and with your covetousness acting as clarified butter caused that fire to blaze forth, into consuming flames.  When that fire thus blazed forth thy sons fell into it like insects.  It behoveth thee not, however, to grieve for them now that they have all been burnt in the fire of the enemys arrow.  The tear-stained face, O king, which thou bearest now is not approved by the scriptures or praised by the wise.  These tears, like sparks of fire, burn the dead for whom they are shed.  Kill thy grief with thy intelligence, and bear thyself up with the strength of thy own self!  Thus was the king comforted by the high-souled Sanjaya.  Vidura then, O scorcher of foes, once again addressed the king, displaying great intelligence.”

2

Vaishampayana said, “Listen, O Janamejaya, to the nectar-like words that Vidura said unto the son of Vicitravirya and by which he gladdened that bull among men!

“Vidura said, Rise, O king!  Why art thou stretched on the earth?  Bear thyself up with thy own self.  O king, even this is the final end of all living creatures.  Everything massed together ends in destruction; everything that gets high is sure to fall down.  Union is certain to end in separation; life is sure to end in death.  The destroyer, O Bharata, drags both the hero and the coward.  Why then, O bull amongst Kshatriyas, should not Kshatriyas engage in battle?  He that does not fight is seen to escape with life.  When, however, ones time comes, O king, one cannot escape.  As regards living creatures, they are non-existent at first.  They exist in the period that intervenes.  In the end they once more become non-existent.  What matter of grief then is there in this?  The man that indulges in grief succeeds not in meeting with the dead.  By indulging in grief, one does not himself die.  When the course of the world is such, why dost thou indulge in sorrow?  Death drags all creatures, even the gods.  There is none dear or hateful to death, O best of the Kurus!  As the wind tears off the tops of all blades of grass, even so, O bull of Bharatas race, death overmasters all creatures.  All creatures are like members of a caravan bound for the same destination. (When death will encounter all) it matters very little whom he meets with first.  It behoveth thee not, O king, to grieve for those that have been slain in battle.  If the scriptures are any authority, all of them must have obtained the highest end.  All of them were versed in the Vedas; all of them had observed vows.  Facing the foe all of them have met with death.  What matter of sorrow is there in this?  Invisible they had been (before birth).  Having come from that unknown region, they have once more become invisible.  They are not thine, nor art thou theirs.  What grief then is there in such disappearance?  If slain, one wins heaven.  By slaying, fame is won.  Both these, with respect to us, are productive of great merit.  Battle, therefore, is not bootless.  No doubt, Indra will