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and chaste women. Do thou, O grandsire, discourse to me on this.' |
"Bhishma said, 'Once on a time, in the celestial regions, a lady named Sumana of Kekaya's race addressing Sandili possessed of |
great energy and conversant with the truth relating to everything and endued with omniscience, said, 'By what conduct, O |
auspicious lady, by what course of acts, hast thou succeeded in attaining to heaven, purged of every sin? Thou blazest forth |
with thy own energy like a flame of fire. Thou seemest to be a daughter of the Lord of stars, come to heaven in thy own |
effulgence. Thou wearest vestments of pure white, and art quite cheerful and at thy ease. Seated on that celestial chariot, thou |
shinest, O auspicious dame, with energy multiplied a thousandfold. Thou hast not, I ween, attained to this region of happiness |
by inconsiderable penances and gifts and vows. Do thou tell me the truth'. Thus questioned sweetly by Sumana, Sandili of |
sweet smiles, addressing her fair interrogatrix, thus answered her out of the hearing of others, I did not wear yellow robes; nor |
barks of trees. I did not shave my head; nor did I keep matted locks on my head. It is not in consequence of these acts that I |
have attained to the status of a celestial. I never, in heedlessness, addressed any disagreeable or evil speech to my husband. I |
was always devoted to the worship of the deities, the Pitris, and the Brahmanas. Always heedful I waited upon and served my |
mother-in-law and father-in-law. Even this was my resolution that I should never behave with deceit. I never used to stay at the |
door of our house nor did I speak long with anybody. I never did any evil act; I never laughed aloud; I never did any injury. I |
never disclosed any secret. Even thus did I bear myself always. When my husband, having left home upon any business, used |
to come back, I always served him by giving him a seat, and worshipped him with reverence. I never ate food of any kind |
which was unknown to my husband and at which my husband was not pleased. Rising at early dawn I did and caused to be |
done whatever was brought about and required to be accomplished for the sake of relatives and kinsmen. When my husband |
leaves home for going to a distant place on any business, I remain at home engaged in diverse kinds of auspicious acts for |
blessing his enterprise. Verily, during the absence of my husband I never use collyrium, or ornaments; I never wash myself |
properly or use garlands and unguents, or deck my feet with lac-dye, or person with ornaments. When my husband sleeps in |
peace I never awake him even if important business required his attention. I was happy to sit by him lying asleep. I never urged |
my husband to exert more energetically for earning wealth to support his family and relatives. I always kept secrets without |
disclosing them to others. I used to keep always our premises clean. That woman who with concentrated attention, adheres to |
this path of duty, becomes the recipient of considerable honours in heaven like a second Arundhati.' |
''Bhishma continued, 'The illustrious and highly blessed Sandili, of righteous conduct, having said these words unto Sumana on |
the subject of woman's duties towards her husband, disappeared there and then. That man, O son of Pandu, who reads this |
narrative at every full moon and new moon, succeeds in attaining to heaven and enjoying great felicity in the woods of |
Nandana." |
SECTION CXXIV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Which is of superior efficacy, Conciliation or Gifts? Tell me, O chief of Bharata's race, which of these two |
is superior in point of efficacy.' |
'Bhishma said, 'Some become gratified by conciliation, while others are gratified by gifts. Every man, according to his own |
nature, affects the one or the other. Listen to me, O king, as I explain to thee the merits of conciliation, O chief of Bharata's |
race, so that the most furious creatures may be appeased by it. In this connection is cited the ancient narrative of how a |
Brahmana, who had been seized in the forest by a Rakshasa, was freed (with the aid of conciliation). A certain Brahmana, |
endued with eloquence and intelligence, fell into distress, for he was seized in a lone forest by a Rakshasa who wished to feed |
on him. The Brahmana, possessed of understanding and learning, was not at all agitated.' Without suffering himself to be |
stupefied at the sight of that terrible cannibal, he resolved to apply conciliation and see its effect on the Rakshasa. The |
Rakshasa, respectfully saluting the Brahmana so far as words went, asked him this question, 'Thou shalt escape, but tell me for |
what reason I am pale of hue and so lean!' Reflecting for a brief space of time, the Brahmana accepted the question of the |
Rakshasa and replied in the following well-spoken words'. |
"The Brahmana said, 'Dwelling in a place that is distant from thy abode, moving in a sphere that is not thy own, and deprived |
of the companionship of thy friends and kinsmen, thou art enjoying vast affluence. It is for this that thou art so pale and lean. |
Verily, O Rakshasa, thy friends, though well-treated by thee, are still not well-disposed towards thee in consequence of their |
own vicious nature. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Thou art endued with merit and wisdom and a well-regulated soul. |
Yet it is thy lot to see others that are destitute of merit and wisdom honoured in preference to thyself. It is for this that thou art |
pale and lean. Persons possessed of wealth and affluence much greater than thine but inferior to thee in point of |
