u,
though he performed a hundred sacrifices like a second Vasava, was sent
to the nethermost regions, for making a single false statement. Vali, the
son of Virochana, righteously bound by his promise, was consigned to the
regions under the Earth, by the prowess of Vishnu. Was not Janamejaya, who
followed the foot-prints of Sakra, checked and put down by the gods for
killing a Brahmana woman? Was not the regenerate Rishi Vaisampayana too,
who slew a Brahmana in ignorance, and was polluted by the slaughter of a
child, put down by the gods? In olden times the royal sage Nriga became
transmuted into a lizard. He had made gifts of kine unto the Brahmanas at
his great sacrifice, but this availed him not. The royal sage Dhundhumara
was overwhelmed with decrepitude even while engaged in performing his
sacrifices, and foregoing all the merits thereof, he fell asleep at
Girivraja. The Pandavas too regained their lost kingdom, of which they
had been deprived by the powerful sons of Dhritarashtra, not through the
intercession of the fates, but by recourse to their own valour. Do the
Munis of rigid vows, and devoted to the practice of austere penances,
denounce their curses with the aid of any supernatural power or by the
exercise of their own puissance attained by individual acts? All the good
which is attained with difficulty in this world is possessed by the
wicked, is soon lost to them. Destiny does not help the man that is
steeped in spiritual ignorance and avarice. Even as a fire of small
proportions, when fanned by the wind, becomes of mighty power, so does
Destiny, when joined with individual Exertion, increase greatly (in
potentiality). As with the diminution of oil in the lamp its light is
extinguished so does the influence of Destiny is lost if one's acts stop.
Having obtained vast wealth, and women and all the enjoyments of this
world, the man without action is unable to enjoy them long, but the
high-souled man, who is even diligent, is able to find riches buried deep
in the Earth and watched over by the fates. The good man who is prodigal
(in religious charities and sacrifices) is sought by the gods for his
good conduct, the celestial world being better than the world of men, but
the house of the miser though abounding in wealth is looked upon by the
gods as the house of dead. The man that does not exert himself is never
contented in this world nor can Destiny alter the course of a man that
has gone wrong. So there is no