11.003
Pancharatra and Core: Vidura's advice on the temporary nature of life.
Dhritarashtra said:
O greatly wise one, your wise words have dispelled my grief. Yet, I wish to hear more words of truth from you.
How are the wise freed from mental sufferings here, when they are associated with undesired things and deprived of desired things?
Vidura said:
Wherever the mind is freed from sorrow or even happiness, the wise person, having attained tranquility, finds a good path.
O best of men, this entire world is impermanent. When considered, the world is like a plantain tree; it truly has no real essence.
The wise say that the bodies of mortals are like houses; over time, they perish, but the one auspicious essence remains.
Just as a person discards worn out or even unworn clothes and puts on others, so too the embodied soul discards old bodies and takes on new ones.
Beings here, including Vicitravīrya, experience either suffering or happiness in their lives solely as a result of their own actions, by their own karma.
O Bhārata, it is through actions that one attains heaven, happiness, and sorrow. Thereafter, one must bear that burden, whether helplessly or even with self-control.
Just as a clay pot on the wheel may break, whether it is still being shaped, has just been made, or even otherwise.
Whether it is cut, uprooted, fallen, wet, dry, or being cooked, in any of these conditions.
O Bhārata, the bodies of embodied beings are either immersed in water and lifted out, or are thus consumed.
Whether one is in the womb, just born, a few days old, half a month old, or only a month old, or any of these.
Whether one has lived a year, or two years, or is in youth, middle age, or old age, anyone may die.
Beings come into existence or not due to their previous actions. So, in this world of accomplishment, why do you grieve?
O king, just as a creature playing in water sometimes rises up and sometimes sinks down, so too is the nature of beings, O ruler of men.
Thus, those of little intelligence, bound by the enjoyment of actions, are tormented as they repeatedly emerge and submerge in the deep ocean of worldly existence.
But those who are wise, established in truth, seeking the end of worldly existence, and who understand the union of all beings, they attain the highest state.
