Bhishma advised an agitated Yudishtra to do his duty; to exert himself in the right direction. Such efforts are needed on the part of anyone, who seeks to make an impact in any field. But such efforts in the proper direction are even more important in the case of a ruler, because it is the example he sets which will take his people in the right direction, said Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal, in a discourse.
If the king is lazy, or afraid of taking decisions, if the king is indecisive and always lamenting his losses, then his people too will begin to behave and think like him. In Yudishtra’s case, he was now in charge of a country which had suffered not only economic losses, but loss of human life as well. Yudishtra’s kingdom had once been so prosperous that he had been the envy of everyone. And it was his duty to bring his kingdom back to its lost glory. So Bhishma pointed out to him the importance of sustained effort.
There is a story, oft repeated, of a man who dug a well. Not finding water at ten feet, he dug elsewhere on his plot of land, this time up to a depth of six feet. Again he abandoned the effort and began to dig at another place and dug up to four feet. Again he found no water. But another man digging on the same plot of land, did not give up after digging through to ten feet, but kept on and on digging at the same spot, to a depth of 20 feet, and found water. So if the first man had kept up his effort, and continued to dig at the same spot, he would have found water too. So perseverance is important.
