The Light of Asia - Book the Fifth

The Light of Asia Home Page Book the Sixth

read

Round Rajagriha five fair hills arose,
Guarding King Bimbisāra's sylvan wooded⁰¹ town:
Baibhāra, Some of these mountains have different names in Pāḷi where they are known as: Vebhāra, Vipullā, Paṇḍava, Gijjhakūṭa (= Sailāgiri here), and Isigili⁰² green with lemon-grass and palms;
Bipulla, at whose foot thin Sarsuti a river by that name⁰³
Steals Runs, archaic⁰⁴ with warm ripple; shadowy Tapovan,
Whose streaming pools mirror black rocks, which ooze
Sovereign earth-butter from their rugged roofs;
South-east the vulture-peak Sailāgiri;
And eastward Ratnagiri, hill of gems.
A winding track, paven with footworn slabs,
Leads thee, by safflower A thistle-like plane, Bot: Carthamus Tinctorius, whose flowers are used for making dye (false saffron)⁰⁵ fields and bamboo tufts
Under dark mangoes and the jujube-trees, Bot.: Ziziphus jujaba, also known as Chinese date⁰⁶
Past milk-white veins of rock and jasper red quarz⁰⁷ crags,
Low cliff and flats of jungle-flowers, to where
The shoulder of that mountain, sloping west,
O'erhangs a cave with wild figs canopied. covered⁰⁸
Lo! thou who comest thither, bare thy feet
And bow thy head! for all this spacious earth
Hath not a spot more dear and hallowed. Here
Lord Buddha sate the scorching summers through,
The driving rains, the chilly dawns and eves;
Wearing for all men's sakes the yellow robe,
Eating in beggar's guise dress⁰⁹ the scanty meal
Chance-gathered from the charitable; at night
Crouched on the grass, homeless, alone; while yelped
The sleepless jackals round his cave, or coughs
Of famished tiger from the thicket broke.
By day and night here dwelt the World-honoured,
Subduing that fair body born for bliss
With fast and frequent watch and search intense
Of silent meditation, so prolonged
That ofttimes while he mused—as motionless
As the fixed rock his seat—the squirrel leaped
Upon his knee, the timid quail led forth
Her brood between his feet, and blue doves pecked
The rice-grains from the bowl beside his hand.
Thus would he muse from noontide—when the land
Shimmered with heat, and walls and temples danced
In the reeking air—till sunset, noting not
The blazing globe roll down, nor evening glide,
Purple and swift, across the softened fields;
Nor the still coming of the stars, nor throb
Of drum-skins in the busy town, nor screech
Of owl and night-jar; both nocturnal birds¹⁰ wholly wrapt = rapt, enraptured¹¹ from self
In keen unravelling of the threads of thought
And steadfast pacing of life's labyrinths.
Thus would he sit till midnight hushed the world,
Save where the beasts of darkness in the brake overgrown fields¹²
Crept and cried out, as fear and hatred cry,
As lust and avarice, and anger creep
In the black jungles of man's ignorance.
Then slept he for what space the fleet quick¹³ moon asks
To swim a tenth part of her cloudy sea;
But rose ere the False-dawn, and stood again
Wistful Sad and thoughtful¹⁴ on some dark platform of his hill,
Watching the sleeping earth with ardent eyes
And thoughts embracing all its living things;
While o'er the waving fields that murmur moved
Which is the kiss of Morn waking the lands,
And in the east that miracle of Day
Gathered Increased¹⁵ and grew. At first a dusk so dim
Night seems still unaware of whispered dawn,
But soon—before the jungle-cock crows twice—
A white verge clear, a widening, brightening white,
High as the herald-star, Venus¹⁶ which fades in floods
Of silver, warming into pale gold, caught
By topmost clouds, and flaming on their rims
To fervent golden glow, flushed from the brink
With saffron, scarlet, crimson, amethyst;
Whereat the sky burns splendid to the blue,
And, robed in raiment of glad light, the King
Of Life and Glory cometh!
