he stays, and run with him when he runs.  In those conditions of life in which one acts well or ill, one enjoys or suffers the fruit thereof in similar conditions.  In those forms (of physical organisation) in which one performs particular acts, one enjoys or suffers the fruits thereof in similar forms.  Ones own self is ones own friend, as, indeed, ones own self is ones own enemy.  Ones own self is the witness of ones acts, good and evil.  From good acts springs a state of happiness, from sinful deeds springs woe.  One always obtains the fruit of ones acts.  One never enjoys or suffers weal or woe that is not the fruit of ones own acts.  Intelligent persons like thee, O king, never sink in sinful enormities that are disapproved by knowledge and that strike at the very root (of virtue and happiness).”

3

“Dhritarashtra said, O thou of great wisdom, my grief has been dispelled by thy excellent words!  I desire, however, to again hear thee speak.  How, indeed, do those that are wise free themselves from mental grief born of the advent of evils and the bereavement of objects that are dear?

“Vidura said, He that is wise obtains tranquillity by subduing both grief and joy through means by which one may escape from grief and joy.  All those things about which we are anxious, O bull among men, are ephemeral.  The world is like a plantain tree, without enduring strength.  Since the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, all, divested of their anxieties, sleep on the crematorium, with bodies reft of flesh and full of bare bones and shrivelled sinews, whom amongst them will the survivors look upon as possessed of distinguishing marks by which the attributes of birth and beauty may be ascertained? (When all are equal in death) why should human beings, whose understandings are always deceived (by the things of this world) covet one anothers rank and position?  The learned say that the bodies of men are like houses.  In time these are destroyed.  There is one being, however, that is eternal.  As a person, casting off one attire, whether old or new, wears another, even such is the case with the bodies of all embodied beings.  O son of Vicitravirya, creatures obtain weal or woe as the fruit of their own acts.  Through their acts they obtain heaven, O Bharata, or bliss, or woe.  Whether able or unable, they have to bear their burdens which are the result of their own acts.  As amongst earthen pots some break while still on the potters wheel, some while partially shaped, some as soon as brought into shape, some after removal from the wheel, some while in course of being removed, some after removal, some while wet, some while dry, some while being burnt, some while being removed from the kiln, some after removal therefrom, and some while being used, even such is the case with the bodies of embodied creatures.  Some are destroyed while yet in the womb, some after coming out of the womb, some on the day after, some on the expiration of a