The Sanskrit Epics

by Delphi Classics

  49. He who has gone out (as a mendicant) but from whom the passions have not gone out, who wears the earth-coloured robe but has not taken off the robe of sin, who carries the beggar’s vessel and yet has not become a vessel of virtue, is, despite the insignia he wears, neither a householder nor a mendicant.

  50. For my thought also that it would not be proper for a man of good family to give up the badges once put on carries no weight, when I think of the royal heroes who gave up the groves of asceticism and returned to their homes.

  51. For instance, the king of the Sâlvas with his son, Ambarisa, Rama Andha, and Antideva the Sânkrti, putting off the hermits’ apparel, resumed the ordinary garb of the world and, cutting off the twisted braids, wore the regal tiara again.

  52. Therefore while my Guru is away begging, I will give up the mendicant’s robe and go home at once from here; for the man who bears the honoured symbols with wavering mind and sin-fuddled understanding and whose judgment is impaired has nothing to expect in the next existence and has no part even in the world of living beings.’

  CANTO VIII. WOMAN THE OBSTACLE

  1. THEN A certain disciple, going up benevolently with gracious mien to Nanda whose wavering look showed him to be so yearning to go home as to be all yearning, said to him: —

  2. ‘Surely the tear-clouds on your face reveal the darkness of ignorance in your heart. Master yourself, restrain your emotion, for tears and holy peace do not go together.

  3. Pain is defined as twofold according as it originates in the mind or in the body; and so there are two kinds of physician for it, those skilled in the methods of the sacred lore and those expert in medical treatment.

  4. If therefore your disease is of the body, explain it promptly to a physician, holding nothing back; for the sick man who conceals his illness falls into a worse calamity.

  5. But if your suffering is mental, tell me and I shall expound its cure to you; for the physicians for minds which are the prey of the darkness of ignorance or of passion are those who know the soul from thorough investigation.

  6. If you think it fitting, my friend, to tell me, tell the entire truth; for the movements of men’s minds are manifold, there is much in them that is secret and highly involved.’

  7. Moved by this pressing and by his own eagerness to tell of his resolution, Nanda then put his hand in his and entered another part of the grove.

  8. So they sat down there in a clean bower of creepers, bursting with flowers, which embraced them, as it were, with soft young shoots waving in the gentle breeze.

  9. Then choking all the while with deep sobs he told his intention to the disciple who was skilled in the sacred learning and in speech, though his intention was such as a wise mendicant would have found it hard to avow: —

  10. ‘It does indeed befit one who practises the Law in his heart and has an ever benevolent mind towards living beings that you should display in your compassionate nature this kindness to me who am so lacking in steadfastness.

  11. That is the reason why I wish especially to speak to you who say what is fitting; for I would not explain this feeling of mine to an unsaintly man of wavering mind, however eloquent he were.

  12. Then listen to me. To put it briefly, like a passionate Kinnara wandering on the mountain peaks without his love, I take no pleasure in the practice of the Law without my mistress.

  13. I am averse from the joys of the forest life and therefore wish to go home; for I can no more find contentment without her than a king could, when deprived of his sovereign power.’

  14. Then the disciple, hearing these words of his, as he lamented in his devotion to his beloved wife, shook his head and said softly to himself: —

  15.’Alas! A silly deer, after escaping from the great danger of the hunter, is deceived by the sound of singing in his longing for the herd and wishes to enter the trap!

  16. Verily a bird, who has been caught in a net and released by friendly hands, flits through the forest with its fruit and flowers and of his own accord wishes to enter the cage!

  17. Verily a young elephant, after an old elephant has pulled him out of the deep mud of a dangerous river-bed, wishes to enter the crocodile-infested stream again in his thirst for water!

  18. Verily a boy, sleeping in a house with a snake in it and roused by a wakeful elder, in his excitement wishes to lay hold of the fierce snake himself!

