Sacred Concord

Mbh 10.3.1

Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

"Sanjaya said, 'Hearing these words of Kripa that were auspicious and fraught with morality and profit, Ashvatthama, O monarch, became overwhelmed with sorrow and grief. Burning with grief as if with a blazing fire, he formed a wicked resolution and then addressed them both saying, "The faculty of understanding is different in different men. Each man, however, is pleased with own understanding. Every man regards himself more intelligent than others. Everyone respects his own understanding and accords it great praise. Everyone's own wisdom is with every one a subject of praise. Everyone speaks ill of the wisdom of others, and well of his own, in all instances. Men whose judgements agree with respect to any unattained object, even though there be a variety of considerations, become gratified with and applaud one another. The judgements, again, of the same men, overwhelmed with reverses through the influence of time, become opposed to one another. More particularly, in consequence of the diversity of human intellects, judgements necessarily differ when intellects are clouded.
Mbh 10.3.1 · Mahabharata · Sauptika-parva

Themes in this passage

WisdomGriefWorshipCreationKarmaSinSpeech

Wisdom in other traditions

The same theme, as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Hellenism address it.

The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
Proverbs 18:15 · Bible · Proverbs
Without knowledge there is no meditation, without meditation there is no knowledge: he who has knowledge and meditation is near unto Nirvana.
Dhp 25.372 · Dhammapada · The Bhikshu (Mendicant)
He giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good. But none remember except men of understanding.
Quran 2:269 · Quran · The Cow
Then Helen thus: “Whom your discerning eyes Have singled out, is Ithacus the wise; A barren island boasts his glorious birth; His fame for wisdom fills the spacious earth.”
Iliad 3.22 · Iliad · 3

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