Then our Lord,
After the manner of a Rishi, Seer, Sage¹⁷ hailed
The rising orb, the Sun¹⁸ and went—ablutions made—
Down by the winding path unto the town;
And in the fashion of a Rishi passed
From street to street, with begging-bowl in hand,
Gathering the little pittance share or allowance¹⁹ of his needs.
Soon was it filled, for all the townsmen cried,
“Take of our store, great sir!” and “Take of ours!”
Marking his godlike face and eyes enwrapt; enraptured²⁰
And mothers, when they saw our Lord go by,
Would bid their children fall to kiss his feet,
And lift his robe's hem to their brows, or run
To fill his jar, and fetch him milk and cakes
And ofttimes as he paced, gentle and slow,
Radiant with heavenly pity, lost in care
For those he knew not, save as fellow-lives,
The dark surprised eyes of some Indian maid
Would dwell in sudden love and worship deep
On that majestic form, as if she saw
Her dreams of tenderest thought made true, and grace
Fairer than mortal fire her breast. But he
Passed onward with the bowl and yellow robe,
By mild speech paying all those gifts of hearts,
Wending his way back to the solitudes
To sit upon his hill with holy men,
And hear and ask of wisdom and its roads.
Midway on Ratnagiri's groves of calm,
Beyond the city, but below the caves,
Lodged such as hold the body foe to soul,
And flesh a beast which men must chain and tame
With bitter pains, till sense of pain is killed,
And tortured nerves vex torturer no more—

Yogis and Brahmachāris, Bhikshus, Those engaged in Yoga practices, and celibates, students of the Veda. Bhikshus here means those who rely on alms (bhikṣa), not Buddhist monks²¹ all
A gaunt and mournful band, dwelling apart,
Some day and night had stood with lifted arms,
Till—drained of blood and withered by disease—
Their slowly-wasting joints and stiffened limbs
Jutted from sapless dried up²² shoulders like dead forks
From forest trunks. Others had clenched their hands
So long and with so fierce a fortitude, and with such strength²³
The claw-like nails grew through the festered palm.
Some walked on sandals spiked; some with sharp flints
Gashed breast and brow and thigh, scarred these with fire,
Threaded their flesh with jungle thorns and spits,
Besmeared with mud and ashes, crouching foul
In rags of dead men wrapped about their loins.
Certain there were inhabited the spots
Where death-pyres smouldered, cowering defiled
With corpses for their company, and kites
Screaming around them o'er the funeral-spoils:
Certain who cried five hundred times a day
The names of Shiva, wound with darting snakes v.l.: knit with hissing snakes²⁴
About their sun-tanned necks and hollow flanks,
One palsied foot drawn up against the ham.
So gathered they, a grievous company;
Crowns blistered by the blazing heat, eyes bleared,
Sinews and muscles shrivelled, visages faces²⁵
Haggard and wan pale²⁶ as slain men's, five days' dead;
Here crouched one in the dust who noon by noon
Meted a thousand grains of millet out,
Ate it with famished patience, seed by seed,
And so starved on; there one who bruised his pulse
With bitter leaves lest palate should be pleased;
And next, a miserable saint self-maimed,
Eyeless and tongueless, sexless, crippled, deaf;
The body by the mind being thus stripped
For glory of much suffering, and the bliss
Which they shall win—say holy books—whose woe
Shames gods that send us woe, and makes men gods
Stronger to suffer than Hell is to harm.
Whom sadly eyeing spake our Lord to one,
Chief of the woe-begones: “Much-suffering sir!
These many moons I dwell upon the hill—
Who am a seeker of the Truth—and see
My brothers here, and thee, so piteously
Self-anguished; wherefore add ye ills to life
Which is so evil?”
Answer made the sage:
“'Tis written if a man shall mortify
His flesh, till pain be grown the life he lives
And death voluptuous rest, such woes shall purge
Sin's dross away, and the soul, purified,
Soar from the furnace of its sorrow, winged
For glorious spheres and splendour past all thought.”
