Mahabharata: Volume 8 (46 page)

‘Bhishma said, “There are virtuous ones who are constrained by a sense of shame. They are full of truthfulness and uprightness. They are capable of saying what is proper. Such people should be members of the assembly.
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O Kounteya! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! For all tasks, choose as aides those who are extremely wealthy, extremely brave, extremely learned brahmanas, those who are extremely satisfied with you and capable of great enterprise. In every difficulty, you should try for people like these. Those who are born in noble lineages and are honoured will never hide their capabilities. Such a person will never abandon you, whether you are happy or troubled, whether you are afflicted or well, and you must sustain such an individual. Your retinue must consist of those born in noble lineages, born within the kingdom, wise, handsome, extremely learned and those who are bold, but are devoted to you. O son! Those born in inferior lineages, avaricious, violent and shameless will serve you as long as their hands are wet.
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There are those who are loved and share in your prosperity, who are rewarded with superior and inferior objects, those who seek your prosperity and participate in your happiness, those who are learned and whose conduct does not vary, those who are virtuous and follow vows, those who always wish that you are wealthy, are not inferior and speak the truth. Engage them. However, there are ignoble and evil-minded ones who do not know about agreements. Knowing that
they deviate from pledges, you must be careful about them. When there are many to choose from, one should not choose one, ignoring the many. However, if one is superior to the many, the many can be ignored, depending on one’s inclination. These are the signs one sees in the superior person—valour, emphasis on deeds, adherence to agreements, honour shown to capable people, no attempts to rival those who are not rivals, lack of deviation from dharma on account of desire, fear, anger and avarice, lack of arrogance, capability to speak the truth, control over the self and respect for the worthy. Having been examined in every way, such a person should be the adviser in any counsel. He should be born in a noble family, truthful, patient, accomplished, in control over the soul, brave, grateful and upright. O Partha! These are the marks of an excellent person. When these are present, one gets to know such a man. His enemies are disarmed and become his friends. A king who controls his soul, is accomplished in wisdom and desires his own prosperity, should examine the good and bad qualities of his senior ministers and combine men who are wise, born in noble families and born within the country, who are faithful and incapable of being corrupted, and who have been extremely well tested in every possible way. There should be warriors, those who are learned, those whose ancestors have served and others who are not that superior. These men must be adorned with a sense of duty and a desire for prosperity. They must possess morality, natural intelligence, energy, patience, forgiveness, purity, loyalty, firmness and fortitude. After testing their qualities, a king who desires his prosperity must appoint senior advisers who are capable of bearing a heavy load. They must have passed the five tests.
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He must appoint those who are adequate in speech, brave, skilled in raising resources, born in noble lineages, truthful, knowledgeable about the interpretation of signs and free from cruelty. They must know about the requirements of time and place and seek to ensure the tasks of the master. For the sake of prosperity, these are the kinds of ministers the king must always have.

‘“One who is weak in energy and enterprise will never be decisive. He will certainly generate uncertainty in all tasks. A minister who is not learned, even if he is born in a good family and knows about dharma, artha and kama, is not capable of examining a policy. In that way, one who is not born in a good family, even if he is as learned as one desires, is like a blind man without a leader and is confused in all tasks requiring intelligence. Even if a man is intelligent and knows about the means of implementation, if his resolution wavers, he cannot persevere with the task for a long time. A man who is evil in his intelligence and lacks learning may again simply be engaged in carrying out a task, but is incapable of any special kind of reflection. One should never trust a minister who is not devoted. One should never reveal one’s counsel to someone who is not devoted. A fraudulent one will conspire with other ministers and cause hardship to the king, like a fire penetrates a tree through holes created by the battering of the wind. The lord may sometimes be enraged and dislodge someone from his position. He may fling words of anger towards him and later reinstate him. No one except a person who is devoted is capable of tolerating this. Ministers can also be enraged, like lightning mixed with thunder. Wishing for the welfare of the lord, if a person restrains this, considering happiness and unhappiness equally, that is the man who should be sought for the sake of prosperity. If a man is not upright, even if he is devoted, wise and possesses all the superior qualities, he should not learn about the king’s plans. When a person allies with enemies and pays no regard to the many citizens, that kind of well-wisher should not learn about the king’s plans. If a person is not learned, is impure, stubborn and boastful, serves the enemy and is angry and avaricious, that kind of well-wisher should not learn about the king’s plans. If a person is a stranger, even if he is devoted and is as learned as one wants, even if he is honoured and given a share, that person should not learn about the king’s plans. If a person has been accused of even a small crime, even if he is honoured well and is appointed again because of his good qualities, that person should not hear about the king’s plans.

