The saint said: 'Whatever you, O Pandavas, may decide, O mighty-armed one, shall come to pass; I shall strive to accomplish what is beneficial for both the Pandavas and the Kurus. Between the two courses of action, war and peace, the latter, O Vibhatsu, may perhaps lie within my power. Consider: the soil is moistened and cleared of weeds through human effort. Yet without rain, O son of Kunti, it never yields a harvest. Indeed, in the absence of rain some speak of artificial irrigation as a means to success brought about by human effort, but even then one may see that the water let in artificially dries up because of a providential drought. Seeing all this, the sages of old said that human affairs are accomplished through the cooperation of both providential and human effort. I shall do everything that can be done by human effort, in the best manner possible. The evil-minded Duryodhana acts in defiance of both virtue and peace. He feels no remorse whatsoever for his deeds; moreover, his sinful inclinations are fed by his counselors Shakuni and Karna and his brother Duhshasana. He is not willing to relinquish the kingdom submissively. The wicked Duryodhana will likewise not yield to our demand, and so I think it is scarcely fitting to convey Yudhishthira's message to him. The sinful Duryodhana of the Kuru line will not attain, O Bharata, the ends of which Yudhishthira speaks.'