SECTION XXVIII
"Vaisampayana said, 'After the high-souled Pandavas had all been seated,
Satyavati's son Vyasa said,--O Dhritarashtra of mighty arms, hast thou
been able to achieve penances? Is thy mind, O king, pleased with thy
residence in the woods? Has the grief that was thine, born of the
slaughter of thy sons in battle, disappeared from thy heart? Are all thy
perceptions, O sinless one, now clear? Dost thou practise the ordinances
of forest life after having made thy heart firm? Does my daughter-in-law,
Gandhari, allow herself to be overwhelmed by grief? She is possessed of
great wisdom. Endued with intelligence, that queen understands both
Religion and Wealth. She is well conversant with the truths that relate
to both prosperity and adversity. Does she still grieve? Does Kunti, O
king, who in consequence of her devotion to the service of her seniors,
left her children, attend to thy wants and serve thee with all humility?
Have the high-minded and high-souled king, Yudhishthira, the son of
Dharma and Bhima and Arjuna and the twins been sufficiently comforted?
Dost thou feet delight at seeing them? Has thy mind become freed from
every stain? Has thy disposition, O king, become pure in consequence of
the increase of thy knowledge? This aggregate of three, O king, is the
foremost of all concerns, O Bharata, viz., abstension from injury to any
creature, truth, and freedom from anger. Does thy forest life any longer
prove painful to thee? Art thou able to earn with thy own exertions the
products of the wilderness for thy food? Do fasts give thee any pain now?
Hast thou learnt, O king, how the high-souled Vidura, who was Dharma's
self, left this world? Through the curse of Mandavya, the deity of
Righteousness became born as Vidura. He was possessed of great
intelligence. Endued with high penances, he was high-souled and
high-minded. Even Vrihaspati among the celestials, and Sukra among the
Asuras, was not possessed of such intelligence as that foremost of
persons. The eternal deity of Righteousness was stupefied by the Rishi
Mandavya with an expenditure of his penances earned for a long time with
great care.[45] At the command of the Grandsire, and through my own
energy, Vidura of great intelligence was procreated by me upon a soil
owned by Vichitraviryya. A deity of deities, and eternal, he was, O king,
thy brother. The learned know him to be Dharma in consequence of his
practices of Dharana and Dhyana.[46] He grows with (the growth of) truth,
self-restraint, tranquillity of heart, compassion, and gifts. He is
always engaged in penances, and is eternal. From that deity of
Righteousness, through Yoga-puissance, the Kuru king Yudhishthira also
took his birth. Yudhishthira, therefore, O king, is Dharma of great
wisdom and immeasurable intelligence. Dharma exists both here and
hereafter, and is like fire or wind or water or earth or space. He is, O
king of kings, capable of going everywhere and exists, pervading the
whole universe. He is capable of being beheld by only those that are the
foremost of the deities and those that are cleansed of every sin and
crowned with ascetic success. He that is Dharma is Vidura; and he that is
Vidura is the (eldest) son of Pandu. That son of Pandu. O king, is
capable of being perceived by thee. He stays before thee as thy servitor.
Endued with great Yoga-puissance, thy high-souled brother, that foremost
of intelligent men, seeing the high-souled Yudhishthira, the son of
Kunti, has entered into his person. These also, O chief of Bharata's
race, I shall unite with great benefit. Know, O son, that I am come here
for dispelling thy doubts. Some feat that has never been accomplished
before by any of the great Rishis, some wonderful effect of my
penances,--I shall show thee. What object is that, O king, whose
accomplishment thou desirest from me? Tell me what is that which thou
wishest to see or ask or hear? O sinless one, I shall accomplish it.'
