Why then dost thou grieve for those heroes that have
attained to the highest end? O thou of mighty arms, the high-souled
Vidura knew everything. With all his might he had endeavoured, O king, to
bring about peace. It is my opinion that the course marked out by Destiny
cannot be controlled by anyone, even if one struggles for eternity. The
course that was settled by the gods was heard directly by me. I will
recite it to thee, so that tranquillity of mind may be thine. Once
before, without any fatigue, I repaired very quickly to the court of
Indra. There I beheld all the denizens of heaven assembled together.
There were, O sinless one, all the celestial rishis also, headed by
Narada. There, O monarch, I saw also the Earth (in her embodied form).
The latter had repaired to the gods for the accomplishment of a
particular mission. Approaching the gods, she said, "That which ye all
should do for me hath, ye blessed ones, been already promised by you
while you were in Brahmas abode. Let that be accomplished soon." Hearing
these words of hers, Vishnu, the adored of all the worlds, smilingly
addressed her in the midst of the celestial conclave, saying, "The eldest
of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, who is known by the name of
Duryodhana, will accomplish thy business. Through that king, thy purpose
will be achieved. For his sake, many kings will assemble together on the
field of Kuru. Capable of smiting, they will cause one another to be
slain through the instrumentality of hard weapons.
Pages:
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953