12.113
Yudhiṣṭhira said.
What should a king do, and by doing what may he become happy? Please tell me all this truly, O best among the upholders of dharma.
Bhīṣma said.
Indeed, I will tell you—listen—of the one decisive duty: what should be done here for the king, and what, when done, will bring happiness.
You should not act in this way as we have heard. Listen, O Yudhishthira, to the remarkable conduct of the camel.
He, who remembered his previous births, was a great ascetic born in the age of Prajāpati. He undertook intense austerities in the forest, steadfast in his vows.
At the end of his austerity, the lord became full of joy. Then the grandsire, with a boon, caused him to choose.
The camel said.
O Lord, by your grace, may this neck of mine become long, so that it can travel and move a hundred yojanas and more, O mighty one.
Bhīṣma said.
Thus, when the great-souled boon-giver said, "So be it," the camel, having received the excellent boon, returned to his own forest.
He, having received the boon, became lazy; that wicked-minded one, deluded by time, did not wish to act or go anywhere.
Once, he stretched out his neck, which was a hundred yojanas long; with tireless heart, the great wind also arose from there.
He placed his head and neck like an animal in the cave and remained there. Then a very great rain came, flooding the world.
Then, the jackal, shivering from cold and tormented by hunger, entered that cave quickly with his wife, his body drenched with water.
O best of the Bharatas, the meat-eater, having seen this and being exceedingly afflicted with hunger, then ate the neck of the camel.
When he realized that he himself was being eaten, the animal, greatly distressed, then made every effort to contract himself.
As long as the animal kept contracting its neck up and down, during that time, he and his wife were devoured by the jackal.
After killing and eating (the prey) in the jackal's den, when the wind and rain had ceased, he came out from the mouth of the cave.
Thus, due to the bad intellect of the one who acquired the camel, destruction occurred then. See how, due to laziness, a great fault gradually arose.
You too, abandoning this procedure, with your senses controlled by discipline, act with intellect as your foundation; for Manu declared that victory comes thus.
O Bhārata, the actions that are best are those of the intellect; those of the arms are in the middle. The actions of the legs are the lowest and are considered inferior in bearing burdens.
O sinless one, the kingdom endures with the competent, the self-controlled, the discreet in counsel, and one who has good allies.
O Yudhiṣṭhira, only those undertakings which are carefully examined endure; with the aid of capable helpers, the entire earth can be governed.
This has indeed been declared by the virtuous and those versed in the rules long ago, O king of power equal to Mahendra. I too have told you this according to the śāstra; now you are fit, act accordingly, O king.
