which all the worldly effects at his command were given away to the officiating priests. The very territories of the king, including the Royal domains, were given away. Nachiketas asked his father in a meditative mood"Father, to whom do you give me?" The king replied -"I give you unto death." Nachiketas went over to the mansion of death, and lay down on the dais in front of the portal of his garden. Three days had so passed away; Yama turned up eventually, and finding the royal youth at his gate, said "Young man, I am sorry to see you here without food or drink for three days. The wise have said that the man, who lies at the gate of another without food or drink for a day, takes away a great deal of the good that belongs to him. You have been at my gate, for three days like that. I am certainly a loser to a great extent by it. Let me compensate myself by granting you three boons. Specify them as you please."

THE GOD OF DEATH (YAMA)

AND

NACHIKETAS.

Nachiketas (the son of a great king, to whom Yama, the God of Death, had promised three boons) has now to express his third wish.

NACHIKETAS.

6

"Inquiry is made regarding the fate of the dead:
'They are', says one; they are not', says another.
This I wish to know, resolve this (doubt) for me.
This is the third wish which I choose."

THE GOD OF DEATH.

"The Gods themselves sought after this long since; Hard to fathom, dark is this secret.

Choose some other boon, Nachiketas,

On this insist not; release me from my promise."
NACHIKETAS.

"From the gods themselves is this hidden, thou

sayest;

Hard to fathom hast thou, O Death, declared it.

There is no other who can reveal this to me as

thou canst,

There is no other wish which I can choose instead of this."

THE GOD OF DEATH.

"Fullness of years, and children's children, Choose gold, herds, elephants, horses,

Choose widely-extended rule upon the earth,

Have thy life long as thou desirest,

If this appear to thee acceptable instead of that other wish,

Then choose wealth, choose long life;

Rule broad realms, Nachiketas ;

I give thee the fulness of all pleasures.

What mortal men obtain but with difficulty,

Choose every pleasure on which thy heart is set.
Maidens here, with harps, with carriages,

Fairer than men may hope to gain,

These give I thee, that they may do thee service. Ask not of Death, Nachiketas."

NACHIKETAS.

"The lapse of days causes, O Lord of Death, The power of the organs of life to fail in the children

of men;

The whole life swiftly passes away;

Song and dance, chariot and horse, thine are they. Riches cannot give contentment to man;

What is wealth to us when we have beheld thee?

We shall live as long as thou biddest us;
Still this wish alone is that which I choose.

Tell us of the far-reaching future of the world to

come,

Whereon, O Death, man meditates in doubt.
The wish, which penetrates into hidden paths,
That alone it is which Nachiketas chooses."

The reluctance of the God of Death is overcome, and he grants to the importunate inquirer his request. The two paths of knowledge and ignorance diverge widely from each other. Nachiketas has chosen knowledge; the fulness of pleasures has not laid him astray. They who walk in the path of ignorance endlessly wander about through the world beyond, like the blind led by the blind. The wise man The wise man who knows the One, the everlasting, the ancient God, who dwells in the depths, has no part in joy and sorrow, becomes free from right and wrong, free from the present, and free from hereafter. That is Yama's answer to Nachiketas's inquiry. *

* From Buddha by Dr. II. Oldenberg, translated from German

by William Hoey, M. A.

112. POVERTY.

Poverty is so great an evil, and pregnant with so much temptation, and so much misery, that I cannot but earnestly enjoin you to avoid it. Live on what you

have, live if you can on less; do not borrow either for vanity or pleasure; the

the pleasure in regret.

vanity will end in shame, and

-DR. JOHNSON.

He is rich whose income is more than his expenses; and he is poor whose expenses exceed his income.*

Make an impartial estimate of your whatever it is, live upon less. Do this,

never be poor.

revenue, and and you will

Idleness and luxury bring forth poverty and want.
-TILLOTSON.

A fat kitchen is next door to poverty.

And then with poverty comes disrespect;
From disrespect does self-dependence fail,
Then scorn and sorrow, following, overwhelm
The intellect; and when the judgment fails
The being perishes; and thus from poverty
Each ill that pains humanity proceeds.

From A Book of Humour, Wit and Wisdom.

† A Drama, translated from Sanskrit by H. H. Wilson.

When possess'd of sufficient
We sit at our ease;
Can go where we like,

And enjoy what we please.

But when pockets are empty,
If forced to apply

To some friend for assistance,

They 're apt to deny.

-SIVEWRIGHT.

This mournful truth is everywhere confessed,
Slow rises worth by poverty depressed.

-JOHNSON.

A needy man's budget is full of schemes.

A poor man that hath little, and desires no more, is in truth richer than the greatest monarch that thinketh he hath not what he should or what he might, or that grieves there is no more to have.

-BISHOP HALL.

That man is not poor, who has the use of necessary things.

-HORACE.

No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

poor.

Not he that has little but he that desires much is