teachings hath been thrown away by thee. O infamous one of the Kuru race,
desiring to praise Kesava, thou describest him before me as great and
superior in knowledge and in age, as if I knew nothing. If at thy word, O
Bhishma, one that hath slain women (meaning Putana) and kine be
worshipped, then what is to become of this great lesson? How can one who
is such, deserve praise, O Bhishma? 'This one is the foremost of all wise
men,--'This one is the lord of the universe'--hearing these words of
thine, Janarddana believeth that these are all true. But surely, they are
all false. The verses that a chanter sings, even if he sings them often,
produce no impression on him. And every creature acts according to his
disposition, even like the bird Bhulinga (that picks the particles of
flesh from between the lion's teeth, though preaching against rashness).
Assuredly thy disposition is very mean. There is not the least doubt
about it. And so also, it seemeth, that the sons of Pandu who regard
Krishna as deserving of worship and who have thee for their guide, are
possessed of a sinful disposition. Possessing a knowledge of virtue, thou
hast fallen off from the path of the wise. Therefore thou art sinful.
Who, O Bhishma, knowing himself to be virtuous and superior in knowledge,
will so act as thou hast done from motives of virtue? If thou knowest the
ways of the morality, if thy mind is guided by wisdom, blessed be thou.
Why then, O Bhishma, was that virtuous girl Amva, who had set her heart
upon another, carried off by thee, so proud of wisdom and virtue? Thy
brother Vichitravirya conformably to the ways of the honest and the
virtuous, knowing that girl's condition, did not marry her though brought
by thee. Boasting as thou dost of virtue, in thy very sight, upon the
widow of thy brother were sons begotten by another according to the ways
of the honest. Where is thy virtue, O Bhishma? This thy celebacy, which
thou leadest either from ignorance or from impotence, is fruitless. O
thou who art conversant with virtue, I do not behold thy well-being. Thou
who expoundest morality in this way dost not seem to have ever waited
upon the old. Worship, gift, study,--sacrifices distinguished by large
gifts to the Brahmanas,--these all equal not in merit even one-sixteenth
part of that which is obtainable by the possession of a son. The merit, O
Bhishma, that is acquired by numberless vows and fasts assuredly becomes
fruitless in the case of one