Vaisampayana continued, “Restraining Pritha’s son who, stupefied by sorrow on account of his kinsmen, uttered such words, Vyasa, that best of ascetics, spoke as follows, first telling him, ‘This can not be!’

“Vyasa said, ’It behoveth thee not, O monarch, to indulge in such poignant grief.  I shall repeat what I have once said.  All this is Destiny, O puissant one!  Without doubt, all creatures that are born display at first a union (of diverse materials and forces).  Dissolution. however, overtakes them at the end.  Like bubbles in the water they rise and disappear.  All things massed together are sure to crumble away and all things that rise must fall down.  Union ends in dissolution and life ends in death.  Idleness, though temporarily agreeable, ends in misery, and labour with skill, though temporarily painful, ends in happiness.  Affluence, Prosperity, Modesty, Contentment, and Fame dwell in labour and skill but not in idleness.  Friends are not competent to bestow happiness, nor foes competent to inflict misery.  Similarly wisdom does not bring wealth nor does wealth bring happiness.  Since, O son of Kunti, thou hast been created by the Maker to engage thyself in Work.  Success springs from Work.  Thou art not fit, O king, to avoid Work.’”

SECTION XXVIII

Vaisampayana said, “Vyasa then dispelled the grief of the eldest son of Pandu., who, burning with sorrow on account of the slaughter of his kinsmen, had resolved to make an end of himself.”

Vyasa said, ’In this connection is cited the old story, O tiger among men, that is known by the name of Asma’s discourse.  Listen to it, O Yudhishthira!  Janaka the ruler of the Videhas, O king, filled with sorrow and grief, questioned a wise Brahmana of the name of Asma for the resolution of his doubts.’

“Janaka said, ’How should a man desirous of his own good behave upon occasions of the accession and the destruction of both kinsmen and wealth?’

“Asma said, ’Immediately after the formation of a man’s body, joys and griefs attach themselves to it.  Although there is a possibility of either of the two overtaking the person, yet whichever actually overtakes him quickly robs him of his reason like the wind driving away gathering clouds. (In times of prosperity) one thinks in this strain, viz., ’I am of high birth!  I can do whatever I like!—­I am not an ordinary man!’ His mind becomes soaked with such triple vanity.  Addicted to all earthly enjoyments, he begins to waste the wealth hoarded by his ancestors.  Impoverished in course of time, he regards the appropriation of what belongs to others as even laudable.  Like a hunter piercing a deer with his shafts, the king then punishes that wicked wight that robber of other people’s possessions, that transgressor of law and rule.  Without attaining to a hundred years (the usual period of human life), such men scarcely live beyond twenty or thirty years.  Carefully