In kinsmen, therefore both merit
and demerit may be marked. One should, for this reason, always honour and
worship his kinsmen in words and acts, and do them agreeable offices
without injuring them at any time. Mistrusting them at heart, one should
behave towards them as if he trusted them completely. Reflecting upon
their nature, it seems that they have neither faults nor merits. A person
who heedfully conducts himself in this way finds his very foes disarmed
of hostility and converted into friends. One who always conducts himself
in this way amid kinsmen and relatives and bears himself thus towards
friends and foes, succeeds in winning everlasting fame.'"
SECTION LXXXI
"Yudhishthira said, 'If one does not succeed in winning over one's
kinsmen and relatives (by this course), they that are intended for
becoming friends become foes. How should one, then, conduct one's self so
that the hearts of both friends and foes may be won?'
"Bhishma said, 'In this connection is cited the old history of a
discourse between Vasudeva and the celestial sage Narada. On a certain
occasion Vasudeva said, 'Neither an illiterate and foolish friend, nor a
learned friend of fickle soul, deserves, O Narada, to know one's secret
counsels. Relying on thy friendship for me, I shall say something to
thee, O sage! O thou that canst go to heaven at thy pleasure, one should
speak to another if one be convinced of the intelligence of that other. I
never behave with slavish obsequiousness towards my kinsmen by flattering
speeches about their prosperity.
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