called the Knower of the Field.

12.339.7 Neither his coming nor his going can be known by any being, neither by the method of Sāṃkhya nor by Yoga, however step by step pursued.

12.339.8 I ponder his course, yet I do not know that supreme course; but as far as my knowledge reaches I shall speak of that eternal Puruṣa.

12.339.9 His is oneness and greatness, and he is remembered as the one Puruṣa; he alone, the eternal one, bears the name Great Puruṣa.

12.339.10 One fire is kindled in manifold ways; one is the sun, and one the source of all heats; one wind blows in many ways through the world; the great ocean is the one source of all waters; and one is the Puruṣa, without qualities, of universal form—into that quality-less Puruṣa men enter.

12.339.11 Forsaking all that is made of the qualities, abandoning deeds good and evil, casting off both truth and untruth—thus one becomes free of qualities.

12.339.12 And the ascetic who, having known that unthinkable fourfold subtlety of being, ranges ever vigilant—he shall attain the lordly Puruṣa.

12.339.13 Thus some learned men hold him to be the Supreme Self; others, the inquirers into the inner Self, hold him to be the one Self, and the Self of all.

12.339.14 Among these, he who is the Supreme Self is remembered as eternally free of qualities; he is to be known as Nārāyaṇa, the Self of all, the very Puruṣa; nor is he stained by the fruits of deeds, as the lotus-leaf is untouched by the water.

12.339.15 But that other, whose essence is action, is bound up with bondage and release; he is joined too with the aggregate of seventeen and one. Thus has the Puruṣa been declared to you in manifold ways, in due order.

12.339.16 That which is the whole abode of the world's fabric, the supreme to be known, to be awakened to, together with the awakener—he is the thinker and the thing thought, the taster and the thing to be tasted, the smeller and the thing to be smelt, the toucher and the thing to be touched;

12.339.17 —the seer and the thing seen, the hearer and the thing to be heard, the knower and the thing known, with qualities and without; that which is declared to be the equipoise of the strands, the Primordial Nature—this is eternal, everlasting, and imperishable.

12.339.18 That which the Ordainer first brings forth, the primal treasure-house, the brahmins call Aniruddha; and whatever Vedic rite is rightly performed in the world, joined with its blessing, is indeed his to enjoy.

12.339.19 All the gods and the well-disciplined sages worship him first with sacrifices as the receiver of the sacrificial share. I am Brahmā, the first lord of creatures; from him am I born, and you from me; from me the world, moving and unmoving, and all the Vedas with their secret lore, O son.

12.339.20 Divided fourfold, that Puruṣa sports as he wills; thus is the Blessed One himself awakened to through knowledge.

12.339.21 This has been told to you, my son, as you asked, in due form, and described as it is both in the knowledge of Sāṃkhya and in Yoga.

12.340.1 Yudhiṣṭhira said: The auspicious duties grounded in the law of liberation have been declared by the grandsire; now may you tell me the highest duty of those who dwell in the orders of life.

12.340.2 Bhīṣma said: Everywhere duty is ordained that leads to heaven and yields the fruit of truth; of duty, which has many doors, no act here is barren.

12.340.3 But in whatever sphere a man arrives at his settled conviction, that alone he comes to know, and no other, O best of the Bhāratas.

12.340.4 And moreover, O tiger among men, you should hear from me a tale told long ago to Śakra by the divine seer Nārada.

12.340.5 The divine seer Nārada, O king, a perfected one honoured throughout the three worlds, ranges in turn through the worlds, like the wind that none can obstruct.

12.340.6 Once, O mighty archer, he went to the abode of the king of the gods, and being honoured by great Indra, he came and seated himself near at hand.

12.340.7 As he sat there at his ease, the lord of Śacī questioned him: "O brahmin-seer, is there any wonder that you have seen, O sinless one?

12.340.8 "For you, O brahmin-seer, ever moved by curiosity, range as a perfected one through the three worlds with all that moves and is still, like a witness."

12.340.9 "For there is nothing in the world unknown to you, O divine seer; tell me, then, whatever you have heard, or experienced, or seen."

