The Sanskrit Epics

by Delphi Classics

  2. Not relishing the taste of renunciation and without enjoyment like a faded lotus without sap, he practised the Law with the Apsarases firmly fixed in his heart.

  3. Thus it was under the influence of the objects of the senses that from having had restless senses with his beloved as the sole province of his senses he now became controlled in his senses.

  4. Skilled in the practice of love but bewildered in mendicant’s practices, he devoted himself with the support of the supreme Master to the practice of the religious life.

  5. By means of the restraint that produces tranquillity he became tranquil and through the sharp pangs of love he withered, just as, when fire and water come together, the one is quenched, the other dried up.

  6. That, though naturally beautiful, he became highly disfigured, was due as much to yearning for the Apsarases as to long-enduring self-control.

  7. So he who had been so fond of his wife seemed, even when she was mentioned, to remain free from passion and was subject neither to joy nor to agitation.

  8. Ananda, learning that Nanda had settled down and turned away from passion for his wife, came to him and said affectionately: —

  9. ‘Ah! You have undertaken a task worthy of your learning and high birth in that you are settled at ease and with senses subdued in abstinence.

  10. It can be no petty motive that has produced this understanding in one who was addicted to love, full of passion and devoted to the objects of the senses.

  11. A minor illness is averted with little trouble but a great one can only be cured by great efforts and not even always then.

  12. Your disease was grave and difficult to master in that it was of the mind; if it has really left you, you have thoroughly acquired steadfastness.

  13. Hard it is for an irreligious man to do good, for a proud man to be humble, for a covetous man to be greatly generous and for a man full of passion to carry out the observance of chastity.

  14. But I have one doubt with regard to the constancy of your self-control and, if you think fit to tell me, I should like to be reassured about it.

  15. Words spoken out honestly should not be taken amiss. The good man does not consider harsh what, though harsh in expression, is uttered with a pure intention.

  16. For unpleasant and advantageous speech proceeds from affection, and pleasant speech, which is not advantageous, from a lack of it; but it is as hard to obtain speech that is both pleasant and advantageous as it is a medicine that is effective and tastes sweet.

  17. Among the good the conduct of a friend is marked by confidence, consideration of the other’s interest, participation in joy and sorrow, forbearance and affection.

  18. So my wish to speak to you springs from affection and not from a wish to hurt you; for I wish to speak of your highest good, to which I ought not to be indifferent.

  19. It is said you follow the Law in order to obtain the Apsarases as your wages. Is this true? Oh! Such conduct would be laughable.

  20. If this really is correct, I shall explain its remedy to you, or if it is only the talk of gossip, I shall then explain the true state of affairs.’

  21. Then being stricken to the heart by him although in gentle fashion, Nanda meditated and, heaving a deep sigh, became somewhat downcast.

  22. On this nanda, taking note of his change of countenance which betrayed the motions of his mind, spoke to him words which were disagreeable but would have a pleasant conclusion for him: —

  23. ‘From your demeanour I understand why you follow the Law and knowing that, I am moved to laughter and compassion at the same time.

  24. You are striving to assume self-control for the sake of passion; it is as if a man were to carry about a heavy stone on his shoulder to sit down on.

  25. Just as a savage ram draws back in order to charge, so you are following the holy life for an object which is contrary to it.

  26. As merchants wish to buy merchandise for the sake of profit, so you practise the Law, not for tranquillity, but to obtain something to barter.

  27. As a husbandman sows seed according to the particular crop he wants, so you have abandoned the objects of the senses out of greed for such objects.

  28. As a man might wish for disease in order to secure the pleasure to be derived from remedies, so you seek suffering out of a longing for the objects of the senses.

  29. As a man who looks for honey overlooks the precipice, so you see the Apsarases but not the fall that will ensue at the end.

  30. Though you carry out your vow with your body, your heart is blazing with the fire of love. What kind of chastity is this of yours when your mind is given to its opposite?

  31. And seeing that in the course of the cycle of existence you have obtained the Apsarases hundreds of times only to lose them again, why this yearning for them?

  32. A fire can never be satiated with fuel, or the salt sea with water or the man who is full of desires with love. Love therefore does not lead to appeasement.

  33. And without appeasement there cannot be tranquillity, without tranquillity pleasure, without pleasure joy or without joy delight.

  34. If you desire true delight, then apply your mind to the delight of the inner self; for there is no delight like that, being as it is both tranquil and free from sin.

  35. In it you have no need of music, women or ornaments; you can enjoy that delight alone and wherever you will.

  36. As long as desires remain, the mind suffers extremely; therefore abolish desire. For desire and suffering come into existence together and vanish together.

  37. For in good fortune or ill, by day or by night, the man whose desires are set on love knows no peace.

  38. The quest of love is full of suffering and in its attainment there is no appeasement of desire. Grief ensues inexorably from separation, and separation is inevitable in heaven.

  39. Man performs the most difficult tasks and reaches Paradise the inaccessible, only to come back again to the world of men as if he were returning to his home from a journey.

  40. As the man who falls from Paradise has no grace subsisting, he is born again among beasts or among the Pretas or in Hell.

