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Library: Yudhishthira advises Arjuna - the knower of dharma attains greatness through austerity, finds greatness through intellect, and always attains happiness through renunciation.
Yudhishthira said:
O father, I know the scriptures, both the earlier and later ones; and I know both Vedic injunctions: 'perform action' and 'abandon action'.
The scriptures are confused and embellished with many arguments; as for certainty, whatever I know of it, I know that according to the prescribed method.
You are only skilled in weapons and have performed a hero’s vow, but you are in no way capable of truly understanding the meaning of the śāstra.
If you truly perceive dharma, then even one who sees the subtle meaning of the scriptures and is expert in determining dharma should not speak to me in this way.
O Arjuna, O son of Kunti, having adopted brotherly friendship, what you have spoken is just and proper; I am pleased with you for that.
In the duties of battle, in all actions, and in skills, there is no one equal to you in the three worlds.
But, O Dhananjaya, as for the statement about the subtlety of dharma, it is very difficult for you to grasp; you should not doubt my understanding.
You act as if you know the science of war, but you have not served the elders; you do not truly understand the certainty of those who know both the concise and the detailed aspects.
O dear, for the wise, austerity, renunciation, and rule are considered determination; among these, the supreme is the greatest—this is the path to the highest good.
O Pārtha, you do not consider that there is nothing greater than wealth. Here, I will explain to you how this is not the primary truth.
Indeed, righteous people devoted to austerity and self-study are seen. The sages, engaged in austerity, are those whose worlds are eternal.
Young men whose beards had not grown, steadfast and wise, and others living in the forest—innumerable and poor indeed—have attained heaven by self-study.
But the noble ones, by the northern path, through sense restraint and having cast off the darkness born of ignorance, have reached the realms attained by those who renounce.
But the shining southern path that you see—these are the worlds attained by those who performed rites and have gone to the cremation grounds.
That state which cannot be described, but which is perceived by the liberated, therefore renunciation is considered the highest; but that suffering is to be explained.
The wise, having followed the scriptures, are well established; yet, even here, it may be so, with the desire to discern between essence and non-essence.
They went beyond the Vedic discourses, treatises, and Āraṇyakas, but even after splitting open the banana-stem, they did not find the essence.
Now, by complete withdrawal, they refer to the self, endowed with desire and aversion, in the body composed of five elements, by gestures.
He cannot be perceived by the eye, nor described by speech; led by the cause of action, he moves among beings.
By making the mind's desires focus on the auspicious and restraining them, and by abandoning the continuity of actions, one becomes happy and independent.
O Arjuna, in this subtle path, which is practiced by the virtuous, how do you praise wealth that is full of misfortune?
O Bhārata, people who know the former scriptures thus see: they are always engaged in actions, in charity, in sacrifice, and in deeds.
Even learned people, though reasoning and well-versed, become extremely obstinate; those who have firmly heard before, being deluded, declare, "This does not exist."
Those who despise immortality and speak in public assemblies, the talkative and widely heard, roam the whole earth.
Whom we do not know, who here can know them? Thus, even the wise and great, who possess knowledge of the śāstra, (are like this).
O son of Kunti, the knower of dharma, one attains greatness through austerity, finds greatness through intellect, and always attains happiness through renunciation.
