Chapter 30

“Draupadi said, ‘I bow down unto Dhatri and Vidhatri who have thusclouded thy sense! Regarding the burden (thou art to bear) thou thinkestdifferently from the ways of thy fathers and grand-fathers! Influenced byacts men are placed in different situations of life. Acts, therefore,produce consequences that are inevitable; emancipation is desired frommere folly. It seemeth that man can never attain prosperity in this worldby virtue, gentleness, forgiveness, straight-forwardness and fear ofcensure! If this were not so, O Bharata, this insufferable calamity wouldnever have overtaken thee who art so undeserving of it, and these thybrothers of great energy! Neither in those days of prosperity nor inthese days of thy adversity, thou, O Bharata, hath ever known anything sodear to thee as virtue, which thou hast even regarded as dearer to theethan life? That thy kingdom is for virtue alone, that thy life also isfor virtue alone, is known to Brahmanas and thy superiors and even thecelestials! I think thou canst abandon Bhimasena and Arjuna and thesetwin sons of Madri along with myself but thou canst not abandon virtue! Ihave heard that the king protecteth virtue; and virtue, protected by him,protecteth him (in return)! I see, however, that virtue protecteth theenot! Like the shadow pursuing a man, thy heart, O tiger among men, withsingleness of purpose, ever seeketh virtue. Thou hast never disregardedthy equals, and inferiors and superiors. Obtaining even the entire world,thy pride never increased! O son of Pritha, thou ever worshippestBrahmanas, and gods, and the Pitris, with Swadhas, and other forms ofworship! O son of Pritha, thou hast ever gratified the Brahmanas byfulfilling every wish of theirs! Yatis and Sannyasins and mendicants ofdomestic lives have always been fed in thy house from off plates of goldwhere I have distributed (food) amongst them. Unto the Vanaprasthas thoualways givest gold and food. There is nothing in thy house thou mayestnot give unto the Brahmanas! In the Viswadeva sacrifice, that is, for thypeace, performed in thy house, the things consecrated are first offeredunto guests and all creatures while thou livest thyself with whatremaineth (after distribution)! Ishtis Pashubandhas, sacrifices forobtaining fruition of desire, the religions rites of (ordinary)domesticity, Paka sacrifices, and sacrifices of other kinds, are everperformed in thy house. Even in this great forest, so solitary andhaunted by robbers, living in exile, divested of thy kingdom, thy virtuehath sustained no diminution! The Aswamedha, the Rajasuya, the Pundarika,and Gosava, these grand sacrifices requiring large gifts have all beenperformed by thee! O monarch, impelled by a perverse sense during thatdire hour of a losing match at dice, thou didst yet stake and loss thykingdom, thy wealth, thy weapons, thy brothers, and myself! Simple,gentle, liberal, modest, truthful, how, O king could thy mind beattracted to the vice of gambling? I am almost deprived of my sense, Oking, and my heart is overwhelmed with grief, beholding this thydistress, and this thy calamity! An old history is cited as anillustration for the truth that men are subjects to the will of God andnever to their own wishes! The Supreme Lord and Ordainer of all ordainetheverything in respect of the weal and woe, the happiness and misery, ofall creatures, even prior to their births guided by the acts of each,which are even like a seed (destined to sprout forth into the tree oflife). O hero amongst men, as a wooden doll is made to move its limbs bythe wire-puller, so are creatures made to work by the Lord of all. OBharata, like space that covereth every object, God, pervading everycreature, ordaineth its weal or woe. Like a bird tied with a string,every creature is dependent on God. Every one is subject to God and noneelse. No one can be his own ordainer. Like a pearl on its string, or abull held fast by the cord passing through its nose, or a tree fallenfrom the bank into the middle of the stream, every creature followeth thecommand of the Creator, because imbued with His Spirit and becauseestablished in Him. And man himself, dependent on the Universal Soul,cannot pass a moment independently. Enveloped in darkness, creatures arenot masters of their own weal or woe. They go to heaven or hell urged byGod Himself. Like light straws dependent on strong winds, all creatures,O Bharatas, are dependent on God! And God himself, pervading allcreatures and engaged in acts right and wrong, moveth in the universe,though none can say This is God! This body with its physical attributesis only the means by which God–the Supreme Lord of all maketh (everycreature) to reap fruits that are good or bad. Behold the power ofillusion that hath been spread by God, who confounding with his illusion,maketh creatures slay their fellows! Truth-knowing Munis behold thosedifferently. They appear to them in a different light, even like the raysof the Sun (which to ordinary eyes are only a pencil of light, while toeyes more penetrating seem fraught with the germs of food and drink).Ordinary men behold the things of the earth otherwise. It is God whomaketh them all, adopting different processes in their creation anddestruction. And, O Yudhishthira, the Self-create Grandsire, AlmightyGod, spreading illusion, slayeth his creatures by the instrumentality ofhis creatures, as one may break a piece of inert and senseless wood withwood, or stone with stone, or iron with iron. And the Supreme Lord,according to his pleasure, sporteth with His creatures, creating anddestroying them, like a child with his toy (of soft earth). O king, itdoth seem to me that God behaveth towards his creatures like a father ormother unto them. Like a vicious person, He seemeth to bear himselftowards them in anger! Beholding superior and well-behaved and modestpersons persecuted, while the sinful are happy, I am sorely troubled.Beholding this thy distress and the prosperity of Suyodhana, I do notspeak highly of the Great Ordainer who suffereth such inequality! O sir,what fruits doth the Great Ordainer reap by granting prosperity toDhritarashtra’s son who transgresseth the ordinances, who is crooked andcovetous, and who injureth virtue and religion! If the act done pursueththe doer and none else, then certainly it is God himself who is stainedwith the sin of every act. If however, the sin of an act done doth notattach to the doer, then (individual) might (and not God) is the truecause of acts, and I grieve for those that have no might!'”