never manage to achieve favourable results by telling lies or partial lies

न सत्यव्रतभङ्गेन कार्यं धीमान् प्रसाधयेत्।

ददर्श नरकक्लेशं सत्यनाशाद् युधिष्ठिरः॥ १४

क्मेेषन्द्रकविप्रणीते चारुचर्यायाम्॥

na satyavratabhaṅgena kāryaṁ dhīmān prasādhayet|

dadarśa narakakleśaṁ satyanāśād yudhiṣṭhiraḥ|| 14

ksemendrakavipraṇīte cārucaryāyām||

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Another nugget of wisdom from Kshemendra.

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A diligent person should never manage to achieve favourable results by telling lies or partial lies.

The great king Yudhishtira saw the sufferings of hell because his vow of speaking truth ever was broken once ( in the case of Ashvathama.. )

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The story is famous in the epic Mahabharatham

The great archer and fighter, Dronacharya was in action in Mahabharatha was.. and he was invincible..

He was annihilating the Pandava forces in hundreds and thousands.

The high command of the Pandava side realized that Drona should be put out of action by hook or crook, if they have to ensure even survival not to talk of victory..

There was actually no one in the Pandava Side who could fight and defeat Drona.

So a plan was hatched to cash in on the sole weakness of Drona.. Drona adored his son Ashvathama more than anything else..

The idea of the Pandavas was that a story that Ashvathama, who was also fighting the battle has been martyred..

And to add authenticity to this news, it was decided that the truthful leader and king of Pandavas, Yudhistire himself should announce the death of Ashvathama..

The king was reluctant..

So, to satisfy his conscience, they named an elephant as Ashvathama and Bheemasena killed the elephat with just one punch..

Then they asked Yudhistira to declare Ashvathaama hataH kunjaraH.. अश्वत्थामा हतः कुञ्जरः meaning Ashvathama is killed.. it is an elephant by name Ashvathama..

But when the king made the announcement, the war music instruments were played blaringly aloud, and the word Kunjara.. the elephant was obliterated in the din..

Drona heard the first part of Yudhistira's announcement and that broke his heart.

He laid down his arms and sat in his chariot in utter grief..

Dhristadyumna, the son of Drupada, the arch enemy of Drona, seized this opportunity, and rushed to the chariot and beheaded and killed Dronacharya.

Technically Dharmaputra did not tell any lie..

But his statement in its partial falsehood has been believed by Drona and that caused the latters loss of life..

So in effect, Dharmaputra had managed to score a victory by telling a lie..

In the swargarohana parva of Mahabharatham, the King and his four brothers and Draupadi are all finally marching towards heaven at the conclusion of their lives mission.

Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, all fall in the way.. And Yudhistira alone trudges on and reaches the gates of Heaven.

His desire is to see his brothers and wife too>

The king is shown the dark hellish place where his brothers and wife have been confined. The place is full of darkness and suffering.. Yudhistira is overcome by grief.( chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of the Swargarohana parvam)

Then he is informed that Yudhistira had committed the sin of breaching a promise in the case of Ashvathama and it was for this sin that he saw this hell

Subequently all were restored to heaven.

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Yes, even a minor error by a man of character can have disastrous consequences..

So gaining material benefit by shortcuts is not really prudent or worthwhile...