Shloka 70
Adhyaya 3 — The Dharmapakshis’ Past-Life Curse and Indra’s Test of Truthfulness
रिपुभिर्लब्धविवरः स नृपो नाशमृच्छति ।
एवं रागस्तथा मोहः लोभः क्रोधस्तथैव च ॥
ripubhir labdha-vivaraḥ sa nṛpo nāśam ṛcchati |
evaṃ rāgas tathā moho lobhaḥ krodhas tathaiva ca ||
A king in whom enemies have found an opening comes to ruin. In the same way, passion (attachment), delusion, greed, and anger also bring ruin when they gain an opening in the mind.
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FAQs
The verse teaches that downfall begins with a ‘breach’: external foes succeed when they detect a vulnerability, and the same logic applies inwardly—when rāga (attachment), moha (delusion), lobha (greed), and krodha (anger) find entry, they destabilize judgment and lead to self-destruction. It is a warning to guard the mind as carefully as a kingdom’s fortifications.
This is primarily Dharmānucarita/Nīti instruction rather than the Purāṇic cosmological pillars. It does not directly present sarga (creation), pratisarga (re-creation), vaṃśa (genealogies), manvantara, or vaṃśānucarita (dynastic histories), though it supports the Purāṇic aim of teaching dharma through ethical counsel.
‘Vivara’ (the opening) can be read as a lapse in vigilance (apramāda). The “enemies” are both outer and inner: once attention loosens, the kleśa-like forces—attachment, delusion, greed, anger—invade and overthrow inner sovereignty. The king symbolizes the governing intellect; preserving rule means sealing the subtle breaches where impulses enter and commandeer decision-making.