The Sudras amongst them have taken to the practice of penances. Some amongst them have begun to study, without making any rules for regulating their hours and food. Others have begun to study, making rules that are useless. Disciples have abstained from rendering obedience and service to preceptors. Preceptors again have come to treat disciples as friendly companions. Fathers and mothers are worn out with work, and have abstained from indulging in festivities. Parents in old age, divested of power over sons, have been forced to beg their food of the latter. Amongst them, even persons of wisdom, conversant with the Vedas, and resembling the ocean itself in gravity of deportment, have begun to betake themselves to agriculture and such other pursuits. Persons who are illiterate and ignorant have begun to be fed at Sraddhas.[864] Every morning, disciples, instead of approaching preceptors for making dutiful enquiries for ascertaining what acts awaited accomplishment and for seeking commissions which they are to discharge, are themselves waited upon by preceptors who discharge those functions. Daughters-in-law, in the presence of their husbands’ mothers and fathers, rebuke and chastise servants and maids, and summoning their husband’s lecture and rebuke them. Sires, with great care, seek to keep sons in good humour, or dividing through fear their wealth among children, live in woe and affliction.[865]
Even persons enjoying the friendship of the victims, beholding the latter deprived of wealth in conflagrations or by robbers or by the king, have begun to indulge in laughter from feelings of mockery. They have become ungrateful and unbelieving and sinful and addicted to adulterous congress with even the spouses of their preceptors. They have betaken themselves to eating forbidden food. They have transgressed all bounds and restraints. They have become divested of that splendour which had distinguished them before. In consequence of these and other indications of wicked conduct and the reversal of their former nature, I shall not, O chief of the gods, dwell among them any longer. I have, therefore, come to thee of my own accord. Receive me with respect, O lord of Sachi! Honoured by thee, O chief of the celestials, I shall receive honour from all other deities. There, where I reside, the seven other goddesses with Jaya for their eighth, who love me, who are inseparably associated with me, and who depend upon me, desire to live. They are Hope, Faith, Intelligence, Contentment, Victory, Advancement, and Forgiveness. She who forms the eighth, viz., Jaya, occupies the foremost place amongst them, O chastiser of Paka. All of them and myself, having deserted the Asuras, have come to thy domains. We shall henceforth reside among the deities who are devoted to righteousness and faith.
“After the goddess had said so, the celestial Rishi Narada, and Vasava, the slayer of Vritra, for gladdening her, offered her a joyful welcome. The god of wind,–that friend of Agni, then began to blow gently through heaven, bearing delicious odours, refreshing all creatures with whom he came into contact, and contributing to the felicity of every one of the senses. All the deities (hearing the news) assembled together in a pure and desirable spot and waited there in expectation of beholding Maghavat seated with Lakshmi beside him. Then the thousand-eyed chief of the gods, accompanied by Sree and his friend the great Rishi, and riding upon a splendid car drawn by green horses, came into that assembly of the celestials, receiving honour from all. Then the great Rishi Narada, whose prowess was known to all the celestials, observing a sign that the wielder of the thunderbolt made and which Sree herself approved of, welcomed the advent of the goddess there and proclaimed it as exceedingly auspicious. Heaven’s firmament became clear and bright and began to shower nectar upon the region of the self-born Grandsire. The celestial kettle-drums, though struck by none, began to beat, and all the points of the horizon, becoming clear, seemed ablaze with splendour. Indra began to pour rain upon crops that commenced to appear each at its proper season. No one then deviated from the path of righteousness.
The earth became adorned with many mines filled with jewels and gems, and the chant of Vedic recitations and other melodious sounds swelled up on the occasion of that triumph of the celestials. Human beings, endued with firm minds, and all adhering to the auspicious path that is trod by the righteous, began to take pleasure in Vedic and other religious rites and acts. Men and gods and Kinnaras and Yakshas and Rakshasas all became endued with prosperity and cheerfulness. Not a flower,–what need then be said of fruits,–dropped untimely from a tree even if the god of wind shook it with force. All the kine began to yield sweet milk whenever milked by men, and cruel and harsh words ceased to be uttered by any one. They who, from desire of advancement, approach before assemblies of Brahmanas, and read this narrative of the glorification of Sree by all the deities with Indra at their head, deities that are competent to grant every wish,–succeed in winning great prosperity. These then O chief of the Kurus, are the foremost indications of prosperity and adversity. Urged on by thee, I have told thee all. It behoves thee to bear thyself according to the instructions conveyed herein, understanding them after careful reflection!’