12.340.10 To that king of the gods, O king, as he sat and made his fitting request, Nārada, best of speakers, related a far-reaching tale.

12.340.11 In what manner and by what fashion that best of the twice-born, being asked, told him the tale—even so do you now hear it from me.

12.341.1 Bhīṣma said: There was once, O best of the Kurus, in the noblest of cities, Mahāpadma, upon the southern bank of the Gaṅgā, a certain brahmin of composed mind.

12.341.2 Gentle, of the lineage of Soma, accomplished in the Veda's course, with all doubts severed, ever devoted to duty, master of his anger, ever content, his senses subdued—

12.341.3 —ever delighting in non-harming, truthful, honoured by the good, endowed with wealth rightfully gained and with his own virtuous conduct;

12.341.4 In a great and renowned family, rich in kinsmen and connections, esteemed as a refuge by its friends, he kept to a distinguished course of life.

12.341.5 Seeing his many sons, established in his abundant rites, abiding by the duty of his line, O king, he became wholly devoted to the practice of dharma.

12.341.6 Then, pondering in his mind the threefold dharma—that declared in the Veda, that declared in the treatises, and that practised by the cultured—

12.341.7 "What good might come to me from acting? What is fitting? What is the highest refuge?" Thus he was ever troubled, yet came to no certainty.

12.341.8 As he was thus troubled, while abiding in the highest dharma, there came on a certain day a guest, a brahmin of well-composed mind.

12.341.9 He showed him hospitality with the rite due to such an occasion, and when the guest had rested and was seated, he spoke to him these words.

12.342.1 The brahmin said: A bond of name has arisen between us through the sweetness of your speech, O sinless one; having come to friendship with you, I shall say something to you—hear it.

12.342.2 Having fulfilled the householder's duty, O lord of brahmins, and that which concerns my sons, I would now perform the highest dharma; what then, O brahmin, should be my path?

12.342.3 Standing alone within the Self, I long to make the Self abide in the Self; I no longer wish to be bound by the common strands of nature.

12.342.4 So long as the season of my life, given over to the fruit of sons, has not yet wholly passed, so long do I wish to gather provision for the world beyond.

12.342.5 For in this unending stream of worldly existence, as I yearn for the farther shore, this thought has arisen in me: where is the raft made of dharma?

12.342.6 Hearing how in the world good things are swept away and carried off, and seeing the garland of pennon and banner of dharma scattered above the heads of creatures—

12.342.7 —my mind takes no delight in the season of enjoyment, seeing the ascetics who strive after the world beyond. Therefore, O guest, with the support of your strength of understanding, set me to the truth of dharma and its purpose.

12.342.8 Bhīṣma said: That guest, hearing the words of the man who longed for dharma, being wise, spoke gentle words in a sweet voice.

12.342.9 In this matter I too am bewildered; this same longing is mine as well, and I come to no certainty regarding heaven with its many doors.

12.342.10 Some praise liberation, O brāhmaṇas, and some the fruit of sacrifice; some cleave to the forest-hermit's order, and some to the life of the householder.

12.342.11 Some take refuge in the duty of kings, and some in the fruit that pertains to the self; some rest in service to a teacher, and some in this saying or that as their support.

12.342.12 Some, by waiting in service upon mother and father, have gone to heaven; others have reached heaven through non-injury, and yet others through truth.

12.342.13 Some, struck down while facing the foe in battle, have gone to heaven; others, perfected by the vow of gleaning, have taken the road that leads to heaven.

12.342.14 Some, devoted to study and intent on the Vedic vows, the pure and the wise, content in spirit and masters of their senses, have gone to heaven.

12.342.15 Others, joined to uprightness though slain by men who walked crookedly, the upright and pure of soul, are established upon the vault of heaven.

12.342.16 Thus, by the many and unbarred gateways of dharma in the world, my own mind too is set astir, like a streak of cloud scattered by the wind.

12.343.1 The guest said: I shall give you instruction, O brāhmaṇa, in keeping with tradition, even as it was expounded to me by my teacher; hear it from me in its true meaning.

