02.005
Pancharatra: Narada’s teaching of Raja Dharma to Yudhisthira.
Vaiśampāyana said.
Thus, O Bhārata, among those seated there—the Pāṇḍavas, the great-souled ones, and the Gandharvas.
The sage, having traversed all the worlds, came to that assembly. At that time, the highly radiant Nārada, accompanied by sages, arrived. (2-5-2)
O king, accompanied by Pārijāta, Raivata, Sumukha, and other wise and gentle sages, the divine sage of immeasurable splendor, swift as the mind and pleased, went to the assembly to see the Pāṇḍavas. (2-5-3)
When the best among the Pāṇḍavas saw the sage Nārada, the knower of all dharmas, had arrived, he immediately rose together with his younger brothers, greeted him affectionately, and bowed with humility. (2-5-4)
He gave that worthy seat to him as prescribed by rule, and the knower of dharma worshipped him with jewels and all desirable things. (2-5-5)
The great sage, honored by all the Pāṇḍavas and master of the Vedas, asked Yudhiṣṭhira this question, which was related to righteousness, desire, and wealth. (2-5-6)
Nārada said.
Are the desired objects being obtained, does your mind delight in righteousness, are pleasures being experienced, and is your mind not distressed? (2-5-7)
O king, do you follow, among men, the unimpaired conduct practiced by your ancestors, which is endowed with righteousness and prosperity? (2-5-8)
Do you, by wealth or by righteousness, or by righteousness wealth, or both, or with the essence of affection, not overpower (them) by desire? (2-5-9)
O best among the victorious, do you always serve purpose, righteousness, and desire, dividing them according to time, O knower of time and giver of boons? (2-5-10)
O sinless one, do you properly examine the fourteen (matters) by the six royal qualities and the seven means, as well as strength and weakness? (2-5-11)
O Bhārata, best among the victorious, do you, after examining yourself and others, thus arrange and perform the eight actions? (2-5-12)
O best of the Bharatas, are your six ministers, who are wealthy, also afflicted by misfortune, and entirely devoted to you, all still with you and not lost? (2-5-13)
Is your counsel ever revealed by conjecture, by messengers, by unsuspecting persons, by yourself, or by your ministers? (2-5-14)
Do you properly attend to alliances at the right time and to hostilities? Do you also follow the proper conduct towards neutrals and mediators? (2-5-15)
O hero, are your ministers, whom you have appointed, equal to yourself in intellect, pure, capable of giving up their lives, noble by birth, and devoted to you? (2-5-16)
O Bhārata, victory for kings is truly rooted in wise counsel, and is well-guarded by ministers who are wealthy in counsel and skilled in the śāstras. (2-5-17)
Do you not fall under the sway of sleep? Do you wake up at the right time? And, O knower of purpose, do you reflect upon the matter in the latter part of the night? (2-5-18)
Do you ever consult alone, or do you always consult with many? Is the counsel that has been deliberated for you not being followed by the kingdom? (2-5-19)
Do you, after carefully determining purposes that have small beginnings but great outcomes, promptly undertake to act on them and not create such obstacles? (2-5-20)
Is it that not all the ends of actions are hidden and suspected? Or have all again been abandoned? For here, indeed, the cause is mixed. (2-5-21)
O king, do people know of your heroic deeds, whether they are all accomplished or mostly done, or is there any deed of yours that remains unaccomplished? (2-5-22)
Are all the officials, who are skilled in all sciences, ensuring that the princes and chief warriors are engaged in every way? (2-5-23)
Do you ever purchase a single wise man for thousands of fools? For a wise man alone can bring about the highest good in times of financial hardship. (2-5-24)
Are all the fortresses well supplied with wealth, grain, weapons, water, machines, and also with artisans and archers? (2-5-25)
Even a single minister who is wise, brave, self-controlled, and discerning can bring great prosperity to the king or the prince. (2-5-26)
Do you, among the other eighteen types, have ten and five on your own side, and do you know the posts through three and three unknown spies? (2-5-27)
O destroyer of enemies, are you always prepared and ever-vigilant, observing all your enemies without their knowledge? (2-5-28)
Is your priest, who is endowed with humility, born in a noble family, learned in the scriptures, free from envy, worthy of consultation, and respected, (well)? (2-5-29)
Is your appointed priest, who knows the procedures, is intelligent and upright, always informing you at the proper time about what has been offered and what is yet to be offered in the fires? (2-5-30)
