In those
conditions of life in which one acts well or ill, one enjoys or suffers
the fruit thereof in similar conditions. In those forms (of physical
organisation) in which one performs particular acts, one enjoys or
suffers the fruits thereof in similar forms. Ones own self is ones own
friend, as, indeed, ones own self is ones own enemy. Ones own self is the
witness of ones acts, good and evil. From good acts springs a state of
happiness, from sinful deeds springs woe. One always obtains the fruit of
ones acts. One never enjoys or suffers weal or woe that is not the fruit
of ones own acts. Intelligent persons like thee, O king, never sink in
sinful enormities that are disapproved by knowledge and that strike at
the very root (of virtue and happiness)."
3
"Dhritarashtra said, O thou of great wisdom, my grief has been dispelled
by thy excellent words! I desire, however, to again hear thee speak. How,
indeed, do those that are wise free themselves from mental grief born of
the advent of evils and the bereavement of objects that are dear?
"Vidura said, He that is wise obtains tranquillity by subduing both grief
and joy through means by which one may escape from grief and joy. All
those things about which we are anxious, O bull among men, are ephemeral.
The world is like a plantain tree, without enduring strength. Since the
wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, all, divested of their
anxieties, sleep on the crematorium, with bodies reft of flesh and full
of bare bones and shrivelled sinews, whom amongst them will the survivors
look upon as possessed of distinguishing marks by which the attributes of
birth and beauty may be ascertained? (When all are equal in death) why
should human beings, whose understandings are always deceived (by the
things of this world) covet one anothers rank and position? The learned
say that the bodies of men are like houses.
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