"You are now a king of great power and prosperity, enjoying the reward of your good actions; put from you the transitory pleasures, and enter the order for the sake of the highest good ! (20)

"He who in this life has done no good actions and has not practised the Law, repents of it in the next world when he has become a prey to Death. (21)

"As a lion takes hold of an antelope, so Death leads off a man in his last hour; neither mother, nor father, nor brother will, at that time, save a particle (of his life). (22)

"Neither his kinsmen, nor his friends, nor his sons, nor his relations will share his suffering, he alone has to bear it; for the Karman follows the doer. (23)

"Leaving behind bipeds and quadrupeds, his fields, his house, his wealth, his corn, and everything;

against his will, and accompanied only by his Karman , he enters a new existence, either a good or a bad one. (24)

"When they have burned with fire on the funeral pile his forlorn, helpless corpse, his wife and sons and kinsfolk will choose another man to provide for them. (25)

"Life drags on (towards death) continuously ; old age carries off the vigour of man. King of the Pankalas, mark my words: do no fearful actions." (26)

'I, too, know just as well as you, O saint, what you have told me in your speech: pleasures will get a hold on men and are not easily abandoned by such as we are, sir. (27)

'O Kitra, in Hastinapura I saw the powerful king (Sanatkumara), and I took that sinful resolution in my desire for sensual pleasures. (28)

And since I did not repent of it, this has come of it, that I still long for sensual pleasures, though I know the Law. (29)

'As an elephant, sinking down in a quagmire,

sees the raised ground but does not get to the shore, so do we who long for sensual pleasures, not follow the path of monks. (30)

'Time elapses and quickly pass the days; the pleasures of men are not permanent; they come to a man and leave him just as a bird leaves a tree void of fruit.' (31)

"If you are unable to abandon pleasure, then do noble actions, O king; following the Law, have compassion on all creatures: then you will become a god on entering a new existence. (32)

"If you have no intention of abandoning pleasure, and still long for undertakings and property, my long talk has been to no purpose. I go, king, farewell." (33)

And Brahmadatta, king of the Pankalas, did not act on the counsel of the saint; he enjoyed the highest pleasure, and (afterwards) sank into the deepest hell. (34)

But Kitra the great sage, of excellent conduct and penance, was indifferent to pleasure; after he had practised the highest self-control, he reached the highest place of perfection. (35)

Thus I say.

Footnotes