or him that has not yet obtained the gratification of any of his desires, Death seizes and bears away.  Death, decrepitude, disease, sorrow, and many things of a similar kind, are incapable of being avoided by mortals.  How, then, O father, canst thou sit so at thy ease?  As soon as a creature is born, Decrepitude and Death come and possess him for his destruction.  All these forms of existence mobile and immobile, are possessed by these two (viz., Decrepitude and Death).  When the soldiers that compose Death’s army are on their march, nothing can resist them, except that one thing, viz., the power of Truth, for in Truth alone Immortality dwells.  The delight that one feels of residing in the midst of men is the abode of Death.  The Sruti declares that that which is called the forest is the true fold for the Devas, while the delight one feels in dwelling in the midst of men is, as it were, the cord for binding the dweller (and making him helpless).[1325] The righteous cut it and escape.  The sinful do not succeed in cutting it (and freeing themselves).  He who does not injure other creatures in thought, word and deed, and who never injures others by taking away their means of sustenance, is never injured by any creature.[1326] For these reasons, one should practise the vow of truth, be steadily devoted to the vow of truth, and should desire nothing but the truth.  Restraining all one’s senses and looking upon all creatures with an equal eye, one should vanquish Death with the aid of Truth.  Both Immortality and Death are planted in the body.  Death is encountered from folly, and Immortality is won by Truth.  Transcending desire and wrath, and abstaining from injury, I shall adopt Truth and happily achieving what is for my good, avoid Death like an Immortal.  Engaged in the Sacrifice that is constituted by Peace, and employed also in the Sacrifice of Brahma, and restraining my senses, the Sacrifices I shall perform are those of speech, mind, and acts, when the sun enters his northerly course.[1327] How can one like me perform an Animal Sacrifice which is fraught with cruelty?  How can one like me, that is possessed of wisdom, perform like a cruel Pisacha, a Sacrifice of Slaughter after the manner of what is laid down for the Kshatriyas,—­a Sacrifice that is, besides, endued with rewards that are terminable?  In myself have I been begotten by my own self.  O father, without seeking to procreate offspring, I shall rest myself on my own self.  I shall perform the Sacrifice of Self, I need no offspring to rescue me.[1328] He whose words and thoughts are always well-restrained, he who has Penances and Renunciation, and Yoga, is sure to attain to everything through these.  There is no eye equal to Knowledge.  There is no reward equal to Knowledge.  There is no sorrow equal to attachment.  There is no happiness equal to Renunciation.  For a Brahmana there can be no wealth like residence in solitude, an equal regard for all creatures, truthfulness of speech, steady observance of good conduct, the total abandonment of the rod (of chastisement), simplicity, and the gradual abstention from all acts.[1329] What need hast thou with wealth and what need with relatives and friends, and what with spouses?  Thou art a Brahmana and thou hast death to encounter.  Search thy own Self that is concealed in a cave.  Whither have thy grandsires gone and whither thy sire too?’[1330]