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Library: Bhishma highlights the importance of kindly duties to sustain and govern four classes and four orders.
Bhīṣma said:
Bow-drawing and removal of enemies; agriculture, trade, and animal husbandry; service also, likewise for the sake of wealth—these are the supreme duties of the twice-born.
A wise householder should practice the six duties of a Brāhmaṇa; when his duties are fulfilled, it is commendable for a Brāhmaṇa to reside in the forest.
One should avoid royal service, agricultural wealth, livelihood by trade, crookedness, deceit, and usury.
O king, a śūdra becomes a Brāhmaṇa's relative; one who is of bad conduct and has deviated from dharma; the husband of a śūdra woman, a slanderer, a dancer, a village messenger, and one who engages in wrongful acts.
O king, whether reciting the Vedas or not, those who are like Śūdras or servants and are to be enjoyed, all these become equal to Śūdras; O king, these should be avoided in acts for the gods.
O king, in one who is without boundaries, cruel in conduct, violent in nature, and has abandoned righteous conduct, offerings to gods, offerings to ancestors, and other gifts, whether to be given or not, all become the same in that person.
Therefore, the duty prescribed for a brāhmaṇa is self-restraint, purity, and straightforwardness, O king. Likewise, all the stages of life for the brāhmaṇa were indeed established by Brahmā in ancient times, O king.
He who is self-restrained, drinks Soma, has noble conduct, is compassionate, endures all, is without expectation, upright, gentle, non-cruel, and forbearing—he alone is truly a sage, not anyone else who does evil deeds.
O son of Pāṇḍu, Viṣṇu does not desire those who are attached to caste and duties of birth, considering that all people—śūdra, vaiśya, prince, and king—have resorted to dharma.
If this were not so in the world, then the order of all worlds would not exist; neither would the fourfold order nor the Vedic doctrines. All sacrifices and all actions of all worlds, and immediately all those established in the āśramas, would not exist.
O Pāṇḍava, hear about the duties prescribed for those among the three castes who wish to practice the āśramas.
O lord of the earth, the Śūdra, having accomplished his duties of service and having performed the act of progeny, after obtaining permission from the king.
Whether one has made little progress or attained the tenfold dharma, all prescribed āśramas are to be avoided except for one who is without desire for reward.
O king, the practice of begging is not prescribed for the follower of dharma; likewise, it is not for the Vaiśya or the prince.
When a Vaiśya has fulfilled his duties, passed his prime, and completed his labors, he should, with the king's permission, retire to the circle of hermitages.
O sinless one, after studying the Vedas and the treatises on polity in accordance with righteousness, performing duties such as begetting progeny, and partaking of Soma, (one attains the desired result).
O best of speakers, after protecting all the subjects by righteousness, you should also perform Rājasūya, Aśvamedha, and other such sacrifices.
Having assembled as per the recitation and given gifts to the Brāhmaṇas, whether the victory obtained in battle is little or much, (it is to be honored thus).
O Pāṇḍava, having installed your son, the protector of the people, in the kingdom, or (if not possible) another approved Kṣatriya of a different lineage, O best of Kṣatriyas.
He properly worshipped the ancestors with ancestral rites as prescribed, and also diligently worshipped the gods with sacrifices and the sages with the Vedas.
O king, when the end time arrives, whoever desires to enter another āśrama, by proceeding through the āśramas in order, may attain perfection.
O king, even a royal sage, having abandoned the duties of a householder, should live by practicing the path of mendicancy, if he desires to preserve his life.
O best of the Bharatas, this is not the final action for the three. O tiger among kings, for the four, the dwellers in the āśramas say so.
I hear from the Veda that all dharmas, along with their subsidiary dharmas, of the three (classes) are dependent upon the dharma of the king, which is practiced by kṣatriyas and is the best among people.
O king, just as the footprints of all creatures merge in the footprint of the elephant, in the same way, know that all dharmas are comprehensively included in the royal duties in every situation.
Those who know dharma consider other dharmas to be of little substance and benefit; the noble ones declare that the kṣātra dharma, being of great foundation and much auspiciousness, is the true one.
All dharmas are led by royal duty; all dharmas are preserved when protected. Complete renunciation in royal duties is for the king; and in renunciation, the ancient tradition says, dharma is the highest.
If the science of punishment is destroyed, the three Vedas would perish; all dharmas would not exist in opposition. All the dharmas of the āśramas would disappear; when the kṣātra (warrior order) and the ancient royal duty are abandoned.
All forms of renunciation are found within royal duties; all initiations are described within royal duties; all disciplines are described within royal duties; all worlds are encompassed by royal duties.
Just as living beings in nature are destroyed for the affliction of those who have taken refuge in dharma, so too, when dharmas are deprived of royal duties, in all circumstances, one's own dharma is not respected.
