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 ||
ビーシュマは言った。「人はまず貪欲を選ぶ。すると直ちに、憤りと怨み（アマルシャ）が生じる。やがてこの二つ—貪欲と怨み—は損失と浪費に結びつき、互いを滅ぼし合うものとなって、双方を破滅へ導き、財、民、そして自らの名誉に大きな害をもたらす。」
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.