Is your astrologer well-versed in all the branches, an expounder of astrology, and skilled in interpreting all portents? (2-5-31)
Are the chief servants assigned to the greatest tasks, the middle ones to the middling tasks, and the lowest to the lowest tasks? (2-5-32)
Do you appoint ministers who are pure, free from deceit, and inherited from your father and grandfather—those who are the best among the excellent—in the most important duties? (2-5-33)
O best of the Bharatas, do your ministers govern your kingdom without excessively disturbing the subjects by harsh punishments? (2-5-34)
Do the sacrificers perhaps not disregard you as fallen, just as women disregard a man who accepts fierce gifts, even if they desire him? (2-5-35)
Is your commander bold, heroic, intelligent, steadfast, pure, noble-born, devoted, and skilful? (2-5-36)
Have all the principal warriors of your army, who are skilled in battle, experienced in adversity, and valiant, been duly honored and respected by you? (2-5-37)
Do you ensure that the food and wages of the army are given appropriately and on time, and that you do not withhold them? (2-5-38)
When the payment of food and wages is delayed, these servants become angry with their master due to poverty; such a misfortune is regarded as very great. (2-5-39)
Are all the sons of the family especially devoted to you? Do they always risk their lives in battle for your sake? (2-5-40)
Do you, being driven by desire and transgressing commands, instruct many matters relating entirely to the future just as you wish, all by yourself? (2-5-41)
Does a man, by his own effort, enhance his actions and thereby gain greater honor or merely the wages of a servant? (2-5-42)
Do you honor men who are trained in knowledge and skilled in wisdom, giving them gifts as is proper according to their qualities? (2-5-43)
O best of the Bharatas, do you bear the distress of the wives of men who have died for your sake and of those who have encountered calamity? (2-5-44)
O Pārtha, do you protect, like a son, an enemy who has approached out of fear, or one who is unmanly, or one who has been conquered in battle? (2-5-45)
O lord of the earth, are you truly impartial and above suspicion towards all your subjects, just as a mother or a father would be? (2-5-46)
O best of the Bharatas, after hearing about the enemy in distress, do you attack swiftly, having carefully assessed the threefold forces? (2-5-47)
O great king, having understood the root of the heel, the effort, and the defeat, and having given the wages in front of the army.
O subduer of enemies, do you appropriately give hidden gems to the chiefs of the army in the enemy country? (2-5-49)
O Pārtha, do you wish to conquer others, the heedless whose senses are uncontrolled, only after first conquering yourself and mastering your own senses? (2-5-50)
Are the means of conciliation, gift, division, and punishment, when properly employed by you, being applied in due order before the enemies? (2-5-51)
O lord of men, do you set out on your expedition only after making your base secure, strive to defeat your enemies, and, having conquered them, protect them? (2-5-52)
Is your eight-limbed army, composed of four kinds of forces and well-governed by the chiefs, able to repel the enemies? (2-5-53)
O great king, subduer of foes, do you ever, without abandoning even a little or a handful in enemy territory, destroy your enemies in battle? (2-5-54)
Are there many officers in your own and other kingdoms who properly carry out your interests and protect one another? (2-5-55)
O great king, are the foods, the things that touch the body, and the things to be smelled, all being used only as permitted by you? (2-5-56)
Are the treasury, storehouse, vehicles, gates, weapons, and income being managed by your loyal and virtuous attendants? (2-5-57)
O lord of the people, do you ensure to protect yourself first from both insiders and outsiders, and also protect your people from your own and from each other? (2-5-58)
Do they, in the morning, acknowledge to you the expenses that arise from your indulgence in drinking, gambling, sports, or with women? (2-5-59)
O king, is your expenditure deducted from your income by half, by a fourth, or again by three quarter parts, or by three? (2-5-60)
Do you constantly support your kinsmen, elders, the aged, merchants, artisans, and those who have sought your refuge, who are in distress, with wealth and grain? (2-5-61)
Are all your accountants and clerks always engaged in managing your income and expenditure every forenoon? (2-5-62)
Do you ensure that those who are mature, seek welfare, and are agreeable in matters are not removed from their duties before any fault is found? (2-5-63)
O Bhārata, do you, after discerning men as superior, inferior, and average, assign them to duties appropriate to their capacities? (2-5-64)
