Bhima Urges Yudhishthira to Abandon Pacifism and Fight

Yajnaseni had spoken. Her words of distress still hung in the air when Bhimasena — the one who could not tolerate suffering, least of all hers — went to the king. He came sighing with anger. He did not bow and wait for permission. He spoke. "For the sake of kingship, tread along the road of dharma, one used by righteous ones," he said. "But deprived of dharma, artha and kama, what do you gain by living in this hermitage of ascetics?" He laid out the facts as he saw them. Duryodhana had not robbed the kingdom through dharma, honesty or energy. He had done it through deceitful gambling with dice. The kingdom had been stolen the way a weak scavenging jackal steals a piece of meat from stronger lions. "Why have you abandoned artha, which is the source of dharma and kama, tormenting yourself in this wilderness in some trifling pursuit of dharma?" Bhima asked. "Protected by the wielder of the Gandiva, our kingdom could not even have been robbed by Shakra. But because of our obedience to you, it was stolen in front of our eyes." He did not stop. The words came faster, hotter. "While we were still alive, our riches were taken away from us because of you, like bilva fruit or cattle from those who are crippled. You are always firm in desiring dharma. But it is because we sought to do what is pleasing to you that we now face this great calamity. It was because our selves were under your control that we are now ploughing our friends and providing delight to our enemies." He told Yudhishthira that their forgiveness had been mistaken for weakness. The sons of Dhritarashtra regarded them as incapable — and that caused more grief than death in battle. If all of them were to die in a straight fight, without turning back, that would be better. They would obtain worlds after death. And if they killed the enemy and obtained back the entire earth, that would also be superior. "Dharma that causes affliction to our friends and our own selves is vice," Bhima said. "It is not dharma. It is bad dharma." He built a philosophical argument from the ground up. Dharma, artha and kama — righteousness, wealth and pleasure — must be served together, not one at the expense of the others. A man who pursues dharma alone, ignoring artha, is like a blind man who does not know the rays of the sun. A man who pursues artha alone deserves to be censured like the killer of a brahmana. A man who pursues kama alone will be robbed of his friends and will die weak, like a fish that roams with pleasure until the pond dries up. "The learned are never confused about dharma and artha," Bhima said. "They are required for kama, like kindling for a fire. Dharma is the root of all artha and dharma is united with artha. Know that the two are rooted in each other, like the ocean and the clouds." He told Yudhishthira that donations, sacrifices, honesty, worship, retention of the Vedas and uprightness — these represented powerful and supreme dharma. But one who was distressed and destitute could not serve these. Dharma could only be served through great wealth. And such wealth could never be obtained through begging or through impotence. "Begging brings success to brahmanas," Bhima said. "But that has been forbidden to you. Therefore, seek to obtain the artha that you desire by exercising your energy. In the heart of kshatriyas, the special dharma is that of strength." He ended with a direct command: "Make your mind that of a kshatriya. Forsake this lassitude of mind. Rely on valour. Bear the weight like a beast of burden. No one has won the world without exertion."