Chapter 6

“Dhritarashtra said, Alas, great was the distress of that person and verypainful his mode of life! Tell me, O first of speakers, whence was hisattachment to life and whence his happiness? Where is that region, sounfavourable to the practice of virtue, in which that person resides? Oh,tell me how will that man be freed from all those great terrors? Tell meall this! We shall then exert ourselves properly for him. My compassionhas been greatly moved by the difficulties that lie in the way of hisrescue!

“Vidura said, They that are conversant, O monarch, with the religion ofmoksha cite this as a simile. Understanding this properly, a person mayattain to bliss in the regions hereafter. That which is described as thewilderness is the great world. The inaccessible forest within it is thelimited sphere of ones own life. Those that have been mentioned as beastsof prey are the diseases (to which we are subject). That woman ofgigantic proportions residing in the forest is identified by the wisewith Decrepitude which destroys complexion and beauty. That which hasbeen spoken of as the pit is the body or physical frame of embodiedcreatures. The huge snake dwelling in the bottom of that pit is time, thedestroyer of all embodied creatures. It is, indeed, the universaldestroyer. The cluster of creepers growing in that pit and attached towhose spreading stems the man hangeth down is the desire for life whichis cherished by every creature. The six-faced elephant, O king, whichproceeds towards the tree standing at the mouth of the pit is spoken ofas the year. Its six faces are the seasons and its twelve feet are thetwelve months. The rats and the snakes that are cutting off the tree aresaid to be days and nights that are continually lessening the periods oflife of all creatures. Those that have been described as bees are ourdesires. The numerous jets that are dropping honey are the pleasuresderived from the gratification of our desires and to which men are seento be strongly addicted. The wise know lifes course to be even such.Through that knowledge they succeed in tearing off its bonds.”