(4) If one is fortunate among men and wealthy, lord over others, best provided with all human enjoyments — that is the highest bliss of men. Now a hundredfold the bliss of men is one bliss of those who have won the fathers' world. Now a hundredfold the bliss of those who have won the fathers' world is one bliss in the Gandharva- world. A hundredfold the bliss in the Gandharva-world is one bliss of the gods who gain their divinity by meritorious works. A hundredfold the bliss of the gods by works is one bliss of the gods by birth and of him who is learned in the Vedas, who is without crook- edness, and who is free from desire. A hundredfold the bliss of the gods by birth is one bliss in the Prajapati- world and of him who is learned in the Vedas, who is without crookedness, and who is free from desire. A hundredfold the bliss in the Prajapati-world is one bliss in the Brahma-world and of him who is learned in the Vedas, who is without crookedness, and who is free from desire. This truly is the highest world. This is the Brahma-world, O king/ — Thus spake Yajnavalkya, [Janaka said:] c I will give you, noble Sir, a thousand [cows]. Speak further than this, for my release.' Then Yajnavalkya feared, thinking: ' This intelligent king has driven me out of every corner.' l

(16) You have toiled without cease, and what have you got! Through toil you wear yourself out, you fill your body with grief, your long lifetime you are bringing near (to a premature end)! Mankind, whose offshoot is snapped off like a reed in a canebreak, the fine youth and lovely girl... death. No one can see death, no one can see the face of death, no one can hear the voice of death, yet there is savage death that snaps off mankind. For how long do we build a household? For how long do we seal a document! For how long do brothers share the inheritance? For how long is there to be jealousy in the land(!)! For how long has the river risen and brought the overflowing waters, so that dragonflies drift down the river! The face that could gaze upon the face of the Sun has never existed ever.

(4) He said to him: 'Raikva, there are a thousand cows, a necklace, a carriage with mules, this wife, and this village in which thou dwellest. Sir, teach me!'

(618) of evil to the life which will make his soul more unjust, and good to the life which will make his soul more just; all else he will disregard. For we have seen and know that this is the best choice both in life and after death. A man must take with him into the world below an adamantine faith in truth and right, that there too he may be undazzled by the desire of wealth or the other allurements of evil, lest, coming upon tyrannies and similar villainies, he do irremediable wrongs to others and suffer yet worse himself; but let him know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible, not only in this life but in all that which is to come. For this is the way of happiness. And according to the report of the messenger from the other world this was what the prophet said at the time: ‘Even for the last comer, if he chooses wisely and will live diligently, there is appointed a happy and not undesirable existence. Let not him who chooses first be careless, and let not the last despair.’ And when he had spoken, he who had the first choice came forward and in a moment chose the greatest tyranny; his mind having been darkened by folly and sensuality, he had not thought out the whole matter before he chose, and did not at first sight perceive that he

(16) The gods say to thee: Come, come forth, see what belongs to thee in thy house of eternity

The FUMIGATION from MANNA. HEAR me, O Death, whose empire unconfin'd, Extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind. On thee, the portion of our time depends, Whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends. Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds, By which the soul, attracting body holds: 6 Common to all of ev'ry sex and age, For nought escapes thy all-destructive rage; Not youth itself thy clemency can gain, Vig'rous and strong, by thee untimely slain. In thee, the end of nature's works is known, In thee, all judgment is absolv'd alone: No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage controul, No vows revoke the purpose of thy soul; O blessed pow'r regard my ardent pray'r, And human life to age abundant spare.

(1) (2) Long life, ending in the conviction that death is gain. Destroy your house, and with the treasure hidden in it The treasure lies under it; there is no help for it; Hesitate not to pull it down; do not tarry! For with the coin of that treasure At last of a surety that house will be destroyed, But 'twill not belong to you, because in truth When one has not done the work he gets no wages; "Man gets nothing he has not worked for." Then you will bite your finger, saying, "Alas!

(2) (And if Thy guardian is verily to save our wealth) how shall he (obtain, and by what means shall he) seek after that joy-creating Kine (who is the living symbol of our peace )? (How shall that man obtain his wish) who shall desire to see her provided with pastures for (the welfare of) this land? (That only way is righteousness.) Do Thou then grant me lands (so would I ask of Thee) which live in justice in the many splendours of the sun, and lands which openly thus live, and which are to be sought and gained by me (as conquests for the cause). Give Thou this gift!

(50) Men come forth and live; they enter (again) and die. Of every ten three are ministers of life (to themselves); and three are ministers of death. There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose movements tend to the land (or place) of death. And for what reason? Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life. But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason? Because there is in him no place of death.

