Chapter 257

Vaisampayana continued, “Dwelling in the woods, O bull of the Bharatarace, the high-souled Pandavas spent one and ten years in a miserableplight. And although deserving of happiness, those foremost of men,brooding over their circumstances, passed their days miserably, living onfruits and roots. And that royal sage, the mighty-armed Yudhishthira,reflecting that the extremity of misery that had befallen his brothers,was owing to his own fault, and remembering those sufferings that hadarisen from his act of gambling, could not sleep peacefully. And he feltas if his heart had been pierced with a lance. And remembering the harshwords of the Suta’s son, the Pandava, repressing the venom of his wrath,passed his time in humble guise, sighing heavily. And Arjuna and both thetwins and the illustrious Draupadi, and the mighty Bhima–he that wasstrongest of all men–experienced the most poignant pain in casting theireyes on Yudhishthira. And thinking that a short time only remained (oftheir exile), those bulls among men, influenced by rage and hope and byresorting to various exertions and endeavours, made their bodies assumealmost different shapes.

“After a little while, that mighty ascetic, Vyasa, the son of Satyavati,came there to see the Pandavas. And seeing him approach, Kunti’s son,Yudhishthira, stepped forward, and duly received that high-souled one.And having gratified Vyasa by bowing down unto him, Pandu’s son ofsubdued senses, after the Rishi had been seated, sat down before him,desirous of listening to him. And beholding his grandsons lean and livingin the forest on the produce of the wilderness, that mighty sage, movedby compassion, said these words, in accents choked in tears, ‘Omighty-armed Yudhishthira, O thou best of virtuous persons, those menthat do not perform ascetic austerities never attain great happiness inthis world. People experience happiness and misery by turns; for surely,O bull among men, no man ever enjoyeth unbroken happiness. A wise manendued with high wisdom, knowing that life hath its ups and downs, isneither filled with joy nor with grief. When happiness cometh, one shouldenjoy it; when misery cometh, one should bear it, as a sower of cropsmust bide his season. Nothing is superior to asceticism: by asceticismone acquireth mighty fruit. Do thou know, O Bharata, that there isnothing that asceticism cannot achieve. Truth, sincerity, freedom fromanger, justice, self-control, restraint of the faculties, immunity frommalice, guilelessness, sanctity, and mortification of the senses, these,O mighty monarch, purify a person of meritorious acts. Foolish personsaddicted to vice and bestial ways, attain to brutish births in after lifeand never enjoy happiness. The fruit of acts done in this world is reapedin the next. Therefore should one restrain his body by asceticism and theobservance of vows. And, O king, free from guile and with a cheerfulspirit, one should, according to his power, bestow gifts, after goingdown to the recipient and paying him homage. A truth-telling personattaineth a life devoid of trouble. A person void of anger attainethsincerity, and one free from malice acquireth supreme contentment. Aperson who hath subdued his senses and his inner faculties, never knowethtribulation; nor is a person of subdued senses affected by sorrow at theheight of other’s prosperity. A man who giveth everyone his due, and thebestower of boons, attain happiness, and come by every object ofenjoyment; while a man free from envy reapeth perfect ease. He thathonoureth those to whom honour is due, attaineth birth in an illustriousline; and he that hath subdued his senses, never cometh by misfortune. Aman whose mind followeth good, after having paid his debt to nature, ison this account, born again endued with a righteous mind.’

“Yudhishthira said, ‘O eminently virtuous one, O mighty sage, of thebestowal of gifts and the observance of asceticism, which is of greaterefficacy in the next world, and which, harder of practice?’

“Vyasa said, ‘There is nothing, O child, in this world harder to practisethan charity. Men greatly thirst after wealth, and wealth also is gottenwith difficulty. Nay, renouncing even dear life itself, heroic men, Omagnanimous one, enter into the depths of the sea and the forest for thesake of wealth. For wealth, some betake themselves to agriculture and thetending of kine, and some enter into servitude. Therefore, it isextremely difficult to part with wealth that is obtained with suchtrouble. Since nothing is harder to practise than charity, therefore, inmy opinion, even the bestowal of boons is superior to everything.Specially is this to be borne in mind that well-earned gains should, inproper time and place, be given away to pious men. But the bestowal ofill-gotten gains can never rescue the giver from the evil of rebirth. Ithath been declared, O Yudhishthira, that by bestowing, in a pure spirit,even a slight gift in due time and to a fit recipient, a man attainethinexhaustible fruit in the next world. In this connection is instancedthe old story regarding the fruit obtained by Mudgala, for having givenaway only a drona[85] of corn.'”