Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/265

Rh tites in the company of young women. Do you help me thereto!' To him his eldest son born of Devayani then said, 'What needest thou, O king! Dost thou want to have our youth?' Yayati then told him, 'Accept thou my decrepitude. O son! with thy youth I would enjoy myself. During the time of a great sacrifice I have been cursed by the Minu Usana (Sukra.) O sons, I would enjoy myself with your youth. Take any of ye this my decrepitude and with my body rule ye my kingdom. I would enjoy myself with a renovated body. Therefore, ye my sone, take ye my decrepitude!' But none of his sons took his decrepitude. Then his youngest son Puru said unto him, 'O king, enjoy thou once again with a renovated body and returned youth! I shall take thy decrepitude and at thy command rule thy kingdom.' Thus addressed, the royal sage, by virtue of his ascetic power, then transferred his own decrepitude unto that high-souled son of his. And with the youth of Puru the monarch became a young man; while with the monarch's age Puru ruled his kingdom.

"Then, after a thousand years had passed away, Yayati, that tiger among kings, remained as strong and powerful as a tiger. And he enjoyed for a long time the companionship of his two wives. And in the gardens of (the king of the Gandharvas), the king also enjoyed the company of the Apsara Viswachi. But even after all this, the great king found his appetites unsatiated. The king then recollected the following truths contained in the Puranas. 'Truly, one's appetites are never satiated with enjoyment. On the other hand, like sacrificial butter poured into the fire, they flame up with indulgence. Even if one enjoyeth the whole earth with its wealth, diamonds and gold, animals and women, one is not yet satiated. It is only when man doth not commit any sin in respect of any living thing, in heart, deed, or word, it is then that he attaineth to purity as that of Brahma. When one feareth nothing, when one is not feared by any thing, when one wisheth for nothing, when one injureth nothing, it is then that one attaineth to the purity of Brahma.' The wise monarch seeing this and satisfied that one's appetites are never satiated, set his mind at rest by meditation, and took back from his son