DURYODHANA CRITICIZES VIDURA

SRIMAD MAHABHARATA > SABHA PARVA > DYOOTA PARVA > CHAPTER 63 - DURYODHANA CRITICIZES VIDURA

“Duryodhana said, ‘O Kshatta (Vidura), you are always boasting of the fame of our enemies, disapproving the sons of Dhritarashtra. We know, O Vidura, of whom you are really fond. You always disregard us as children. That man stands admitted, who wishes for success to those that are near to him and defeat to those that are not his favourites. His praise and blame are applied accordingly. Your tongue and mind betray your heart. But the hostility you show in speech is greater than what is in your heart. You have been cherished by us like a snake on our lap. Like a cat, you wish evil to him that cherishes you. The wise have said that there is no sin graver than that of injuring one’s master.

“How is it, O Kshatta (Vidura), that you do not fear this sin? Having vanquished our enemies, we have obtained great advantages. Use not harsh words in respect of us. You are always willing to make peace with the enemies. It is for this reason that you hate us always. A man becomes an enemy by speaking words that are unpardonable. Then again in praising the enemy, the secrets of one’s own party should not be disclosed.

“Therefore, O you parasite (Sritaapatrapaa in Sanskrit), why do you obstruct us so? You say whatever you wish. Insult us not. We know your mind. Go and learn sitting at the feet of the old. Keen up the reputation that you have won. Interfere not with the affairs of other men. Do not imagine that you are our chief.

“Tell us not harsh words always, O Vidura. We do not ask you what is for our good. Stop, do not irritate those that have already borne too much at your hands. There is only one Controller, no second. He controls the child that is in the mother’s womb, I am controlled by Him. Like water that always flows in a downward course, I am acting precisely in the way in which He is directing me.

“He that breaks his head against a stone-wall, and he that feeds a snake, are guided in those acts of theirs by their own intellect. (Therefore, in this matter I am guided by my own intelligence). He becomes an enemy who seeks to control others by force. When advice, however, is offered in a friendly spirit, the learned bear with it. Again, he that has set fire to such a highly inflammable object as camphor, does not see its ashes, if he runs immediately to extinguish it. One should not give shelter to another who is the friend of his enemies, or to another who is ever jealous of his protector or to another who is evil-minded. Therefore, O Vidura, go where-so-ever you please. A wife that is unchaste, however well-treated, leaves her husband yet.’

“Vidura addressing Dhritarashtra, said, ‘O monarch, tell us (impartially) like a witness what you think of the conduct of those who abandon their serving-men thus for giving instruction to them. The hearts of kings are, indeed, very volatile. Granting protection at first, they strike with clubs (Musala in Sanskrit) at last.

“O prince (Duryodhana), you regard yourself as mature in intellect, and, O you of bad heart (Mandabuddhi in Sanskrit), you regard me as a child. But consider that he is a child who having first accepted one for a friend, subsequently finds fault with him. An evil-hearted man (Mandabuddhi in Sanskrit) can never be brought to the path of righteousness, like an unchaste wife in the house of a well-born person. Assuredly, instruction is not agreeable to this bull of the Bharata race (Duryodhana) like a husband of sixty years to a woman that is young.

“After this, O king (Dhritarashtra), if you wish to hear words that are agreeable to you, in respect of all acts good or bad, you ask women, idiots, cripples or persons of that description. A sinful man speaking words that are agreeable may be present in this world. But a speaker of words that are disagreeable though sound as government, or a hearer of the same, is very rare.

“He indeed, is a king’s true ally who disregarding what is agreeable or disagreeable to his master conducts himself as per Dharma and utters what may be disagreeable but necessary as government. O Maharaja (Dhritarashtra), you drink that which the honest drink and the dishonest shun – humility, which is like a medicine that is bitter, pungent, burning, unintoxicating, disagreeable, and revolting. Drinking it, O king, you regain your clarity in thought.

“I always wish affluence and fame to the descendants of Vichitraveerya (father of Dhritarashtra and Paandu). Happen what may to you, here I bow to you. Let the Brahmanas wish me well. O son of Kuru, this is the lesson I carefully inculcate, that the wise should never enrage such snakes that have venom in their very glances!’”