‘“A person who is accomplished in wisdom, intelligent, learned, born within the country, pure and upright in all his deeds, that
person deserves to hear the plans. If a person possesses external and internal knowledge
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and knows his own nature and the souls of others, he is like the king’s well-wisher and deserves to hear the plans. If a person is truthful in speech, possesses good conduct, is grave, modest and mild, if he is a father and a grandfather, he deserves to hear the plans. If a person is content, revered, truthful and liberal, if he hates evildoers, if he is brave and understands what needs to be done at different time, he deserves to hear the plans. If a person is capable of looking at all the people equally and can bring them under subjugation through conciliation, then a king who wields the rod should tell him about his plans. A warrior who is learned in policy, whom the citizens and the residents of the countryside trust because he follows dharma, deserves to hear the plans. Therefore, those who possess all the qualities should be honoured well. There should be at least three ministers who know about nature and who aspire for greatness. They should be employed in detecting one’s natural weaknesses and that of the enemy. When the foundation is the advice of these ministers, the king and the kingdom prosper. The enemy should not be able to detect one’s weaknesses, but one should discern the weaknesses of the enemy. Like a turtle draws in its limbs, one must protect one’s own weaknesses. Learned ministers provide policy for the kingdom. The king implements the policy. Other people are like the limbs of that policy. It is said that the essence and root of a kingdom’s policy is based on spying.

‘“Ministers seek a living on this earth and follow their lord. Having controlled restraints, arrogance, anger, pride and jealousy, the king must always consult ministers who have passed the five kinds of tests. The king must focus his mind and understand the different kinds of advice those three
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have. After the period of consultation is over, he must tell them his own views and the ultimate decision. If there is a serious matter, he must ask a supreme brahmana who knows about the purport of dharma, artha and kama. He must approach
him with devotion and affectionately follow the path indicated by him. Those who know about the process of consultation have always determined and said that this is the process that should be followed in seeking advice. Therfore, counsel should always be implemented in this way and this is capable of ensuring the support of the subjects. There must not be dwarves, hunchbacks, weak people, lame ones, blind people, idiots, women and eunuchs there.
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No one should move there, in front, at the rear, above, below and diagonally.
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One should climb up onto a deserted balcony, where the ground can be clearly seen and there is no grass or reeds nearby. Avoiding all the errors associated with speech and gestures, the consultations must be held with the ministers at the right time.”’

‘Bhishma said, ‘O Yudhishthira! In this connection an ancient history is recounted, about the conversation between Brihaspati and Shakra.

‘“Shakra asked, ‘O brahmana! What single step can a man take well, so that he becomes pre-eminent among all beings and obtains great glory?’

‘“Brihaspati replied, ‘O Shakra! Pleasant speech is the single good step through which a man becomes pre-eminent among all beings and obtains great glory. O Shakra! This is the single step that brings happiness to all beings and by observing this one always becomes the beloved of all beings. If a person never speaks, if he always has a frown on his face and if his speech is not pleasant, he becomes an object of hatred for all beings. A person who glances first, a person who speaks first, a person who smiles before speaking, he is the person whom people favour. Everywhere, even if gifts are given,
but without pleasant speech, that is like food without seasoning and does not please people. O Shakra! Even if a person does not give anything, but speaks to people in sweet words, he is capable of bringing all the people under his subjugation. Therefore, it is the duty of anyone who wields the rod to be pleasant in speech. That generates results and people do not hate him. Pleasant speech that is soft and sweet and is delivered well is like a good deed and there is nothing that equals it.’”

‘Bhishma said, “Having been thus addressed by the priest,
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Shakra acted entirely in this way. O Kounteya! You should also properly follow this.”’

‘Yudhishthira asked, “O Indra among kings! How does a king succeed in ruling over the subjects, with a specific eye towards dharma, so that he obtains eternal fame?”

