In Book 11, Section 2, Vidura is trying to console
Dhrithrashtra after the loss of all his sons, grandsons and the army in the
battle. Vidura says: “Every living thing has to die. What is the use of
grieving over the inevitable? Everything that is put together ends in
destruction. Anything that goes up has to come down. Union is bound to end in
separation. Life is sure to end in death. The ultimate destroyer will drag down
the hero and the coward.”
Living creatures are not existent before they appear, exist
for a short period and then become non-existent again. What is the use of
grief? You cannot meet with the dead just by grieving. All creatures are like
members of a caravan bound to the same destination. But no one knows who will
meet with death first. For the Ksahtriya, death in the battlefield is glorious.
“Birth and death are common and universal. There are many
reasons for fear and sorrow. But the wise do not get carried away. Time does
not favor one over another. No one is dear or hateful to Time. Time is
indifferent to none. All get dragged equally by Time. Time causes everything to
grow and then destroys everything. Time is awake when everything else is
sleeping. It is irresistible. It causes the end of youth, beauty, life and
possessions. A wise one therefore is not attached to anything and does not
grieve over anything. By indulging in grief, one gets weaker. Grief does not
lead us to enlightenment. If grief grips you, counteract by not indulging it.
One cannot lessen grief by dwelling on it. It only grows with indulgence. One
loses purpose and goal in life by excessive grief”.
“You know that this grief was brought on by your own faults.
You were too attached to your sons and did not control them when you should
have. There is no use grieving now. Get up and do what you can to appease the
souls of the dead”.
Going further, Vidura tells Dhrithrashtra a parable of a man
who runs hither and thither in a wilderness and enters a forest at the entrance
to which stands a large and gruesome-looking woman. The forest is full of
beasts of prey. The man runs and falls into a pit. There is an elephant with 6
heads and 12 feet at the entrance to the pit. The man falls into the pit and
hangs upside down on the branches of a creeper. The creeper clings to a tree
whose roots are being chewed by rats. There are snakes all over. There are bees
swarming to drink the honey from the flowers. The flowers spew honey which the
man licks but it is not able to quench his thirst. (Amazingly, Tolstoy uses
this fable in his book on “What I believe”!)
Dhrithrashtra asks for the meaning of the parable. Vidura
says that the wilderness represents this world of ours. The forest stands for
one’s limited life. The beasts of prey are the diseases which afflict man and
the ugly, large woman is decrepitude which destroys one’s body. The pit is the
physical body and the snakes stand for Time, the ultimate destroyer. The
creepers on which the man was hanging stand for one’s desire for life. The
elephant is the year (time) with 12 feet or months and 6 faces or seasons. The
rats gnawing through the roots of the tree of life are the days and nights
which diminish the duration of our lives. Finally, the bees are our human
desires and the honey is the transient happiness we obtain through gratification of
desires. Vidura says that one should understand these facts of life, birth and
death, diseases and desires and go beyond this impermanent life.
Vidura compares the body to a car and calls its driver as
the Living Principle. The senses are the steeds. He says that people who let
the horses run without control have to come back again and again into the cycle
of samsara; but those who know how to control the horses attain liberation. The
man who restrains his senses, controls his passions and who is contended and
truthful attains liberation.
Vidura uses an interesting metaphor in Sloka 19 of Section 7
(Book 11). He says that dama (self control), tyaga (letting go) and apramaada
(heedfulness) are the three horses that lead the car of Brahman. If you equate
“heedfulness”” with “mindfulness”, this is what Buddha also taught.
The next sloka is also interesting. It says: “The “self” is
dear to every one of us. None of the creatures wish to die. Therefore, we
should be compassionate to all creatures”.
This is absolutely simple logic. Why is it so difficult to practice? If
your life is precious to you, why is it so difficult for you to understand that
my life is precious to me? Why do you wish to hurt me?
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