“Yon cloud which floats in heaven,” the Prince replied,
“Wreathed like gold cloth around your Indra's throne
Rose thither from the tempest-driven sea;
But it must fall again in tearful drops,
Trickling through rough and painful water-ways
By cleft and nullah ravine or gully²⁷ and the muddy flood,
To Gunga and the sea, wherefrom it sprang.
Know'st thou, my brother, if it be not thus,
After their many pains, with saints in bliss?
Since that which rises falls, and that which buys
Is spent; and if ye buy heav'n with your blood
In hell's hard market, when the bargain's through
The toil begins again!”
“It may begin,”
The hermit moaned. “Alas! we know not this,
Nor surely anything; yet after night
Day comes and after turmoil peace, and we
Hate this accursed flesh which clogs prevents²⁸ the soul
That fain gladly²⁹ would rise; so, for the sake of soul,
We stake brief agonies in game with Gods
To gain the larger joys.”
“Yet if they last
A myriad thousand³⁰ years,” he said, “they fade at length,
Those joys; or if not, is there then some life
Below, above, beyond, so unlike life
It will not change? Speak! do your Gods endure
For ever, brothers?”
“Nay,” the Yogis said,
“Only great Brahm endures: the Gods but live.
Then spake Lord Buddha: “Will ye, being wise,
As ye seem holy and strong-hearted ones,
Throw these sore dice, which are your groans and moans,
For gains which may be dreams, and must have end?
Will ye, for love of soul, so loathe hate³¹ your flesh,
So scourge and maim it, that it shall not serve
To bear the spirit on, searching for home,
But flounder stumble³² on the track before nightfall,
Like willing steed o'er-spurred? Will ye, sad sirs,
Dismantle and dismember this fair house,
Where we have come to dwell by painful pasts;
Whose windows give us light—the little light—
Whereby we gaze abroad to know if dawn
Will break, and whither winds the better road?”
Then cried they, “We have chosen this for road
And tread it, Rajaputra, till the close—
Though all its stones were fire—in trust of death.
Speak, if thou know'st a way more excellent;
If not, peace go with thee!”
Onward he passed,
Exceeding sorrowful, seeing how men
Fear so to die they are afraid to fear,
Lust so to live they dare not love their life,
But plague it with fierce penances, belike perhaps³³
To please the Gods who grudge pleasure to man:
Belike to baulk avoid³⁴ hell by self-kindled lit by self³⁵ hells;
Belike in holy madness, hoping soul
May break the better through their wasted flesh.
“Oh, flowerets of the field!” Siddārtha said,
“Who turn your tender faces to the sun—
Glad of the light, and grateful with sweet breath
Of fragrance and these robes of reverence donned
Silver and gold and purple—none of ye
Miss perfect living, none of ye despoil
Your happy beauty. Oh, ye palms! which rise
Eager to pierce the sky and drink the wind
Blown from Malaya and the cool blue seas,
What secret know ye that ye grow content,
From time of tender shoot to time of fruit,
Murmuring such sun-songs from your feathered crowns?
Ye, too, who dwell so merry in the trees—
Quick-darting parrots, bee-birds, bulbuls, doves—
None of ye hate your life, none of ye deem
To strain to better by foregoing needs!
But man, who slays ye—being lord—is wise,
And wisdom, nursed on blood, cometh thus forth
In self-tormentings!”
While the Master spake
Blew down the moment the dust of pattering feet,
White goats and black sheep winding slow their way,
With many a lingering nibble at the tufts,
And wanderings from the path, where water gleamed
Or wild figs hung. But always as they strayed
The herdsman cried, or slung his sling, and kept
The silly crowd foolish flock³⁶ still moving to the plain.
