Mahābhārata

M. N. Dutt: Vaishampayana said After Krishna, the son of Devaki, had said these words, Yudhishthira once more asked Bhishma the son of Shantanu, saying, O you of great intelligence, O foremost of all persons, knowing duties, which, indeed of the two, direct perception and the scriptures, is to be considered as authority for coming to a conclusion?

M. N. Dutt: Bhishma said I think there is no doubt in this. Listen to me, O you of great wisdom. I shall answer you. The question you have asked is indeed proper. It is easy to entertain doubt. But the solution of that doubt is difficult.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: Numberless are the instances, about both direct perception and Shrutis in which doubts may originate. Certain persons, who take pleasure in the name of logicians, imagining themselves to be gifted with superior wisdom, affirm that direct perception is the only authority.

M. N. Dutt: They assert that nothing, however true, exists which is not directly perceivable; or, at least, they doubt the existence of those objects. Such assertions however are absurd and they who make them are fools, whatever their pride of learning.

M. N. Dutt: If, on the other hand, you entertain any doubt how the one indivisible Brahman could be the cause, I answer that one would understand it only after many years and with the help of Yoga practised assiduously.

M. N. Dutt: Indeed, O Bharata, one who lives according to such means as present themselves, and one who is devoted, would be capable of understanding it. None else, truly, is competent for comprehending it.

M. N. Dutt: When one gets to the very end of reasons, he attains to that excellent and all comprehending knowledge—that vast mass of effulgence, which illumines all the universe (called Brahma).

M. N. Dutt: That knowledge, O king, which is derived from can hardly be said to be knowledge. Such knowledge should rejected. It should be understood, that it is not defined or comprehended by the word. It should, therefore, be rejected.

M. N. Dutt: Yudhishthira said Tell me, O grandfather, which among these (four) is most authoritative, viz., direct reason be perception, Inference from observation, the science of scriptures, and various kinds of practices which distinguish the good.

M. N. Dutt: Bhishma said While virtue is sought to be destroyed by wicked persons possessed of great power, it is capable of being protected for the time being by those who are good if they work with care and earnestness. Such protection, however, is of no use in the long run, for destruction does overtake virtue at the end.

M. N. Dutt: Then, again, virtue often proves a mark for covering sin, like grass and straw covering the mouth of a deep pit and concealing it from the view. Hear, again, O Yudhishthira. On account of this, the practices of the good are interfered with and destroyed by the wicked.

M. N. Dutt: Those persons who are evildoers, who discard the Shrutis, indeed, those wicked persons who are haters of virtue destroy that good conduct, hence, doubts attach to direct perception, Inference, and good conduct.

M. N. Dutt: Those, therefore, among the good who are possessed of understanding purified by the scriptures and who are ever contented, are to be considered as the foremost. Let those who are anxious and deprived of tranquility of soul, approach these. Indeed, O Yudhishthira, do you seek them and ask them for the solutions of your doubts.

M. N. Dutt: Disregarding both Pleasure and Profit which always follow cupidity and cherishing the condition that only virtues should be sought, do you, O Yudhishthira, wait upon and ask those persons.

M. N. Dutt: The conduct of those persons never goes wrong or meets with destruction, as also their sacrifices and Vedic study and rites. Indeed, these three, viz., good conduct, mental purity, and the Vedas together form virtue.

M. N. Dutt: Yudhishthira said O grandfather, my understanding is once more stupefied by doubt. I am on this side of the ocean, engaged in searching after the ineans of crossing it. I do not, however, see the other shore of the ocean.

M. N. Dutt: If these three, viz., the Vedas, direct perception and behaviour (or mental purity) together form what is to be considered as authority, it can be alleged that there is difference between each. Virtue then becomes really of three kinds although it is one and indivisible.

M. N. Dutt: Bhishma said Virtue is sometimes seen to be destroyed by a wicked man of great power. If you think, O king, that virtue should really be of three sorts. I answer that your conclusion is supported by reason.

M. N. Dutt: The truth is that virtue is one and indivisible, although it is capable of being scen from three different points.

M. N. Dutt: The paths, of those three, which form the foundation of virtue have each been laid down. Do you act according to the instructions laid down. You should never wrangle about virtue and then seek to have those doubts of yours removed.

M. N. Dutt: O chief of the Bharatas, let no doubts like these ever take possession of your mind. Do you obey unhesitatingly what I say. Follow me like a blind man or like one who, having no sense himself, has to depend upon that of another.

M. N. Dutt: Abstention from injury, truth, absence of anger (or forgiveness), and liberality or gifts, these four, O king do you practise, for these four form eternal virtue.

M. N. Dutt: Do you also, O mightyarmed prince, follow that conduct towards the Brahmanas which is consistent with what has been observed towards them by your father and grandfather. These are the principal marks of virtue.

M. N. Dutt: That foolish wight, who would destroy the weight of authority by denying that to be a standard which has always been accepted as such, would himself fail to become an authority among men. Such a man becomes the cause of much sorrow in the world.

M. N. Dutt: Do you respect the Brahmanas and treat them with hospitality. Do you always serve them in this way. The universe rests on them. Do you understand them to be such.