“Vidura said, ’O sinless one, in nothing else than knowledge and asceticism, in nothing else than restraining the senses, in nothing else than complete abandonment of avarice, do I see thy good.  Fear is dispelled by self-knowledge; by asceticism one winneth what is great and valuable; by waiting upon superiors learning is acquired; and peace is gained by self-restraint.  They that desire salvation without having acquired the merit attainable by gifts, or that which is attainable by practising the ritual of the Vedas, do not sojourn through life, freed from anger and aversion.  The happiness that may be derived from a judicious course of study, from a battle fought virtuously, from ascetic austerities performed rigidly, always increaseth at the end.  They that are no longer in peace with their relatives, obtain no steep even if they have recourse to well-made beds; nor do they, O king, derive any plea. sure from women, or the laudatory hymns of bards and eulogists.  Such persons can never practise virtue.  Happiness can never be theirs, in this world.  Honours can never be theirs, and peace hath no charm for them.  Counsels that are for their benefit please them not.  They never acquire what they have not, nor succeed in retaining what they have, O king, there is no other end for such men save destruction.  As milk is possible in kine, asceticism in Brahmanas, and inconstancy in women, so fear is possible from relatives.  Numerous thin threads of equal length, collected together, are competent to bear, from the strength of numbers, the constant rolling of the shuttle-cock over them.  The case is even so with relatives that are good, O bull of the Bharata race, separated from one another, burning brands produce only smoke; but brought together they blaze forth into a powerful flame.  The case is even so, O Dhritarashtra, with relatives.  They, O Dhritarashtra, who tyrannise over Brahmanas, women, relatives, and kine, soon fall off their stalks, like fruits that are ripe.  And the tree that stands singly, though gigantic and strong and deep-rooted, hath its trunk soon smashed and twisted by a mighty wind.  Those trees, however, that grow in close compact are competent owing to mutual dependence to resist winds more violent still.  Thus he that is single, however, endowed with all the virtues, is regarded by foes as capable of being vanquished like an isolated tree by the wind.  Relatives, again, in consequence of mutual dependence and mutual aid, grow together, like lotus-stalks in a lake.  These must never be slain, viz., Brahmanas, kine, relatives, children, women, those whose food is eaten, and those also that yield by asking for protection.  O king, without wealth no good quality can show itself in a person.  If, however, thou art in health, thou canst achieve thy good, for he is dead who is unhealthy and ill.  O king, anger is a kind of bitter, pungent, acrid, and hot drink, painful in its consequences:  it is a kind of headache not