Aranyaka Parva — The Pandava's reflections

Vaishampayana said : When that night passed away and morning appeared, those Brahmanas, who supported themselves by alms, stood before those doers of exalted deeds (the Pandavas) who were on the point of entering the forest.

Thereupon the of Kunti, king Yudhishthira, thus spoke to them, “We are robbed to our kingdom, prosperity and everything. Living on fruits, roots and meat we go to the forest in sorrow. The forest is full of dangers and it abounds in reptiles and beasts of prey.

It appears to me that you will have to suffer much privations and misery there. The sufferings of the Brahmanas may overwhelm even the celestials, what to speak of me! O Brahmanas, go back wherever you like.

The Brahmanas said: O king, we are ready to go where you are going. You should not abandon us who are devoted to you and who follow the path of the true religion.

The celestials have compassion on their devotees, specially on the Brahmanas whose conduct is pure.

Yudhishthira said : O Brahmanas, I have always great devotion towards the Brahmanas. But this destitution has overwhelmed me. My these brothers who are to procure fruits and roots and the deer are stupified with grief for the afflictions that have overtaken them and for the distress of Draupadi and for the loss of our kingdom. Alas, as they are distressed, I cannot employ them in painful tasks!

The Brahmanas said : O king, do not allow any anxiety for our maintenance to find a place in your heart. Procuring our food ourselves, we shall follow you.

And we shall do you good by meditation and prayers and we shall entertain you with pleasant conversation and we shall ourselves be cheered in return.

Yudhishthira said: There is no doubt that it must be as you say. I am ever pleased with the company of Brahmanas. But my fallen condition makes me regard myself as an object of reproach.

How shall I see you all, my well-wishers, who do not deserve to suffer any trouble, subsist on food procured by yourselves? O fie on the sons of Dhritarashtra!

Vaishampayana said : Having said this, that king (Yudhishthira) sat down weeping on the ground. Then a learned Brahmana, named Shaunaka, who was learned in the philosophy of the soul and in the Sankhya and Yoga, thus spoke to the king.

Shaunaka said : Thousand causes of grief and hundred causes of fear overwhelm the ignorant day after day, but not the learned.

Intelligent men like you never allow themselves to be deluded by acts which are opposed to true knowledge, which is fought with every kind of evil and which is destructive of salvation.

O king, the understanding with the eight attributes, which is said to be capable of providing against all evils which results from the study of the Shrutis, is in you.

Men like you are never stupified by poverty or by meeting with difficult ways or by afflictions that overtake his friends or by bodily or mental miseries.

Hear, I shall recite to you the slokas which were chanted by the high-souled Janaka of old on the subject of controlling the soul.

This world is afflicted with both bodily and mental sufferings. Listen to the means of allaying them as I indicate them both briefly and in detail.

Disease, contact with painful things, toil and want of objects desired, these are the four causes of the sufferings of the body.

Disease may be allayed by the application of medicine, but mental ailments, are cured by Yoga meditation.

Therefore, intelligent physicians first seek to allay the mental sufferings of their patients by agreeable conversations and by the offer of desirable objects.

As a hot iron ball makes the water of a jar hot, so mental grief brings in bodily pains.

As water quenches fire, so knowledge allays mental ailments. When mind enjoys' peace, body also enjoys peace.

It appears attachment is the root of all mental agonies; it is attachment that makes every creature miserable and brings on every kind of woe.

Attachment is the root of all misery and of all fear. Attachment produces joy and grief of every kind. From attachment spring all worldly desires and it is from attachment that springs the love of worldly goods. Both of these are evils, but the first is worse than the second.

As fire in the hollow of a tree consumes the tree itself to its roots, so attachment, however little it may be, destroys both Dharma and Artha,

He, who has merely withdrawn from possessions, cannot be regarded as to have renounced the world. He, however, who remains in contact with the world, but sees its faults, may be said to have truly renounced the world. Such a man becomes freed from all evil passions and his soul is dependent on nothing.

Therefore none should place his attachment on either friends or on wealth which he has carned. The attachment towards one's own body is destroyed by knowledge.

Like the lotus leaf which is never drenched by water, souls of those men who are capable of knowing the everlasting and of men who are devoted to the pursuit of the eternal, learned in the Shastras and purified by knowledge, can never be touched by attachment.

The man that is influenced by itachment is tortured by desire and from the desire that springs up in his heart, his thirst for worldly possessions increases. This thirst is sinful and is regarded as the source of all anxieties. It is this terrible thirst, fraught with sin, that leads to unrighteous acts.

Those men, who can renounce this thirst, which can never be renounced by the wicked, which decays not with the decay of the body and which is a fatal disease, can be freed from misery.

This thirst has neither beginning nor end. Like the fire of incorporeal origin, it destroys creatures by living within their hearts.

As a faggot of wood is consumed by the fire that is fed by that faggot, so a person of impure soul meets with destruction from the covetousness born in his own heart.

Creatures endued with life have always a dread of death; so men having wealth are in constant dread of the king, the water, the fire, the thief and his relatives.

If a piece of meat be in the air, it may be devoured by the birds, if it is on the grounds, it may be devoured by beasts of prey and if in the water, by the fishes, so a man having wealth is exposed to dangers wherever he might be.

To many men, the wealth they possess is their bane. The man, who sees happiness in wealth and becomes attached to it, knows not what true happiness is.

