12.110
Yudhiṣṭhira said.
O Bhārata, how should a man who wishes to uphold dharma act? O learned one, please explain to the inquirer, O best of the Bharatas.
Truth and untruth both pervade the worlds. O king, which of these should a man established in dharma follow?
What is truly truth, what is falsehood, what is the eternal righteous principle? At what time should one speak the truth, and at what time should one speak falsehood?
Bhīṣma said.
Speaking the truth is virtuous; nothing surpasses truth. I will tell you, O Bhārata, that which is very difficult to know in this world.
One should not speak the truth if it is inappropriate; and one may have to speak an untruth if it is appropriate. Where untruth becomes truth, or truth itself becomes untruth.
An immature person is confused in situations where truth is not established. But after discerning truth from untruth, he becomes one who knows dharma.
Even a base, undiscerning, and very cruel man may sometimes gain great merit, just as a crane does by killing the blind.
It is not surprising that a deluded person, even if he desires righteousness but knows only unrighteousness, may incur great sin, just as the sage Kauśika did in the Ganga.
This is such a subsequent question, where dharma is very hard to express; it is difficult to enumerate, and here one must determine it by reasoning.
The teaching of dharma has been given for the benefit of all beings. Whatever is united with non-violence, that alone is truly dharma—this is the settled conclusion.
They say that dharma is derived from sustaining; by dharma, creatures are supported. Whatever is associated with sustaining, that certainly is dharma.
Some people say, 'śruti is dharma,' while others say, 'not so.' But we do not find fault with that, for not everything is prescribed.
It is decided that dharma is not to be revealed to those who, at any time, desire to take away wealth unjustly.
If liberation were attained by silence, then one should never utter a sound here. But certainly, one must utter, or else one should suspect even after not uttering.
It has been considered there that, in certain cases, speaking falsehood is better than truth, if by oath one is released from connection with sins.
Wealth should never be given to the wicked, even if possible, for giving wealth to the wicked will also bring harm to the giver.
If someone, desiring to obtain a boon by restraining his own body, has witnesses who are to speak for the sake of confirming the truth, but if all those witnesses do not say what should be said there, then all of them are speakers of untruth.
Untruth may be spoken in situations of danger to life, in marriage, for the protection of wealth, or for the sake of others' dharma. One who desires the dharma of others becomes a low person, a beggar for dharma.
If one has promised, one must give; but what is to be done tomorrow is done by force. Whoever deviates from the agreement of dharma and resorts to unrighteousness.
A deceitful person who abandons his own duty and seeks to live by deceiving others should be destroyed by all possible means; a wicked person who lives by deceit deserves no mercy.
For all the wicked, wealth alone is their only certainty here. Those who are unbearable and cannot be enjoyed together, through deceit, have fallen.
Those who have fallen from the company of gods and men are like departed spirits. For them, separation from life is even more painful than giving up wealth.
One should diligently say to you: "Let dharma be pleasing." There is certainly no dharma among the wicked; this is the established truth.
One who kills a tathāgata is not stained by sin. By his own actions, he kills only the already slain; he himself is killed. Among such people, whoever makes an agreement does so among those whose intellect is destroyed.
Just as crows and vultures, so too those who live by deceit, after death, are born in these species.
One should behave towards a person in the same manner as that person behaves; that is dharma. A deceitful person should be dealt with deceit, and a virtuous person should be reciprocated by the virtuous.