O lord of the people, I hope there are no greedy persons, thieves, or enemies, or those not engaged in proper conduct, who have performed your duties. (2-5-65)
Is your kingdom ever oppressed by greedy men, thieves, princes, women's force, or even by you? Are the farmers prosperous? (2-5-66)
Are the ponds in the kingdom full and large, and distributed in various parts, so that agriculture is not dependent on the gods (rain)? (2-5-67)
Are the seed and food sufficient for the ploughman? And for every hundred, do you grant a loan with interest as a favor? (2-5-68)
O dear, is your livelihood being properly carried out by virtuous people? When people resort to such a livelihood, does this world prosper in happiness? (2-5-69)
O king, are the ten purified and wise ministers, properly established, working together for the welfare of your country? (2-5-70)
Have the villages been organized like a city for the purpose of city protection? And has protection been arranged for the villages as well? Are all of them dedicated to that purpose? (2-5-71)
Are the equal and unequal cases being followed up by force? Do old thieves, along with officers, roam in your territory? (2-5-72)
Do you console the women? Are they all safe? Do you not trust any of them? You do not reveal any secret, do you? (2-5-73)
Does he, after hearing the spies at night and considering the necessary actions, then enjoy pleasant things for the rest of the night, having ascertained the people within? (2-5-74)
O lord of the people, after sleeping during the first two watches of the night, do you contemplate dharma and artha upon rising in the last watch? (2-5-75)
Do you regularly present well-adorned men, rising at the proper time, you who know the right moment, together with the Pāṇḍava and his ministers? (2-5-76)
Are the well-adorned men, dressed in red garments and armed with swords, attending you on all sides for your protection, O subduer of enemies? (2-5-77)
O lord of the people, do you, after due consideration, act justly like Yama towards those who deserve punishment, and properly towards both the disagreeable and the agreeable? (2-5-78)
O son of Pritha, do you always remove bodily afflictions with medicines or regimen, or mental afflictions by serving the elders? (2-5-79)
Are the physicians, skilled in the eight branches of treatment, and your affectionate well-wishers, always beneficial to your body? (2-5-80)
O lord of the people, will you ever, out of pride, delusion, or desire, reject any petitioners or opponents who come before you? (2-5-81)
Do you ensure that, neither out of greed, delusion, over-familiarity, nor affection, you destroy the livelihood of those men who depend on you? (2-5-82)
Are the citizens and those other inhabitants of the kingdom, who are not united, in any way bribed by outsiders to oppose you? (2-5-83)
O Yudhiṣṭhira, has your weak enemy been subdued by strength, or has anyone strong been overcome by counsel, or by both means? (2-5-84)
Are all the kings especially devoted to you? Do those whom you have won over give up their lives for your sake? (2-5-85)
Is worship, according to quality, performed by you in all branches of knowledge? Is the auspicious worship of Brāhmaṇas and virtuous ones undertaken for your highest good? (2-5-86)
Are you following the dharma, which is rooted in the three Vedas and practiced by the ancients, and do you act accordingly in your duties? (2-5-87)
Are the Brahmins in your house eating tasty food, and is your superintendent, who is virtuous and endowed with virtues, being given proper gifts? (2-5-88)
Are you, with focused mind and self-control, making every effort to perform all the Vājapeya and Puṇḍarīka sacrifices in their entirety? (2-5-89)
Do you show reverence to your kinsmen, elders, the aged, divinities, ascetics, as well as to shrines, auspicious trees, and Brāhmaṇas? (2-5-90)
O sinless one, does your intellect and conduct ensure long life and fame, and discern the true nature of dharma, desire, and wealth? (2-5-91)
With such present wisdom, a kingdom does not fall; and having conquered the earth, the king attains complete happiness. (2-5-92)
Is the noble and pure-souled person, punished for theft, not being killed out of greed by those unskilled in the unseen scriptures? (2-5-93)
O best of men, when the doer of that act is questioned, seized, and seen by those who know the matter, and the reason is established, is the thief not released out of greed for wealth? (2-5-94)
O Bhārata, when instructed, do your ministers, corrupted by riches, not misrepresent you regarding the wealth of the rich and the poor? (2-5-95)
Atheism, falsehood, anger, negligence, procrastination, lack of discernment, laziness among the wise, and a distracted mind (2-5-96).
