Shloka 21
प्रसादो निष्फलो यस्य क्रोधश्चापि निरर्थक: । न तं भर्तारमिच्छन्ति षण्ढं पतिमिव स्त्रिय:,जिसकी प्रसन्नताका कोई फल नहीं और क्रोध भी व्यर्थ है, उसको प्रजा स्वामी बनाना नहीं चाहती--जैसे स्त्री नपुंसकको पति नहीं बनाना चाहती
prasādo niṣphalo yasya krodhaścāpi nirarthakaḥ | na taṃ bhartāram icchanti ṣaṇḍhaṃ patim iva striyaḥ ||
Sabi ni Vidura: Ang pinunong ang pabor ay walang naidudulot na pakinabang at ang galit ay walang ibinubungang bunga ay hindi ninanais ng bayan bilang panginoon—gaya ng babae na hindi pumipili ng lalaking walang kakayahan bilang asawa. Ang aral: ang kapangyarihan ay dapat may saysay; ang gantimpala’y mag-udyok sa kabutihan at paglilingkod, at ang parusa’y pumigil sa kasamaan; kung hindi, ang paghahari’y hungkag at kahamak-hamak.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Leadership must have effective incentives and deterrents: a ruler’s favor should produce tangible protection or reward, and his anger (punishment) should meaningfully restrain misconduct. If both are ineffective, subjects lose respect and do not accept him as their protector.
In Udyoga Parva, Vidura delivers counsel on statecraft and dharma in the tense lead-up to war. Here he characterizes a weak, ineffectual lord—whose rewards and punishments do not function—as unfit to be accepted by the people.