Mbh 12.27.3

Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

"'Vyasa said, "It behoveth thee not, O monarch, to indulge in such poignant grief. I shall repeat what I have once said. All this is Destiny, O puissant one! Without doubt, all creatures that are born display at first a union (of diverse materials and forces). Dissolution, however, overtakes them at the end. Like bubbles in the water they rise and disappear. All things massed together are sure to crumble away and all things that rise must fall down. Union ends in dissolution and life ends in death. Idleness, though temporarily agreeable, ends in misery, and labour with skill, though temporarily painful, ends in happiness. Affluence, Prosperity, Modesty, Contentment, and Fame dwell in labour and skill but not in idleness. Friends are not competent to bestow happiness, nor foes competent to inflict misery. Similarly wisdom does not bring wealth nor does wealth bring happiness. Since, O son of Kunti, thou hast been created by the Maker to engage thyself in Work. Success springs from Work. Thou art not fit, O king, to avoid Work."'"

Mbh 12.27.3 · Mahabharata · SANTI PARVA

Themes in this passage

Work Wealth Suffering Children Contentment Creation Death Doubt

Work in other traditions

The same theme, as Christianity, Islam, Hellenism and Buddhism address it.

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

Psalms 104:23 · Bible · Psalms

Toil cometh not unto them there, nor will they be expelled from thence.

Quran 15:48 · Quran · The Rock

A field deep furrow’d next the god design’d,[256] The third time labour’d by the sweating hind; The shining shares full many ploughmen guide, And turn their crooked yokes on every side. Still as at either end they wheel around, The master meets them with his goblet crown’d; The hearty draught rewards, renews their toil, Then back the turning ploughshares cleave the soil: Behind, the rising earth in ridges roll’d; And sable look’d, though form’d of molten gold.

Iliad 18.43 · Iliad · 18

A Bhikshu who, though he receives little, does not despise what he has received, even the gods will praise him, if his life is pure, and if he is not slothful.

Dhp 25.366 · Dhammapada · The Bhikshu (Mendicant)

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