12.343.2 There, where in a former creation the wheel of dharma was set in motion, in Naimiṣa on the bank of the Gomatī, stands a city named after the Nāga.

12.343.3 There, O bull among the twice-born, sacrifice was offered by all the gods together, there where Māndhātā, best of kings, surpassed even Indra.

12.343.4 There has taken up his dwelling a righteous soul, the great Cakṣuḥśravas, the lotus-naveled and greatly blessed one, renowned simply as Padma.

12.343.5 He, O bull among the twice-born, by speech and by deed and by mind, gladdens living beings, standing firm upon the threefold path.

12.343.6 By conciliation, by gift, by sowing division, and by force—these four means—he guards both the people set against him and his own folk, watching over them with the meditation of his eye.

12.343.7 Approaching him in due form, you may ask what you desire; and he, without falsehood, will reveal to you the highest dharma.

12.343.8 For that Nāga is a host to all, deeply versed in wisdom and the sacred lore, endowed with every excellence that one could wish, none of them deficient.

12.343.9 By nature ever pure as water, ever delighting in study, joined with austerity and self-restraint, and of conduct in no way wanting.

12.343.10 A performer of sacrifice, delighting in giving, patient, established in the highest conduct, truthful in speech, free from envy, virtuous, and a sure refuge.

12.343.11 He eats only the food that is left over, and is agreeable in his speech; eminent in benevolence and uprightness, he knows what has been done and what is left undone. He bears no enmity, is devoted to the welfare of all beings, and is endowed with lineage pure as the waters of Gaṅgā's deep pools.

12.344.1 The brāhmaṇa said: Like the lifting of a great burden from one who labors beneath too heavy a load, this consoling word of yours have I heard.

12.344.2 As a bed to one weary from the road, as a seat to one weary of standing, as water to the thirsty and food to one afflicted with hunger;

12.344.3 as the gaining of a thing long desired, as food coming to a guest at the proper season, as a son born to an aged man who has yearned for him in his time;

12.344.4 as the sight of a dear and loving one whom the mind had been longing for—so does the word you have spoken gladden me to the heart.

12.344.5 As one to whom sight has been given, I now look upon the open sky and ponder it. Since this instruction has been given me out of words of wisdom, I shall indeed do exactly as you tell me.

12.344.6 Stay here this night with me, O good one; at daybreak you shall go your way, refreshed and well rested. For yonder the blessed Sūrya, his rays grown faint, sinks with his face turned downward.

12.344.7 Bhīṣma said: Then, having received that hospitality, the guest, O slayer of foes, passed that night, so it is told, together with that brāhmaṇa.

12.344.8 And as the two of them conversed on this and that matter touching dharma, the whole of that night passed pleasantly away, like a day.

12.344.9 Then at the hour of dawn the guest was honored, to the best of his power, by that brāhmaṇa who longed to accomplish his own purpose.

12.344.10 Then that brāhmaṇa, knower of dharma, his resolve in dharma now fixed, taking leave of his kinsfolk, set out in due time toward the abode of the lord of serpents, as he had been directed, single in his resolve upon the good.

12.345.1 Bhīṣma said: As he journeyed on by stages, passing through wondrous forests and sacred fords and lakes, he came at length upon a certain sage.

12.345.2 Of him the brāhmaṇa duly inquired after the Nāga, as that other brāhmaṇa had directed; and having heard, he went on his way.

12.345.3 Reaching the Nāga's dwelling as it had been described, that man of discernment uttered, adorned with a courteous greeting, the words: "Here I am."

12.345.4 Then, hearing his words, the wife of the Nāga, fair of form, cherishing dharma and faithful to her lord, showed herself to that brāhmaṇa.

12.345.5 Devoted to dharma, she paid him honor in due form, and having welcomed the newcomer with words of welcome, she said: "What may I do for you?"

12.345.6 The brāhmaṇa said: I am rested, and I have been honored by you with gentle speech, gracious lady. I wish to behold that godlike one, the most excellent of Nāgas.

12.345.7 This indeed is my highest errand, this the fruit I desire; and for this purpose have I today come to the abode of the serpent.

