Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/122

108 Unfortunate as we are, we have a thread in one, known as Jaratkaru. The unfortunate one has gone through the Vedas and their branches and is practising asceticism alone. He being one with soul under complete control, desires set high, observant of vows, deeply engaged in ascetic penances, and free from greed for the merits of asceticism, we have been reduced to this deplorable state! He hath no wife, no son, no relatives. Therefore, do we hang in this hole, our consciousness lost, like men having none to take care of them! If thou meetest him, O tell him, from thy kindness to ourselves, - 'Thy Pitris, in sorrow, are hanging with faces downwards in a hole. Holy one, take a wife and beget children. O thou of ascetic wealth, thou art, O amiable one, the only thread that remaineth in the line of thy ancestors. O Brahmana, the cord of virana roots that thou seest we are hanging by, is the cord representing our multiplied race. And, O Brahmana, these threads of the cord of Virana roots that thou seest have been eaten away, are ourselves who have been eaten up by Time. This root thou seest hath been half-eaten and by which we are hanging in this hole is he that hath adopted asceticism alone! The rat that thou beholdest is Time of infinite strength. And he (Time) is gradually weakening the wretch Jaratkaru engaged in ascetic penances tempted by the merits thereof, but wanting in prudence and heart. O excellent one, his asceticism cannot save us. Behold, our roots being torn, cast down from higher regions, deprived of consciousness by Time, we are going downwards like sinful wretches ! And upon our going down into this hole with all our relatives, eaten up by Time, even be shall sink with us into hell i O child, whether it is asceticism, or sacrifice, or whatever else there be of very holy acts, everything is inferior. These cannot count with a son. O child, having seen all, speak unto that Jaratkaru of ascetic wealth. Thou shouldst tell him in detail everything that thou hast beheld. And o Brahmana from thy kindness towards ourselves, thou shouldst tell him all that would induce him to take a wife and beget children, Amongst bis friends, or of our own race, who art thou, O excellent one, that thus grievest for us all like a friend? We wish to hear who thou art that stayest here !"

So ends the forty-fifth section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.

Sauti said, -- "Jaratkaru, hearing all this, became excessively sorry, And from sorrow he spake unto those Pitris in words obstructed by tears.