SECTION CCXXIX
“Yudhishthira said, ‘By what disposition, what course of duties, what knowledge, and what energy, does one succeed in attaining to Brahma which is immutable and which is beyond the reach of primordial nature.'[866]
“Bhishma said, ‘One that is engaged in the practice of the religion of nivritti, that eats abstemiously, and that has his senses under complete control, can attain to Brahma which is immutable and which is above primordial nature. In this connection is cited the old narrative, O Bharata, of the discourse between Jaigishavya and Asita. Once on a time Asita-Devala addressed Jaigishavya who was possessed of great wisdom and fully acquainted with the truths of duty and morality.’
“Devala said, ‘Thou art not gladdened when praised. Thou dost not give way to wrath when blamed or censured. What, indeed, is thy wisdom? Whence hast thou got it? And what, indeed, is the refuge of that wisdom?’
“Bhishma said, ‘Thus questioned by Devala, the pure Jaigishavya of austere penances, said those words of high import, fraught with full faith and profound sense.’
“Jaigishavya said, ‘O foremost of Rishis, I shall tell thee of that which is the highest end, that which is the supreme goal, that which is tranquillity, in the estimation of all persons of righteous acts. They, O Devala, who behave uniformly towards those that praise them and those that blame them, they who conceal their own vows and good acts, they who never indulge in recriminations, they who never say even what is good when it is calculated to injure (instead of producing any benefit), they who do not desire to return injury for injury received, are said to be men possessed of wisdom.[867] They never grieve for what is yet to come. They are concerned with only what is before them and acts as they should. They never indulge in sorrow for what is past or even call it to their minds. Possessed of power and regulated minds, they do at their pleasure, according to the way in which it should be done, what waits for them to do in respect of all objects, O Devala, if solicited regardfully thereto.[868] Of mature knowledge, of great wisdom, with wrath under complete control, and with their passions kept under sway, they never do an injury to any one in thought, word, or deed. Destitute of envy, they never injure others, and possessed of self-control, they are never pained at the sight of other people’s prosperity. Such men never indulge in exaggerated speeches, or set themselves in praising others, or in speaking ill of them.
They are again never affected by praise and blame uttered by others in respect of them. They are tranquil in respect of all their desires, and are engaged in the good of all creatures. They never give way to wrath, or indulge in transports of joy, or injure any creature. Untying all the knots of their hearts, they pass on very happily. They have no friends nor are they the friends of others. They have no foes nor are they the foes of other creatures. Indeed, men that can live in this way can pass their days for ever in happiness. O best of regenerate ones, they who acquire a knowledge of the rules of morality and righteousness, and who observe those rules in practice, succeed in winning joy, while they who fall off from the path of righteousness are afflicted by anxieties and sorrow. I have now betaken myself to the path of righteousness. Decried by others, why shall I get annoyed with them, or praised by others, why shall I be pleased? Let men obtain whatsoever objects they please from whatsoever pursuits in which they engage themselves. (I am indifferent to acquisitions and losses). Praise and blame are unable to contribute to my advancement or the reverse. He that has understood the truths of things becomes gratified with even disregard as if it were ambrosia. The man of wisdom is truly annoyed with regard as if it were poison. He who is freed from all faults sleeps fearlessly both here and hereafter even if insulted by others. On the other hand, he who insults him, suffers destruction. Those men of wisdom who seek to attain to the highest end, succeed in obtaining it by observing conduct such as this. The man who has vanquished all his senses is regarded to have performed all the sacrifices. Such a person attains to the highest rung, viz., that of Brahma, which is eternal and which transcends the reach of primordial nature. The very gods, the Gandharvas, the Pisachas, and the Rakshasas, cannot reach the rung which is his who has attained to the highest end.'”
