and unite thyself with me.  Do thou embrace me, O learned one, for I desire thee greatly.  O thou of righteous soul, even this union with me is the excellent and desirable reward of those severe penances which thou hast undergone.  At the first sight I have become disposed to seek thee.  Do thou also seek me.  All this wealth, and everything else of value that thou seest here are mine.  Do thou verily become the lord of all this along with my person and heart.  I shall gratify every wish of thine.  Do thou sport with me, therefore, in these delightful forest, O Brahmana, that are capable of granting every wish.  I shall yield thee complete obedience in everything, and thou shall sport with me according to thy pleasure.  All objects of desire that are human or that appertain to heaven shall be enjoyed by us.  There is no pleasure more agreeable to women (than that which is derivable from the companionship of a person of the other sex).  Verily, congress with a person of the opposite sex is the most delicious fruit of joy that we can reap.  When urged by the god of desire, women become very capricious.  At such times they do not feel any pain, even if they walk over a desert of burning sand.’”

“Ashtavakra said, ’O blessed lady, I never approach one that is another’s spouse.  One’s congress with another man’s wife is condemned by persons conversant with the scriptures on morality.  I am an utter stranger to enjoyments of every kind.  O blessed lady, know that I have become desirous of wedlock for obtaining offspring.  I swear by truth itself.  Through the aid of offspring righteously obtained, I shall proceed to those regions of felicity which cannot be attained without such aid.  O good lady, know what is consistent with morality, and knowing it, desist from thy efforts.’”

“The lady said, ’The very deities of wind and fire and water, or the other celestials, O regenerate one, are not so agreeable to women as the deity of desire.  Verily, women are exceedingly fond of sexual congress.  Among a thousand women, or, perhaps, among hundreds of thousands, sometimes only one may be found that is devoted to her husband.  When under the influence of desire, they care not for family or father or mother or brother or husband or sons or husband’s brother (but pursue the way that desire points out).  Verily, in pursuit of what they consider happiness, they destroy the family (to which they belong by birth or marriage) even as many queenly rivers eat away the banks that contain them.  The Creator himself had said this, quickly marking the faults of women.’"[196]

“Bhishma continued, ’The Rishi, bent upon finding out the faults of women, then addressed that lady, saying,—­Cease to speak to me in this strain.  Yearning springs from liking.  Tell me what (else) I am to do.[197]—­That lady then said in return,—­O illustrious one, thou shalt see according to time and place (as do whether I have anything agreeable in me).  Do thou only live here (for some time).  O highly