168. Arise! Do not be
heedless! Lead a righteous life.
The righteous live happily both in this world and the next.
169. Lead a righteous
life; lead not a base life.
The righteous live happily both in this world and the next.
170. One who looks upon
the world as a bubble and a mirage,
him the King of Death sees not.
171. Come! Behold this
world, which is like a decorated royal chariot.
Here fools flounder, but the wise have no attachment to it.
172. He who having been
heedless is heedless no more,
illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds.
173. He, who by good
deeds covers the evil he has done,
illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds.
174. Blind is the world;
here only a few possess insight.
Only a few, like birds escaping from the net, go to realms of bliss.
175. Swans fly on the
path of the sun; men pass through
the air by psychic powers; the wise are led away
from the world after vanquishing Mara and his host.
176. For a liar who has
violated the one law (of truthfulness)
who holds in scorn the hereafter, there is no evil that he cannot do.
177. Truly, misers fare
not to heavenly realms; nor, indeed,
do fools praise generosity. But the wise man rejoices in giving,
and by that alone does he become happy hereafter.
178. Better than sole
sovereignty over the earth,
better than going to heaven, better even than lordship over all the worlds
is the supramundane Fruition of Stream Entrance. [15]