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Mahabharata 3.297.52

Mahābhārata 3.297.52

Language
Sanskrit

3.297.52

yakṣa uvāca |
dhanyānāmuttamaṃ kiṃ sviddhanānāṃ kiṃ sviduttamam |
lābhānāmuttamaṃ kiṃ svitkiṃ sukhānāṃ tathottamam || 52 ||

And what, of happiness?' Yudhishthira answered,--'Liberality is the highest refuge of virtue: gift, of fame: truth, of heaven: and good behaviour, of happiness.' The Yaksha asked,--'What is the soul of man? Who is that friend bestowed on man by the gods? What is man's chief support? And what also is his chief refuge?' Yudhishthira answered,--'The son is a man's soul: the wife is the friend bestowed on man by the gods; the clouds are his chief support; and gift is his chief refuge.' The Yaksha asked,--'What is the best of all laudable things? What is the most valuable of all his possessions? What is the best of all gains? And what is the best of all kinds of happiness?' Yudhishthira answered,--"The best of all laudable things is skill; the best of all possessions is knowledge: the best of all gains is health: and contentment is the best of all kinds of happiness.' The Yaksha asked,--'What is the highest duty in the world? What is that virtue which always beareth fruit? What is that which if controlled, leadeth not to regret? And who are they with whom an alliance cannot break?' Yudhishthira answered,--'The highest of duties is to refrain from injury: the rites ordained in the Three (Vedas) always bear fruit: the mind, if controlled, leadeth to no regret: and an alliance with the good never breaketh.' The Yaksha asked,--'What is that which, if renounced, maketh one agreeable? What is that which, if renounced, leadeth to no regret?

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

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