'
"Bhishma continued, 'Thus addressed conformably to the truth by the sage,
Janaka, that foremost of righteous persons, O king, heard everything the
Rishi said and obtained great happiness from it.'"
SECTION CCC
"Yudhishthira said, 'O grandsire, learned men praise truth,
self-restraint, forgiveness, and wisdom. What is thy opinion of these
virtues?'
"Bhishma said, 'In this connection I shall recite to thee an old
narrative, O Yudhishthira, of the discourse between the Sadhyas and a
Swan. Once on a time the Unborn and eternal Lord of all creatures (viz.,
Brahman), assuming the form of a golden Swan, wandered through the three
worlds till in course of his wanderings he came upon the Sadhyas.'
"The Sadhyas said, 'O ford, we are the deities called Sadhyas. We like to
question thee. Indeed, we would ask thee about the religion of
Emancipation. Thou art well-acquainted with it. We have heard, O bird,
that thou art possessed of great learning, and eloquent and wise of
speech. O bird, what dost thou think is the highest of all objects? O
high-souled one, in what does thy mind find pleasure? Do thou, therefore,
O foremost of birds, instruct us as to what that one act is which thou
regardest as the foremost of all acts, and by doing which, O chief of the
feathery creation, one may soon be freed from all bonds.'
"The Swan said, 'Ye who have drunk Amrita, I have heard that one should
have recourse to these, viz., penances, self-restraint, truth, and
subjugation of the mind.
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