  19. Verily a bird, who has flown out of a forest tree blazing with a great fire, wishes to fly back to it, losing in his longing for his nest all sense of fear!

  20. Verily a francolin partridge finds no satisfaction or self-respect and lives miserably in the helpless infatuation of his love, when separated from his mate by fear of the hawk!

  21. Verily a wretched greedy dog, void of decency and sense, wishes in the filthiness of his nature to eat again the food he has himself vomited!’

  22. Thus looking reflectively and repeatedly at him, as he was carried away by the sorrows of love, the disciple wished to do him good and spoke these words, excellent but of displeasing import: —

  23. ‘Seeing that you do not distinguish between pure and impure, that your feelings are set on the objects of sense and that insight is not yours, it is natural that you should find no pleasure in the highest good.

  24. For delight in the Law does not fall to the man of unstable nature, whose thoughts are not fixed on peace of mind and on hearing, mastering, memorising, and inwardly digesting the supreme truth.

  25. But pleasure in it is indeed felt by the man who sees the evil of material objects and is contented, pure, humble and determined, and whose will is directed to actions leading to holy peace.

  26. The covetous man delights in the splendour of wealth and the simpleton delights in the joys of the senses, but the virtuous man delights in peace of mind and contemns material enjoyments, knowing them for what they are.

  27. Further it is no more possible for the prudent man of good family and repute who wears the honoured badge to decide to return to his home than it is for a mountain to bend under the force of the wind.

  28. The man who would despise the independence derived from reliance on himself and envy him who depends on another’s support would, when finding himself in the holy path of tranquillity, long for home life, full of evils though it is.

  29. The man who betakes himself to the forest and then would seek again the bondage of home life is like a man who, released from prison, would enter it again when struck down by calamity.

  30. The man who, after giving up error, would be in servitude to it again, even he would be the fool who after renouncing his mistress, the source of error, would from inability to master his senses return to her.

  31. For women lead to disaster in the end, like creepers which are poisonous when touched, like caves still full of snakes after being swept, like naked sword-blades held (in the hand).

  32. How can it be fitting to serve women, the origin of all sins and dangers, seeing that when they are full of intoxication they cause intoxication to others and when they are free from intoxication they are a source of danger to others?

  33. Women behave ignobly and treacherously and are skilled in detecting the weaknesses of others, so as to cause kinsman to strive with kinsman, friend with friend.

  34. Women are the cause that men of good family become impoverished, that they rashly do ill deeds and that they furiously charge into hostile armies.

  35. Women captivate with sweet words and strike with their sharp minds. Honey is on their tongues and the great poison, halahala, in their hearts.

  36. The blazing fire can be held, the bodiless wind can be held, the furious snake can be held, but the minds of women cannot be held.

  37. Women take no account of beauty, sovereignty, intelligence, race or valour. They strike indiscriminately like rivers infested with crowds of crocodiles.

  38. A woman never heeds soft words or coaxing: or affection. Even a well-tested woman is fickle, therefore place no more trust in them than
in enemies.

  39. Women gratify those who give them nothing and are capricious to those who are liberal to them. They are overbearing to those who abase themselves and show themselves easily satisfied to the proud.

  40. They are (as masterful) as husbands to the virtuous and (as submissive) as sons to the vicious. They behave greedily to the rich and treat the poor with contempt.

  41. Just as a cow if restrained from grazing on one object goes straight to another, so a woman, regardless of a former love, goes elsewhere to take her pleasure.

  42. For women may mount their husbands’ funeral pyre, they may follow them closely at the risk of their lives, they may be subjected to no restraint, but they never bear love wholeheartedly.

  43. Even the women, who treat their husbands as gods and sometimes in some way or other give them pleasure, from fickleness of mind please themselves a thousand times.

  “. — The daughter of Senajit, it is said, loved an outcast, Kumudvati the fishes’ foe, and Brhadrathâ a lion, there is nothing women are not capable of.

