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Yudhiṣṭhira said.
How does a person become wicked-souled? How does one perform dharma? By what does one attain dispassion, and by what does one reach liberation?
Bhīṣma said.
All dharmas are known to you; you ask for the sake of their maintenance. Now hear about liberation with dispassion, sin, and dharma from the root.
Desire for the five senses first arises for the sake of knowledge. Upon obtaining them, either desire or aversion is born, O best of the Bharatas.
Then, for that purpose, he strives and again undertakes actions, wishing to practice the enjoyment of desired forms and scents.
From that, attachment arises, then aversion follows. From that, greed arises, then delusion follows.
For one who is overpowered by greed and delusion, and is possessed by attachment and aversion, understanding of dharma does not arise; by deceit, he even performs dharma.
O Kurunandana, for one who acts righteously by pretext, even the pretext of wealth becomes agreeable; by pretext, when wealth is being acquired.
There, having resolved, he then seeks to commit evil, O Bhārata, even when restrained by friends and wise men.
He gives an answer connected with logic and joined with rule. For him, unrighteousness, which is threefold and born of passion and delusion, increases.
He who thinks, speaks, and does evil—his faults are seen by the virtuous, for he is engaged in unrighteousness.
Those of one nature form friendships with evil-doers; such a person does not attain happiness here, so how indeed in the next world?
Thus is the case with the wicked-souled; but listen to me about the righteous-souled. Just as one whose nature is virtuous attains virtue.
He who, by wisdom, foresees these faults in advance, the wise one associates with the virtuous, whether in happiness or in sorrow.
His wisdom increases through good conduct and practice; he delights in dharma and lives by dharma.
Then, when wealth is obtained through righteousness, he directs his mind to it; he nourishes only its root and perceives the qualities where they truly are.
A person of righteous soul thus becomes and gains a good friend; from the gain of friends and wealth, he rejoices both here and after death.
O Bhārata, it is known that the fruit of dharma is that a creature attains mastery over sound, touch, form, taste, and smell.
O Yudhiṣṭhira, even after attaining the fruit of dharma, one is not satisfied. Not being satisfied, one develops dispassion through the eye of knowledge.
When a person, with the eye of wisdom, sees only fault in desires, then he withdraws from desires but does not abandon righteousness.
When one, having renounced everything, sees the world as perishable, he then strives for liberation, not by improper means, but by proper means.
Gradually, one attains dispassion, abandons sinful actions, becomes righteous, and attains the highest liberation.
O Bhārata, I have explained to you, dear one, what you asked me about: evil, righteousness, liberation, and also dispassion.
Therefore, Yudhiṣṭhira, you should always act according to dharma in every situation. O son of Kunti, for those who are established in dharma, eternal success is attained.
