"'Yudhishthira said, "I desire, O bull of Bharata's race, to hear in
detail the source from which sin proceeds and the foundation upon which
it rests."
"'Bhishma said, "Hear, O King, what the foundation is of sin. Covetousness
alone is a great destroyer (of merit and goodness). From covetousness
proceeds sin. It is from this source that sin and irreligiousness flow,
together with great misery. This covetousness is the spring of also all
the cunning and hypocrisy in the world. It is covetousness that makes men
commit sin. From covetousness proceeds wrath, from covetousness flows
lust, and it is from covetousness that loss of judgment, deception,
pride, arrogance, and malice, as also vindictiveness, shamelessness, loss
of prosperity, loss of virtue, anxiety, and infamy spring, miserliness,
cupidity, desire for every kind of improper act, pride of birth, pride of
learning, pride of beauty, pride of wealth, pitilessness for all
creatures, malevolence towards all, mistrust in respect of all,
insincerity towards all, appropriation of other people's wealth,
ravishment of other people's wives, harshness of speech, anxiety,
propensity to speak ill of others, violent craving for the indulgence of
lust, gluttony, liability to premature death, violent propensity towards
malice, irresistible liking for falsehood, unconquerable appetite for
indulging in the passions, insatiable desire for indulging the ear,
evil-speaking, boastfulness, arrogance, non-doing of duties, rashness,
and perpetration of every kind of evil act,--all these proceed from
covetousness. In life, men are unable, whether infants or youth or
adults, to abandon covetousness. Such is the nature of covetousness that
it never decays even with the decay of life. Like the ocean that can
never be filled by the constant discharge of even innumerable rivers of
immeasurable depths, covetousness is incapable of being gratified by
acquisitions to any extent. The covetousness, however, which is never
gratified by acquisitions and satiated by the accomplishment of desires,
that which is not known in its real nature by the gods, the Gandharvas,
the Asuras, the great snakes, and, in fact, by all classes of beings,
that irresistible passion, along with that folly which invites the heart
to the unrealities of the world, should ever be conquered by a person of
cleansed soul. Pride, malice, slander, crookedness, and incapacity to
hear other people's good, are vices, O descendant of Kuru, that are to be
seen in persons of uncleansed soul under the domination of covetousness.
Even persons of great learning who bear in their minds all the voluminous
scriptures, and who are competent to dispel the doubts of others, show
themselves in this respect to be of weak understanding and feel great
misery in consequence of this passion. Covetous men are wedded to envy
and anger. They are outside the pale of good behaviour. Of crooked
hearts, the speeches they utter are sweet. They resemble, therefore, dark
pits whose mouths are covered with grass. They attire themselves in the
hypocritical cloak of religion. Of low minds, they rob the world, setting
up (if need be) the standard of religion and virtue. Relying upon the
strength of apparent reasons, they create diverse kinds of schisms in
religion. Intent upon accomplishing the purposes of cupidity, they
destroy the ways of righteousness. When wicked-souled persons under the
domination of covetousness apparently practise the duties of
righteousness, the consequence that results is that the desecrations
committed by them soon become current among men. Pride, anger, arrogance,
insensibility, paroxysms of joy and sorrow, and self-importance, all
these, O descendant of Kuru, are to be seen in persons swayed by
covetousness. Know that they who are always under the influence of
covetousness are wicked. I shall now tell thee of those about whom thou
askest, viz., those who are called good and whose practices are pure.
They who have no fear of an obligation to return to this world (after
death), they who have no fear of the next world, they who are not
addicted to animal food and who have no liking for what is agreeable and
no dislike for what is otherwise, they to whom good behaviour is ever
dear, they in whom there is self-restraint, they to whom pleasure and
pain are equal, they who have truth for their high refuge, they who give
but not take, they who have compassion, they who worship Pitris, gods and
guests, they who are always ready to exert themselves (for the good of
others), they who are universal benefactors, they who are possessed of
great courage (of mind), they who observe all the duties laid down in the
scriptures, they who are devoted to the good of all, they who can give
their all and lay down their very lives for others, are regarded as good
and virtuous, O Bharata! Those promoters of righteousness are incapable
of being forced away from the path of virtue. Their conduct, conformable
to the model set by the righteous men of old, can never be otherwise.
They are perfectly fearless, they are tranquil, they are mild, and they
always adhere to the right path. Full of compassion, they are always
worshipped by the good. They are free from lust and anger. They are not
attached to any worldly object. They have no pride. They are observant of
excellent vows. They are always objects of regard. Do thou, therefore,
always wait upon them and seek instruction from them. They never acquire
virtue, O Yudhishthira, for the sake of wealth or of fame. They acquire
it on the other hand, because it is a duty like that of cherishing the
body. Fear, wrath, restlessness, and sorrow do not dwell in them. There
is not the outward garb of religion for misleading their fellow men. There
is no mystery with them. They are perfectly contented. There is no error
of judgment arising from covetousness. They are always devoted to truth
and sincerity. Their hearts never fall from righteousness. Thou shouldst
show thy regard for them always, O son of Kunti! They are never delighted
at any acquisition or pained at any loss. Without attachment to anything,
and freed from pride, they are wedded to the quality of goodness, and
they cast an equal eye on all. Gain and loss, weal and woe, the agreeable
and the disagreeable, life and death, are equal in the eyes of those men
of firm tread, engaged in the pursuit of (divine) knowledge, and devoted
to the path of tranquillity and righteousness. Keeping thy senses under
restraint and without yielding to heedlessness, thou shouldst always
worship those high-souled persons who bear such love for virtue. O
blessed one, one's words become productive of good only through the
favour of the gods. Under other circumstances, words produce evil
consequence."'"[455]