Sacred Concord

Mbh 13.142.6a

Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

"'"'The illustrious deity said, "Those who observe the vows relating to fasts and restrain their senses, who abstain from injury of any kind to any creature, and who practise truthfulness of speech, attain to success and ascending to Heaven sport in felicity with the Gandharvas as their companions, freed from every kind of evil. The righteous-souled man who lies down in the attitude which appertains to Manduka-Yoga, and who properly and according to the ordinance performs meritorious acts after having taken the Diksha, sports in felicity in the next world in the company of the Nagas. That man who lives in the company of deer and subsists upon such grass and vegetables as fall off from their mouths, and who has undergone the Diksha and attends to the duties attached to it, succeeds in attaining to Amaravati (the mansions of Indra). That man who subsists upon the moss he gathers and the fallen leaves of trees that he picks up, and endures all the severities of cold, attains to very high place. That man who subsists upon either air or water, or fruits and roots, attains in after life to the affluence that belongs to the Yakshas and sports in felicity in the company of diverse tribes of Apsaras. Having practised for two and ten years, according to the rites laid down in the ordinances, the vow relating to the endurance of the five fires in the summer season, one becomes in one's next life a king. That man who, having observed vows with respect to food, practises penances for two and twelve years, carefully abstaining from all interdicted food, taken at forbidden hours, during the periods becomes in his next life a ruler of earth.[567] That man who sits and lies on the bare ground with the cope of the firmament alone for his shelter, observes the course of duties that attach to Diksha, and then casts off his body by abstaining from all food, attains to great felicity in Heaven.
Mbh 13.142.6a · Mahabharata · ANUSASANA PARVA

Themes in this passage

TruthDharmaThe DivineLeadershipNaturePatienceSelf-ControlAttachment

Truth in other traditions

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

Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth.
Quran 2:42 · Quran · The Cow
They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires.
Dhp 1.12 · Dhammapada · The Twin-Verses
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:17 · Bible · John
Stopp’d in the tumult Cleobulus lies, Beneath Oïleus’ arm, a living prize; A living prize not long the Trojan stood; The thirsty falchion drank his reeking blood: Plunged in his throat the smoking weapon lies; Black death, and fate unpitying, seal his eyes.
Iliad 16.33 · Iliad · 16

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