Mbh 12.348.5

Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

"'Brahma said, "The Vedas are my great eyes. The Vedas are my great strength. The Vedas are my great refuge. The Vedas are my high Brahman. All the Vedas, however, have been forcibly taken away from me by the two Danavas. Deprived of the Vedas, the worlds I have created have become enveloped in darkness. Without the Vedas (beside me), how shall I succeed in causing my excellent Creation to start into existence? Alas, great is the grief I suffer in consequence of the loss of the Vedas (through such agency). My heart is very much pained. It has become the abode of a great sorrow. Who is there that will rescue me from this ocean of grief in which I am sunk for the loss I have endured? Who is there that will bring me the Vedas I have lost? Who is there that will take compassion on me?"--While Brahma was uttering these words, O best of kings, the resolution suddenly arose in his mind, O foremost of intelligent persons, for hymning the praises of Hari in these words. The puissant Brahma then, with hands joined in reverence, and seizing the feet of his progenitor, sang this highest of hymns in honour of Narayana.

Mbh 12.348.5 · Mahabharata · SANTI PARVA

Themes in this passage

Grief Creation Speech Compassion The Divine Karma Leadership Nature

Grief in other traditions

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

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

James 4:9 · Bible · James

From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from pleasure knows neither grief nor fear.

Dhp 16.212 · Dhammapada · Pleasure

On occasions of festivity to be on the left hand is the prized position; on occasions of mourning, the right hand. The second in command of the army has his place on the left; the general commanding in chief has his on the right;--his place, that is, is assigned to him as in the rites of mourning. He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief; and the victor in battle has his place (rightly) according to those rites.

Tao Te Ching 31.3 · Tao Te Ching

And he turned away from them and said: Alas, my grief for Joseph! And his eyes were whitened with the sorrow that he was suppressing.

Quran 12:84 · Quran · Joseph

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