Stories of the Great Bharata - A Retelling

Arc 2 - Vidhura Neeti Parva Chapter 5 - Evils and Dharma in many forms

Dhṛtarāṣṭra begged for more, and Vidura, lamp of discernment, spoke again—of kindness, truth, measures of righteousness, and the testing of men. Hear now, O King.

Bathe in all tīrthas if you will—

Yet mercy cleanses more;

Be gentle to your very sons,

And heaven keeps your score.

Holy baths and universal kindness are equal; often kindness surpasses ritual. Fame on earth sustains blessedness above.

When Virochana vaunted caste,

And Sudhanvan stood by;

Prahlāda weighed truth over blood—

And pride fell from on high.

Vidura’s parable: Prahlāda preferred truth to filial bias, granting the Brahmana’s precedence. Thus, do not lie for land or kin; truth alone preserves crown and clan.

A lie for beasts or kine or gold,

For land or human breath—

The scale grows black with sires undone,

Till falsehood fattens death.

False witness drags down ancestors; gold and land corrupt the root. Hence Vidura warns: never barter truth.

The gods bear not with cudgel crude,

They arm the just with sense;

Where dharma leads and prudence walks,

There fails no recompense.

Protection comes as clear intelligence. Success is proportionate to righteous attention; deceit estranges the Veda at death.

Wine, wrangling, brooding enmities,

Marital strife made wide;

Rebellion, treachery to the crown—

These roads are sin’s long stride.

Steer from drinking, quarrels, household ruptures, sedition—each shatters order.

Soothsayer, thief-turned-merchant, fowler, leech,

Foe, friend, and minstrel’s art—

These seven fail in witness-stand,

For bias clouds the heart.

Seven are incompetent as witnesses—their roles warp interest or truthfulness.

Proud fire, proud silence, proudest study, sacrificial show—

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When ego fuels the sacred flame,

It burns the doer low.

Even innocent rites—Agnihotra, silence, study, sacrifice—turn harmful when pride-motivated.

Arsonist, poisoner, pander and dart-smith—

With bribe-takers and Veda-scorners aligned;

The secret killer, the faith-betrayer—

All Brahman-slaying in kind.

Vidura lists heinous offenders, equating them in moral turpitude with Brahman-slayers.

Gold by fire, the noble by poise,

The honest by their way;

The brave in panic, steadfast poor,

True friends in dark of day.

Crisis proves mettle: valor in fear, self-control in poverty, fidelity in calamity.

Age unthreads beauty; hope thins patience;

Death ends the borrowing breath;

Envy gnaws righteousness; anger eats wealth;

The low undoeth grace.

A map of erosions: envy kills virtue, anger wastes prosperity, base company ruins conduct.

Good deeds give birth; skill sends down roots;

By labor branches rise;

Self-mastery secures the trunk—

And firm the fortune lies.

Prosperity: born of merit, grown by effort, rooted by skill, stabilized by self-control.

Wisdom, lineage, self-restraint,

Scripture-lore and might;

Few words, gifts within one’s means,

And gratitude’s clean light.

These eight adorn a man; yet royal favor can concentrate and crown such virtues in public esteem.

Four walk with the good: sacrifice, gift,

Study and austerity done;

Four follow the good: restraint and truth,

Simplicity, harm to none.

First four can be ritual, the latter four require true nobility of heart.

No hall where elders do not speak;

No elders where no dharma known;

No dharma split from truth’s clear spring—

No truth with guile o’ergrown.

Assemblies need age and moral voice; morality is inseparable from truth.

Truth, beauty, scripture-sense,

Knowledge, birth refined;

Conduct, strength, and wealth with valor—

And varied speech aligned.

Ten graces descending: the ethical, intellectual, and social excellences prized among the gods.

Sin oft-repeated blunts the mind,

And dulled, it sins again;

Virtue repeated sharpens sight,

And clear-eyed walks the plain.

Habits shape intelligence; resolve to practice virtue until it becomes vision.

Work by day to rest by night;

In eight months, store for rain;

In youth, sow deeds for elder years;

For heaven, sow through life’s domain.

Practical counsel: anticipate seasons, prepare for old age and afterlife through timely works.

Food that sits light; a seasoned spouse;

A victor tried in war;

An ascetic crowned with effort’s fruit—

These are the wise man’s star.

Value what is proven and temperate—in nourishment, marriage, valor, and tapas.

Ill-got gold is patch on sand—

Plug one gap, two will yawn;

The hole of wrong breeds other holes,

Till all thy cloth is torn.

Unrighteous gains cannot secure life; they multiply losses elsewhere.

The self-ruled heed the teacher’s rein;

The wicked fear the king;

The secret sinner walks with Yama—

Death knows everything.

Discipline, law, and karma govern distinct men: the controlled by preceptor, the wicked by king, the hidden sinner by Death.

The measure of seers, of rivers and banks,

Of high-souled men’s true worth;

And woman’s turning—who can tell?

These veils belong to earth.

Certain magnitudes and motives elude human audit; keep humility.

He who honors Brahmanas, gives,

Treats kinsmen well, and guards the right—

The Kṣatriya noble—such as these

Hold kingdoms firm and bright.

Reverence, generosity, kin-duty, and noble rule secure enduring sovereignty.

The brave, the learned, and the ward—

Protector wise of men;

These three can pluck gold-blossoms up

From earth’s hard stem again.

Valor, learning, and protective skill unlock worldly wealth righteously.

First, deeds achieved by intellect;

Next, those achieved by arms;

Then thighs and head-loads, lowest lot—

Rise where true wisdom charms.

Works of mind outrank works of force; brute labor stands lowest. Cultivate intelligent action.

On Śakuni, Karṇa, Dussāsana,

And Duryodhana’s will—

If thou wouldst lean, expect the fall,

For such props do not still.

Vidura warns: ill advisers doom the throne. Dhṛtarāṣṭra must not rest the realm upon envy and guile.

Thy Pāṇḍu-sons, in virtue robed,

Have held thee as their sire;

O hold to them as to thy sons,

And set the world to right.

The Pāṇḍavas are obedient and just; returning their share and leaning on Yudhiṣṭhira will reconcile men and gods.

Vaiśampāyana said:

Thus, number by number, Vidura measured the king’s night with truths that cut and healed at once. Whether the blind lord would choose light over lineage—this, O Janamejaya, was the hinge upon which the fate of the Kurus turned.