[103] 6.
"Rise up, Kaṇha! Why do you lie there? What good to you is sleep?
He who is your own brother, your heart and your right eye —
the winds are overpowering him: Ghaṭa is raving, O Kesava!"
When he had heard that word of Rohiṇeyya, Kesava
rose up in haste, stricken with sorrow (soka) for his brother.
"Why, like one gone mad, through the whole of this Dvārakā
do you cry 'The hare! The hare!'? What manner of hare do you want?
One made of gold, made of jewels, made of metal, or made of silver,
made of conch-shell, of stone, of coral — I shall have a hare made for you.
There are other hares besides, ranging the forest wilds;
those too I shall have brought to you. What manner of hare do you want?"
"I do not want those hares, the hares that rest upon the earth;
it is the hare from the moon that I want: bring it down for me, O Kesava!"
"Surely, kinsman, you will cast away your sweet life,
for you desire what may not be desired: you want the hare from the moon."
"If, Kaṇha, you know this much, even as you admonish another,
why then do you grieve even today for the son who died long since?
Since this cannot be obtained by a human being, nor yet by a non-human —
'May the son born to me not die!' — whence could the unobtainable be obtained?
Not by mantras, nor by root-remedies, nor by herbs, nor by wealth
is it possible, Kaṇha, to bring back the departed one whom you mourn.
Those of great wealth and great possessions — even khattiyas (warrior-nobles) who possess realms,
abounding in riches and grain — even they are not free from aging (jarā) and death (maraṇa).
Khattiyas, brahmins, vessas (merchants and farmers), suddas (labourers),
caṇḍālas (outcastes) and pukkusas (scavengers) —
these and others, for all their birth (jāti) — even they are not free from aging and death.
Those who recite the six-branched mantra conceived by Brahmā —
these and others, for all their lore (vijjā) — even they are not free from aging and death.
And even those seers who are at peace, self-restrained and austere —
even those ascetics in due time relinquish the body.
The arahants, self-developed, their task accomplished, free from taints (āsava),
lay down this body with the exhaustion of merit and evil."
"Truly, while I was burning like a fire sprinkled with ghee,
he, as one dousing it with water, quenched all my anguish.
Truly he has drawn out the dart that was in me, the sorrow lodged in my heart:
he who, for me who was overcome by sorrow, dispelled my grief for my son.
I am one whose dart is drawn out: I have become cool, I am quenched.
I do not sorrow, I do not weep, having heard your word.
So do the wise act, those who are compassionate:
they turn one back from sorrow, as Ghaṭa did his eldest brother.
He who has ministers such as these in attendance —
they wait upon him with well-spoken words, as Ghaṭa upon his eldest brother."
The Kaṇhapetavatthu, the sixth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.