There is no eye like that of knowledge. There
is no penance like renunciation. Abstention from sinful acts, steady
practice of righteousness, good conduct, the due observance of all
religious duties,--these constitute the highest good. Having obtained the
status of humanity which is fraught with sorrow, he that becomes attached
to it, becomes stupefied: such a man never succeeds in emancipating
himself from sorrow. Attachment (to things of the world) is an indication
of sorrow. The understanding of person that is attached to worldly things
becomes more and more enmeshed in the net of stupefaction. The man who
becomes enmeshed in the net of stupefaction attains to sorrow, both here
and hereafter. One should, by every means in one's power, restrain both
desire and wrath if one seeks to achieve what is for one's good. Those
two (viz., desire and wrath) arise for only destroying one's good.[1756]
One should always protect one's penances from wrath, and one's prosperity
from pride. One should always protect one's knowledge from honour and
dishonour and, one's soul from error.[1757] Compassion is the highest
virtue. Forgiveness is the highest might. The knowledge of self is the
highest knowledge. There is nothing higher than truth. It is always
proper to speak the truth. It is better again to speak what is beneficial
than to speak what is true. I hold that that is truth which is fraught
with the greatest benefit in all creatures.[1758] That man is said to be
truly learned and truly possessed of wisdom who abandons every act, who
never indulges in hope, who is completely dissociated from all worldly
surroundings, and who has renounced everything that appertains to the
world.
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