Shloka 11
Gaṇānāṃ Vṛttiḥ — On the Sustenance and Cohesion of Assemblies
Gaṇa-nīti
लोभमेको हि वृणुते ततो5मर्षमनन्तरम् | तौ क्षयव्ययसंयुक्तावन्योन्यं च विनाशिनौ
lobham eko hi vṛṇute tato ’marṣam anantaram | tau kṣaya-vyaya-saṁyuktāv anyonyaṁ ca vināśinau ||
Bhishma berkata: “Mula-mula seseorang memilih keserakahan; seketika itu juga timbul amarah dan kedongkolan. Lalu, terikat pada kerugian dan pemborosan, keduanya—keserakahan dan kedongkolan—saling membinasakan, menjerumuskan harta, rakyat, dan martabat diri ke dalam kerusakan besar.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Greed is the first moral failure; it provokes resentment and conflict, and together greed and resentment inevitably lead to mutual destruction and heavy losses—material, social, and personal. The teaching urges restraint and the prevention of the first impulse (lobha) to avoid the chain reaction of harm.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he analyzes how wrongdoing begins: one person’s greed triggers another’s indignation; once both are driven by these passions, their actions spiral into waste and ruin, making each side the cause of the other’s destruction.