z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 08.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 554
554 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
VII
years, my journey is drawing to a close. I have reached my sum of days. I am turning eighty years of age; and just as a worn-out cart must give way some day, methinks, the same must happen to the body of the Tathagata.” Hearing this, Ananda left.
Not seeing Ananda, the Blessed One called the brethren, and said: “Where then is Ananda?” “ The venerable Ananda is gone and is weeping,” said the brethren.
And the Blessed One called a certain brother and said: “ Go now brother, and call Ananda in my name and say, ‘ Brother Ananda, the Master calls for thee’.”
“Even so, Lord!” said that brother.
When Ananda came back he took his seat by the side of the Blessed One.
Then the Blessed One said to Ananda : “ Enough, Ananda! Do not weep! Have I not already, on former occasions, told you that it is in the very nature of things most near and dear unto us that we must divide ourselves from them, leave them, sever ourselves from them?
For a long time, Ananda, you have been very near to me by acts of love, kind and good, beyond all measure.
“You have done well, Ananda! Be earnest in effort and you too shall be free from the great evils— from sensuality, from individuality, from delusion, and from ignorance.”
Then addressing the brethren about Ananda the Blessed One said: “ He is a wise man, brethren, is Ananda.
“He knows when it is the right time to come and visit the Tathagata, and when it is the right time for brethren and sisters of the Order, for devout men and devout women, for a king, or for a king’s ministers, for other teachers and disciples, to visit the Tathagata.
“Brethren, there are these four special things about Ananda.
“All are happy to visit Ananda. They are