A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.31

v2.c19.s3.t2.31

A simple and yet splendid metaphor : lust, worldly desire, is the “builder of houses,” who again and again constructs a new house, *i. e.*, a new body in a new rebirth. We repeatedly come across such simple but impressive metaphors and similes in the sayings. Thus the equanimity of the sage is compared with a deep lake, smooth as a mirror, or with an unshakable rock (81 f.). Or it says : As the spoon gets nothing of the flavour of the soup, so the fool derives no benefit from intercourse with the sage; it is only the sage who gains through intercourse with sages, as only the tongue enjoys the flavour of the soup (65 f.). Whoever speaks or acts with an impure mind, is pursued by suffering, as the wheel follows the foot of the draught-ox ; whoever speaks or acts with a pure mind, is pursued by joy, as by his own shadow (1 f.). Or (“Not quickly, as milk curdles, does the bad deed which one has committed, resolve itself into its consequences ; burning, it follows the fool like fire which is covered with ashes”) (71). We constantly meet with such images, and often they appear in pairs. We also find more elaborate verses with those plays on words (*e.g.*, 344) for which the Indians have always had a predilection.