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Mahabharata 12.112.83

Mahābhārata 12.112.83

Language
Sanskrit

12.112.83

suduḥkhaṃ puruṣajñānaṃ cittaṃ hyeṣāṃ calācalam |
samartho vāpyaśakto vā śateṣveko'dhigamyate || 83 ||

Thyself suspicious and myself in alarm, our enemies will be on the look-out for opportunities for injuring us. Thy subjects will, as a consequence, become anxious and discontented. Such a state of things has many faults. The wise do not regard that situation happy in which there is honour first and dishonour afterwards. It is difficult to reunite the two that have been separated, as, indeed, it is difficult to separate the two that are united. If persons reunited after separation approach one another again, their behaviour cannot be affectionate. No servant is to be seen who is moved (in what he does) by only the desire of benefiting his master. Service proceeds from the motive of doing good to the master as also one's own self. All acts are undertaken from selfish motives. Unselfish acts or motives are very rare. Those kings whose hearts are restless and unquiet cannot acquire a true knowledge of men. Only one in a hundred can be found who is either able or fearless. The prosperity of men, as also their fall, comes of itself. Prosperity and adversity, and greatness, all proceed from weakness of understanding."

Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

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