  41. After enjoying even the choicest pleasures in Paradise, he falls and is grievously afflicted. In what way has that enjoyment advantaged him?

  42. Though Sibi did such a marvellous deed as to give his own flesh to a hawk out of affection for everything that draws breath, yet he fell from heaven.

  43. The primeval king, Mândhâtr, attained half the throne of Indra, yet when his time with the gods had elapsed, he returned to earth below.

  “. — Though Nahusa ruled over the gods, yet he fell to earth and, it is said, became a snake and is not yet released (from that incarnation).

  45. King Ilivila similarly, perfect in all the conduct of a king, went to Paradise, but fell again thence to become, they say, a turtle in the ocean.

  46. Bhüridyumna, Yayàti and other royal seers purchased heaven with their actions, but on the exhaustion of their merit left it again.

  47. The primeval gods, the Asuras, were robbed of their power by the Suras and took refuge in Pâtàla, bewailing their power.

  48. But what need to instance the royal seers, the Asuras, Suras and the rest? Great Indras have fallen hundreds of times; there is no security even in the highest position.

  49. Upendra graced the court of Indra and covered the universe with three strides, yet when his store of merit ran out he fell roaring from among the Apsarases to earth.

  50. The inhabitants of heaven fall to earth, even lamenting in their distress, “Alas, grove of Citraratha! Alas, heavenly lake! Alas, Mandàkinl! Alas, beloved!”

  51. For think how bitter is the suffering in this world of those at the point of death; how much worse then is the suffering of the devotees of pleasure who fall at the last from Paradise?

  52. Their clothes retain the dust, their magnificent garlands wither, sweat appears on their limbs and they find no delight in their places.

  53.
These are the signs at first of the approaching fall from Paradise of the dwellers therein, like those ominous symptoms which herald the death of mortals.

  54. Of the pleasure they experience from sensuous enjoyment in heaven and the suffering from their fall, the suffering is far the greater.

  55. Therefore recognise Paradise to be transitory, ending in misfortune, without resource, not to be relied on and unsatisfying, and set your mind on final release.

  58. Seeing that the inhabitants of Paradise despite their dominion come to destruction, what wise man would desire an ephemeral stay there?

  59. For, just as a bird which is tied to a string, however far it goes, is brought back again, so people, tied to the string of ignorance, return again, however far they go.

  60. As a man is released through a surety from prison for a definite period and, after enjoying the pleasures of home, returns to prison when his time has expired, so man reaches heaven by means of self-restraint, abstract meditation and the like, as through a surety, and in time is dragged back to earth again when his actions have produced their full meed of enjoyment.

  61. As heedless fishes in a pond, when enclosed by a net, do not realise the disaster that has befallen them from being penned in but swim about cheerfully, so those given to abstract meditation think they have gained their object in heaven, while in fact they are still in the world of existence, and they deem their stay there, which leads to return to this world, to be safe, permanent and not subject to fall.

  62. Therefore recognise this world to be encompassed about by the disasters of birth, disease and death and to be revolving still in the cycle of existence, whether in heaven, among men, in Hell, or among animals or Prêtas; and leading a holy life for the sake of that refuge which is happy and beyond all fears, delivered from old age and death, sorrowless and immortal, give up your designs on this fleeting Paradise.’

  CANTO XII. DISCERNMENT

  1. THEN NANDA felt highly abashed at being upbraided by Ananda for following the Law in order to earn the Apsarases as his wages.

  2. The feeling of deep shame made exaltation leave his heart, and his mind, downcast for lack of exaltation, did not abide firm in his vow.

  3. Though the passion of love predominated in him and he was indifferent to ridicule, he could not put up with that saying, since the motive to a right life was now fully matured in him.

  4. With his superficial nature he had previously deemed the joys of heaven to be eternal and, learning them now to be transitory, he became extremely agitated.

  5. The chariot of his mind, desire, whose steeds are the fancies, turned back out of the road to Paradise, like the great chariot of a heedful charioteer from the wrong road.

  6. When his longings were diverted from Paradise, he seemed suddenly to become well, like a sick man desiring to live, who gives up agreeable but unwholesome food.

  7. As on seeing the Apsarases he had forgotten his wife, so now he gave up the Apsarases also in his agitation over the impermanence of the stay with them.

  8. He reflected that even the greatest beings return to this life and, though full of passion, he became as it were free from it in consequence of agitation of mind.

  9. For that agitation enured to increasing his tendency towards the highest good, just as the root edh is said by grammarians to take vrddhi in its verbal form.

  10. But steadfastness in respect of the past, present and future did not grip his mind in any way because of passion, just as asti is said to be used as a particle of all three times.

  11. Mighty in the arms and freed from conceit, with swaying gait like an elephant with mighty trunk and freed from rut, he went to the Guru at the proper time to explain his feelings.

  12. And bowing his head to the Guru, with his eyes dimmed by tears he folded his hands and spoke as follows, looking somewhat downwards in shame: —

  13. ‘I have no need of the Apsarases for the gaining of whom Thou standest, Lord, as my surety and I release Thee from the pledge.