(4) Then spake Maitreyl: < If now, Sir, this whole earth filled with wealth were mine, would I now thereby be immortal? ' 'No, no I ' said Yajnavalkya. ' As the life of the rich, even so would your life be. Of immortality, however, there is no hope through wealth.

(3) * Yajnavalkya/ said he, * when a man dies, what does not leave him? ' All-gods. An endless world he wins thereby.'

(287) Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

(23) Then they will say : " The days of the forefathers were many (even), unto a thousand years, and were good ; but, behold, the days of our life, if a man hath lived many, are three score years and ten, and, if he is strong, four score years, and those evil, and there is no peace in the days of this evil generation."

(2) Then said Maitreyi. ' If now, Sir, this whole earth filled with wealth were mine, would I be immortal thereby? ' c No, said Yajnavalkya. c As the life of the rich, even so would your life be. Of immortality, however, there is no hope through wealth.'

(18) (And, having gained Thine audience and Thine Order's sacred chieftainship), then I ask of Thee, O Ahura! and tell me aright, how shall I acquire that Thy Righteous Order's prize, ten (costly) mares male-mated, and with them the camel (those signs of honour and blessing for Thy chief. I ask Thee for these gifts for sacrifice). For it was told me for the sake of our Welfare (in our salvation), and of our Immortality, in what manner Thou shalt give to these (Thy conquering hosts) both of these Thy (gifts of grace).

(5) 1 not die? Lying here on my bed, or standing amidst my kin, I must suffer the agonies of dissolution alone. Whence shall I find a kinsman, whence a friend, when the Death-god's messengers seize me? Righteousness alone can save me then, and for that I have not sought. Clinging to brief life, I have been blind to this terror, heedless; 0 my Masters, grievous guilt have I gathered. He who is taken to be maimed of his limbs at once withers away; thirst racks him, his sight is darkened, the world is changed to his sight. How then will it be with me when I am in the charge of the Death-god's hideous messengers, consumed by a fever of mighty terror, covered with filth, looking with timid glances to the four quarters of heaven for aid? Who will be the friend to save me from that awful terror? I shall see in the heavens no help, and sink back into madness; then what shall I do in that place of horror? Now, now I come for refuge to the mighty Lords of the world, the Conquerors eager for the world's protection, who allay all fear; to the Law learned by them I come with all my heart for refuge, and to the Congregation of the Sons of Enlightenment.... Whatsoever guilt I have gathered in my foolishness and delusion, alike the wrong of nature and the wrong of commandment, I confess it all as I stand before the Masters with clasped hands, affrighted with grief, and making obeisance again and again. May my Lords take my transgression as it is; never more, O Masters, will I do this unholy work.

(1) This bird said to the Hoopoe: I am afraid of death. Now this valley is wide, and I have nothing at all for the journey.

I am so filled with the fear of death that my life will leave me at the first stopping place. Even were I a powerful emir, in the hour of death I should fear no less. He who with a sword would iry to ward off death, shall have it broken like a Kalam; for alas, faith in the strength of the hand and of the sword brings only disappointment and sorrow.'

The Hoopoe replied; 'O you who are fickle and weakwilled, do you wish to remain a mere frame of bone and marrow? Don't you know that life, be it long or short, is composed of a few breaths? Don't you understand that whoever is born must also die? That he goes into the earth and that the wind disperses the elements of which his body was made?

' You were nourished for death; and you were brought into the world in order to be taken away from it! The sky is like a dish upside down, which every' evening is immersed in the blood of sunset. One could say that the sun, armed with a scimitar, is cutting off heads on this dish. Whether you be good or bad you are only a drop of water kneaded with earth. Though all your life you may have been in a position of authority, you will, in the end, give up the ghost in affliction.'

(10) O my father Osiris! I have done for thee what thy father Rā did for thee. Let me have increase upon earth, let me keep my dwelling place, let my heir be vigorous, let my sepulchre flourish and my dependents upon earth. Let all my adversaries be crushed to pieces with Selk’et (the scorpion goddess) over their ruin. I am thy son, O my father Rā! thou hast been the cause of this Life, Health and Strength. Horus is established upon his throne. Grant that my duration of Life may be that of one who attains beatitude

(135) As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age and Death drive the life of men.

(3) Thou wilt pay undistracted attention to that with which I am about to set thee face to face, and hold on: O nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come. Thou art departing from this world, but thou art not the only one; [death] cometh to all. Do not cling, in fondness and weakness, to this life. Even though thou clingest out of weakness, thou hast not the power to remain here. Thou wilt gain nothing more than wandering in this Sangsara. Be not attached [to this world]; be not weak. Remember the Precious Trinity.