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52 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
sake of pleasures, well deserves the pain of death even in the world of living.
I
“Deer are lured to their destruction by songs, insects for the sake of the brightness fly into the fire, the fish greedy for the flesh swallows the iron hook,— therefore, worldly pleasures produce misery as their end.
“As for the common opinion, ‘pleasures are enjoyment,’ none of them when examined are worthy of being enjoyed; fine garments and the rest are only the accessories of things,—they are to be regarded as merely the remedies for pain.
“Water is desired for allaying thirst; food in the same way for removing hunger; a house for keeping off the wind, the heat of the sun, and the rain; and dress for keeping off the cold and to cover one’s nakedness.
“So too a bed is for removing drowsiness a carriage for remedying the fatigue of a journey; a seat for alleviating the pain of standing; so bathing as a means for washing, health, and strength.
“External objects therefore are to human beings means for remedying pain—not in themselves sources of enjoyment ; what wise man would allow that he enjoys those delights which are only used as remedial ?
“He who, when burned with the heat of bilious fever, maintains that cold appliances are an enjoyment, when he is only engaged in alleviating pain,—he indeed might give the name of enjoyment to pleasures.
“Since variableness is found in all pleasures, I cannot apply to them the name of enjoyment; the very conditions which mark pleasure, bring also in their turn pain.
“Heavy garments and fragrant aloe-wood are pleasant in the cold, but an annoyance in the heat ; and the moonbeams and sandalwood are pleasant in the heat, but a pain in the cold.
“Since the well-known opposite pairs, such as gain and loss and the rest, are inseparably connected