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19.JARASANDHA
Enthusiasm is the
mother of success. We can seize fortune if
we do our duties energetically. Even a
powerful man may fail if, through
lassitude, he does not employ the means
he has. Failure is due, in the vast majority
of cases, to ignorance of one's own
strength. We know we are strong, and we
are not afraid of using our strength to the
utmost. Why should Yudhishthira suppose
that we are incapable of this? When we
have become old, it will be time to assume
the ochre robe, resort to the forest and
pass the rest of our days in penance and
austerities. Now, we should lead strenuous
lives and do heroic deeds worthy of the
traditions of our race."
Krishna was delighted to hear these words
and said: "What else can Arjuna, born of
Kunti in the Bharata race, advise? Death
comes to all, the hero as well as the
sluggard. But the noblest duty of a
kshatriya is to be true to his race and faith,
and overcoming his foes in righteous
battle, to win glory."
Finally Yudhishthira assented to the
unanimous opinion that their duty lay in
slaying Jarasandha.
This conversation has a curiously modern
ring about it and shows that powerful men
in ancient days used very much the same
specious reasoning as now.
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