The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 2,273 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1.

The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 2,273 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1.
being tied through his elder brother in the bonds of truth!  Superior in battle to all warriors, he now lieth quiet on the ground, restrained by virtue and truth, and burning to slay my children, he bideth his time.  The cruel words that Dussasana spoke after Yudhishthira had been deceitfully defeated at dice, have sunk deep into Vrikodara’s heart, and are consuming him, like a burning bundle of straw consuming a fagot of dry wood!  The son of Dharma never acteth sinfully; Dhananjaya also always obeyeth him; but Bhima’s wrath, in consequence of a life of exile, is increasing like a conflagration assisted by the wind!  That hero, burning with rage such as that, squeezeth his hands and breatheth hot and fierce sighs, as if consuming therewith my sons and grandsons!  The wielder of the Gandiva and Vrikodara, when angry, are like Yama and Kala themselves; scattering their shafts, which are like unto thunder-bolts, they exterminate in battle the ranks of the enemy.  Alas Duryodhana, and Sakuni, and the Suta’s son, and Dussasana also of wicked soul, in robbing the Pandavas of their kingdom by means of dice, seem to behold the honey alone without marking the terrible ruin.  A man having acted rightly or wrongly, expecteth the fruit of those acts.  The fruit, however, confounding him, paralyses him fully.  How can man, thereof, have salvation?  If the soil is properly tilled, and the seed sown therein, and if the god (of rain) showereth in season, still the crop may not grow.  This is what we often hear.  Indeed, how could this saying be true unless, as I think, it be that everything here is dependent on Destiny?  The gambler Sakuni hath behaved deceitfully towards the son of Pandu, who ever acteth honestly.  From affection for my wicked sons I also have acted similarly.  Alas, it is owing to this that the hour of destruction hath come for the Kurus!  Oh, perhaps, what is inevitable must happen!  The wind, impelled or not, will move.  The woman that conceives will bring forth.  Darkness will be dispelled at dawn, and day disappear at evening!  Whatever may be earned by us or others, whether people spend it or not, when the time cometh, those possessions of ours do bring on misery.  Why then do people become so anxious about earning wealth?  If, indeed, what is acquired is the result of fate, then should it be protected so that it may not be divided, nor lost little by little, nor permitted to flow out at once, for if unprotected, it may break into a hundred fragments.  But whatever the character of our possessions, our acts in the world are never lost.  Behold what the energy of Arjuna is, who went into the abode of Indra from the woods!  Having mastered the four kinds of celestial weapons he hath come back into this world!  What man is there who, having gone to heaven in his human form, wisheth to come back?  This would never have been but because he seeth innumerable Kurus to be at the point of death, afflicted by Time!  The bowman is Arjuna, capable of wielding the bow with his left hand as well!  The bow he wieldeth is the Gandiva of fierce impetus.  He hath, besides, those celestial weapons of his!  Who is there that would bear the energy of these three!”

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The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.