12.345.8 The Nāga's wife said: Noble sir, he has gone to draw the chariot of Sūrya for his month-long term of service; in seven or eight days, O brāhmaṇa, he will without doubt show himself to you.

12.345.9 Let this be known to your noble self—the cause of my husband's absence. Whatever else there may be to be done, tell me, and let it be done.

12.345.10 The brāhmaṇa said: With this very resolve, O virtuous one, have I come here; awaiting his return, O lady, I shall dwell within this great forest.

12.345.11 And when he has duly arrived, you are calmly to announce that I have come here; my arrival should be made known, and these my words spoken to him by you.

12.345.12 I too shall dwell here, on the fair bank of the Gomatī, awaiting the appointed time, eating but sparingly, abiding as has been said.

12.345.13 Bhīṣma said: Then that brāhmaṇa, having reassured the Nāga's wife again and again, that bull among the twice-born went away to that very bank of the river.

12.346.1 Bhīṣma said: Now, O best of men, those serpents grew distressed because that ascetic brāhmaṇa was dwelling there without taking any food.

12.346.2 All the kinsmen of that Nāga, gathering together—his brothers, his sons, and his wife—went up to that brāhmaṇa.

12.346.3 They beheld him on a lonely stretch of the bank, that brāhmaṇa of steadfast vow, seated and fasting, intent upon his recitation of prayer.

12.346.4 They all came forward and, honoring the brāhmaṇa again and again, the kinsmen of their host spoke these unequivocal words.

12.346.5 This is now the sixth day since you came here, O treasury of austerity, and yet you crave no food at all, O cherisher of dharma.

12.346.6 You have come to us, and we have presented ourselves before you; the duty of hospitality must be fulfilled by us, for we are all householders.

12.346.7 A root, or a fruit, or a leaf, or milk, O best of the twice-born, or grain to sustain you—deign to eat something, O brāhmaṇa.

12.346.8 Because you, who have forsaken food, dwell here in the forest, all of us, young and old alike, are tormented by this strait of conscience.

12.346.9 For there is none among us who has slain an embryo, none disloyal to the king, none false of word, nor any who eats before the gods, guests, and kinsmen are served in this our house.

12.346.10 The brāhmaṇa said: By your own counsel I have undertaken this manner of fasting, until the return of the Nāga, for ten nights less two.

12.346.11 If, when the eight nights have passed, the serpent should not come, then I shall take food; for his sake alone is this my vow.

12.346.12 You ought not to grieve; go your way as you came. This vow of mine is for his sake, and you should not break it here.

12.346.13 Bhīṣma said: Thus dismissed by the brāhmaṇa, those serpents went back to their own dwelling, their errand unaccomplished, O bull among men.

12.347.1 Bhīṣma said: Then, when many days were fulfilled, the serpent arrived, having been given leave, his service to Vivasvat done, and came to his own abode.

12.347.2 His wife came forward to attend him with the rites of washing his feet and the rest; and the serpent questioned that virtuous lady so endowed with merits.

12.347.3 Have you, O gracious one, in the worship of gods and guests, kept faithfully to the rule laid down of old, fitting and worthy of me?

12.347.4 Surely you have not, with a woman's softness of mind, grown lax through any unfulfilled task, O fair-hipped one, nor, through separation from me, fallen away from the bridge of dharma?

12.347.5 The Nāga's wife said: For pupils, service to the teacher; for brāhmaṇas, the completion of the Veda; for servants, the word of their master; for kings, the protection of the world;

12.347.6 the deliverance of all beings is here declared to be the duty of the kṣatriya; for the vaiśyas, the carrying out of sacrifice, conjoined with hospitality;

12.347.7 service to brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas is the work of the śūdra; and the householder's duty, O lord of serpents, is the seeking of the welfare of all beings.

12.347.8 Restraint in food at all times, the practice of vows each in its order—for dharma, by its very kinship with dharma, is the disciplining of the senses.

12.347.9 "Whose am I? Whence am I? Who am I? Who here could be mine?"—he whose mind is ever bent on this inquiry into purpose becomes thereby one set upon the path of liberation.

