ervant that if he
will but go to the fountain-head of Indian wisdom, he will find there,
among much that is strange and useless, some lessons of life which are
worth learning, and which we in our haste are too apt to forget or to
despise.

Let me read you a few sayings only, which you may still hear repeated
in India when, after the heat of the day, the old and the young
assemble together under the shadow of their village tree--sayings
which to them seem truth; to us, I fear, mere truism!

"As all have to sleep together laid low in the earth, why do
foolish people wish to injure one another?[112]

"A man seeking for eternal happiness (moksha) might obtain it
by a hundredth part of the sufferings which a foolish man
endures in the pursuit of riches.[113]

"Poor men eat more excellent bread than the rich: for hunger
gives it sweetness.[114]

"Our body is like the foam of the sea, our life like a bird,
our company with those whom we love does not last forever;
why then sleepest thou, my son?[115]

"As two logs of wood meet upon the ocean and then separate
again, thus do living creatures meet.[116]

"Our meeting with wives, relations, and friends occurs on our
journey. Let a man therefore see clearly where he is, whither
he will go, what he is, why tarrying here, and why grieving
for anything.[117]

"Family, wife, children, our very body and our wealth, they
all pass away. They do not belong to us. What then is ours?
Our good and our evil deeds.[118]

"When thou goest away from here, no one will follow thee.
Only thy good and thy evil deeds, they will follow thee
wherever thou goest.[119]

"Whatever act, good or bad, a man performs, of that by
necessity he receives the recompense.[120]

"According to the Veda[121] the soul (life) is eternal, but
the body of all creatures is perishable. When the body is
destroyed, the soul departs elsewhere, fettered by the bonds
of our works.

"If I know that my own body is not mine, and yet that the
whole earth is mine, and again that it is both mine and
thine, no harm can happen then.[122]

"As a man puts on new garments in this world, throwing aside
those which he formerly wore, even so the Self[123] of man
puts on new bodies which are in accordance with his
acts.[124]

"No weapons will hurt the Self of man, no fire will burn