A ewe with couplets in the flock there was,
Some hurt had lamed one lamb, which toiled behind
Bleeding, while in the front its fellow skipped,
And the vexed dam distressed mother³⁷ hither and thither ran,
Fearful to lose this little one or that
Which when our Lord did mark, full tenderly
He took the limping lamb upon his neck,
Saying, “Poor woolly mother, be at peace!
Whither thou goest I will bear thy care;
'Twere all as good to ease one beast of grief
As sit and watch the sorrows of the world
In yonder caverns with the priests who pray.”
“But,”spake he to the herdsmen, “wherefore, friends
Drive ye the flocks adown under high noon.
Since 'tis at evening that men fold their sheep?” Parpahrase: Since it is at evening that men bring their sheep to the fold³⁸
And answer gave the peasants: “We are sent
To fetch a sacrifice of goats five-score, i.e. one hundred³⁹
And five-score sheep, the which our Lord the King
Slayeth this night in worship of his gods.”
Then said the Master “I will also go!”
So paced he patiently, bearing the lamb
Beside the herdsmen in the dust and sun
The wistful sad, thoughtful⁴⁰ ewe low-bleating at his feet.
Whom, when they came unto the river-side
A woman—dove-eyed, young, with tearful face
And lifted hands—saluted, bending low: This famous story about Kisāgotamī and her child is normally placed after the Awakening⁴¹
“Lord! thou art he,” she said, “who yesterday
Had pity on me in the fig-grove here,
Where I live lone and reared my child; but he
Straying amid the blossoms found a snake,
Which twined about his wrist, whilst he did laugh
And tease the quick-forked tongue and opened mouth
Of that cold playmate. But, alas! ere long
He turned so pale and still; I could not think
Why he should cease to play and let my breast
Fall from his lips. And one said, ‘He is sick
Of poison'; and another, ‘He will die’.
But I, who could not lose my precious boy,
Prayed of them physic, medicine, archaic⁴² which might bring the light
Back to his eyes; it was so very small,
That kiss-mark of the serpent, and I think
It could not hate him, gracious as he was,
Nor hurt him in his sport. And some one said,
There is a holy man upon the hill—
Lo! now he passeth in the yellow robe—
Ask of the Rishi if there be a cure
For that which ails thy son.’ Whereon I came
Trembling to thee, whose brow is like a god's,
And wept and drew the face-cloth from my babe,
Praying thee tell what simples medicines, archaic⁴³ might be good.
And thou, great sir! didst spurn me not, but gaze
With gentle eyes and touch with patient hand;
Then draw the face-cloth back, saying to me,
‘Yea! little sister, there is that might heal
Thee first, and him, if thou couldst fetch the thing;
For they who seek physicians bring to them
What is ordained. Therefore, I pray thee, find
Black mustard-seed, a tola; Lit: a weight, said now to be equal to 11.7 grams⁴⁴ only mark
Thou take it not from any hand or house
Where father, mother, child, or slave hath died:
It shall be well if thou canst find such seed.’
Thus didst thou speak, my Lord!
The Master smiled
Exceeding tenderly. “Yea! I spake thus,
Dear Kisagōtami! But dist thou find
the seed?”
“I went, Lord, clasping to my breast
The babe, grown colder, asking at each hut—
Here in the jungle and towards the town—
‘I pray you, give me mustard, of your grace,
A tola—black'; and each who had it gave,
For all the poor are piteous to the poor;
But when I asked, ‘In my friend's household here
Hath any peradventure perhaps⁴⁵ ever died—
Husband, or wife, or child, or slave?” they said:
‘O Sister! what is this you ask? the dead
Are very many, and the living few!’
So with sad thanks I gave the mustard back,
And prayed of others; but the others said,
‘Here is the seed, but we have lost our slave!’
‘Here is the seed, but our good man is dead!’
‘Here is some seed, but he that sowed it died
Between the rain-time and the harvesting!’
Ah, sir! I could not find a single house
Where there was mustard-seed and none had died!