12.347.10 Fidelity to her husband is declared the highest dharma of a wife; and that, O lord of serpents, I know in its very truth, from your own teaching.

12.347.11 How, then, should I—who know dharma, while you who are ever constant in dharma still stand by me—forsake the good road and walk upon a crooked path?

12.347.12 The observance of dharma toward the gods, O greatly blessed one, has not been neglected; and in the welcoming of guests I have been ever diligent and unwearied.

12.347.13 For it is now seven or eight days since a brāhmaṇa came here; nor does he disclose his errand to me, but only longs for the sight of you.

12.347.14 On the bank of the Gomatī he sits, eager for the sight of you, that brāhmaṇa of stern vow, reciting the sacred word.

12.347.15 By him, O lord of serpents, I was earnestly told, with gentle and conciliatory words: "He, the best of serpents, when he has returned, is to be sent to my presence."

12.347.16 Having heard this, O greatly wise one, you ought to go to him there; or grant him the sight of you, O you whose very seeing is renowned.

12.348.1 The Nāga said: Now then, what manner of one in a brāhmaṇa's form do you take him to be—a mere mortal brāhmaṇa, or perhaps a god, O you of pure smile?

12.348.2 For what mortal, O illustrious one, desiring to behold me and longing for my sight, would be able to speak words framed almost as a command?

12.348.3 Among the hosts of gods and demons, and among the divine seers too, O lovely one, surely we Nāgas, sprung from Surasā, are mighty in valor and swift in strength;

12.348.4 and we are worthy of homage and bestowers of boons, even when we follow in another's train; over men in particular we are lords of wealth—so runs the sacred saying.

12.348.5 The Nāga's wife said: In all candor I judge that he is no god, O eater of the wind; one thing only do I perceive of him—he is full of devotion, though quick to wrath.

12.348.6 For he, desiring nothing but his one errand, like the cātaka-bird that craves water and longs for rain, that bird in love with rain, so longs for the sight of you.

12.348.7 For no divine being, troubled at heart, would wait thus upon you; one born of equal lineage does not pay court to another.

12.348.8 Therefore, casting off your inborn anger, you ought to grant him sight of you; by cutting off his hope this day, you ought not to scorch your own self.

12.348.9 A king, or a king's son, who fails to wipe away the tears of those who come to him in hope, is bound by the guilt of slaying an embryo itself.

12.348.10 From silence comes the winning of the fruit of knowledge, and from giving, great renown; by truthful speech one gains eloquence, and is exalted in the world beyond.

12.348.11 By the gift of land one attains a destiny equal to that of the hermitages of asceticism; and by restoring to a man wealth that was lost, one reaps the fruit thereof.

12.348.12 He who performs a desired deed without grudging and free of self-interest goes not to hell — so the knowers of dharma have understood.

12.348.13 The Nāga said: My pride was born of arrogance, and through the flaw of my birth a great wrath sprang up from my own resolve, O virtuous one — but you have burned it away with the fire of your words.

12.348.14 And I see no greater darkness than wrath, O virtuous one — a fault to which serpents above all others are held accountable.

12.348.15 For having fallen under the sway of this fault, the mighty ten-necked one, who dared to rival Śakra, was slain by Rāma in battle.

12.348.16 And hearing that Rāma had carried off the calf kept within their inner chambers, the sons of Kārtavīrya, agitated with wrath at the affront, were slain.

12.348.17 By Rāma the son of Jamadagni, the mighty Kārtavīrya, peer of the thousand-eyed one, was struck down in battle through his own wrath.

12.348.18 And so this wrath, the foe of austerities and the destroyer of all that is good, I have now subdued in myself the moment I heard your words.

12.348.19 And I count myself especially blessed, O steadfast one, that you, large-eyed lady endowed with every virtue, are my wife.

12.348.20 I go now to that very place where the brāhmaṇa abides; and since he has indeed spoken his word, he shall not depart with his purpose unfulfilled.

