39. Vasishtha said:—Being thus accosted by the prince, Kumbha sat on his seat, and then said in reply, with a voice as thin and soft as the sound of a bamboo flute.
40. I know that the knowers of truth, who are not patient under all bodily accidents and mental anxieties, are not truthful men, but cheats who cheat people by their pretended truthfulness.
41. Know prince that the most learned are the most ignorant, who expect foolishly to evade the condition in which they are exposed by their nature.
42. The sesame seed has naturally the oil inherent in it, and the body has also its incidents connatural with it; he who is not subject to his bodily accidents, is able to sever the wind and air with his sword.
43. It is of course to evade the evils that are incidental to the body, but it is to undergo patiently what is unavoidable by our bodily powers.
44. Again as long as we have our bodies, we must exert our bodily organs to their proper actions; and never attempt to suppress by our understanding, as it is done by many wise men.
45. Even the great Brahmá and the gods, are subject to the conditions of their bodily frames; nor have they with their great understandings, the power to avoid what is determined by irrevocable destiny.
46. It is beyond the power of both the wise and unwise, to deter the power of destiny; which makes all things to run in their destined course, as the waters of rivers run into the sea.
47. The same irrevocable destiny, determines equally the fates of the wise and unwise, and guides them as by her fingers to the same goal, until they get their release from the body.
48. The ignorant however, whether exposed to their states of prosperity and adversity, are always destined to undergo their effects upon their bodies.