Therefore I left my child—who would not suck
Nor smile—beneath the wild-vines by the stream,
To seek thy face and kiss thy feet, and pray
Where I might find this seed and find no death,
If now, indeed, my baby be not dead,
As I do fear, and as they said to me.”
“My sister! thou hast found,” the Master said,
“Searching for what none finds—that bitter balm
I had to give thee. He thou lovedst slept
Dead on thy bosom yesterday: to-day
Thou know'st the whole wide world weeps with thy woe:
The grief which all hearts share grows less for one.
Lo! I would pour my blood if it could stay
Thy tears and win the secret of that curse
Which makes sweet love our anguish, and which drives
O'er flowers and pastures to the sacrifice—
As these dumb beasts are driven—men their lords.
I seek that secret: bury thou the child!”
So entered they the city side by side,
The herdsmen and the Prince, what time the sun
Gilded slow Sona's distant stream, and threw
Long shadows down the street and through the gate
Where the King's men kept watch. But when these saw
Our Lord bearing the lamb, the guards stood back,
The market-people drew their wains wagons⁴⁶ aside,
In the bazaar buyers and sellers stayed
The war of tongues to gaze on that mild face;
The smith, with lifted hammer in his hand,
Forgot to strike; the weaver left his web,
The scribe his scroll, the money-changer lost
His count of cowries; shells used for counting⁴⁷ from the unwatched rice
Shiva's white bull fed free; the wasted milk
Ran oe'r the lota pot (Hindi)⁴⁸ while the milkers watched
The passage of our Lord moving so meek,
With yet so beautiful a majesty.
But most the women gathering in the doors
Asked, “Who is this that brings the sacrifice
So graceful and peace-giving as he goes?
What is his caste? whence hath he eyes so sweet!
Can he be Sākra or the Devaraj?”
And others said, “It is the holy man
Who dwelleth with the Rishis on the hill.”
But the Lord paced, in meditation lost,
Thinking, “Alas! for all my sheep which have
No shepherd; wandering in the night with none
To guide them; bleating blindly towards the knife
Of Death, as these dumb beasts which are their kin.”
Then some one told the King, “There cometh here
A holy hermit, bringing down the flock
Which thou didst bid to crown thy sacrifice.”
The King stood in his hall of offering,
On either hand the white-robed Brahmans ranged, stood⁴⁹
Muttered their mantras, The Vedic sacrificial hymns⁵⁰ feeding still the fire
Which roared upon the midmost altar. There
From scented woods flickered bright tongues of flame,
Hissing and curling as they licked the gifts
Of ghee and spices and the Soma juice, Bot.: Avestan haoma, the juice of which was the most important ingredient in Vedic sacrificial offerings and formed the beverage of the gods⁵¹
The joy of Indra. Round about the pile
A slow, thick, scarlet streamlet smoked and ran,
Sucked by the sand, but ever rolling down,
The blood of bleating victims. One such lay,
A spotted goat, long-horned, its head bound back
With munja grass; Munja grass (Bot.: Saccharum, Bengal cane) is used for ropes and baskets⁵² at its stretched throat the knife
Pressed by a priest, who murmured, “This, dread gods,
Of many yajnas Sacrifices⁵³ cometh as the crown
From Bimbisāra King of Magadha⁵⁴ take ye joy to see
The spirted blood, the blood gushing out⁵⁵ and pleasure in the scent
Of rich flesh roasting 'mid the fragrant flames
Let the King's sins be laid upon this goat,
And let the fire consume them burning it,
For now I strike.”
But Buddha softly said,
“Let him not strike, great King!” and therewith loosed
The victim's bonds, none staying him, so great
His presence was. Then, craving leave, he spake
Of life, which all can take but none can give,
Life, which all creatures love and strive to keep,
Wonderful, dear, and pleasant unto each,
Even to the meanest; yea, a boon blessing⁵⁶ to all
Where pity is, for pity makes the world
Soft to the weak and noble for the strong.
