12.131
Bhīṣma said.
O son of Kunti, a king should build his treasury from both his own and foreign lands; for indeed, it is from the treasury that righteousness, the very foundation of the kingdom, arises.
Therefore, one should create a treasury, protect it after collecting wealth, and, having safeguarded it, use it to benefit others; this is the eternal duty.
A treasury is not created by mere purity or by cruelty. One should follow the middle path and diligently accumulate wealth.
How can the powerless have a treasury? Indeed, how can one without a treasury have strength? How can the powerless have a kingdom? How can there be prosperity for one without a king?
Excessive conduct leads to loss of prosperity just as surely as death; therefore, the king should increase the treasury, strength, and friends.
People indeed look down upon a king with a poor treasury; they are not satisfied with his meager resources, nor do they undertake tasks for him.
It is indeed due to prosperity that a king attains the highest good conduct; that prosperity hides his faults just as a garment hides the private parts of a woman.
Those who were formerly wronged follow the prosperity of such a king, just as jackals constantly seek out those they wish to harm. How can such a king find happiness, O best of the Bharatas?
Effort should always rise and never languish; true manliness is only this. Even if broken on an ordinary day, it should not bow to anyone here.
O Bhārata, it is better to live even in the forest with groups of robbers than to live with robbers who have transgressed all bounds. For, robbers are easily found for cruel deeds.
Surely, everyone is afraid of a person who is unrestrained in isolation; even robbers are wary of those who act without compassion.
One should certainly establish boundaries that win the hearts of people. Even a small boundary, when set here, is honored in the world.
A person who is resolved that 'neither this world nor the next exists' is not capable of having faith in an atheist or in one who is fearful.
Just as charity and non-violence are practiced by the virtuous, so too, among robbers, creatures are pleased with those who maintain proper conduct.
Killing one who does not fight, violating another's wife, ingratitude, taking from a knower of Brahman, and complete destruction—these, as well as theft and abandonment by a woman, are considered blameworthy among thieves.
He who avoids these indeed becomes a robber. Those who do not intend his destruction, O Bhārata, having found no remnant, do not act thus—this is the decision.
Therefore, even if something remains to be done and is under one's own control, even if by robbers, one should not act cruelly thinking 'I am in a position of strength.'
O dear, those who leave things incomplete see incompleteness everywhere. Those who try to finish everything completely always live in fear of total completion.
