Vaishampayana said: -
1. Having heard these words of his father, the extremely passionate son of Dhritarashtra became highly enraged and again said this:
2. You think that the sons of Pritha having the gods for their assistants are incapable of being withstood; let this fear of yours be dispelled, O you best among kings.
3. From an absence of desire, and of hatred, and of avarice and of anxiety and for their indifference to worldly property, did the gods obtain their godships.
4. Such was the tale told to us in days of yore by the great devotees Dwaipayana, Vyasa, Narayana, and Rama the son of Jamadagna.
5. Never like men do the gods engage themselves in the work out of desire, wrath, avarice, hatred, O bull among the race of Bharata.
6. If Agni (god of fire), or Vayu (god of wind), or Dharma (god of Virtue), or Indra, or Aswina had ever engaged in work out of desire, then the sons of Partha could not have met with unhappiness.
7. Therefore, should anxiety never be indulged in by you, for the gods incline towards objects worthy of them, O Bharata.
8. If however out of contact with desire, envy or avarice is observed in the action of gods; then owing to their own ruling it cannot prevail.
9. Incantations being repeated by me, fire will that moment be extinguished, even if, desirous of burning up all the worlds, it blazes occupying all directions.
10. The divine energy with which the denizens of heaven are endued is great; but mine, too, is without parallel and so greater than that of the gods; know this, O Bharata.
11. In the very sight of the world can I reunite, O king, by my incantations, the Earth divided into two or the peaks of heavens (divided into two).
12-13. I can at any time before the sight of the entire world put down a roaring downfall of stones or a strong gale produced from the destruction of animate and inanimate things, and mobile and immobile beings out of compassion for them.
14. Cars and infantry can go over waters solidified by me. I am the only director of the affairs of the gods and Asuras.
15. To whatever country I go with my Akshauhinis on any purpose, there my horses move in whatever directions I desire.
16. In my territories there are no terrible snakes, and frightful beasts do not injure men who are protected by my incantations.
17. To the residents in my territories the clouds shower rains at their (the residents’) will (i.e. showers rain in quantities and at times desired by them). My subjects are attached to virtue; and in my territories the calamities of cultivation do not exist.
18. The Asuras, the wind, the fire, the slayer of Vritra with the Marutas and Virtue himself would not dare protect them whom I hate.
19. If these had been capable of rescuing my enemies by their might; then the sons of Pritha would not have met with trouble for thirteen years.
20. Neither the gods and Gandharvas, nor the Asuras and the Rakshasas are capable of rescuing my enemies -I am telling the truth.
21. Whatever happiness or misery I chose to assign to my friends or foes, I have never before been disappointed in.
22. It will be as I say, O you subduer of enemies, never before have my words been false; and I have been known as the one of truthful speech.
23. The world is a witness to this greatness of mine, the fame of which has been heard by them. All this has been spoken for consoling you and not by way of self-praise, O king.
24. I have never, O king, praised myself before; for he who praises himself acts meanly.
25. You will be the hearer of the defeat by me of the Pandavas and the Matsyas, and the Panchalas with the Kekayas, and Satyaki and the son of Vasudeva.
26. I am of superior intelligence, of superior might, and of superior prowess. My knowledge is superior, and so my application and concentration are superior to theirs.
27. Asuras on falling into the sea are annihilated in every way; so will the Pandavas with others be annihilated on meeting
28. What is known as to the use of weapons to our grandfather, Drona, Kripa, Shalya and Shala, is all present in me.
29. Saying this that subduer of enemies desirous of war knowing that the proper time had come again asked Sanjaya about their doings.
Thus ends the sixty-first chapter, the speech of Duryodhana in the Yanasandhi of the Udyoga Parva.
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