Let, O royal sage, both thy
words and mine become true. As regards my recitations, I never cherished
any specific desire to accomplish. How then, O tiger among kings, should
I have any knowledge of what the fruits are of those recitations? Thou
saidst, 'Give!' I said 'I give!' I shall not falsify these words. Keep
the truth. Be calm! If thou request to keep my word, O king, great will
be thy sin due to falsehood. O chastiser of foes, it does not become thee
to utter what is untrue. Similarly, I dare not falsify what I have
uttered. I have, before this, unhesitatingly said, 'I give!' If,
therefore, thou art firm in truth, accept my gift. Coming here, O king,
thou didst solicit of me the fruits of my recitations. Therefore, take
what I have given away, if, indeed, thou art firm in truth. He who is
addicted to falsehood had neither this world nor the next. Such a person
fails to rescue his (deceased) ancestors. How again shall he succeed in
doing good to his (unborn) progeny? The rewards of sacrifices and gifts,
as also of fasts and religious observances, are not so efficacious in
rescuing (a person from evil and hell) as Truth, O bull among men, in
both this and the next world. All the penances that have been undergone
by thee and all those that thou wilt undergo in the future for hundreds
and thousands of years do not possess efficacy greater than that of
Truth. Truth is one un deteriorating Brahma. Truth is the one
undeteriorating Penance. Truth is the one undeteriorating sacrifice.
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