ld
the honey alone without marking the terrible ruin. A man having acted
rightly or wrongly, expecteth the fruit of those acts. The fruit,
however, confounding him, paralyses him fully. How can man, thereof,
have salvation? If the soil is properly tilled, and the seed sown
therein, and if the god (of rain) showereth in season, still the crop
may not grow. This is what we often hear. Indeed, how could this saying
be true unless, as I think, it be that everything here is dependent on
Destiny? The gambler Sakuni hath behaved deceitfully towards the son of
Pandu, who ever acteth honestly. From affection for my wicked sons I
also have acted similarly. Alas, it is owing to this that the hour of
destruction hath come for the Kurus! Oh, perhaps, what is inevitable
must happen! The wind, impelled or not, will move. The woman that
conceives will bring forth. Darkness will be dispelled at dawn, and day
disappear at evening! Whatever may be earned by us or others, whether
people spend it or not, when the time cometh, those possessions of ours
do bring on misery. Why then do people become so anxious about earning
wealth? If, indeed, what is acquired is the result of fate, then should
it be protected so that it may not be divided, nor lost little by
little, nor permitted to flow out at once, for if unprotected, it may
break into a hundred fragments. But whatever the character of our
possessions, our acts in the world are never lost. Behold what the
energy of Arjuna is, who went into the abode of Indra from the woods!
Having mastered the four kinds of celestial weapons he hath come back
into this world! What man is there who, having gone to heaven in his
human form, wisheth to come back? This would never have been but because
he seeth innumerable Kurus to be at the point of death, afflicted by
Time! The bowman is Arjuna, capable of wielding the bow with his left
hand as well! The bow he wieldeth is the _Gandiva_ of fierce impetus. He
hath, besides, those celestial weapons of his! Who is there that would
bear the energy of these three!'

"Hearing these words of the monarch, the son of Suvala, going unto
Duryodhana, who was then sitting with Karna, told them everything in
private. And Duryodhana, though possessed of little sense, was filled
with grief at what he heard."

SECTION CCXXXV

Vaisampayana said, "Hearing those words of Dhritarashtra, Sakuni, when
the opportunity presented itself, aided by Karna, spoke unto Duryodhana
the