Moreover he pronounced these ślokas:[15]—
“Even by a rain of gold pieces will wishes not be satisfied. The wise man, he who knows that wishes bring but little enjoyment and much sorrow, takes no delight even in divine enjoyments. The hearer of the perfected Buddha rejoices when desire fails. Even if a mountain of gold were like unto Himavant, yet it would not suffice for the wealth of a single individual; that the discerning one knows full well. He who observes sorrows, starting from this base, how can he take pleasure in enjoyments? He who is steady, who has learnt to recognise the thorn in the treasures of the world, will learn the essence of things to his own correction.”
King Māndhātar ordered irresistible sacrifices to be offered, and he said in ślokas:—
“If one knows that the future lasts long but life is only brief, then ought one to acquire merits. If one does not acquire merits, then one has sorrow. Therefore must he who is acquiring merits offer sacrificial gifts, as is fitting. In this world and in the future will he, if he offer up gifts, obtain happiness.”
The inhabitants of the town and country heard that King Māndhātar had fallen ill and was nigh unto death. Having learnt this, many hundreds of thousands of men assembled in order to see King Māndhātar. The king spoke to the multitudes upon the evil of lust and the ills of house-life, and then condemned desire. Thereupon many hundreds of thousands of men renounced house-life, retired from the world to the Rishis, and lived in the forest, fulfilling the four duties of Brahmans, and abandoning all striving after enjoyment. Persevering in this, they became participators in the world of Brahma.
While King Māndhātar was in his boyhood, while he was crown prince, while he exercised supreme power in Jambudvīpa, [[20]]while he lived in the dvīpas of Pūrvavideha, Aparagodānīya, and Uttarakuru, and on the seven golden mountains, and while he dwelt in the region of the thirty-three gods to which he went, eighty-four Śakra-evanescences passed away. The measure of life of Śakra, the prince of the five great kings, is as follows:—One hundred years of men represent one day of the thirty-three gods. If thirty such days are reckoned as one month, and twelve months as one year, then the measure of life of the thirty-three gods is a hundred divine years. According to human reckoning, that amounts to 3,600,000.[16] [[21]]
[1] Kah-gyur, vol. ii. pp. 169–180. This Avadāna, of which Burnouf speaks in his “Introduction,” p. 79, is contained in the eighteenth chapter of the Divyāvadāna. As there are many gaps in the Sanskrit MS. to which I had access, I have thought it best to keep to the more complete recension existing in the Kah-gyur.—S. [↑]
[2] Mahāpurusha is “a great man, eminent personage, great saint or sage, great ascetic, &c.” [↑]