Yayati Recounts His Advice to Puru to Shakra
In heaven, Shakra asks Yayati what wisdom he passed to his son Puru when he surrendered his kingdom and his old age. Yayati recounts a king's true armor: the power of forgiveness, the danger of anger, and the pacifying force of sweet words.
In heaven, among the thirty gods and the maruts, the former king Yayati moved with the ease of one who had performed great deeds. He traveled from the world of the gods to Brahma’s world and back, living there for a very long time.
One day, Shakra — Indra, lord of the gods — spoke to Yayati during a conversation. He asked a direct question. “O king,” Shakra said, “what did you tell Puru when he accepted your old age and roamed the earth, and when you gave him the kingdom? Tell me truly.”
Yayati replied. He recounted the counsel he gave his youngest son, the one who had willingly taken on his father’s decrepitude in exchange for youth, and to whom Yayati had entrusted his entire kingdom.
First, he had laid out the territory: Puru would be king of the central region, the heart of the earth between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. His brothers would rule the other regions.
Then came the principles of rule.
“I told him,” Yayati said, “that men who possess no anger are superior to those who have anger. Men with forgiveness are superior to those who do not forgive. Men are superior to animals, and the learned to the ignorant.”
He detailed the dangers. If abused, one should not abuse back in turn. Anger, if not suppressed, burns one’s own store of good deeds. A king should never cause pain to others through cruel words. He should never cause fear in those who are worse off. Words that hurt and cause pain, Yayati warned, are the ones that take a person to hell.
“One who wounds another through the thorn of harsh, sharp, and abrasive speech,” Yayati told Shakra, “is deserted by Lakshmi (goddess of prosperity) and bears evil in his mouth.”
Protection came through righteousness. A righteous man should always be worshipped in the front — honored. A righteous man should protect one’s back — relied upon. The cruel words of wicked ones should always be disregarded.
Yayati described words as weapons. Cruel words issue from the mouth like arrows and cause hurt, night and day. When they descend, they strike the innermost parts. Learned ones, therefore, never release them upon others.
Then he gave the means of pacification. “In the three worlds,” Yayati said, “there is nothing that pacifies as much as compassion, friendship towards beings, charity, and sweet words.” Therefore, a king should always use words that pacify and never those that are harsh. He should honor those deserving of respect, always give, and never ask.
With that, Yayati completed his recounting of the advice given to Puru, concluding his conversation with Shakra in heaven.