‘Bhishma replied, “He must be pure in his conduct. He must devote himself to protecting the subjects. He must be cleansed. He will then attain dharma and fame in both the worlds.”
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‘Yudhishthira asked, “What kind of conduct should a king follow and whom should he use? O immensely wise one! I am asking you this and you should tell me. You have earlier spoken about the qualities in a man. But it is my view that all of those cannot be found in a single man.”

‘Bhishma replied, “O immensely wise one! O intelligent one! It is exactly as you have stated. The man who possesses all these different qualities is extremely rare. But in brief, if one makes the effort, it is not difficult to find good conduct. I will now tell you about appropriate advisers and act according to this. There must be
four brahmanas who are learned in the Vedas and are bold, virtuous and pure. There must be three humble shudras who have been pure in their earlier work.
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There must be a fifty-year-old suta
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who is bold and without malice. He will recount the ancient stories and must possess the eight qualities. He must have understanding about the smriti texts and must be humble and impartial. When there is a dispute because of greed for riches, he must be capable of knowing what must be done.
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When decisions have to be taken about a crime, the king must consult in the midst of those eight
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ministers and they must be devoid of the seven extremely terrible vices.
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For the sake of the kingdom, the outcome must be publicized in the kingdom. Through such conduct, one must always look towards the subjects. One must not keep the proceedings a secret, because secrecy runs counter to the task. If the proceeding suffers, that adharma will also afflict you. The kingdom will then be scattered, like birds before a hawk. It will always remain adrift, like a shattered boat on an ocean. When the lord of the earth does not protect his subjects well and uses adharma, fear is generated in his heart and heaven is closed to him. O bull among men! This is also true of a king’s adviser or a king’s son who follows adharma, because a person who has been appointed to a seat of dharma
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is the foundation of dharma. When appointed to tasks, if the followers of the king do not act properly, they themselves head downwards first,
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taking the kings with
them. The king must always be the protector of the men who have no protectors. If distressed ones are forcefully oppressed by the powerful, there will be a lot of resentment. When there is a dispute between two parties, it is best to decide on the basis of the strength of witnesses. There must be special scrutiny for those who have no witnesses and are without protectors. The punishment that descends on the wicked must be proportionate to the crime. There must be monetary fines for the wealthy and death and imprisonment for the poor. The king must use decency and blows to control those who are wicked in conduct. The virtuous must be protected through pleasant words and gifts. If a person desires to kill the king, he must be executed through colourful means.
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This is also recommended for those who make a living out of thievery and those who cause a mingling of the varnas.
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O lord of the earth! When a lord of the earth applies the rod of punishment well, there is no adharma in this. Instead, this represents eternal dharma. However, if a king uses punishment in an inexperienced way and uses it according to his whims, he does not obtain fame in this world. After death, he goes to hell. He should not impose punishment on another, merely on the basis of hearsay from others. Following the injunctions of the sacred texts, a person should be imprisoned or set free. Even if there is an emergency, the king must never slay a messenger. If he kills a messenger, together with his advisers, he goes to hell. A messenger merely states what he has been asked to. If a king who follows the dharma of kshatriyas kills such a person, this is tantamount to his ancestors being tainted with sin of killing a foetus. It is said that a messenger must possess seven qualities—he must be born in a good family, he must be good in his conduct, he must be eloquent, he must be skilled, he must be pleasant in speech, he must say what he has been asked to and he must have a good memory. The person who protects the gate must have similar qualities and the one who protects his head
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must also have such qualities. The adviser who is knowledgeable about
dharma, artha and the sacred texts, who knows about peace and war, who is intelligent, patient, wise and capable of keeping a secret, who is born in a noble family and is truthful and capable—such a person is praised. The commander must also have such qualities. He must know about battle formations, implements of war and warriors and possess valour. He must be capable of tolerating rain, cold, heat and wind and know about the weaknesses of the enemy. He should be able to engineer trust in the enemy, but must never trust anyone. O Indra among kings! It is not recommended that he should even trust his own son. O unblemished one! I have now recounted to you the truth and the purport of the secret texts. I have also told you about the supreme secret—the lords of men should never trust anyone.”’