Learning
all about it, relieve it I will however difficult may the task prove.'
"Vaisampayana continued 'While mother and son were thus talking with each
other, they heard again, O king, another wail of sorrow proceeding from
the Brahmana and his wife. Then Kunti quickly entered the inner apartments
of that illustrious Brahmana, like unto a cow running towards her tethered
calf. She beheld the Brahmana with his wife, son and daughter, sitting
with a woeful face, and she heard the Brahmana say, 'Oh, fie on this
earthly life which is hollow as the reed and so fruitless after all which
is based on sorrow and hath no freedom, and which hath misery for its lot!
Life is sorrow and disease; life is truly a record of misery! The soul is
one: but it hath to pursue virtue, wealth and pleasure. And because these
are pursued at one and the same time, there frequently occurs a
disagreement that is the source of much misery. Some say that salvation is
the highest object of our desire. But I believe it can never be attained.
The acquisition of wealth is hell; the pursuit of wealth is attended with
misery; there is more misery after one has acquired it, for one loves
one's possessions, and if any mishap befalls them, the possessor becomes
afflicted with woe. I do not see by what means I can escape from this
danger, nor how I can fly hence, with my wife to some region free from
danger. Remember, O wife, that I endeavoured to migrate to some other
place where we would be happy, but thou didst not then listen to me.
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