"'"The ascetic crowned with success said, 'By diverse acts, O son, as also by the aid of merit, mortal creatures attain to diverse ends here and residence in Heaven. Nowhere is the highest happiness; nowhere can residence be eternal. There are repeated falls from the highest regions acquired with such sorrow. In consequence of my indulgence in sin, I had to attain to diverse miserable and inauspicious ends, filled as I was with lust and wrath, and deluded by cupidity. I have repeatedly undergone death and rebirth. I have eaten diverse kinds of food, I have sucked at diverse breasts. I have seen diverse kinds of mothers, and diverse fathers dissimilar to one another. Diverse kinds of happiness have been mine and diverse kinds of misery, O sinless one. On diverse occasions have I been separated from what was agreeable and united with what was disagreeable. Having earned wealth with great toil I have had to put up with its loss. Insults and excessive misery I have received from king and relatives. Mental and physical pain, of great severity, have been mine. Humiliations I have undergone, and death and immurement under circumstances of great severity. Falls into Hell have been mine, and great tortures in the domains of Yama. Decrepitude and diseases have repeatedly assailed me, and calamities, as frequent, in copious measure. In this world I have repeatedly undergone all those afflictions that flow from a perception of all pairs of opposites. After all this, one day, overwhelmed with sorrow, blank despair came upon me. I took refuge in the Formless. Afflicted as I was with great distress, I gave up the world with all its joys and sorrows.[8] Understanding then this path, I exercised myself in it in this world. Afterwards, through tranquillity of soul, I attained to this success that thou seest. I shall not have to come to this world again (after my departure hence).Mbh 14.16.7a · Mahabharata · ASWAMEDHA PARVA
Mbh 14.16.7a
Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
Themes in this passage
SufferingDeathThe DivineFamilyGriefAngerChildrenDesire
Suffering in other traditions
The same theme, as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Taoism address it.
The evil-doer suffers in this world, and he suffers in the next; he suffers in both. He suffers when he thinks of the evil he has done; he suffers more when going on the evil path.Dhp 1.17 · Dhammapada · The Twin-Verses
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.Lamentations 3:19 · Bible · Lamentations
Relent not in pursuit of the enemy. If ye are suffering, lo! they suffer even as ye suffer and ye hope from Allah that for which they cannot hope. Allah is ever Knower, Wise.Quran 4:104 · Quran · Women
The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer famine.Tao Te Ching 75.1 · Tao Te Ching
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