novelraw Arc 2 – Arjunabhigamana Parva - Chapter 5 - Yudhiṣṭhira’s Wisdom
Arc 2 – Arjunabhigamana Parva - Chapter 5 - Yudhiṣṭhira’s Wisdom
Yudhiṣṭhira spoke, his voice steady as a tranquil lake. The man who is mastered by wrath, he said, finds no easy path to generosity, dignity, courage, skill, or any other quality that marks true strength of soul. He who has cast aside anger may summon his energy at the fitting hour; but the angry man, blinded by fire, knows not when his strength should wake. The ignorant mistake anger for energy, but anger was given to man for the ruin of the world, not for its preservation. Therefore, one who would walk rightly must lay wrath aside.
Even he who abandons the noble virtues of his station is certain to fall into anger if his path is crooked. If fools, without light in their minds, break the bounds of righteousness in every way, how, O flawless one, could I—knowing the law—do likewise? If there were not among men some whose hearts are vast as the Earth in forgiveness, there would be no peace in this world, only endless strife born of wrath. If the injured return injury for injury, if one punished by his superior were to punish in return, the end would be the ruin of all beings, and sin would reign over the earth.
If the man who hears harsh words gives them back, if the wounded strike again, if fathers slay sons and sons slay fathers, if husbands kill wives and wives kill husbands—then, O Kṛṣṇā, tell me, how could birth endure in a world ruled by anger? Life itself, know this well, is born from peace, not from wrath. If a king surrenders to fury, his people soon perish; for wrath breeds destruction and misery among the folk. It is only because there are in the world those who are forgiving, as the Earth endures without complaint, that creatures live and prosper. Therefore, O fair one, the wise say: forgive under every injury. It is by forgiveness that the line of beings continues.
He who conquers his wrath and shows mercy even when wronged, oppressed, or provoked by one of greater power, is counted wise and excellent. The strong man who bridles his anger gains many eternal realms of bliss; but the man of rage is a fool, finding destruction in both worlds.
"O Kṛṣṇā," said Yudhiṣṭhira, "the great and gentle Kaśyapa once sang verses in praise of those whose hearts are always forgiving:
Forgiveness is dharma; forgiveness is sacrifice;
Forgiveness is the Vedas; forgiveness is the Śruti.
He who knows this may forgive all things.
Forgiveness is Brahman; forgiveness is truth;
Forgiveness is accumulated tapas;
Forgiveness guards the tapas yet to come.
Forgiveness is asceticism; forgiveness is purity;
By forgiveness the universe is upheld.
Those who forgive win the realms
Gained by sacrificers, Vedic scholars, and the great ascetics.
Forgiveness is the strength of the strong;
Forgiveness is sacrifice; forgiveness is peace of mind.
How can one abandon forgiveness,
In which abide Brahman, truth, wisdom, and the worlds?
The forgiving man is lord of both this world and the next;
He is honoured here and blessed hereafter;
The world belongs to the forgiving,
And so do the higher realms.
“These are the words of Kaśyapa,” Yudhiṣṭhira concluded, “and having heard them, Draupadī, be at peace. Let not thy anger master thee. Our grandsire Bhīṣma will choose the way of peace; Kṛṣṇa, son of Devakī, will choose peace; Droṇa and Vidura will speak for peace; Kripa and Sanjaya will urge peace; Somadatta, Yuyutsu, Droṇa’s son, and our venerable Vyāsa—all will counsel peace.
Urged by such as these, the king Dhṛtarāṣṭra will, I believe, restore our realm. If, however, he yields to temptation, he will meet his ruin. The house of Bharata now stands at a precipice; I have long foreseen this calamity. Suyodhana is unworthy of a kingdom—therefore forgiveness cannot dwell in him. I am worthy of sovereignty—therefore forgiveness holds my heart. For forgiveness and gentleness are the marks of the self-possessed; they are eternal virtues, and I shall truly make them my path.”
Draupadī’s eyes, bright with grief and fire, fixed upon Yudhiṣṭhira. Her voice rang with both reverence and reproach.
“I bow before Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ,
Who have veiled thy judgment in this hour.
Thou dost not bear thy burden as thy sires and grandsires bore it—
Thy mind turns aside from their path.
“Men are bound by their acts, and those acts place them in the stations of life they must endure. Acts bear fruits that none can escape, and the desire for freedom without effort is born of folly. By virtue, gentleness, forgiveness, straightforwardness, and fear of reproach—has any man in truth won prosperity in this world? It seems not. If it were so, O Bhārata, then this unbearable calamity would not have befallen thee, who art undeserving of it, nor these thy brothers of tireless valour.
