unto his foe and his banishment. Without speaking
of mortal man, if his foe were even the ocean or the
hills, he should be guided by such motives. A
person by his activity in searching for the holes of
his enemies, dischargeth his debt to himself as also
to his friends. No man should ever disparage
himself for the man that disparageth himself never
earneth high prosperity. O Bharata, success in
this world is attainable on such conditions!
In fact, success in the world is said to depend on
acting according to time and circumstances. My
father formerly kept a learned Brahmana with him.
O bull of the Bharata race, he said all this unto
my father. Indeed, these instructions as to duty,
uttered by Vrihaspati himself, were first taught to
my brothers. It was from them that I heard these
afterwards while in my father’s house. And,
O Yudhishthira, while at intervals of business, I
went out (of the inner apartments) and sat on the
lap of my father, that learned Brahmana used to recite
unto me these truths, sweetly consoling me therewith!’”
Vaisampayana said, “Hearing these words of Yajnaseni,
Bhimasena, sighing in wrath, approached the king and
addressed him, saying, ’Walk, O monarch, in
the customary path trodden by good men, (before thee)
in respect of kingdoms. What do we gain by living
in the asylum of ascetics, thus deprived of virtue,
pleasure, and profit? It is not by virtue, nor
by honesty, nor by might, but by unfair dice, that
our kingdom hath been snatched by Duryodhana.
Like a weak offal-eating jackal snatching the prey
from mighty lions, he hath snatched away our kingdom.
Why, O monarch, in obedience to the trite merit of
sticking to a promise, dost thou suffer such distress,
abandoning that wealth which is the source of both
virtue and enjoyments? It was for thy carelessness,
O king, that our kingdom protected by the wielder of
the Gandiva and therefore, incapable of being
wrested by Indra himself, was snatched from us in
our very sight. It was for thee, O monarch, that,
ourselves living, our prosperity was snatched away
from us like a fruit from one unable to use his arms,
or like kine from one incapable of using his legs.
Thou art faithful in the acquisition of virtue.
It was to please thee, O Bharata, that we have suffered
ourselves to be overwhelmed with such dire calamity.
O bull of the Bharata race, it was because we were
subject to thy control that we are thus tearing the
hearts of our friends and gratifying our foes.
That we did not, in obedience to thee, even then slay
the sons of Dhritarashtra, is an act of folly on our
part that grieveth me sorely. This thy abode,
O king, in the woods, like that of any wild animal,
is what a man of weakness alone would submit to.
Surely, no man of might would ever lead such a life.
This thy course of life is approved neither by Krishna,
nor Vibhatsu, nor by Abhimanyu, nor by the Srinjayas,
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