12.154
Yudhiṣṭhira said.
O grandsire, what is considered the highest good here for a Brāhmaṇa who has made effort in self-study, O righteous one desiring dharma?
O grandsire, in this world of many viewpoints, if you consider anything to be the highest good here or in the next world, please tell me that.
O Bhārata, this path of dharma is great and has many branches. Which among the dharmas here is truly considered the most worthy of practice?
O king, dharma is great and has many branches; please tell me, dear one, without fatigue, the supreme root and essence of all of them.
Bhīṣma said.
Indeed, I will tell you that by which you will attain the highest good. Having drunk nectar, you will become a wise person satisfied with knowledge.
There are many methods of dharma, each of which has been stated by great sages. Each sage, relying on his own knowledge, regards self-restraint as the highest goal.
The elders who are discerning have declared that self-restraint is the highest good. Especially for a brāhmaṇa, self-restraint is the eternal duty.
When a person's speech is controlled, actions succeed as they should. Self-restraint, charity, as well as sacrifices and study of the scriptures, surpass all else.
Self-restraint enhances energy and is the highest purity; a sinless person endowed with energy attains greatness.
We have heard of no duty in all the worlds equal to self-restraint; for self-restraint is indeed the highest, praised among all the virtuous in the world.
O best of men, after death, one who is endowed with self-restraint indeed attains supreme happiness and obtains great dharma.
The self-controlled person sleeps happily, awakens happily, moves happily among people, and his mind becomes tranquil.
A man lacking self-restraint constantly suffers pain and brings about many other misfortunes caused by his own faults.
Among the four āśramas, self-restraint is regarded as the highest vow. I will now describe its characteristics, whose aggregate is self-restraint.
Forbearance, steadfastness, non-injury, equanimity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, control of the senses, skill, gentleness, modesty, and absence of fickleness.
Self-restraint consists of the absence of miserliness, agitation, covetousness, and envy, contentment, pleasant speech, and the collection of these qualities.
O descendant of Kuru, worship of the teacher, compassion for all beings, refraining from slander, respecting public opinion, avoiding falsehood, and abstaining from both praise and blame—these are to be practiced.
A self-restrained person does not engage in desire, anger, greed, arrogance, pride, boasting, delusion, envy, or insult.
A blameless man, who is free from desires, has little desire, and is without envy, is like the ocean—he is never satisfied at any time.
Because of previous associations, the self-controlled person does not engage in thoughts such as 'I am in you, you are in me, this is mine, that is yours, I am also in them.'
Whoever does not depend on either blame or praise, or on any worldly activity, whether of the village or the forest, is liberated.
A person who is friendly, of good conduct, devoted to good companions, and free from various attachments attains great rewards after death.
A person who is well-conducted, virtuous, clear-minded, self-knowing, and wise, upon attaining honor in this world, achieves a good state.
The action here that is auspicious and performed by the virtuous, that indeed is the dharma of a sage endowed with knowledge, and it does not diminish.
One who, having left for the forest, lives there endowed with knowledge and self-control, awaiting the proper time, and thus wanders, becomes fit for attaining Brahman.
He from whom beings have no fear, and who has no fear from beings—such a one, liberated from the body, has no fear from anywhere.
He neither gathers nor accumulates actions; remaining impartial towards all beings, one should act with a disposition of friendliness.
Just as the movement of birds in the sky or of an aquatic animal in water is not seen, so is his—there is no doubt about it.
O king, whoever abandons home and seeks only liberation, for him, radiant worlds and eternal years are established.
Having renounced all actions, austerities performed according to rule, and various kinds of knowledge, having renounced everything, and indeed surely.
One who is not turned back by desires, whose mind is clear, who knows the self and is pure, having attained honor in this world, fully attains heaven.
That ancestral abode, born from the aggregate of Brahman and eternally hidden in the cave, is attained only through self-restraint.
For one who delights in knowledge, for the awakened one who is not opposed to any being, there is no fear of return (to rebirth) here; so how could there be fear in the other world?
There is only one fault in self-control; there is no second. It is that people consider a person endowed with forbearance to be incapable.
But in the case of the very wise, even a fault has a great virtue. Through forbearance, abundant worlds are easily attained by the patient person.
O Bhārata, what use is the forest to the self-controlled, or likewise to the uncontrolled? Wherever the self-controlled dwells, that place is a hermitage.
Vaiśampāyana said.
When King Yudhiṣhira heard these words of Bhīṣma, he felt as if he had been nourished by nectar and was filled with joy.
Again, he questioned Bhishma, the foremost among the upholders of dharma, about austerity; and Bhishma explained everything to him, O best of the Kurus.