From the days of thy splendour to this hour of thy exile,
Virtue alone hast thou held dearer than life.
For virtue thy kingdom was kept; for virtue thy life is spent—
This all know: Brāhmaṇas, elders, and even the gods themselves.
“I believe thou couldst abandon Bhīmasena, Arjuna, and the twin sons of Mādrī, yea, even me—but never wouldst thou abandon virtue. I have heard it said that the king protects virtue, and virtue so protected guards the king in turn. Yet here I see virtue shielding thee not! Like a shadow that never leaves its form, thy heart, steadfast as a lion’s, follows the single path of righteousness.
Never hast thou slighted thy equals;
Never hast thou scorned thy superiors or thy dependents.
Though lord of the world, pride never swelled thy heart;
In wealth, thy head was ever bowed.
“O son of Pṛthā, thou hast ever worshipped the Brāhmaṇas, the gods, and the Pitṛs with offerings, libations, and sacred rites. Thou hast satisfied every wish of the Brāhmaṇas. Yatis, saṃnyāsins, and wandering mendicants have been fed from golden platters in thy hall by my own hands. To the forest-dwellers, the vānaprasthas, thou hast given gold and food in plenty. Nothing in thy house was withheld from the Brāhmaṇas. In thy Viśvadeva sacrifice, for the peace of thy soul, all things consecrated were first offered to guests and living creatures; thou thyself lived on what remained.
The iṣṭi, the paśubandha, the rites of the householder,
The sacrifices to fulfil desire, the sacred cookings—
All have been performed without fail under thy roof.
Even now, in this wild and robber-haunted forest,
Stripped of thy kingdom, thy virtue has not dimmed.
“The Aśvamedha, the Rājasūya, the Puṇḍarīka, and the Gosava—those mighty sacrifices demanding princely wealth—thou hast performed them all. And yet, O king, driven by a perverse spell in that evil hour of dice, thou didst stake and lose thy kingdom, thy riches, thy weapons, thy brothers, and me.
Simple, gentle, liberal, modest, and truthful—
How could thy mind be lured to the snare of gambling?
My heart reels, O king, crushed beneath the sight
Of thy ruin and our exile.
“An old tale is told, proving that man is not master of his own fate, but subject to the will of God. The Supreme Lord and Ordainer shapes the weal and woe, the joy and grief, of all creatures, even before their birth, by the seed of their past deeds.
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As the wooden puppet moves only by the hand of the wire-puller,
So do men move by the unseen hand of the Lord of all.”
Draupadī’s voice did not falter, though sorrow and indignation burned within it. She turned her gaze upon Yudhiṣṭhira and spoke again, her words mingling reason with challenge.
“O Bhārata, as the sky stretches over all and holds all within it,
So doth God pervade every creature, ordaining their joy and their sorrow.
Like a bird bound by a cord, each being moves only at His will;
No one ordains his own path—none is master of himself.
She likened man to the pearl strung upon its thread, the bull held fast by the nose-rope, the tree fallen into the river and carried helpless by the current. “Every creature,” she said, “follows the decree of the Creator, for all are filled with His spirit and established in Him. Dependent on the Universal Soul, man cannot live a single moment apart from Him.
Wrapped in the veil of darkness, beings cannot shape their own fortune;
They are driven to heaven or to hell by God Himself.
Like dry grass tossed by the storm-wind, so do all creatures depend on Him.
“And yet,” she continued, “this God, present in all beings, performing acts both righteous and sinful, moves through the worlds—and still no one can declare, ‘Here is God!’ This body, with all its faculties, is only the instrument by which the Supreme Lord grants to each the fruits—whether sweet or bitter—of their own destiny. See the power of His māyā! By that illusion, He causes one creature to slay another, even as wood is split by wood, stone by stone, iron by iron.
The Self-born, the Almighty, spreads His net of illusion—
And through His creatures, destroys His creatures.
Like a child at play with a toy of clay, He creates and breaks as He pleases.
“O king, sometimes He seems a loving parent; at other times, like an angry foe. When I behold the virtuous—modest, wise, and self-restrained—persecuted, while the sinful flourish in ease, my mind is torn. Seeing thee, my lord, in this misery, and Suyodhana in his prosperity, how can I praise the Great Ordainer who permits such injustice?
