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 ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Una, pinipili ng tao ang kasakiman; kaagad pagkatapos nito, sumisibol ang poot at hinanakit (amarṣa). Pagkaraan, ang dalawang ito—kasakiman at hinanakit—na nakatali sa pagkalugi at pag-aaksaya, ay nagiging mapanira sa isa’t isa, nagdadala ng kapahamakan sa magkabilang panig at nagdudulot ng malaking pinsala sa yaman, sa mga tao, at sa sariling dangal.”
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.