of the Kurus! Time is indifferent to none. All
are equally dragged by Time. Time causeth all creatures to grow, and it
is Time that destroyeth everything. When all else is asleep, Time is
awake. Time is irresistible. Youth, beauty, life, possessions, health,
and the companionship of friends, all are unstable. He that is wise will
never covet any of these. It behoveth thee not to grieve for what is
universal. A person may, by indulging in grief, himself perish, but grief
itself, by being indulged in, never becomes light. If thou feelest thy
grief to be heavy, it should be counteracted by not indulging in it. Even
this is the medicine for grief, viz., that one should not indulge in it.
By dwelling on it, one cannot lessen it. On the other hand, it grows with
indulgence. Upon the advent of evil or upon the bereavement of something
that is dear, only they that are of little intelligence suffer their
minds to be afflicted with grief. This is neither Profit, nor Religion,
nor Happiness, on which thy heart is dwelling. The indulgence of grief is
the certain means of one's losing one's objects. Through it, one falls away
from the three great ends of life (religion, profit, and pleasure). They
that are destitute of contentment, are stupefied on the accession of
vicissitudes dependent upon the possession of wealth. They, however, that
are wise, are on the other hand, unaffected by such vicissitudes. One
should kill mental grief by wisdom, just as physical grief should be
killed by medicine. Wisdom hath this power. They, however, that are
foolish, can never obtain tranquillity of soul. The acts of a former life
closely follow a man, insomuch that they lie by him when he lies down,
stay by him when 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. One's own self is one's own
friend, as, indeed, one's own self is one's own enemy. One's own self is
the witness of one's acts, good and evil. From good acts springs a state of
happiness, from sinful deeds springs woe. One always obtains the fruit of
one's acts. One never enjoys or suffers weal or woe that is not the fruit
of one's own acts. Intelligent persons like thee, O king, never sink in
sinful enormities that are disapproved by knowled