भीष्म उवाच कार्यते यच्च क्रियते सच्चासच्च कृताकृतम्। तत्राश्वसीत सत्कृत्वा असत्कृत्वा न विश्वसेत्॥
Bhishma said If one does good deeds or causes others to do them, he should then expect to attain to the merits of virtue; likewise if one does evil deeds and causes others to do them, he should never expect to attain to the merits of virtue.
काल एव सर्वकाले निग्रहानुग्रहौ ददत्। बुद्धिमाविश्य भूतानां धर्माधर्मो प्रवर्तते॥
At all times, it is Time, which entering the understanding of all creatures, sets them to deeds of virtue or sin and then confers happiness or misery upon them.
यदा त्वस्य भवेद् बुद्धिर्धर्मार्थस्य प्रदर्शनात्। तदाश्वसीत धर्मात्मा दृढबुद्धिर्न विश्वसेत्॥
When a person, seeing the fruits of virtue understands virtue to be superior, it is then that he inclines towards virtue and puts faith in il. One, however, whose understanding is not firm, cannot place faith in it.
एतावन्मात्रमेतद्धि भूतानां प्राज्ञलक्षणम्। कालयुक्तोऽप्युभयविच्छेषं युक्तं समाचरेत्॥
As regards faith in virtue, it is this. To place faith in virtue is the mark of the wisdom of all persons. One, who is acquainted with what should be done and what should not be done, with a view to opportuneness, should, with care and devotion, do what is right.
यथा झुपस्थितैश्वर्याः प्रजायन्ते न राजसाः। एवमेवात्मनाऽऽत्मानं पूजयन्तीह धार्मिकाः॥
Those virtuous men, who have in this life been blessed with riches acting of their own accord, take particular care of their souls so that they may not, in their next lives, have to take birth as persons with the quality of darkness predominating in them.
न ह्यधर्मतयाधर्मे दद्यात् काल: कथंचन। तस्माद् विशुद्धमात्मानं जानीयाद् धर्मचारिणम्॥
Time can never make the cause of misery. One should, therefore, know that the soul which is virtuous is certainly pure.
स्प्रष्टुमप्यसमर्थो हि ज्वलन्तमिव पावकम्। अधर्म: संततो धर्मे कालेन परिरक्षितम्॥
As regards sin, it may be said that, even when it is very great it is incapable of even touching virtue which is always protected by time and which shines like a burning fire.
कार्यावेतौ हि धर्मेण धर्मो हि विजयावहः। त्रयाणामपि लोकानामालोकः कारणं भवेत्॥
These are the two results achieved by virtue, viz., the purity of the soul and unsusceptibility of being touched by iniquity Indeed virtue is fraught with victory. Its effulgence is so great that it lights up the three worlds.
न तु कश्चिन्नयेत् प्राज्ञो गृहीत्वैव करे नरम्। उच्यमानस्तु धर्मेण धर्मलोकभयच्छले॥
A wise man cannot catch holds of a sinful person and forcibly make him pious. When seriously urged to act piously the sinful only act with hypocrisy, moved by fear.
शूद्रोऽहं नाधिकारो मे चातुराश्रम्यसेवने। इति विज्ञानमपरे नात्मन्युपदधत्युत॥
Even the righteous among the Shudras never betake themselves to such hypocrisy under the pretext that persons of the Shudra order are not permitted to live according to any of the four prescribed modes.
विशेषेण च वक्ष्यामि चातुर्वर्ण्यस्य लिङ्गत्तः। पञ्चभूतशरीराणां सर्वेषां सदृशात्मनाम्॥
I shall tell you particularly what the duties truly are of the four castes. So far as their bodies concerned, the individuals, belonging to all the four casts, have five primal elements for heir constituent ingredients; they are all the same substance in this matter. are
लोकधर्मे च धर्मे च विशेषकरणं कृतम्। यथैकत्वं पुनर्यान्ति प्राणिनस्तत्र विस्तरः॥
For all that, their practices relating to life or the world and the duties of virtue, vary despite these distinctions, and sufficient liberty of action is left to them by which all individuals may attain to an equality of condition.
अध्रुवो हि कथं लोकः स्मृतो धर्मः कथं ध्रुवः। यत्र कालो ध्रुवस्तात तत्र धर्मः सनातनः॥
The regions of happiness which represent the results or rewards of virtue are not eternal, for they are destined to come to an end. Virtue, however, is eternal When the cause is eternal, why is the effect not so? The answer to this is as follows. Only that virtue is eternal which is not prompted by the desire of fruit or reward.
सर्वेषां तुल्यदेहानां सर्वेषां सदृशात्मनाम्। कालो धर्मेण संयुक्तः शेष एव स्वयं गुरुः॥
All men are equal as regards their physical organism. All of them, again, have souls which are equal in nature. When dissolution comes, all else dissolves away. What remains is the desire for acquiring virtue. That, indeed, reappears (in next life) of itself.
एवं सति न दोघोऽस्ति भूतानां धर्मसेवने। तिर्यग्योनावपि सतां लोक एव मतो गुरुः॥
When such is the result, the inequality of condition, seen among human beings, cannot be considered in any way anomalous. So also, it is seen that those crcatures that belong to the intermediate orders of existence are equally subject, about their acis, to the influence of example.