[45] If thou canst not win that battle, what wilt be
thy condition? On the other hand, by winning it, O monarch, thou shalt
have attained the great end of life. Applying thy intellect to this, and
ascertaining the right and the wrong paths of creatures, follow thou the
course adopted by thy sire before thee and govern properly thy kingdom.
By good luck, O king, the sinful Duryodhana hath been stain with all his
followers. By good luck, thou too hast attained to the condition of
Draupadi's locks.[46] Perform with due rites and profuse presents the
horse-sacrifice. We, are thy servants, O son of Pritha, as also Vasudeva
of great energy!'"
SECTION XVII
"Yudhishthira said, 'Discontent, heedless attachment to earthly goods,
the absence of tranquillity, might, folly, vanity, and anxiety,--affected
by these sins, O Bhima, thou covetest sovereignty. Freed from desire,
prevailing over joy and grief and attaining to tranquillity, strive thou
to be happy. That peerless monarch who will govern this unbounded earth,
will have but one stomach. Why dost thou then applaud this course of
life? One's desires, O bull of Bharata's race, are incapable of being
filled in a day, or in many months. Desire, which is incapable of
gratification, cannot, indeed, be fitted in course of one's whole life.
Fire, when fed with fuel, blazeth forth; when not so fed, it is
extinguished. Do thou, therefore, extinguish with little food the fire in
thy stomach when it appears.
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