of touch, fineness of scent, cleanliness, gracefulness, delicacy of limbs, and beautiful women.  He that eateth sparingly winneth these six, viz., health, long life, and ease; his progeny also becometh healthy, and nobody reproacheth him for gluttony.  One should not give shelter to these in his house, viz., one that always acteth improperly, one that eateth too much, one that is hated by all, one that is exceedingly deceitful, one that is cruel, one that is ignorant of the proprieties of time and place, and one that dresseth indecently.  A person, however distressed, should never solicit a miser for alms, or one that speaketh ill of others, or one that is unacquainted with the shastras, or a dweller in the woods, or one that is cunning, or one that doth not regard persons worthy of regard, or one that is cruel, or one that habitually quarrels with others, or one that is ungrateful.  A person should never wait upon these six worst of men, viz., one that is a foe, one that always errs, one that is wedded to falsehood, one that is wanting in devotion to the gods, one that is without affection, and one that always regards himself competent to do everything.  One’s purposes depend (for their success) on means; and means are dependent, again, on the nature of the purposes (sought to be accomplished by them).  They are intimately connected with each other, so that success depends on both.  Begetting sons and rendering them independent by making some provision for them, and bestowing maiden daughters on eligible persons, one should retire to the woods, and desire to live as a Muni.  One should, for obtaining the favours of the Supreme Being, do that which is for the good of all creatures as also for his own happiness, for it is this which is the root of the successful of all one’s objects.  What anxiety hath he for a livelihood that hath intelligence, energy, prowess, strength, alacrity and perseverance?

’Behold the evils of a rupture with the Pandavas which would sadden the very gods with Sakra.  These are, first, enmity between them that are all thy sons; secondly, a life of continued anxiety; thirdly, the loss of the fair fame of the Kurus; and lastly, the joy of those that are thy enemies.  The wrath of Bhishma, O thou of the splendour of Indra, of Drona, and the king Yudhishthira, will consume the whole world, like a comet of large proportions falling transversely on the earth.  Thy hundred sons and Karna and the sons of Pandu can together rule the vast earth with the belt of the seas.  O king, the Dhartarashtras constitute a forest of which the Pandavas are, I think, tigers.  O, do not cut down that forest with its tigers!  O, let not the tigers be driven from that forest!  There can be no forest without tigers, and no tigers without a forest.  The forest shelters the tigers and tigers guard the forest!’