The way to Life

The princes Pandavas, dethroned by their opponents, were found in exile. The youngest of the brothers went to find water. He got to a crystalline lake, but when he approached and bent to drink, he listened to a voice that said to him:

-Stop! You will only be able to drink water from this lake if you answer my questions before. The young boy didn’t do it. He drank and died. As the others saw that he was not coming back, they went to look for him one after the other. They found the lake, they heard the voice but none of them answered; they drank and died one after the other. Finally the last brother arrived. This one agreed to answer.

-What is the path that leads to heaven? [fulfilling life], asked the voice coming out of a skull’s mouth.

– Truthfulness.

– How can one find happiness?

– Through the correct behaviour.

– What should one escape from to avoid suffering?

– From one’s mind.

– When is a man kind?

– When he has no hostility.

– From the most surprising things in the world which one is the most shocking?

– While one sees that everybody dies, nobody thinks that he will die too.

– Which is the way to access the immutable Truth?

– Not by means of arguments, not even by means of many Sacred Scriptures, but following the way of the saint people [free and good]. The voice was satisfied with its answers, and left the last brother to drink water from the lake and all the others got back to life.

(From Mahabharata, the most important epic poem in India, around the III Century b.c.e.)

Translated by Andrea Gonzalez Tamayo