SECTION XXXII

“Draupadi said, ’I do not ever disregard or slander religion, O son of Pritha!  Why should I disregard God, the lord of all creatures?  Afflicted with woe, know me, O Bharata, to be only raving I will once more indulge in lamentations; listen to me with attention.  O persecutor of all enemies, every conscious creature should certainly act in this world.  It is only the immobile, and not other creatures, that may live without acting.  The calf, immediately after its birth, sucketh the mothers’s teat.  Persons feel pain in consequence of incantations performed with their statues.  It seemeth, therefore, O Yudhishthira, that creatures derive the character of their lives from their acts of former lives.  Amongst mobile creatures man differeth in this respect that he aspireth, O bull of the Bharata race, to affect his course of life in this and the other world by means of his acts.  Impelled by the inspiration of a former life, all creatures visibly (reap) in this world the fruits of their acts.  Indeed, all creatures live according to the inspiration of a former life, even the Creator and the Ordainer of the universe, like a crane that liveth on the water (untaught by any one.) If a creature acteth not, its course of life is impossible.  In the case of a creature, therefore, there must be action and not inaction.  Thou also shouldest act, and not incur censure by abandoning action.  Cover thyself up, as with an armour, with action.  There may or may not be even one in a thousand who truly knoweth the utility of acts or work.  One must act for protecting as also increasing his wealth; for if without seeking to earn, one continueth to only spend, his wealth, even if it were a hoard huge as Himavat, would soon be exhausted.  All the creatures in the world would have been exterminated, if there were no action.  If also acts bore no fruits, creatures would never have multiplied.  It is even seen that creatures sometimes perform acts that have no fruits, for without acts the course of life itself would be impossible.  Those persons in the world who believe in destiny, and those again who believe in chance, are both the worst among men.  Those only that believe in the efficacy of acts are laudable.  He that lieth at ease, without activity, believing in destiny alone, is soon destroyed like an unburnt earthen pot in water.  So also he that believeth in chance, i.e. sitteth inactive though capable of activity liveth not long, for his life is one of weakness and helplessness.  If any person accidentally acquireth any wealth, it is said he deriveth it from chance, for no one’s effort hath brought about the result.  And, O son of Pritha, whatever of good fortune a person obtaineth in consequence of religious rites, that is called providential.  The fruit, however that a person obtaineth by acting himself, and which is the direct result of those acts of his, is regarded as proof of personal ability.  And, O best of men, know