12.105
Yudhiṣṭhira said.
How should a righteous person, who has not obtained wealth, is oppressed by the king and his ministers, and is deprived of both treasury and punishment, act if he desires happiness?
Bhīṣma said.
Here, the story of Kṣemadarśin is narrated. I will now fully explain it to you; listen carefully, O Yudhiṣṭhira.
We have heard that, in the past, when the prince Kṣemadarśa was weakened, the sage from Kalakavṛkṣa came there. Approaching him, who was in great distress, the sage questioned him.
O Brahman, a person who, striving again and again for objects, does not obtain a kingdom like mine—what should he do?
O best one, tell me that (means of livelihood) which is other than death, theft, dependence on others, meanness, and improper conduct.
Whether afflicted by disease, mental distress, or any other cause, a person well-versed in scriptures and endowed with wisdom, like you, should become a refuge.
Indeed, when a man becomes disinterested and restrains his desires, he attains happiness. By abandoning both pleasure and sorrow, and by obtaining wealth that is devoid of pleasure, he finds contentment.
I grieve for those whose happiness and wealth I have lost; for indeed, my many riches have vanished, as if they had come in a dream.
Indeed, those who abandon great objects perform a difficult task; but we are not able to abandon even these worthless ones.
I have reached this state, wretched and afflicted, with my prosperity lost. O Brahman, whatever other happiness remains here, please instruct me about that.
Thus addressed by the wise prince Kausalya, the greatly radiant sage of the Kālakavṛkṣa lineage replied.
Earlier, the wise should apply this understanding. Everything that is perceived as "I and mine" is impermanent.
Whatever you consider to exist, know all that as non-existent. Thus, the wise person is not disturbed, even when faced with great difficulty or calamity.
That which has existed and will exist, that which is permanent, will not cease to be. Thus, knowing this, you will be freed from unrighteousness.
Whatever the former ones possessed in the collection, and whatever the still earlier others had, all that does not exist; knowing that, who should grieve after it?
Whether something has come to be or not, this is the case; even if it has not come to be, it still happens. In grief, indeed, there is no power; how can a man act out of grief?
O king, where is your father today, where is your grandfather today? Today, you do not see them, nor do they see you.
Seeing the impermanence of the self, why do you grieve for them? Understand with your intellect that certainly you will not remain forever.
O king, neither I nor you, nor your friends or enemies, will remain; indeed, nothing will remain.
But those men who are twenty or thirty years old, indeed, all of them will die before reaching a hundred years.
Even if a person is deprived of great wealth, realizing 'this is not mine', one should act in a way that is truly beneficial to oneself.
The wise, considering what is destined as most powerful, say that the attitude of not claiming as 'mine' either what is yet to come or what is past is the true position of the virtuous.
Even those who are not wealthy live and also govern kingdoms; there are people endowed with intellect and manliness who are equal or even greater than you.
You do not grieve as they do; therefore, you too should not grieve. Are you not, indeed, either superior or at least equal to them in intellect and strength?
The prince said.
I consider that my kingdom came to me by chance. O Brahmin, all of this is taken away by the great force of time.
O ascetic, as he is thus being swept away by the current, I see this as the fruit; I subsist with whatever is obtained.
The sage said.
O Kausalya, just as you do not grieve for what has not yet come or what is past, having determined the truth, so too be in all matters.
Desire only those objects that can be obtained, never those that cannot. While experiencing what has arisen, do not grieve for what has not yet come.
Just as one rejoices upon attaining what is sought, so, O Kausalya, you too will rejoice. I hope, being of pure nature, you do not grieve if deprived of prosperity.
A person of poor fortune and evil mind, due to his past nature, always blames the creator and cannot tolerate those who have gained wealth.
A wealthy person considers even unworthy others as people; for this reason, this suffering continues to follow again.
O lord of Kosala, are you, wise as you are, not jealous in the way that those proud of manliness and endowed with excessive envy are, O king?
Endure the prosperity of others, even if you do not possess it yourself. Skilled people enjoy fortune even when it exists elsewhere. Prosperity indeed overflows even from those who are hostile, even if that is true.
Men who are practitioners of dharma, heroes who know the dharma of renunciation, themselves indeed abandon prosperity and sons and grandsons.
Seeing many hardships and the lack of means for the desire to know, others, thinking it extremely difficult to attain, abandon it.
You, though appearing wise, again grieve miserably, desiring objects that are undesirable, turned away, and afflicted.
You, wishing to understand that intellect, should indeed abandon these: misfortunes appearing as benefits, and benefits appearing as misfortunes.
For the sake of gain, some people indeed experience loss of wealth; recognizing that happiness is impermanent, another person examines prosperity.
A person who delights in prosperity does not consider anything else to be better; thus, the efforts of such a person come to ruin.
When the prosperity that was arduously gained and cherished is lost, then a man whose order is shattered becomes disinterested in wealth.
Some men of noble lineage resort to dharma; wishing for happiness in the hereafter, they become detached from worldly things.
Some men, driven by greed for wealth, give up their very lives; for men do not consider life to have value without wealth.
See their misery, see their lack of wisdom; in this impermanent life, out of delusion, they have resorted to the craving for wealth.
Who could truly delight the mind in accumulation and destruction, in life and at the end of death, in union and at the end of separation?
O king, either wealth leaves a person or a person leaves wealth; since this is inevitable, who among the wise should grieve over it?
O king, the friends and wealth of others also perish; observe with intellect the misfortune of men, including your own. Restrain, control, and completely restrain the senses, the mind, and speech.
A person like you, who is courageous and satisfied with wisdom, does not grieve for things that are forbidden, unattainable, difficult to obtain, harmful, degraded, mixed, or impossible.
A person like you, who desires little, is steady, gentle, self-restrained, well-disciplined, and endowed with brahmacarya, truly never becomes deluded.
You should not seek a wicked, skull-bearing way of life; such cruel, sinful, painful conduct is fit only for a coward.
Indeed, live alone in the great forest, sustaining yourself on roots and fruits, delighting in solitude, with restrained speech, self-control, and compassion for all beings.
The wise man is like the elephant with a slightly worn tusk: he finds joy alone in the forest and is content with little.
Just as a great lake, though disturbed, calms itself, so too do I see happiness only in this: for one who has departed in this way, peace arises by itself.
When prosperity is impossible for one who is without a king, even with ministers and others, and when fate is determined, what benefit do you think there is?