Unto the dumb lips of his flock he lent
Sad pleading words, showing how man, who prays
For mercy to the gods, is merciless,
Being as god to those; albeit all life
Is linked and kin, and what we slay have given
Meek tribute share⁵⁷ of the milk and wool, and set
Fast trust upon the hands which murder them.
Also he spake of what the holy books
Do surely teach, how that at death some sink
To bird and beast; and these rise up to man
In wanderings of the spark which grows purged flame. Paraphrase: and these rise up to man in the journeys which the spark of life undergoes as it develops⁵⁸
So were the sacrifice new sin, if so
The fated passage of a soul be stayed.
Nor, spake he, shall one wash his spirit clean
By blood; nor gladden gods, being good, with blood
Nor bribe them, being evil; nay, nor lay
Upon the brow of innocent bound beasts
One hair's weight of that answer all must give
For all things done amiss mistakenly⁵⁹ or wrongfully,
Alone, each for himself, reckoning with that
The fixed arithmic arithmetic⁶⁰ of the universe,
Which meteth gives, archaic⁶¹ good for good and ill for ill,
Measure for measure, unto deeds, words, thoughts;
Watchful, aware, implacable, unmoved;
Making all futures fruits of all the pasts.
Thus spake he, breathing words so piteous,
With such high lordliness of ruth sympathy⁶² and right,
The priests drew down their garments o'er the hands
Crimsoned with slaughter, and the King came near,
Standing with clasped palms reverencing Buddh;
While still our Lord went on, teaching how fair
This earth were if all living things be linked
In friendliness and common use of foods,
Bloodless and pure; the golden grain, bright fruits,
Sweet herbs which grow for all, the waters wan, here meaning clear, pellucid⁶³
Sufficient drinks and meats. Which when these heard,
The might of gentleness so conquered them,
The priests themselves scattered their altar-flames
And flung away the steel of sacrifice;
And through the land next day passed a decree
Proclaimed by criers, and in this wise graved
On rock and column: “Thus the King's will is:
There hath been slaughter for the sacrifice,
And slaying for the meat, but henceforth none
Shall spill the blood of life nor taste of flesh,
Seeing that knowledge grows, and life is one,
And mercy cometh to the merciful.” No rock or pillar edicts have come down from King Bimbisāra; probably King Asoka's rock and pillar edicts are the inspiration for this passage⁶⁴
So ran the edict, and from those days forth
Sweet peace hath spread between all living kind,
Man and the beasts which serve him, and the birds,
On all those banks of Gunga where our Lord
Taught with his saintly pity and soft speech.
For aye yes⁶⁵ so piteous was the Master's heart
To all that breathe this breath of fleeting life,
Yoked in one fellowship of joys and pains,
That it is written in the holy books
How, in an ancient age—when Buddha wore
A Brahman's form, i.e. at the time he was still a Bodhisatta fulfilling the perfections. The story below is the first in Āryasūrya's Jātakamāla, though it is not found in the Pāḷi collection⁶⁶ dwelling upon the rock
Named Munda, by the village of Dālidd—
Drought withered all the land: the young rice died
Ere it could hide a quail; in forest glades
A fierce sun sucked the pools; grasses and herbs
Sickened, and all the woodland creatures fled
Scattering for sustenance. At such a time,
Between the hot walls of a nullah, ravine or gully⁶⁷ stretched
On naked stones, our Lord spied, as he passed,
A starving tigress. Hunger in her orbs eyes, poetic⁶⁸
Glared with green flame; A tiger's eyes are green in colour⁶⁹ her dry tongue lolled a span
Beyond the gasping jaws and shrivelled jowl: jaw⁷⁰
Her painted hide hung wrinkled on her ribs,
As when between the rafters sinks a thatch
Rotten with rains; and at the poor lean dugs breasts⁷¹
Two cubs, whining with famine, tugged and sucked,
Mumbling Sucking⁷² those milkless teats which rendered nought,
While she, their gaunt dam, mother⁷³ licked full motherly
The clamorous twins, and yielding her flank to them
With moaning throat, and love stronger than want,
Softening the first of that wild cry wherewith
She laid her famished muzzle to the sand
And roared a savage thunder-peal of woe.