accomplishments are, verily, disregarding thee. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Though distressed through want of the |
means of support, thou art led by the highness of thy soul to disregard such means as are open to thee for drawing thy |
sustenance. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. In consequence of thy righteousness thou hadst stinted thyself for doing |
good to another, This other, O righteous Rakshasa, thinks thee deceived and subjugated (by his superior intelligence). It is for |
this that thou art pale and lean. I think, thou art grieving for those persons who with souls overwhelmed by the lust and wrath |
are suffering misery in this world. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Though graced with the possession of wisdom, thou |
art ridiculed by others who are entirely destitute of it. Verily, persons of wicked conduct are condemning thee. It is for this that |
thou art pale and lean. Verily, some enemy of thine, with a friendly tongue, coming to thee behaved at first like a righteous |
person and then has left thee, beguiling thee like a knave. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Thou art well-conversant with |
the course of world's affairs. Thou art well-skilled in all mysteries. Thou art endued with capacity. Those who know thee to be |
such do not yet respect and praise thee. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Staying in the midst of bad men engaged |
together in some enterprise, thou hadst discoursed to them, dispelling their doubts. For all that they did not admit thy superior |
merits. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Verily, though destitute of wealth and intelligence and Vedic lore, thou desirest |
yet, with the aid of thy energy alone, to accomplish something great. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. It seems that |
although thou art resolved to undergo severe austerities by retiring into the forest, yet thy kinsmen art not favourably inclined |
towards this project of thine. It is this for that thou art pale and lean. Some neighbour of thine, possessed of great wealth and |
endued with youth and handsome features, verily, covets thy dear spouse. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. The words |
spoken by thee, even when excellent, in the midst of wealthy men, are not regarded by them as wise or well-timed. It is for this |
that thou art pale and lean. Some dear kinsman of thine, destitute of intelligence though repeatedly instructed in the scriptures, |
has become angry. Thou hast not succeeded in pacifying him. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Verily, some-body, |
having first set thee to the accomplishment of some object desirable to thee is now seeking to snatch the fruit thereof from thy |
grasp. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Verily, though possessed of excellent accomplishments and worshipped by all on |
that account, thou art yet regarded by thy kinsmen as worshipped for their sake and not for thy own. It is for this that thou art |
pale and lean. Verily, through shame thou art unable to give out some purpose in thy heart, moved also by the inevitable delay |
that will occur in its accomplishment. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Verily, thou desirest, with the aid of thy |
intelligence, to bring under thy influence, diverse persons with diverse kinds of understandings and inclinations. It is for this |
that thou art pale and lean.[537] Destitute of learning, without courage, and without much wealth, thou seekest such fame as is |
won by knowledge and prowess and gifts. Verily, it is for this that thou hast been pale and lean. Thou hast not been able to |
acquire something upon which thou hast set thy heart for a long time. Or, that which thou seekest to do is sought to be undone |
by somebody else. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Verily, without being able to see any fault on thy part, thou hast been |
cursed by somebody. It is for this that thou art pale and lean.[538] Destitute of both wealth and accomplishments thou seekest |
in vain to dispel the grief of thy friends and the sorrows of sorrowing men. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Beholding |
righteous persons the domestic mode of life, unrighteous persons living according to the forest mode, and emancipated persons |
attached to domesticity and fixed abodes, thou hast become pale and lean. Verily, thy acts connected with Righteousness, with |
Wealth, and with Pleasure, as also the well-timed words spoken by thee, do not bear fruit. It is for this that thou art pale and |
lean. Though endued with wisdom, yet desirous of living, thou livest with wealth obtained by thee in gift from somebody of |
evil conduct. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Beholding unrighteousness increasing on every side and righteousness |
languishing, thou art filled with grief. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. Urged by time thou seekest to please all thy |
friends even when they are disputing and ranged on sides opposite to one another. It is for this that thou art pale and lean. |
Beholding persons possessed of Vedic lore engaged in improper acts, and persons of learning unable to keep their senses under |
control, thou art filled with grief. It is for this that thou art pale and lean.' Thus praised, the Rakshasa worshipped that learned |
Brahmana in return, and making him his friend and bestowing sufficient wealth upon him in gift, let him off (without |
devouring him).'" |
SECTION CXXV |
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