"'Yudhishthira said, "O grandsire, O thou of virtuous soul, what, indeed,
is said to be productive of great merit[458] for a person attentively
engaged in the study of the Vedas and desirous of acquiring virtue? That
which is regarded in this world as productive of high merit is of diverse
kinds as set forth in the scriptures. Tell me, O grandsire, about that
which is regarded as such both here and hereafter. The path of duty is
long and has innumerable branches, O Bharata! Amongst those duties what
are those few that should, according to thee, be preferred to all others
for observance? Tell me, O king, in detail, about that which is so
comprehensive and which is so many-branched."
"'Bhishma said, "I shall speak to thee of that by which thou mayst attain
to high merit. Possessed as thou art of wisdom, thou shalt be gratified
with the knowledge I will impart to thee, like a person gratified with
having quaffed nectar. The rules of duty that have been uttered by the
great Rishis, each relying upon his own wisdom, are many. The highest
among them all is self-restraint. Those amongst the ancients that were
acquainted with truth said that self-restraint leads to the highest
merit. As regards the Brahmana in particular, self-restraint is his
eternal duty. It is from self-restraint that he obtains the due fruition
of his acts. Self-restraint, in his case, surpasses (in merit) charity
and sacrifice and study of the Vedas. Self-restraint enhances (his)
energy. Self-restraint is highly sacred. Through self-restraint a man
becomes cleansed of all his sins and endued with energy, and as a
consequence, attains to the highest blessedness. We have not heard that
there is any other duty in all the worlds that can equal self-restraint.
Self-restraint, according to all virtuous persons, is the highest of
virtues in this world. Through self-restraint, O foremost of men, a
person acquires the highest happiness both here and hereafter. Endued
with self-restraint, one acquires great virtue. The self-restrained man
sleeps in felicity and awakes in felicity, and moves through the world in
felicity. His mind is always cheerful. The man who is without
self-restraint always suffers misery. Such a man brings upon himself many
calamities all born of his own faults. It has been said that in all the
four modes of life self-restraint is the best of vows. I shall now tell
thee those indications whose sum total is called self-restraint.
Forgiveness, patience, abstention from injury, impartiality, truth,
sincerity, conquest of the senses, cleverness, mildness, modesty,
steadiness, liberality, freedom from wrath, contentment, sweetness of
speech, benevolence, freedom from malice,--the union of all these is
self-restraint. It also consists, O son of Kuru, of veneration for the
preceptor and universal compassion. The self-restrained man avoids both
adulation and slander. Depravity, infamy, false speech, lust,
covetousness, pride, arrogance, self-glorification, fear, envy and
disrespect, are all avoided by the self-restrained man. He never incurs
obloquy. He is free from envy. He is never gratified with small
acquisitions (in the form of earthly happiness of any kind.) He is even
like the ocean which can never be filled.[459] The man of self-restraint
is never bound by the attachments that arise from earthly connections
like to those involved in sentiments like these, 'I am thine, Thou art
thine, They are in me, and I am in them.' Such a man, who adopts the
practices of either cities or the woods, and who never indulges in
slander or adulation, attains to emancipation. Practising universal
friendliness, and possessed of virtuous behaviour, of cheerful soul and
endued with knowledge of soul, and liberated from the diverse attachments
of the earth, great is the reward that such a person obtains in the world
to be. Of excellent conduct and observant of duties, of cheerful soul and
possessed of learning and knowledge of self, such a man wins esteem while
here and attains to a high end hereafter. All acts that are regarded as
good on earth, all those acts that are practised by the righteous,
constitute the path of the ascetic possessed of knowledge. A person that
is good never deviates from that path. Retiring from the world and
betaking himself to a life in the woods, that learned person having a
complete control over the senses who treads in that path, in quiet
expectation of his decease, is sure to attain to the state of Brahma. He
who has no fear of any creature and of whom no creature is afraid, has,
after the dissolution of his body, no fear to encounter.[460] He who
exhausts his merits (by actual enjoyment) without seeking to store them
up, who casts an equal eye upon all creatures and practises a course of
universal friendliness, attains to Brahma. As the track of birds along
the sky or of fowl over the surface of water cannot be discerned, even so
the track of such a person (on earth) does not attract notice. For him, O
king, who abandoning home adopts the religion of emancipation, many
bright worlds wait to be enjoyed for eternity. If, abandoning all acts,
abandoning penances in due course, abandoning the diverse branches of
study, in fact, abandoning all things (upon which worldly men set their
hearts), one becomes pure in his desires, liberated from all
restraints,[461] of cheerful soul, conversant with self, and of pure
heart, one then wins esteem in this world and at last attains to heaven.
That eternal region of the Grandsire which springs from Vedic penances,
and which is concealed in a cave, can be won by only self-restraint.[462]
He who takes pleasure in true knowledge, who has become enlightened, and
who never injures any creature, has no fear of coming back to this world,
far less, any fear in respect of the others.[463] There is only one fault
in self-control. No second fault is noticeable in it. A person who has
self-control is regarded by men as weak and imbecile. O thou of great
wisdom, this attribute has only one fault. Its merits are many. By
forgiveness (which is only another form of self-control), the man of
self-control may easily acquire innumerable worlds. What need has a man
of self-control for a forest? Similarly, O Bharata, of what use is the
forest to him that has no self-control? That is a forest where the man of
self-control dwells, and that is even a sacred asylum."'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Hearing these words of Bhishma, Yudhishthira
became highly gratified as if he had quaffed nectar. Again the king asked
that foremost of virtuous men. That perpetuator of Kuru's race
(questioned by his grandson) once more began to discourse cheerfully (on
the topic raised).'"