Vaisampayana said, “And saying this, the citizens went after the Pandavas, and having met them, they all, with joined hands, thus addressed the sons of Kunti and Madri.

“’Blest be ye!  Where will ye go, leaving us in grief?  We will follow you whithersoever ye will go!  Surely have we been distressed upon learning that ye have been deceitfully vanquished by relentless enemies!  It behoveth you not to forsake us that are your loving subjects and devoted friends always seeking your welfare and employed in doing what is agreeable to you!  We desire not to be overwhelmed in certain destruction living in the dominions of the Kuru king.  Ye bulls among men, listen as we indicate the merits and demerits springing respectively from association with what is good and bad!  As cloth, water, the ground, and sesame seeds are perfumed by association with flowers, even so are qualities ever the product of association.  Verily association with fools produceth an illusion that entangleth the mind, as daily communion with the good and the wise leadeth to the practice of virtue.  Therefore, they that desire emancipation should associate with those that are wise and old and honest and pure in conduct and possessed of ascetic merit.  They should be waited upon whose triple possessions, viz., knowledge (of the Vedas), origin and acts, are all pure, and association with them is even superior to (the study of the) scriptures.  Devoid of the religious acts as we are, we shall yet reap religious merit by association with the righteous, as we should come by sin by waiting upon the sinful.  The very sight and touch of the dishonest, and converse and association with them, cause diminution of virtue, and men (that are doomed to these), never attain purity of mind.  Association with the base impaireth the understanding, as, indeed, with the indifferent maketh it indifferent, while communion with the good ever exalteth it.  All those attributes which are spoken of in the world as the sources of religious merit, of worldly prosperity and sensual pleasures, which are regarded by the people, extolled in the Vedas, and approved by the well-behaved, exist in you, separately and jointly!  Therefore, desirous of our own welfare, we wish to live amongst you who possess those attributes!’

“Yudhishthira said, ’Blessed are we since the people with the Brahmanas at their head, moved by affection and compassion credit us with merits we have not.  I, however, with my brothers, would ask all of you to do one thing.  Ye should not, through affection and pity for us, act otherwise!  Our grandfather Bhishma, the king (Dhritarashtra), Vidura, my mother and most of my well-wishers, are all in the city of Hastinapura.  Therefore, if ye are minded to seek our welfare, cherish ye them with care, uniting together as they are overwhelmed with sorrow and afflictions.  Grieved at our departure, ye have come far!  Go ye back, and let your hearts be directed with tenderness towards the relatives I entrust to you as pledges!  This, of all others, is the one act upon which my heart is set, and by doing this ye would give me great satisfaction and pay me your best regards!’”