And love contempt, as if he quaffed

A sweet celestial nectar-draught.

Though scorned, the wise man sweetly sleeps;
Though scorned, he ever calmly wakes;
And scorned, this course he calmly keeps;
But woe the scorner overtakes.

XCIV. The real ascetics.

b

Mahabharata iii. 13448 f.; xii. 343 ff.; xii. 2979.

The high-souled men who never sin

In thought, or word, or action—they,
They are the true ascetics: pray,

What virtue's in a shrivelled skin?

XCV. The recluse less meritorious than virtuous men who live in the world.

Mahabharata xii. 12126.

From every vicious taint though pure,

A hermit's virtue cannot vie

With theirs who ne'er from trials fly,

But face, and conquer, every lure.

XCVI. Retirement from the world not necessary for self-control.

Mahabharata xii. 5961; (Comp. v. 1680.)

Why, pray, to forests wild repair,
There war against thy senses wage?
Where dwells the self-subduing sage,
The wood, the hermit's cell, is there.

XCVII. Bhima's Condemnation of Premature Asceticism.

Mahābhārata xii. 293 ff.

When old and grey, when strength decays,

By foes when crushed, in evil days,

From fortune's heights when downward hurled,—
Yes, then let men renounce the world;

But not in days of youth and health,

When crowned with glory, blest with wealth.

Those scripture texts which praise as best

A life ascetic, lone, unblest,

Dragged sadly on in gloomy woods,

And dreary, doleful solitudes,

Are fictions hatched in squalid schools

By needy unbelieving fools,

Which look like truth, but proved, are found
To rest on no substantial ground.

To savage beasts it is not given
By forest life to merit heaven;
Yet this same life, by hermits led,
Their future bliss ensures, 'tis said!

When men no pleasure feel, nor pain,
A state of stupid torpor gain.
They then have reached perfection, rise
To heaven, so say the would-be wise.
But should not trees,-if this be true,-
And boulders, gain perfection too?
For they are calm and torpid, feel
Nor pain nor pleasure, woe nor weal;
They dread no want, they seek no ease,
Like self-tormenting devotees.

Abandon, then, thy vain design;
By kingly virtues seek to shine.

See how by acts all mortals strive

Their ends to gain, through effort thrive.
Inaction ne'er perfection brings ;

From strenuous deeds alone it springs.

XCVIII. that determines the Character of Actions.
Mahābhārata xii. 4094.

"Tis from the soul, the man within,
That actions all their value win;

No outward state, whate'er it be,
Affects an action's quality.

Would he not sin, a Brahman sage
Who slew within a hermitage?

Bring gifts no fruit, howe'er profuse,
Unless bestowed by a recluse?

XCIX. The inefficacy of mere theological knowledge.
Mahabharata v. 1623.

No varied store of sacred texts has power
To save the man in guile and fraud expert;

His lore forsakes him in his final hour,

As birds, full-fledged, their native nests desert.

C. Austerities and rites unavailing without inward purity.
Mahābhārata iii. 13445.

The triple staff, long matted hair,
A squalid garb of skins or bark,
A vow of silence, meagre fare,
All signs the devotee that mark,
And all the round of rites are vain,
Unless the soul be pure from stain.

CI. Truth better than sacrifice.

Mahabharata i. 3094 ff.; xii. 6002; xiii. 3650 ff.

By weighing truth and sacrifice appraise,
A thousand sacrifices truth outweighs.

CII. The Same.

Mahābhārata xiii. 1544; (Comp. xiii. 6073 ff).

In one scale truth, in the other lay
A thousand Aśvamedhas; try;

I doubt if all that pile so high,

Even half as much as truth would weigh.

CIII. Results of Truth and Falschood.
Satapatha Brāhmaṇa ii. 2, 2, 19.

Those noble men who falsehood dread,
In wealth and glory ever grow,

As flames with greater brightness glow,
With oil in ceaseless flow when fed.

But like to flames with water drenched,
Which, faintly flickering, die away,
So liars day by day decay,

Till all their lustre soon is quenched.

CIV. Sweet savour of Good Deeds: Falsehood to be shunned.

Taittiriya Aranyaka x. 9.

As far and wide the vernal breeze
Sweet odours wafts from blooming trees,

So, too, the grateful savour speeds
To distant lands of virtuous deeds.

As one expert in daring feats
Athwart a pit a sword who lays,
And walking on its edge essays

The chasm to cross, but soon retreats,
With cries, afraid to fall below,
And trembling stands upon the brink,-
So let a man from falsehood shrink,
And guard himself from future woe.

CV. Loss of Dirtue the only real Loss.

Mahabharata v. 1289.

Thy virtue guard at any cost.

Wealth none can trust; it comes and goes:

The good survive misfortune's blows;

But virtue lost, and all is lost.

CVI. The Righteous always Prosper.

Mahabharata v. 1381; 1223 (comp. v. 4157 ff.).

Whoe'er would wealth abundant earn,

Should first to practise virtue learn.
Success on goodness always waits,

As nectar aye the blessed sates.

CVII. Righteousness more valuable than Riches.

Mahabharata xii. 9810.

Wealth little satisfaction brings :

The highest bliss from virtue springs.