11.012
Core and Pancharatra: After taking advice from Krishna, Dhritarashtra touched Bhīma, Dhanañjaya, and the two sons of Mādrī and spoke auspicious words to them.
Vaiśampāyana said:
Then the attendants approached him for purification. After he had performed the purification, Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa) again spoke to him.
O king, you have not studied the Vedas, the various treatises, nor have you even heard the Purāṇas and the royal duties alone.
Thus, the learned and very wise one did not make that statement at that time, knowing, O Kaurava, that the Pāṇḍavas were superior in strength and heroism.
Indeed, the king who is steadfast in wisdom, who himself observes faults and considers the division of place and time, attains the highest good.
He who does not accept what is better when it is being spoken, whether in benefit or harm, grieves when he finds himself in misfortune.
Therefore, O Bhārata, consider your self which has turned otherwise. O king, you, being unsubmissive, are indeed under the sway of Duryodhana.
You are suffering due to your own fault; why, Bhima, do you wish to commit a terrible act? Therefore, restrain your anger by remembering your own wrongdoing.
But the mean man who, out of rivalry, brought Panchali to the assembly—he was slain by Bhimasena, who wished to avenge the enmity.
O scorcher of foes, see the transgression of yourself and your wicked son—the abandonment of the blameless Pāṇḍavas.
When Kṛṣṇa had thus spoken the whole truth, King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, lord of the people, addressed Devakī's son.
O mighty-armed Mādhava, it is as you say; but, O righteous-souled one, my affection for my son shook me from my fortitude.
By good fortune, O Krishna, Bhima, the tiger among men, strong and true in valor, protected by you, has dragged the elephant between my arms.
Now, O Keśava, with my mind concentrated, anger and fever gone, I wish to touch the heroic middle Pāṇḍava.
Even after the kings and sons have been killed, and the sons of Pāṇḍu have been slain, my happiness and delight still remain.
Then, weeping, he touched Bhīma, Dhanañjaya, and the two sons of Mādrī—heroes among men—with his own limbs; without consoling them, he spoke auspicious words to them.