12.349.1 Bhīṣma said: That lord of serpents set out toward the brāhmaṇa, pondering him in his mind and weighing the purpose at hand.

12.349.2 Approaching him, that wise lord of Nāgas, O ruler of men, devoted by nature to dharma, spoke these honeyed words.

12.349.3 Sir, I beg your pardon as I address you; you should bear me no anger. For whose sake have you come here, and to what end?

12.349.4 Coming straight up to you out of affection, I ask you, O twice-born: upon this solitary bank of the Gomatī, what is it that you worship?

12.349.5 The brāhmaṇa said: Know that I have come to this Dharma-forest to see the Nāga, the lotus-naveled chief of the twice-born; in him my purpose is fixed.

12.349.6 But I have heard that he is absent, that he has gone away; and I await him, my own kinsman, as a farmer awaits the rain-cloud.

12.349.7 To work him no trouble, intent on his welfare, I recite the sacred word ten thousand times, joined in yoga and free of affliction.

12.349.8 The Nāga said: Ah, you are of blessed conduct, truly devoted to the good; rich in sacred learning, O illustrious one, you look upon me with the highest affection.

12.349.9 I am that very Nāga, O sage among brāhmaṇas, whom you would find; command me freely as you wish — what kindness may I do for you?

12.349.10 I have heard from my kinsfolk that you had come here, and so I myself have come forth to see you, O twice-born.

12.349.11 And now that you have come, today you shall return with your purpose accomplished; with full confidence, O best of the twice-born, you may set me to any task within my domain.

12.349.12 For we are all bought over by your virtues, and above all you, who, setting aside your own advantage, are devoted here to me alone.

12.349.13 The brāhmaṇa said: I have come, O illustrious one, longing for the sight of you, wishing to ask, in my ignorance, about a certain matter, O serpent.

12.349.14 Established in the Self and seeking my own welfare, I approach you, O greatly wise and mighty one, as one in search of a refuge.

12.349.15 You are made radiant by your own virtues, whose rays are pregnant with glory, soothing as the touch of the moon's beams, delightful, shining from within.

12.349.16 Resolve, then, the question that has arisen in me, O eater of wind; afterward I shall tell you my errand, and you should hear me out.

12.350.1 The brāhmaṇa said: Since you in your turn go forth to bear that single-wheeled, wondrous chariot of Vivasvat — if you have seen anything remarkable there, you should relate it.

12.350.2 The Nāga said: Upon whose thousand rays, as birds upon branches, perfected sages dwell, taking refuge there together with the gods —

12.350.3 From whom the mighty wind, issuing forth and resting upon the sun's rays, spreads wide across the sky, O brāhmaṇa — what is more wondrous than that?

12.350.4 Whose dark ray, named Śukra, becomes a cloud-bearer in the sky and pours forth water in the rains — what is more wondrous than that?

12.350.5 Who for eight months draws up the waters shed by his radiant beam, and again gives them back in their season — what is more wondrous than that?

12.350.6 In whose particular splendors the Self is forever established, and from whom the seed of life and this earth with all that moves and is still are upheld —

12.350.7 In whom abides the mighty-armed god, eternal, supreme, imperishable, without beginning or end, O brāhmaṇa — what is more wondrous than that?

12.350.8 Yet hear from me this one thing, a wonder among wonders, which I beheld in the clear sky while attending upon the Sun.

12.350.9 Once at the hour of noon, while the maker of light was scorching the worlds, there appeared from every side a being resembling a second sun set against the sun.

12.350.10 Lighting up all the worlds with his radiance, with his own splendor, he advanced toward the sun, as if cleaving the heavens apart.

12.350.11 Like a flame fed with offered oblation, pervading all with the rays of his brilliance, in a form beyond describing, he seemed a second sun.

12.350.12 As he drew near and arrived, Vivasvat extended his hand to him, and he too, seeking to return the homage, extended his right hand.

12.350.13 Then, cleaving the very sky, he entered the orb of the sun; and that splendor, made one, in an instant attained the nature of the sun itself.

12.350.14 Thereupon a doubt arose in us at the meeting of those two splendors: which of the two is the Sun — this one stationed in the chariot, or that one who has come?

