V. Is he dying?
K. Not exactly, but I do not see how he can live—on that diet.
S. Oh, Visakha, how have I been deprived of my son through a whim!
Both return into the palace. Visakha comes back.
V. It seems that Siddhattha is ruining himself.
K. At the rate he is going now, he won't stand it long. He may not live another month. It is pitiable. You should have seen him. That beautiful young man looks like a consumptive in his last stage. I did not dare to tell what I thought. The Princess would not have borne the sad news.
V. Too bad. It looks pretty hopeless.
K. I do not see how the Prince can survive.
V. What is the idea of these fasts?
K. These pious recluses believe that the self is imprisoned in the body and that the senses are the prison gates. They want to liberate the soul, and many of them behold visions, but Siddhattha seems to doubt whether the saints of Uruvela proceed on the right track. Indeed he denies the very existence of the self.