  45. Princes of the Kurus, Haihayas and Vrsnis, Sambara too, though protected by many spells, and the sage Ugratapas Gautama were involved in the dust of passion raised by women.

  46. Such is the mind of woman, ungrateful, ignoble, unsteady; how can the wise man set his heart on such capricious creatures?

  47. But if you do not see how their hearts are flighty, subtle in intention and working mischief by deceit, do you not see at least how their bodies are impure, verily oozing abodes of evil?

  48. Your eyes are clouded with the darkness of ignorance and you do not understand that you are regarding as pure that which, impure in fact, only appears as pure through daily preparation with washing, clothing and adornment.

  49. Or if you realise their bodies to be impure, then you are lacking in intelligence; for you are undertaking a sweet-smelling task for the abolition of the filth arising from them.

  50. You may say that salves, ointments, garlands, jewels, pearls, gold and clothes are good, but what have they really to do with women? Consider what there is innate in them that is pure.

  51. Your Sundarï certainly would not appear fair, to you to-day if you were to see her covered with stains and mud, unclothed, with nails, teeth and hair in their natural (unadorned) state.

  52. What man capable of feeling disgust would touch a woman, oozing and foul like a broken pot, if it were not for the mere covering of skin no thicker than a fly’s wing?

  53. If you understand the body of a woman to be a framework of bones enveloped in skin and yet are forcibly attracted by love, then indeed love is incapable of disgust and lacking in steadfastness.

  54. The purity you see in nails, teeth, skin and hair which are impure is nothing but imagination on your part. Do you not see, you simpleton, the real nature and origin of woman?

  55. Therefore you should understand women to be especially full of faults of mind and body, and should restrain by the force of insight your hasty mind which yearns to go home.

  56. For you who know the sacred tradition, who are intelligent and of good family and a proper vessel for the supreme tranquillity, ought not to break the covenant again in any way after having undertaken it.

  57. To the man of high family and spirit, who holds his reputation dear and desires respect, death with firmness of soul is preferable to life accompanied by lapse from the Rule.

  58. For as the warrior on his chariot is blameworthy, who after girding on his breastplate and taking his bow retires from the battlefield, so too is he blameworthy who, after accepting the badge and entering the mendicant life, allows the steeds of his senses to be carried away by passion.

  59. It would be laughable for a man to go begging who wears beautiful ornaments, clothes and garlands, holds a bow and flaunts a gorgeous nodding headdress; so too is it laughable for one, who has abandoned all outward ornament and lives on others’ alms, to be filled again with desire and to long to return to the pleasures of his home life.

  60. Just as a boar, if fed on the best of food and provided with even the best of bedding, would hasten on release to his familiar midden, so the man who is dominated by the thirst of passion, would leave the tranquil forest and long for his home, though, while hearing of the highest good, he had tasted the excellent pleasure of religious peace.

  61. As the torch, held in the hand, burns it when its flames are fanned by the wind, as the snake, swift to wrath, bites when trodden on as the tiger, though caught young and kept in the house, is still given to killing, so too association with women leads to disaster in many ways.

  62. Recognising then these faults to be inherent in the minds and bodies of women, understanding the pleasures of love to pass away as the water of a river and to lead to sin and grief, and seeing the world to be devoid of strength like an unbaked pot and delivered over to death, form an unequalled determination for the attainment of salvation and desist from yearning.’

  CANTO IX. THE DENUNCIATION OF CONCEIT

  1. BUT, ALTHOUGH addressed in this fashion by the mendicant, Nanda failed to reach equanimity about his mistress; for still obsessed with thoughts of her, he did not hear the other’s speech, as if he were unconscious.

  2. For as the sick man at the point of death does not take in the words of the doctor who wishes to heal him, so in the intoxication of his strength, beauty and youth he did not take in his friendly advice.

