[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [The Mahābhārata and its versions](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata) › [The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) › 3.2.38 # The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 3.2.38 Mahābhārata 3.2.38 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [3.2.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.3.2.38) rājataḥ salilādagneścorataḥ svajanādapi | bhayamarthavatāṃ nityaṃ mṛtyoḥ prāṇabhṛtāmiva || 38 || > And so should affection for one's own person be extinguished by knowledge. Like the lotus-leaf that is never drenched by water, the souls of men capable of distinguishing between the ephemeral and the everlasting, of men devoted to the pursuit of the eternal, conversant with the scriptures and purified by knowledge, can never be moved by affection. The man that is influenced by affection is tortured by desire; and from the desire that springeth up in his heart his thirst for worldly possessions increaseth. Verily, this thirst is sinful and is regarded as the source of all anxieties. It is this terrible thirst, fraught with sin that leaneth unto unrighteous acts. Those find happiness that can renounce this thirst, which can never be renounced by the wicked, which decayeth not with the decay of the body, and which is truly a fatal disease! It hath neither beginning nor end. Dwelling within the heart, it destroyeth creatures, like a fire of incorporeal origin. And as a faggot of wood is consumed by the fire that is fed by itself, even so doth a person of impure soul find destruction from the covetousness born of his heart. And as creatures endued with life have ever a dread of death, so men of wealth are in constant apprehension of the king and the thief, of water and fire and even of their relatives. And as a morsel of meat, if in air, may be devoured by birds; if on ground by beasts of prey; and if in water by the fishes; > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - [Previous: 3.2.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.3.2.37) - [Next: 3.2.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.3.2.39) - [Up: 3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.3.2) ## Translations (1) - [The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa~en-ganguli.3.2.6.3) — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, English ## Other recensions (2) - [Southern recension](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*southern.3.2.40) — Sanskrit - [Vulgate (Nīlakaṇṭha's text)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.3.2.39) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.3.2.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.3.2.38) · Pramāṇa