What gain is His in granting sovereignty to the unrighteous—
To one crooked in heart, greedy in desire, breaker of dharma’s law?
“If every act clings to its doer and none else, then it is God Himself who bears the sin of all evil done. But if the sin of an act does not touch its doer, then it is not God but individual might that rules the world—and in that case, I weep for the powerless, who are crushed without recourse.”
Yudhiṣṭhira heard Draupadī’s words with patient attention, his expression calm yet intent. When she had finished, he smiled faintly—neither in derision nor in dismissal, but as one who understands the heat of grief. Then, in a voice steady as the flow of a sacred river, he answered:
“O Yājñasenī, your speech is graceful, eloquent, and filled with noble turns of phrase;
Yet beneath its beauty I hear the accents of disbelief, as though the gods were not.
Know this—I act not seeking the fruits of action.
I give because it is my dharma to give; I sacrifice because it is my dharma to sacrifice.
“I do all that a householder should, to the best of my ability, without concern for gain or loss. Whether these acts bear fruit or not matters little to me. I act because the Veda commands, and because the wise have shown such conduct to be the path. My heart is drawn to virtue not as a merchant drawn to profit, but as the lotus is drawn to the sun.
The one who seeks the fruit of virtue is but a trader in holiness;
His heart is small, and he is not counted among the truly virtuous.
Even he who doubts after acting righteously—his doubt consumes the merit of the deed;
Such scepticism is the seed of bondage, and leads only to birth among the lowly.
“Never should virtue be doubted, for the Vedas themselves declare it the surest proof. Doubt of dharma leads the soul away from immortal regions, even as a Śūdra is barred from the study of the sacred word. I tell you, Krishna, the man who doubts the words of the Ṛṣis is blind to truth, however bright it stands before him.
“Recall what your own eyes have seen—Mārkaṇḍeya, the sage who has conquered death itself. By virtue alone has he won immortality while still in the body. Vyāsa, Vasiṣṭha, Maitreya, Nārada, Lomāśa, Śuka—by virtue and self-restraint they have become radiant, wielding powers greater than the gods themselves.
The fools who scorn the path of dharma, trusting only their own reasoning,
See only what gratifies the senses and remain blind to the unseen.
But those who keep faith in religion, without pride or insolence,
Find their way to the eternal realms where peace is without end.
“O fair one, religion is the raft that carries the soul across the ocean of becoming. If virtue bore no fruit, this world would long since have fallen into darkness—men would live like beasts, without thought for salvation, knowledge, or righteous conduct. But see! Even the gods, Gandharvas, and Ṛṣis, who stand beyond the needs of mortals, cherish virtue with steadfast affection, knowing that the Lord is indeed the giver of its fruits.
“Think of your own birth, and of Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s—were they not the results of divine ordinance brought forth by virtue? The fruits of righteousness may not always be seen, but they are as certain as the dawn.
Acts in this world have their consequences; virtue is eternal.
Though the fruits may ripen beyond mortal sight, they are never lost.
Therefore, cast away doubt as mist before the morning sun;
Bow to the Supreme, who grants immortality to the pure in heart.”
With these words, Yudhiṣṭhira’s tone softened, yet it carried the authority of one who walks the path he speaks of. “O Krishna,” he said at last, “never slander the Lord of all creatures. Seek to know Him, for through His grace alone does mortal man, by piety, cross beyond death into the immortal.”
Draupadī’s eyes, though rimmed with the redness of grief, held no malice as she spoke again. Her voice, softened by fatigue yet sharpened by conviction, rose like the steady beat of a war-drum beneath silken veils.
“O son of Pṛthā, I have not disregarded nor slandered religion. Why should I, who have sought refuge in dharma, revile the Lord of all creatures? Afflicted as I am, I have spoken in the frenzy of sorrow. Yet once more I must lament—listen to me patiently, O subduer of enemies.
Every living being must act. In this world, only the immobile may live without action. The calf, fresh from the womb, seeks the mother’s teat; even lifeless clay images may work harm when empowered by mantras. Do we not see, therefore, that every creature’s life is shaped by the actions of former births?
Among all that moves upon the earth, man alone aspires to shape his path;
By deeds he seeks to mould both this life and the next.
What we call destiny is but the seed of earlier actions;
What we call life is but the flowering of that seed.
“Impelled by the current of past acts, every being moves in the present. Even the Creator Himself, ordainer of the universe, lives by the law He has woven—like the crane who dwells on water without a teacher. Without action, no creature can sustain its course; therefore one must act and not court censure by idleness. Let action be your armour.
