ble) cause. It is for this that I do not indulge in either joy
or sorrow.[536] All the propensities (for action) that exist in the
universe may be seen to flow from the very natures of the creatures (to
which they inhere). All things (in the universe) are depended on their
respective natures. Hence, I am not delighted with anything.[537] Behold,
O Prahlada, all kinds of union have an aptitude for disunion. All
acquisitions are certain to end in destruction. Hence I never set my
heart upon the acquisition of any object. All things possessed of
attributes are certain to meet with destruction. What remains there for a
person then to do who (like me) is conversant with both the origin and
the end of things? Of all things, large or small, born in the ocean of
waters, the end is noticeable. I see also the death, which is manifest, O
chief of Asuras, of all things, mobile and immobile, belonging to the
land. O best of Danavas, death comes in season unto even the strongest of
winged creatures which range the sky. I see again that the luminous
bodies, large and small, which move in the firmament, fall down when
their time comes. Beholding all created things Possessed of knowledge, to
be thus liable to be affected by death, and thinking all things to be
possessed of the same nature, I sleep in peace without any anxiety of
heart. If I get without trouble a copious repast, I do not scruple to
enjoy it. On the other hand, I pass many days, together without eating
anything. Sometimes people feed me with costly viands in profusion,
sometimes with a small quantity, sometimes with even less, and sometimes
I get no food whatever. I sometimes eat only a portion of a grain;
sometimes the dry sesame cakes from which the oil has been pressed out, I
sometimes eat rice and other food of the richest kind. Sometimes I sleep
on an elevated bedstead of the best kind. Sometimes I sleep on the bare
ground. Sometimes my bed is made within a fine palace or mansion. I am
sometimes clad in rags, sometimes in sackcloth, sometimes in raiments of
fine texture, sometimes in deer-skins, sometimes in robes of the
costliest kind. I never reject such enjoyments as are consistent with
virtue and as are obtained by me without effort. I do not, at the same
time, strive for attaining such objects as are difficult of acquisition.
The rigid vow I have adopted is called Ajagara.[538] That vow can secure
immortality. It is auspicious and griefless. It is incomparable and