SECTION IX

“Yudhishthira said, ’For a little while, O Arjuna, concentrate thy attention and fix thy mind and hearing on thy inner soul.  If thou listenest to my words in such a frame of mind, they will meet with thy approbation.  Abandoning all worldly pleasures, I shall betake myself to that path which is trod by the righteous.  I shall not, for thy sake, tread along the path thou recommendest.  If thou askest me what path is auspicious that one should tread alone, I shall tell thee.  If thou dost not desire to ask me, I shall yet, unasked by thee, tell thee of it.  Abandoning the pleasures and observance of men of the world, engaged in performing the austerest of penances, I shall wander in the forest, with the animals that have their home there, living on fruit and roots.  Pouring libations on the:  fire at due hours, and performing ablutions at morn and eve, I shall thin myself by reduced diet, and covering myself with skins, bear matted locks on my head.  Enduring cold, wind, and heat as also hunger and thirst and toil, I shall emaciate my body by penances as laid down in the ordinance.  Charming to the heart and the ear, I shall daily listen to the clear strains of, cheerful birds and animals residing in the woods.  I shall enjoy the fragrance of flower-burthened trees and creepers, and see diverse kinds of charming products that grow in the forest.  I shall also see many excellent recluses of the forest.  I shall not do the slightest injury to any creature, what need be said then of those that dwell in villages and towns?[10] Leading a retired life and devoting myself to contemplation, I shall live upon ripe and unripe fruits and gratify the Pitris and the deities with offerings of wild fruits and spring water and grateful hymns.  Observing in this way the austere regulations of a forest life, I shall pass my days, calmly awaiting the dissolution of my body.  Or, living alone and observing the vow of taciturnity, with my head shaved clean, I shall derive my sustenance by begging each day of only one tree.[11] Smearing my body with ashes, and availing of the shelter of abandoned houses, or lying at the foot of trees, I shall live, casting off all things dear or hateful.  Without indulging in grief or joy, and regarding censure and applause, hope and affliction, equally, and prevailing over every couple of opposites, I shall live casting off all the things of the world.  Without conversing with anybody, I shall assume the outward form of a blind and deaf idiot, while living in contentment and deriving happiness from my own soul.  Without doing the least injury to the four kinds of movable and immovable creatures, I shall behave equally towards all creatures whether mindful of their duties or following only the dictates of the senses.  I shall not jeer at any one, nor shall I frown at anybody.  Restraining all my senses, I shall always be of a cheerful face.  Without asking anybody about the way, proceeding along