lity has
arisen with even a friend, no further confidence should be reposed upon
him. Feelings of animosity lie hid like fire in wood. Like the Aurvya
fire within the waters of the ocean, the fire of animosity can never be
extinguished by gifts of wealth, by display of prowess, by conciliation,
or by scriptural learning. The fire of animosity, once ignited, the
result of an injury once inflicted, is never extinguished, O king,
without consuming outright one of the parties. One, having injured a
person, should never trust him again as one's friend, even though one
might have (after the infliction of the injury) worshipped him with
wealth and honours. The fact of the injury inflicted fills the injurer
with fear. I never injured thee. Thou also didst never do me an injury.
For this reason I dwelt in thy abode. All that is changed, and at present
I cannot trust thee.'

"'"Brahmadatta said, 'It is Time that does every act. Acts are of diverse
kinds, and all of them proceed from Time. Who, therefore, injures
whom?[416] Birth and Death happen in the same way. Creatures act (i.e.,
take birth and live) in consequence of Time, and it is in consequence
also of Time that they cease to live. Some are seen to die at once. Some
die one at a time. Some are seen to live for long periods. Like fire
consuming the fuel, Time consumes all creatures. O blessed lady, I am,
therefore, not the cause of your sorrow, nor art thou the cause of mine.
It is Time that always ordains the weal and woe of embodied creatures. Do
thou then continue to dwell here according to thy pleasure, with
affection for me and without fear of any injury from me. What thou hast
done has been forgiven by me. Do thou also forgive me, O Pujani!'

"'"Pujani said, 'If Time, according to thee, be the cause of all acts, then
of course nobody can cherish feelings of animosity towards anybody on
earth. I ask, however, why friends and kinsmen, seek to avenge themselves
the slain. Why also did the gods and the Asuras in days of yore smite
each other in battle? If it is Time that causes weal and woe and birth
and death, why do physicians then seek to administer medicines to the
sick? If it is Time that is moulding everything, what need is there of
medicines? Why do people, deprived of their senses by grief, indulge in
such delirious rhapsodies? If Time, according to thee, be the cause of
acts, how can religious merit be acquired by persons performing religious
acts? Thy son kille