Vidura Advises Dhritarashtra on Dharma and Kingship

Vidura began with a simple observation: when a righteous man gives counsel and the listener acts on it — without straining beyond his capacity and without resentment — that man quickly finds fame. Righteous men, when satisfied, can bring happiness. But the reverse was also true. And Vidura did not soften it. "He who gives up a great objective that is tainted with adharma, without being induced, sleeps in peace and discards all his unhappiness, like a snake that casts off old skin." He moved through the catalogue of human failure with the precision of a man who had watched kings fall for generations. Falsehood by the superior. Treachery toward a king. Constant falsehood before a preceptor — these, he said, were equal to killing a brahmana. Even a trace of jealousy, death, or discord destroyed prosperity. Lack of servitude, haste, boastfulness — these three weapons destroyed learning. Then he turned to the contradictions of desire. "How can a person who seeks happiness find learning? How can a person who seeks learning find happiness? A person who seeks happiness should give up learning. A person who seeks learning should give up happiness." Fire is never satiated with wood. The ocean is never satiated with rivers. Death is never satiated with all beings. A woman with beautiful eyes is never satiated with men. Hope destroys steadfastness. Death destroys prosperity. Anger destroys riches. Miserliness destroys fame. He spoke of what must be kept in a household — a goat, brass, a chariot, honey, antidotes, a bird, a learned brahmana, an aged relative, a friend in adversity. Manu himself had said so. For good fortune, a household must keep a goat, an ox, sandalwood, a veena, a mirror, honey, butter, iron, copper, a conch shell, gold, the nave of a wheel, and yellow pigment for honoring gods, brahmanas, and guests. Then his voice shifted. The list-making gave way to something more urgent. "O father! I am telling you all these supreme and sacred words that are extremely special. Do not give up dharma out of desire, fear, greed, or even for the sake of life itself. Dharma is eternal. Happiness and unhappiness are transient. Life is eternal. Its constituent elements are transient. Give up the transient and establish yourself in the eternal. Be content. Contentment is the supreme gain." He invoked the kings who had come before — the Indras among men who had possessed great strength, ruled the earth full of grain and riches, and then given up their kingdoms and desires, coming under the power of death. He described the funeral pyre: people raise a son with difficulty, then take his body out of the house, hair dishevelled, lamenting piteously, and fling him into the flames like a piece of wood. Once a person is dead, another enjoys his riches, just as crows and fire consume the elements of the body. Surrounded by merits and demerits, one goes to the other world. Relatives, well-wishers, and sons return. But for the man flung into the fire, only his own deeds follow him. "Above this world, and below the next, there is the greatest expanse of darkness. O king! Know that the senses are greatly deluded there. May you not attain it." He described the soul as a river: purity its tirthas (sacred fords), truthfulness its water, steadfastness its banks, self-control its waves. Bathing in these, a performer of pure deeds purifies himself. There is another river — one in which the five senses are the water and desire and anger are the crocodiles. Make a boat out of steadfastness, he said, and cross the difficult eddies of repeated birth. He spoke of counsel: one who asks the advice of relatives aged in wisdom, dharma, and learning, and follows them about what should and should not be done, is never deluded. He spoke of discipline: protect the penis and stomach with steadfastness, the hands and feet with the eyes, the eyes and ears with the mind, the mind and speech with deeds. Then he laid out the dharma of each varna (social order) — the duties that defined a brahmana, a kshatriya, a vaishya, a shudra. A brahmana attached to ablutions, the sacred thread, study, truth, and the preceptor's instructions is never dislodged from Brahma's world. A kshatriya who studies the Vedas, offers oblations, performs sacrifices, protects subjects, wields weapons for cattle and brahmanas, purifies his soul, and is killed in battle — goes to heaven. A vaishya who studies, distributes wealth at the right time, and inhales the sacred smoke of the three pure fires — obtains divine happiness after death. A shudra who shows homage to the three higher classes and satisfies them — enjoys happiness in heaven, his sins burnt up. And then he arrived at the point. "I have told you about the dharma of the four varnas. Listen to the reason why I have told you this. O king! Pandu's son — Yudhishthira — is falling short of the dharma of kshatriyas. You should instruct him to follow the dharma of kings."