ty or thirty years. Carefully observing the
behaviour of all creatures, a king should, by the exercise of his
intelligence, apply remedies for alleviating the great sorrows of his
subjects. The causes of all mental sorrow are two, viz., delusion of the
mind and the accession of distress. No third cause exists. All these
diverse kinds of woe as also those arising from attachment to earthly
enjoyments, that overtake man, are even such.[79] Decrepitude and Death,
like a pair of wolves, devour all creatures, strong or weak, short or
tall. No man can escape decrepitude and death, not even the subjugator of
the whole earth girt by the sea. Be it happiness or be it sorrow that
comes upon creatures, it should be enjoyed or borne without elation or
depression. There is no method of escape from them. The evils of life, O
king, overtake one in early or middle or old age. They can never be
avoided, while those (sources of bliss) that are coveted never come.[80]
The absence of what is agreeable, the presence of what is disagreeable,
good and evil, bliss and woe, follow Destiny. Similarly, the birth of
creatures and their death, and the accessions of gain and loss, are all
pre-ordained. Even as scent, colour, taste, and touch spring naturally,
happiness and misery arise from what has been pre-ordained. Seats and
beds and vehicles, prosperity and drink and food, ever approach, leaving
creatures according to Time's course.[81] Physicians even get ill. The
strong become weak. They that are in the enjoyment of prosperity lose all
and become indigent. The course of Time is very wonderful. High birth,
health, beauty, prosperity, and objects of enjoyment, are all won through
Destiny. The indigent, although they may not desire it, have many
children. The affluent again are seen to be childless. Wonderful is the
course of Destiny. The evils caused by disease, fire, water, weapons,
hunger, poison, fever, and death, and falls from high places, overtake a
man according to the Destiny under which he is born. It is seen in this
world that somebody without sinning, suffers diverse ills, while another,
having sinned, is not borne down by the weight of calamity. It is seen
that somebody in the enjoyment of wealth perishes in youth; while some
one that is poor drags on his existence, borne down by decrepitude, for a
hundred years. One borne in an ignoble race may have a very long life,
while one sprung from a noble line perishes soon like an insect. In t