Therefore, the accession of wealth is what increases covetousness and folly. It is the root of niggardliness, boastfulness, pride, fear and anxiety. These are the miseries that wise men see in wealth. Men have to suffer infinite miseries in the acquisition and retention of wealth. Its expenditure also is painful. Sometimes men are even killed for the sake of wealth. To abandon wealth is painful; even those men who are cherished become enemies for the sake of wealth.

As the possession of wealth is fraught with such misery, one should not (at all) mind its loss. Ignorant men alone are discontented, but the wise men are always contented.

The thirst for wealth can never be assuaged. Contentment is the highest happiness, therefore the wise men consider contentment to be the highest object to attain.

The learned men, knowing youth, beauty, life, treasure, prosperity and association with beloved ones to be (all) unstable, never covet them.

Therefore one should refrain from the acquisition of wealth and thus avoid the sufferings of misery. The man of wealth can never be without dangers. For this reason virtuous men praise those who have no desire for wealth.

As regards those that acquire wealth for the virtuous purposes, it is better for them not to do it at all. It is better not to touch mud than to wash it off after being besmeared with it.

O Yudhishthira, you should not covet anything. It you want to acquire virtue, free yourself from all desires for the possession of wealth.

Yudhishthira said: O Brahmana, this my desire for wealth is not for the purpose of enjoying it when obtained. I do not desire it through avarice. I desire it only for the support of the Brahmanas.

O Brahmana, for what purpose would one like to lead a domestic life, if he cannot cherish and support those that follow him?

All creatures are seen to divide their food among those that depend on them. So should person leading a domestic life give a share of his food to Brahmacharis who have given up cooking.

"The houses of good men can never be in want of grass, space, water and sweet words, the fourth. Bed to the tired, seat to one who is fatigued by standing, water to on who is thirsty and food to one who is hungry should be always given.

Pleasant looks, cheerful heart and sweet words are due to a guest. Rising up, the host should advance towards the guest; he should offer him a seat and duly worship him. This is the eternal Dharma. They who do not perform Agnihotra, they who do not wait upon bulls and cherish their kinsmen, guest, friends, sons, wives and servants, for such negligence are consumed with sin. None should cook his food for himself, none should kill any animal for nothing. Non should eat that food which is not duly dedicated.

By scattering morning and evening food on the earth for dogs, Chandalas and birds, a person should perform the Vishvadeva (sacrifice).

He who eats Vighasa eats ambrosia. That, which remains after dedication in a sacrifice, is (also) regarded as ambrosia.

The pleasant looks (one casts on his guests), the attention he devotes to him, the sweet words with which he addresses him, the respect with which he follows him and the food and drink with which he treats him, are the five Dakshinas in that sacrifice.

He, who gives food freely to a fatigued way. farer, whom he has never seen before, obtains grcat virtuous merit.

He, who leading domestic life, follows such practices, obtains, it is said, great religious merit. O Brahmana, what is your opinion?

Shaunaka said: Alas, alas this worlds is full of contradictions! That which makes the good and the honest ashamed gratifies the wicked.

Move by ignorance and passions and becoming slaves to their senses, ignorant men perform many acts to gratify their stomachs an sexual organs.

Men are lcd astray by their seducing senses, as a charioteer who has lost his senses (is led। astray) by wicked horses.

When any of the six senses finds its ! particular object, the desire springs up in the heart to enjoy that particular object.

Thus when one's mind proceeds to enjoy the objects of any particular sense, a wish is entertained; that wish in its turn gives birth to a resolve.

As an insect falls into a flame from love of light, man falls into the fire of temptation, as it were pierced by the arrows of the objects of enjoyments) which are discharged by the desire which is the seed of resolve.

Blinded by sensual pleasure which he freely seeks and steeped in dark ignorance and folly which he mistakes for happiness, he thenceforth knows not himself. Like a wheel that is incessantly whirling, every creature, from ignorance, acts and desire, roves in various states in the world, wandering from one birth to another, ranging from Brahma to a blade of grass, an taking birth again and again now in water, now in earth and now in the sky.

This is the career of those that are without knowledge. Listen to that of the wise, the men who are intent on virtue and who are desirous of Moksha (emancipation).

This is the word of the Vedas, act, but act with renunciation. Therefore you should act renouncing Abhimana.

Performances of sacrifices, study, gifts, penance, truth, forgiveness, subduing the senses and renunciation of desire, these are the eight Dharmas declared by the Smriti.

Of these the first four pave the way to the regions of Pitris. Therefore it is the duty of all to act by renouncing Abhimana.

The last four are always observed by the pious who aspire to attain to the region of the celestials. The men of pure soul should observe these eight (paths).

Those, who wish to subdue the world for the purposes of salvation, should always act by fully renouncing all motives and by subduing their senses, rigidly observing vows, devotedly serving their preceptors, austerely regulating their food, diligently studying the Vedas, renouncing action as mean and restraining their heart. By renouncing desire and aversions, the celestials have obtained prosperity.

It is for the virtue of their wealth of Yoga, that the Rudras, the Sadhyas, the Adityas, the Vasus and the Ashvins support all these creatures (of the world).

O son of Kunti, O descendant of Bharata, therefore you too like them, entirely renouncing actions with motive, try to obtain success in Yoga and austerities.

You have already obtained success as far as your debts to the Pitris, both male and female are concerned and you have obtained that success also which is derived from action. Try now to obtain success in from action. Try now to obtain success in penances in order to support the Brahmanas.

Those that are crowned with ascetic success can by virtue of that success do whatever they like. Therefore practising asceticism, realise all your wishes.