Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c18.96

v2.c18.96

¹ I read ihāprajñaḥ. If prajñaḥ is kept, then we must probably translate: “the (soberly) understanding man,” that is, who has no uplifting of the soul. Cp. there vi, 26.11; xii, 237.3-10. Only he that loves little, and seeks little has little sorrow. “He to whom sorrow from love never came, to him, too, joy from love never came” (Gottfried’s Tristan, 204 f.). “For he that lives more lives than one More deaths than one must die.” O. Wilde, Ballad of Reading Gaol, end of iii. And: Whoso will climb high must leave much behind. Therefore does xiv, 50.18-30 set forth: The means of transport and food for the journey must be chosen aright, if a man will reach the most glorious end; he must not cling to old opinions, nor to his Guru, etc. Let a man drive in the cart where the cart is possible, but otherwise let him press on stoutly afoot. Then: “It is only the great that are hit by happiness and unhappiness, but not other men,” as the Jaina tale Agaladatta, translated by me in the Kāvyasamgraha, exclaims. Cp. Maila Talvio, Silmä yössa, p. 255: Surullaja kärsimykselle kelpaa ainoastaan kaikkein jalain ihmisaines; my Hindu Tales, p. 275; my Isoldes Gottesurteil, pp. 59; 249; and the mighty verses in MBh., v, 90.96-97; v, 8.53; xii, 25.28; 174.33 ff.: Great men love the peaks, the greatest sorrow, and more than human joy; indeed, it is just these that are their only pleasure; that which lies between is villagers’ happiness. Indeed, only the wholly wise are truly happy, as are, too, the wholly stupid, but the crowd, which stands between them, is ever tormented.