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54 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
again after having once abandoned them.
I
“Only he who, though seeing would envy the blind, though free, the bound, though wealthy, the destitute, though sound in his reason, the maniac— only he, I say, would envy one who is devoted to wordly objects.
“He who lives on alms, my good friend, is not to be pitied. He has here the best happiness, perfect calm, and hereafter all sorrows are for him abolished.
“But he is to be pitied who is overpowered by craving though in the midst of great wealth,—who attains not the happiness of calm here, while pain has to be experienced hereafter.
“What thou hast spoken to me is well worthy of thy character, thy mode of life, and thy family; and to carry out my resolve is also befitting my character, my mode of life, and my family.”
§ 4. Reply by Gautama (concluded)
“I have been wounded by the strife of the world, and I have come out longing to obtain peace; I would not accept any empire in the third heaven, for saving me from all the ills of the earth how much less amongst men ?
“But as for what thou hast said to me, O King, that the universal pursuit of the three objects is the supreme end of man,—and thou saidst that what I regard as the desirable is misery,—thy three objects are perishable and also unsatisfying.
“And as for what thou saidst, ‘ wait till old age comes, for youth is ever subject to change’;— this want of decision is itself uncertain; for age too can be irresolute and youth can be firm.
“But since Fate is so well skilled in its art as to draw the world in all its various ages into its power,— how shall the wise man, who desires tranquillity, wait for old age, when he knows not when the time of death will be ?
“When death stands ready like a hunter,