"'Yudhishthira said, "How, O grandsire, should a king like us behave in
this world, keeping in view the great object of acquisition? What
attributes, again, should he always possess so that he may be freed from
attachments?"
"'Bhishma said, "I shall in this connection recite to thee the old
narrative that was uttered by Arishtanemi unto Sagara who had sought his
counsel.
"'"Sagara said, 'What is that good, O Brahmana, by doing which one may
enjoy felicity here? How, indeed, may one avoid grief and agitation? I
wish to know all this!'"
"'Bhishma continued, "Thus addressed by Sagara, Arishtanemi of Tarkshya's
race, conversant with all the scriptures, regarding the questioner to be
every way deserving of his instructions, said these words,[1480] 'The
felicity of Emancipation is true felicity in the world. The man of
ignorance knows it not, attached as he is to children and animals and
possessed of wealth and corn. An understanding that is attached to
worldly objects and a mind suffering from thirst,--these two baffle all
skilful treatment. The ignorant man who is bound in the chains of
affection is incapable of acquiring Emancipation.[1481] I shall presently
speak to thee of all the bonds that spring from the affections. Hear them
with attention. Indeed, they are capable of being heard with profit by
one that is possessed of knowledge. Having procreated children in due
time and married them when they become young men, and having ascertained
them to be competent for earning their livelihood, do thou free thyself
from all attachments and rove about in happiness. When thou seest thy
dearly-cherished wife grown old in years and attached to the son she has
brought forth, do thou leave her in time, keeping in view the highest
object of acquisition (viz., Emancipation). Whether thou obtainest a son
or not, having during the first years of thy life duly enjoyed with thy
senses the objects that are addressed to them, free thyself from
attachments and rove about in happiness. Having indulged the senses with
their objects, thou shouldst suppress the desire of further indulging
them. Freeing thyself then from attachments, thou shouldst rove in
felicity, contenting thyself with what is obtained without effort and
previous calculation, and casting an equal eye upon all creatures and
objects.[1482] Thus, O son, have I told thee in brief (of what the way is
for freeing thyself from attachments). Hear me now, for I shall presently
tell thee, in detail, the desirability of the acquisition of
Emancipation.[1483] Those persons who live in this world freed from
attachments and fear, succeed in obtaining happiness. Those persons,
however, who are attached to worldly objects, without doubt, meet with
destruction. Worms and ants (like men) are engaged in the acquisition of
food and are seen to die in the search. They that are freed from
attachments are happy, while they that are attached to worldly objects
meet with destruction. If thou desirest to attain to Emancipation thou
shouldst never bestow thy thoughts on thy relatives, thinking,--How shall
these exist without me?--A living creature takes birth by himself, and
grows by himself, and obtains happiness and misery, and death by himself.
In this world people enjoy and obtain food and raiment and other
acquisitions earned by their parents or themselves. This is the result of
the acts of past lives, for nothing can be had in this life which is not
the result of the past. All creatures live on the Earth, protected by
their own acts, and obtaining their food as the result of what is
ordained by Him who assigns the fruits of acts. A man is but a lump of
clay, and is always himself completely dependent on other forces. One,
therefore, being oneself so infirm, what rational consideration can one
have for protecting and feeding one's relatives? When thy relatives are
carried away by Death in thy very sight and in spite of even thy utmost
efforts to save them, that circumstance alone should awaken thee. In the
very lifetime of thy relatives and before thy own duty is completed of
feeding and protecting them, thyself mayst meet with death and abandon
them. After thy relatives have been carried away from this world by
death, thou canst not know what becomes of them there,--that is, whether
they meet with happiness or misery. This circumstance ought to awaken
thee. When in consequence of the fruits of their own acts thy relatives
succeed in maintaining themselves in this world whether thou livest or
diest, reflecting on this thou shouldst do what is for thy own
good.[1484] When this is known to be the case, who in the world is to be
regarded as whose? Do thou, therefore, set thy heart on the attainment of
Emancipation. Listen now to what more I shall say unto thee. That man of
firm Soul is certainly emancipated who has conquered hunger and thirst
and such other states of the body, as also wrath and cupidity and error.
That man is always emancipated who does not forget himself, through
folly, by indulging in gambling and drinking and concubinage and the
chase. That man who is really touched by sorrow in consequence of the
necessity there is of eating every day and every night for supporting
life, is said to be cognisant of the faults of life. One who, as the
result of careful reflection, regards his repeated births to be only due
to sexual congress with women, is held to be freed from attachments. That
man is certainly emancipated who knows truly the nature of the birth, the
destruction, and the exertion (or acts) of living creatures. That man
becomes certainly freed who regards (as worthy of his acceptance) only a
handful of corn, for the support of life, from amidst millions upon
millions of carts loaded with grain, and who disregards the difference
between a shed of bamboo and reeds and a palatial mansion.[1485] That man
becomes certainly freed who beholds the world to be afflicted by death
and disease and famine.[1486] Indeed, one who beholds the world to be
such succeeds in becoming contented; while one who fails to behold the
world in such a light, meets with destruction. That man who is contented
with only a little is regarded as freed. That man who beholds the world
as consisting of eaters and edibles (and himself as different from both)
and who is never touched by pleasure and pain which are born of illusion,
is regarded as emancipate. That man who regards a soft bed on a fine
bedstead and the hard soil as equal, and who regards good sali rice and
hard thick rice as equal, is emancipated. That man who regards linen and
cloth made of grass as equal, and in whose estimation cloth of silk and
barks of trees are the same, and who sees no difference between clean
sheep-skin and unclean leather, is emancipated. That man who looks upon
this world as the result of the combination of the five primal essences,
and who behaves himself in this world, keeping this notion foremost, is
emancipated. That man who regards pleasure and pain as equal, and gain
and loss as on a par, in whose estimation victory and defeat differ not,
to whom like and dislike are the same, and who is unchanged under fear
and anxiety, is wholly emancipated. That man who regards his body which
has so many imperfections to be only a mass of blood, urine and excreta,
as also of disorders and diseases, is emancipated. That man becomes
emancipated who always recollects that this body, when overtaken by
decrepitude, becomes assailed by wrinkles and white hairs and leanness
and paleness of complexion and a bending of the form. That man who
recollects his body to be liable to loss of virility, and weakness of
sight, and deafness, and loss of strength, is emancipated. That man who
knows that the very Rishis, the deities, and the Asuras are beings that
have to depart from their respective spheres to other regions, is
emancipated. That man who knows that thousands of kings possessed of even
great offence and power have departed from this earth, succeeds in
becoming emancipated. That man who knows that in this world the
acquisition of objects is always difficult, that pain is abundant, and
that the maintenance of relatives is ever attended with pain, becomes
emancipated.[1487] Beholding the abundant faults of children and of other
men, who is there that would not adore Emancipation? That man who,
awakened by the scriptures and the experience of the world, beholds every
human concern in this world to be unsubstantial, becomes emancipated.
Bearing in mind those words of mine, do thou conduct thyself like one
that has become emancipated, whether it is a life of domesticity that
thou wouldst lead or pursue emancipation without suffering thy
understanding to be confounded.'[1488] Hearing these words of his with
attention, Sagara, that lord of earth, acquired those virtues which are
productive of Emancipation and continued, with their aid to rule his
subjects."'"