Few indeed—perhaps one in a thousand—know the true purpose of action. A man must act to protect and increase his wealth; for without earning, mere spending soon empties even a mountain of gold. If there were no deeds, the line of living creatures would long have been extinguished.
Those who trust solely in destiny, and those who lean wholly on chance—
Both are the poorest among men.
Only they who believe in the power of action are worthy of praise;
For the idle, whether in faith or in despair, are soon undone.
“Destiny is no excuse for sloth. He who lies inactive, trusting to fate alone, perishes like an unbaked pot sunk in water. And he who believes in chance and does nothing, though able, wastes away in weakness. What comes to a man without his effort is called chance; what he gains through sacrifice and rite is called providence; what he earns through his own labour is proof of his ability. But even these—chance, providence, and effort—are themselves born of acts done in former lives.
“The Ordainer, judging each according to the store of past deeds, allots to every man his portion in this world. Whatever we do—good or evil—is arranged by Him in accord with what we have sown before. The body is but His instrument, inert in itself; it moves as He urges it.
The Lord makes all creatures act, though they seem the doers;
The self, without His touch, is still.
Yet man, with mind and purpose fixed, accomplishes his chosen ends;
Thus we say: man is himself the cause of what he does.
“O son of Kuntī, the acts of men are beyond counting. Palaces and cities are the fruit of human skill. By their intellect, men know that oil is pressed from sesame, curds from milk, and that fire cooks food when fuel is kindled. Knowing the means, they apply them—and thus life is sustained by the results of one’s own actions.”
Draupadī’s gaze did not falter as she pressed her reasoning further, her voice gathering the firmness of a seasoned counselor and the warmth of remembered instruction.
“O son of Pṛthā, when a skilled craftsman takes a task in hand, it bears the mark of his mastery; when the work is poorly done, it is clear the hand was untrained. If a man were not himself the cause of his deeds, then sacrifices would bear no fruit, and no one could be rightly called master or disciple. Because a person is indeed the cause of his work, he is praised for success and censured for failure.
Some say all rests on providence; others say destiny is but the echo of former actions, good or evil. Truthful and learned men declare there are but three causes of gain—chance, destiny, and exertion—and no fourth. Yet if God were not the giver of the fruits of deeds, there would be none in misery; and if past acts were without effect, every effort would find success.
Fate and fortune stand beside effort, as two pillars of the same gate;
Without the third, no passage is gained.
Therefore, the wise hold that man must act—
Even when the path is uncertain, even when the end is unseen.
“Thus spake Manu himself: he who does not act perishes. The man of action meets success more often than not; the idle man never achieves it. If the goal proves beyond reach, one should remove the obstacles barring the way. Even if success eludes him, the debt to the gods is paid by the attempt.
The idle man is crushed by adversity, but he who is active and skillful wins prosperity. The confident and steadfast are counted as successful by the wise, while the diffident are deemed already defeated. We are now steeped in misfortune, but if you take to action, O king, that cloud will surely lift. And if we fail, the proof will be clear to you, to Vṛkodara, to Vijaya, and to the twins—that the kingdom cannot be wrenched from our foe. Yet have we not seen others succeed? Why not us? No man can know the outcome before the effort is made.
The tiller tills and sows, then waits in silence;
The clouds may bless the field—or withhold their rain.
If the heavens are barren, the farmer blames not himself—
For he has done all that was his to do.
“Therefore no one should despair, saying, ‘I act, yet I fail.’ For beyond exertion stand two other powers. Success depends on the harmony of many conditions, and if even one be missing, the harvest will be meagre or absent. But without exertion there is nothing at all. The wise, with vigilance, gather place, time, means, and auspicious rites, their chief reliance being on their own prowess.
When a man sees his enemy surpass him in many qualities, he should employ conciliation, stratagem, and every proper art; he should wish for the weakening or banishment of his foe. Even if that enemy were the sea or the mountains, he should be guided by such resolve. By probing for the weakness of his enemies, a man pays his debt to himself and to his allies.
Let no man belittle himself—
For self-contempt is the swiftest road to ruin.
Success comes to those who act in season;
The world yields to those who seize the hour.
“My father once kept a learned brāhmaṇa in his court, a man whose wisdom came from the teachings of Bṛhaspati himself. He spoke these truths to my brothers before me. I, sitting at my father’s knee in the pauses of his duties, heard them recited and took them into my heart—gentle words, yet edged with steel, meant to console and to stir.”