Intelligence is
the most precious possession that a person call have. Similarly, O king,
a man can have nothing here more valuable than might. One should,
therefore, overlook the wrongs inflicted by a person possessed of
superior strength, even as one should overlook (from compassion) the acts
of a child, and idiot, or one that is blind or deaf. The wisdom of this
saying is witnessed in thy case, O slayer of foes. The eleven Akshauhinis
(of Duryodhana), O thou of great splendour, and the seven (collected by
thyself), were not, in might equal to the single-handed Arjuna of high
soul. All the troops (of Duryodhana), therefore, were routed and slain by
that illustrious Pandava, that son of Paka's chastiser, as he coursed on
the field of battle, relying on his own strength. I have. O Bharata,
discoursed to thee of the duties of kings and the morality of duties in
detail. What else. O king, dost thou wish to hear!'"
SECTION CLVIII
"Yudhishthira said, 'I desire, O bull of Bharata's race, to hear in
detail the source from which sin proceeds and the foundation upon which
it rests.'
"Bhishma said, 'Hear, O King, what the foundation is of sin. Covetousness
alone is a great destroyer (of merit and goodness). From covetousness
proceeds sin. It is from this source that sin and irreligiousness flow,
together with great misery. This covetousness is the spring of also all
the cunning and hypocrisy in the world. It is covetousness that makes men
commit sin.
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