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APRIL, 1971
197
Nami answered:
“Though a man should give, every month, thousands and thousands of cows, better will be he who controls himself, though he give no alms."
Sakra said :
"You have left the dreadful āśrama (that of the house-holder) and are wanting to enter another; (remain what you were) O king, and be content with observing the poşaha-days."
Nami answered :
“If an ignorant man should eat but a blade of Kusa-grass every month, (the merit of his penance) will not equal the sixteenth part of his who possesses the Law as it has been taught.”
Sakra said :
"Multiply your gold and silver, your jewels and pearls, your copper, fine robes, and carriages, and your treasury ; then you will be a true Ksatriya.”
Nami answered :
"If there were numberless mountains of gold and silver, as big as Kailasa, they would not satisfy a greedy man ; for his avidity is boundless like space.
“Knowing that the earth with its crops of rice and barley, with its gold and cattle, that all this put together will not satisfy one single man, one should practise austerities."
Sakra said :
“A miracle, O king, you give up those wonderful pleasures, in search of imaginary objects ; your very hope will cause you ruin.”
Nami answered :
“Pleasures are the thorn that rankles, pleasures are poison, pleasures are like a venomous snake; he who is desirous of pleasures will not get them, and will come to a bad end at last.
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