Considering matters only once, consulting with those ignorant of misfortune, failing to act on determined plans, and not safeguarding counsel—these are faults. (2-5-97)
Do you avoid these fourteen royal faults, such as the non-application of auspiciousness and attachment to sense-objects? (2-5-98)
Are the Vedas fruitful for you? Is your wealth fruitful? Are your wives fruitful? Is your learning fruitful? (2-5-99)
Yudhishthira said.
How indeed do the Vedas become fruitful? How does wealth become fruitful? How do wives become fruitful? How does learning become fruitful? (2-5-100)
Nārada said.
The Vedas yield the fruit of agnihotra; wealth yields the fruit of what is given and enjoyed; wives yield the fruit of pleasure and sons; learning yields the fruit of conduct and character. (2-5-101)
Vaiśampāyana said.
After narrating this, the sage Nārada, possessed of great austerity, immediately asked this question to the righteous Yudhiṣṭhira. (2-5-102)
Nārada said.
Have the merchants who have come from distant places for profit, as stated, had their taxes collected by the tax collectors? (2-5-103)
O king, are your men in the city and in the kingdom respected, and do they bring goods without being cheated by deceits? (2-5-104)
Dear one, do you always listen to the words of the elders, which are accompanied by righteousness and purpose, as well as to those of the wise and the observers of righteousness? (2-5-105)
Are honey and ghee being given to the twice-born for the sake of dharma from your agricultural produce, cows, and flowers and fruits? (2-5-106)
Do you ensure that all materials and tools, including the lesser ones required for the four-month observance, are always properly and regularly supplied to all artisans? (2-5-107)
O great king, do you recognize the deed and praise the doer? And among the virtuous, do you honor and worship them? (2-5-108)
O foremost of the Bharatas, do you hold all the cords—those for elephants, horses, and chariots—O mighty one? (2-5-109)
O foremost of the Bharatas, is the manual of archery, as well as the manual of mechanical devices and urban arts, regularly practiced in your house? (2-5-110)
O sinless one, are all your missiles, the Brahma-staff, and all your poisonous mixtures and enemy-destroying weapons known to you? (2-5-111)
Do you ensure the protection of your own kingdom from the dangers of fire, serpents, wild beasts, diseases, and demons? (2-5-112)
O knower of dharma, do you protect the blind, the mute, the lame, the deformed, and those without relatives, just as a father would? And do you also care for the ascetics? (2-5-113)
Vaiśampāyana said.
Hearing these words of the foremost Brāhmaṇa, the great-souled bull among the Kurus, the king, joyfully bowed and saluted the feet of Nārada of divine form, and spoke to him. (2-5-114)
"I will act as you have said; indeed, my wisdom has grown even more." Having said this, the king did accordingly and gained the earth encircled by the ocean. (2-5-115)
Nārada said.
Thus, the king who protects the four varṇas, after enjoying happiness here, attains the same world as Indra. (2-5-116)