  3. No need is there for wonder if, when the self is wrapped in darkness, the mind is overcome by a sinful disposition to passion; for man’s disposition to sin only ceases to be active when his mental darkness becomes clear and is dissipated.

  4. Then seeing Nanda thus carried away by his strength, beauty and youth and determined to go home, the disciple reproved him to bring him to peace of mind: —

  5. ‘I am aware, as you are aware, of your strength, beauty and young manhood, but you do not understand, as I understand, these three to be transitory.

  6. You deem your strength to be permanent; for you do not realise that the body is the abode of disease, subject to old age, frail as the foam on the river and insecure as a tree on the bank of a stream.

  7. Why have you this conceit of your strength, when the body is seen to come to grief through too little or too much addiction to the actions of eating, drinking, sitting and walking?

  8. Seeing that the world is subject to attack from calamities such as cold, heat, disease, old age, hunger etc., like the water in the hot season from the rays of the sun, what are you thinking about, you who are so proud of your strength, as you pass to decay?

  9. Why do you entertain such imaginations about your strength, when your body is merely a compound of skin, bone, flesh and blood, is subject to the need of food, ever ailing and continually in want of remedies?

  10. The man who should in his eagerness for the objects of the senses deem himself strong, when all that he has is this worthless corporeal aggregate, is like a man who should set out to cross the heaving ocean in an unfired clay pot.

  11. But I consider this body to be even more fragile than an unfired clay pot; for a pot if kept carefully will last a long time, whereas this aggregate must break up, however well tended.

  12. Seeing that the elements, water, earth, wind and fire coalescing in a body, ever war together like vicious snakes and lead to disaster, disease is part of your very nature; how then can you conclude you have strength?

  13. Snakes can be lulled by charms, but the elements are not amenable to them. Snakes only bite at times, and then not everyone, but the elements do harm to everyone at all times.

  14. For this body, though cherished for a long time with actions such as lying, sitting, drinking and eating, will not forgive a single trespass; it becomes diseased therefrom as a venomous snake grows angry when stepped on.

  15. Since the man who feels cold goes to a fire, the man who is afflicted with heat seeks the cool, the hungry man food, the thirsty man water, where does strength come in? What is it? How is i
t? Whose is it?

  16. Therefore recognise the body to be diseased and do not consider yourself to be possessed of strength. The world is without substance or certainty and goes to an evil end; since this world is transitory, strength is not durable.

  17. Where is the strength of the son of Krtavlrya, the thousand armed Arjuna, who boasted of his strength? The Bhârgava seer lopped off his arms in battle, as the levin brand lops the huge peaks of a mountain.

  18. Where is the strength of Krsna who slew Kamsa and broke the jaw of the lord of horses? Jaras struck him down with a single arrow, just as old age strikes down in due course beauty however great.

  19. Where is the strength of Namuci, the son of Diti, who caused the immortals to rage as he shone in the battle array? Him Vâsava slew in single combat with a piece of foam, though he opposed him furious as death.

  20. And where has the strength of the Kurus gone? They blazed in the fight with energy and fury, yet they lost their lives and were turned to ashes, like fires heaped up with fuel in a sacrifice.

  21. Therefore, knowing that the strength of those mighty ones who boasted of their heroism and strength was brought low, and seeing the world to be a prey to old age and death, do not fancy yourself strong.

  22. Whether you think your physical strength great or the reverse, it is against your senses that you should wage war. If you conquer them, your strength is truly great: if you are defeated, your strength is no strength.

  23. For men may overcome foes, who are well provided with horses, chariots and elephants, yet they are not counted such heroes as the wise men who overcome the six restless senses.

  24. And similarly your idea that you have beauty is not wise, and you should take this to heart; where is now the beauty, where the beautiful bodies of Gada, Samba and Sârana?

  25. Just as it is through nature alone that the peacock displays the most excellent beauty of its glorious outspread tail, so if you are beautiful at all, you only possess that beauty apart from the excellence due to the toilet of the body.