ke a child with his toy (of
soft earth). O king, it doth seem to me that God behaveth towards his
creatures like a father or mother unto them. Like a vicious person, He
seemeth to bear himself towards them in anger! Beholding superior and
well-behaved and modest persons persecuted, while the sinful are happy,
I am sorely troubled. Beholding this thy distress and the prosperity of
Suyodhana, I do not speak highly of the Great Ordainer who suffereth
such inequality! O sir, what fruits doth the Great Ordainer reap by
granting prosperity to Dhritarashtra's son who transgresseth the
ordinances, who is crooked and covetous, and who injureth virtue and
religion! If the act done pursueth the doer and none else, then
certainly it is God himself who is stained with the sin of every act. If
however, the sin of an act done doth not attach to the doer, then
(individual) might (and not God) is the true cause of acts, and I grieve
for those that have no might!'"

SECTION XXXI

"Yudhishthira said, 'Thy speech, O Yajnaseni, is delightful, smooth and
full of excellent phrases. We have listened to it (carefully). Thou
speakest, however, the language of atheism. O princess, I never act,
solicitous of the fruits of my actions. I give away, because it is my
duty to give; I sacrifice because it is my duty to sacrifice! O Krishna,
I accomplish to the best of my power whatever a person living in
domesticity should do, regardless of the fact whether those acts have
fruits or not. O thou of fair hips, I act virtuously, not from the
desire of reaping the fruits of virtue, but of not transgressing the
ordinances of the Veda, and beholding also the conduct of the good and
wise! My heart, O Krishna, is naturally attracted towards virtue. The
man who wisheth to reap the fruits of virtue is a trader in virtue. His
nature is mean and he should never be counted amongst the virtuous. Nor
doth he ever obtain the fruits of his virtues! Nor doth he of sinful
heart, who having accomplished a virtuous act doubteth in his mind,
obtain the fruits of his act, in consequence of that scepticism of his!
I speak unto thee, under the authority of the Vedas, which constitute
the highest proof in such matters, that never shouldst thou doubt
virtue! The man that doubteth virtue is destined to take his birth in
the brute species. The man of weak understanding who doubteth religion,
virtue or the words of the Rishis, is precluded from regions of
immortality and bliss,