Seeing which bitter strait, and heeding nought
Save the immense compassion of a Buddh,
Our Lord bethought: “There is no other way
To help this murderess of the woods but one.
By sunset these will die, having no meat:
There is no living heart will pity her,
Bloody with ravin, prey⁷⁴ lean for lack of blood.
Lo! if I feed her, who shall lose but I,
And how can love lose doing of its kind
Even to the uttermost?” So saying, Buddh
Silently laid aside sandals and staff,
His sacred thread, turban, and cloth, and came
Forth from behind the milk-bush on the sand,
Saying, “Ho! mother, here is meat for thee!”
Whereat the perishing beast yelped hoarse and shrill,
Sprang from her cubs, and, hurling to the earth
That willing victim, had her feast of him
With all the crooked daggers of her claws
Rending his flesh, and all her yellow fangs
Bathed in his blood: the great cat's burning breath
Mixed with the last sigh of such fearless love.
Thus large the Master's heart was long ago,
Not only now, when with his gracious ruth sympathy⁷⁵
He bade cease cruel worship of the Gods.
And much King Bimbisāra prayed our Lord—
Learning his royal birth and holy search—
To tarry in that city, saying oft,
“Thy princely state may not abide such fasts;
Thy hands were made for sceptres, not for alms.
Sojourn Stay, live⁷⁶ with me, who have no son to rule,
And teach my kingdom wisdom till I die,
Lodged in my palace with a beauteous bride.” This story of King Bimbisāra offering his Kingdom to the Bodhisatta is found in Pabbajjāsuttaṁ (Suttanipāta, 3.1)⁷⁷
But ever spake Siddārtha, of set mind:
“These things I had, most noble King, and left
Seeking the truth; which still I seek, and shall;
Not to be stayed though Sākra's palace ope'd
Its doors of pearl and Devīs Godesses⁷⁸ wooed me in.
I go to build the Kingdom of the Law,
Journeying to Gaya and the forest shades,
Where, as I think, the light will come to me;
For nowise here among the Rishis comes
That light, nor from the Shasters, Śāstra, holy Hindu texts⁷⁹ nor from fasts
Borne till the body faints, starved by the soul.
Yet there is light to reach and truth to win,
And surely, O true Friend, if I attain
I will return and quit thy love.”
Thereat
Thrice round the Prince King Bimbisāra paced,
Reverently bending to the Master's feet
And bade him speed. So passed our Lord away
Towards Uravilva, not yet comforted,
And wan pale⁸⁰ of face, and weak with six years' quest.
But they upon the hill and in the grove—
Alāra, Udra, and the ascetics five—
Had stayed him, saying all was written clear
In holy Shasters, and that none might win
Higher than Sruti and than Smriti The revealed Vedic scriptures and the traditional law of the Hindus⁸¹—nay,

Not the chief saints!—for how should mortal man
Be wiser than the Jnāna-Kānd, That portion of the Veda which regards knowledge as the highest⁸² which tells
How Brahm is bodiless and actionless,
Passionless, calm, unqualified, unchanged,
Pure life, pure thought, pure joy? Saccidānanda (= Sat, Cit, Ānanda)⁸³ Or how should man
Be better than the Karma-Kānd, That portion of the Veda which regards action as the highest⁸⁴ which shows
How he may strip passion and action off,
Break from the bond of self, and so, unsphered, unlimited⁸⁵
Be God, and melt into the vast divine,
Flying from false to true, from wars of sense
To peace eternal, where the silence lives?
But the Prince heard them, not yet comforted. Paraphrase: not quite satisfied⁸⁶

The Light of Asia Home Page Book the Sixth

last updated: August 2008