Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/495

her tethered calf. And she beheld the Brahmana, with his wife, son, and daughter, sitting with a woeful face. And Kunti heard the Brahmana saying, 'O fie on this earthly life that is hollow as the reed and so fruitless after all, that is based on sorrow ad hath no freedom, and that hath misery for its lot! Life is sorrow and disease, life is truly a record of misery! The soul is one; but it hath to pursue virtue, wealth, and pleasure. And because these are pursued at one and the same time, there frequently occureth a disagreement that is the source of much misery. Some say that salvation is the highest object of our wishes. But I believe it can never be attained. The acquisition of wealth is hell: the pursuit of wealth is attended with misery; there is more misery after one hath acquired it. For one loveth his possessions, and if any mishap befalleth them the possessor becometh afflicted with woe. I do not see by what means I can escape from this danger, nor how I can fly hence with my wife to some region free from danger. "Remember, O wife, that I endeavoured to migrate to some other place where we could be happy. But thou didst not then listen to me! Though frequently: solicited by me, Thou, O simple woman, told me—I have been born here, and here have I grown old. This is my: ancestral homestead!—Thy venerable father, O wife, and thy mother also, had, a long time ago, ascended to heaven. Thy relations also had all been dead, O why then didst thou yet like to live here?' Led by affection for thy relatives thou didst not then hear what I said. But the time is now come when thou art to witness the death of a relative. O how sad is that spectacle for me! Or, perhaps, the time is come for my own death, for I shall never be able to abandon cruelly one of my own as long as I myself am alive! Thou art my helpmate in all good deeds, self-denying, and always affectionate to me as a mother. The gods have given thee to me as a true friend and thou art ever my chief stays Thou hast; by my: parents, been made the participator in my domestic concerns. Of pure lineage and good disposition, the mother of children, devoted to me, and so innocent, having chosen and wed