  14. For since I have heard of the impermanence of Paradise and of the vicissitudes of the cycle of existence, the continuance of active being either among mortals or among gods has no delights for me.

  15. If, after obtaining heaven through toil, abstinence and self-restraint, men fall again at the end with desires unappeased, what is the use of so fleeting a Paradise?

  16. And having obtained hence an understanding of the whole world with all it contains, I delight only in Thy supreme Law, the destroyer of all suffering.

  17. Therefore deign to explain it to me both briefly and at length that listening to Thee, the Best of listeners, I may reach the supreme state.’

  18. Then the Tathâgata, knowing his disposition and that, while his senses were still contrary, the highest good was now within his range, spoke thus: —

  19. ‘Ah! This discernment arises as the harbinger of the highest good for you, as the smoke, rising when the stick is rubbed, is the harbinger of the fire.

  20. What good fortune it is that you who have been carried away for so long down the wrong road by the restless horses of the senses have now entered the true path with unconfused gaze.

  21. To-day your present existence has become fruitful, to-day your profit is extreme, since, though you know the taste of love, your mind yearns for renunciation.

  22. In this world, which rejoices in attachment, it is hard to find delight in the cessation of active being; for fools shrink back from release from rebirth as from a precipice.

  23. Men labour that they may avoid suffering and feel pleasure, and they do not understand that that pleasure of theirs is but surcease from excessive suffering.

  24. The world clings to love and the rest, which are perpetual causes of suffering, transitory, and in reality its enemies, and it does not know the pleasure which does not pass away.

  25. But you have within your reach that elixir which removes all suffering, the antidote which you wish, as having drunk poison, to take in good time.

  26. Your intention deserves to be honoured, in that it holds the dangers of the cycle of existence to be unworthy; for you are facing towards the Law and have turned your back on so great a fire of passion.

  27. Self-control is ever as difficult for the mind which has given a free rein to passion as for the thirst-stricken traveller who sees water which is foul.

  28. Such a decision of yours was indeed obstructed by the dust of passion, as the light of the sun by the dust of a sand-storm.

  29. It strives now to destroy the darkness of your heart, as the light of the sun, when poured forth by mount Meru, diffuses itself to dispel the darkness of night.

  30. And truly your belief in the ultimate immaterial good befits the mind of one whose being is purified.

  31. Therefore take heed to foster the desire for the Law; for desire, O knower of the Law, is specifically the originating cause of all the elements of existence.

  32. Thus if a man wants to move, he makes the action of moving; if to lie down, of lying down; if to stand, of standing.

  33. For instance, when a man believes that there is water in the earth (at a particular spot) and he has need of it, then he makes the effort of digging the earth there.

  34. Again, no one rubs the fire-stick, if he has no need of fire or does not believe in its existence in the fire-stick; if the contrary is the case, he does so.

  35. Similarly the husbandman would not sow seed in the earth, unless he believes in the growth of corn in the ground and has need of it.

  36. Therefore I call faith especially the Hand since it grasps the Holy Law of itself, as a hand takes a gift.

  37. It is described as the Faculty from its being the most important, as Strength from its steadfastness, and as Wealth from its abolishing poverty of virtue.

  38. It is called the Reed-arrow from its power of protecting the Law, and is named the Jewel from the difficulty of finding it in this world.

  39. Further, it is said to be the Seed in that the highest good origi
nates from it and the River too from its property of cleansing from sin.

  40. Since faith is the chief agent in the production of the Law, therefore I give it these names from its actions in these ways.

  41. Therefore take heed to cherish this shoot of faith; for as it grows the Law grows, as a tree grows with the growth of its root.

  42. As for the man whose doctrinal sight is dim and resolution weak, his faith is unreliable; for it does not work to the desired end.

  43. For so long as the real truth is not seen or heard, so long faith does not become strong or firm, but when a man by restraining his senses with self-control sees the real truth, the tree of his faith bears fruit and becomes the vehicle (of further advance).’

  CANTO XIII. DISCIPLINE AND THE CONQUEST OF THE SENSES

  1. SO ON being confirmed in the direction of faith by the Great Seer, Nanda was filled with the highest joy, as if bathed in ambrosia.

  2. The Enlightened One deemed that Nanda had, as it were, attained his goal through that faith and he, too, deemed that by the Buddha’s initiation he had, as it were, already reached the highest good.

  3. The Teacher converted some by soft words, some by harsh speech and some by both methods.

  4. Just as gold, though produced from dirt, is pure, free from speck and clean, and, though mixed up with dirt, is not stained by the defects of dirt; 5. And just as the leaf of a lotus, though originating in the water and growing in it, yet is not stained by the water either above or below; 6. So the Sage, though born in the world and acting for its benefit, is not stained by the conditions of the world because of His purity and stainlessness.

  7. At the time of giving counsel He made use of now joining, now separation, now pleasant methods, now harsh ones, now fables and now mystic meditation, for the sake of healing, not at His own whim.

  8. And so out of the greatness of His compassion He had put on a mortal body in His sympathy that He might release all beings from suffering.