e gratification
of any of his desires, Death seizes and bears away. Death, decrepitude,
disease, sorrow, and many things of a similar kind, are incapable of
being avoided by mortals. How, then, O father, canst thou sit so at thy
ease? As soon as a creature is born, Decrepitude and Death come and
possess him for his destruction. All these forms of existence mobile and
immobile, are possessed by these two (viz., Decrepitude and Death). When
the soldiers that compose Death's army are on their march, nothing can
resist them, except that one thing, viz., the power of Truth, for in
Truth alone Immortality dwells. The delight that one feels of residing in
the midst of men is the abode of Death. The Sruti declares that that
which is called the forest is the true fold for the Devas, while the
delight one feels in dwelling in the midst of men is, as it were, the
cord for binding the dweller (and making him helpless).[1325] The
righteous cut it and escape. The sinful do not succeed in cutting it (and
freeing themselves). He who does not injure other creatures in thought,
word and deed, and who never injures others by taking away their means of
sustenance, is never injured by any creature.[1326] For these reasons,
one should practise the vow of truth, be steadily devoted to the vow of
truth, and should desire nothing but the truth. Restraining all one's
senses and looking upon all creatures with an equal eye, one should
vanquish Death with the aid of Truth. Both Immortality and Death are
planted in the body. Death is encountered from folly, and Immortality is
won by Truth. Transcending desire and wrath, and abstaining from injury,
I shall adopt Truth and happily achieving what is for my good, avoid
Death like an Immortal. Engaged in the Sacrifice that is constituted by
Peace, and employed also in the Sacrifice of Brahma, and restraining my
senses, the Sacrifices I shall perform are those of speech, mind, and
acts, when the sun enters his northerly course.[1327] How can one like me
perform an Animal Sacrifice which is fraught with cruelty? How can one
like me, that is possessed of wisdom, perform like a cruel Pisacha, a
Sacrifice of Slaughter after the manner of what is laid down for the
Kshatriyas,--a Sacrifice that is, besides, endued with rewards that are
terminable? In myself have I been begotten by my own self. O father,
without seeking to procreate offspring, I shall rest myself on my own
self. I shall perform the Sacrifice of S