________________
Verse 100
conversation that he thought would please his master:
-
"O Master of kings, enjoying supernatural powers! I would say something that would be propitious to you. The splendour, prosperity and divine powers that you enjoy today are due to merit you had acquired in your previous births. Only through dharma - virtuous conduct - one acquires wealth, noble family, strength and beauty of the body, good intellect, long and healthy life, and happiness. Just as no effect (kārya) can take place without the cause (kāraṇa) – no light without the lamp, no bud without the seed, no rains without the cloud, no shadow without the canopy - in the same way, no wealth or prosperity can be got without dharma. Let me explain dharma. Its root is compassion or non-violence (ahimsa). Self-restraint, forbearance, non-injury, austerity, giving of gifts, conduct, concentration, and non-attachment are all signs of dharma. Desisting from injury, falsehood, stealing, unchastity and attachment, constitutes dharma. Recognizing that the glory of the present is the fruit of the past good deeds, dharma should unremittingly be kept in mind in all enterprise."
Mahāmati, disturbed by the prudent words of Svayambuddha, broke in with the Carvāka doctrine of bhūtavāda that relies on the bhūtacatuṣka (quartet of earth, water, fire, and air):
"Dharma can become a matter of discussion only in the presence of the possessor-of-dharma (dharmi); when the presence of the soul cannot be established, there is no point discussing dharma. The union of four basic substances - earth (pṛthui), water (jala), fire (agni), and air (vāyu) - produces consciousness, that you call the soul, just as the union of substances like nectar-rich flowers of the mahua, jaggery (guda) and water produces an intoxicating effect. There is no separate identity of the soul; it is non-existent like a sky-flower. Consciousness is destroyed with the destruction of the body.
151
