rahma is their ladle; the heart is
their clarified butter; and high knowledge constitutes their
Pavitra.[241] All kinds of crookedness mean death, and all kinds of
sincerity are called Brahma. This constitutes the subject of knowledge.
The rhapsodies of system-builders cannot affect this.--"'"

SECTION LXXX

"'Yudhishthira said, "The most trifling act, O grandsire, cannot be
accomplished by any man if unaided. What then need be said of the king
(who has to govern a kingdom)? What should be the behaviour and what the
acts of the king's minister? Upon whom should the king repose confidence
and upon whom should he not?"

"'Bhishma said, "Kings, O monarch, have four kinds of friends. They are he
that has the same object, he that is devoted, he that is related by
birth, and he that has been won over (by gifts and kindness). A person of
righteous soul, who would serve one and not both sides, is the fifth in
the enumeration of the king's friends. Such a person adopts that side on
which righteousness is, and accordingly acts righteously. With respect to
such a person, the king should never disclose such purposes of his as
would not enlist his sympathy. Kings desirous of success are obliged to
adopt both kinds of paths, righteous and unrighteous. Of the four kinds
of friends, the second and the third are superior, while the first and
the fourth should ever be regarded with suspicion. In view, however, of
those acts which the king should do in person, he should always regard
with suspicion all the four. The king should never act heedlessly in the
matter of watching his friends. A king that is heedless is always
overpowered by others. A wicked man assumes the garb of honesty, and he
that is honest becomes otherwise. A foe may become a friend and a friend
may become a foe. A man cannot always be of the same mind. Who is there
that would trust him completely? All the chief acts, therefore, of a king
he should accomplish in his own presence. A complete reliance (on his
ministers) is destructive of both morality and profit. A want of trust
again in respect of all is worse than death. Trustfulness is premature
death. One incurs danger by truthfulness. If one trusts another
completely, he is said to live by the sufferance of the trusted person.
For this reason every one should be trusted as also mistrusted. This
eternal rule of policy, O sire, should be kept in view. One should always
mistrust that person who would, upon one's des