12.350.15 And we, our doubt thus arisen, questioned the Sun: who is this that has mounted the heavens and passed on, like a second sun?

12.351.1 The Sun said: This is no god, no friend of the wind, no Asura, nor any serpent; it is a sage, perfected in the vow of gleaning his livelihood, who has thus ascended to heaven.

12.351.2 This brāhmaṇa, living on roots and fruits, eating fallen leaves, feeding on water and on air, abode in deep self-restraint.

12.351.3 By this brāhmaṇa were the sacred verses chanted, hidden within their collected texts; by such effort, with heaven's gate as his goal, he has gone to the triple heaven.

12.351.4 Steadfast and without craving, ever subsisting on gleaned and gathered grain, devoted to the welfare of all beings — such is this brāhmaṇa, O serpent.

12.351.5 For neither gods nor Gandharvas, neither Asuras nor serpents, prevail here over those beings who have attained the supreme goal.

12.351.6 The Nāga said: Such was the wonder I beheld there, O twice-born — a man's body made perfect, which, having reached the goal of the perfected, now circles the earth in company with the Sun, O brāhmaṇa.

12.352.1 The brāhmaṇa said: It is a wonder, no doubt of it; I am well pleased, O serpent, and by your words, fitting and to the point, I have been shown the path.

12.352.2 May it be well with you; I shall depart, O good one, best of serpents. Keep me in remembrance, with errands and commands to fulfill.

12.352.3 The Nāga said: Without telling the errand you had with me, where do you set out for now? Speak, O twice-born, what is your business, and for what purpose you have come here.

12.352.4 Whether your errand, spoken or unspoken, be done, take leave of me, O bull among the twice-born; then, with my consent given, you shall go, O brāhmaṇa.

12.352.5 For having merely looked upon me, you should not, affectionate as you are, leave me and go, O sage among brāhmaṇas, as one passes by a tree at whose foot one has rested.

12.352.6 In you am I, O best of the twice-born, and you are in me — there is no doubt; all this world is yours. What anxiety, then, can you have concerning me, O sinless one?

12.352.7 The brāhmaṇa said: So it is, O greatly wise one, who has understood the truth, O serpent; not in any respect have you set the gods above what is just so.

12.352.8 He who is I is the very one who is you — even so it is, O serpent; I and you and all beings are forever all-pervading.

12.352.9 But I had a doubt, O lord of serpents, concerning the gathering of merit; and so I, O good one, shall practice the vow of gleaning, having now seen its purpose.

12.352.10 This is my resolve, O good one, now firmly grounded in its reason. I take my leave of you — may it be well with you; my purpose is accomplished, O serpent.

12.353.1 Bhīṣma said: And that brāhmaṇa, having taken leave of the best of serpents, his resolve now firm and longing for consecration, then betook himself, O king, to Cyavana of Bhṛgu's line.

12.353.2 By him the sacraments were performed for him, and he devoted himself wholly to dharma; and even so, O king, he related this very tale at that time.

12.353.3 And by the Bhārgava too, O lord of kings, in the dwelling of Janaka, this holy tale was told to the great-souled Nārada.

12.353.4 And by Nārada too, O lord of kings, in the dwelling of the lord of the gods, it was told when he was asked, O best of the Bhāratas, he of untiring deeds.

12.353.5 And by the king of the gods of old, this auspicious tale was told to all the renowned Vasus together, O lord of the earth.

12.353.6 And when I had that most terrible battle with Rāma, then, O king, this tale was told to me by the Vasus.

12.353.7 And to you, who ask of it in truth, O lord of peoples, I have told this holy tale, in accord with dharma, O best of the upholders of dharma.

12.353.8 This, then, is the highest dharma about which you ask me, O Bhārata: to be steadfast and without craving in the working out of dharma and its ends, O king.

12.353.9 And that foremost of the twice-born, his resolve made firm, his course of action pointed out to him by the lord of serpents, composed in restraint and observance, subsisting on measured gleanings of gathered grain, entered the depths of the forest.