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This lecture details how Crown Prince Mrigâputra remembers his past life as an ascetic and realizes the importance of seeking spiritual enlightenment and the ephemeral nature of this world. NINETEENTH LECTURE. THE SON OF MRIGÂ. “[…] Once he saw pass there a restrained Sramana [ascetic], who practiced penance, self-restraint, and self-control, who was full of virtues, and a very mine of good qualities. Mrigâputra regarded him with fixed eyes, trying to remember where he had seen the same man before. While he looked at the saint, and his mind became pure, the remembrance of his former birth came upon him as he was plunged in doubt. When the remembrance of his former birth came upon the illustrious Mrigâputra, he remembered his previous birth and his having been then a Sramana [ascetic]. Being not delighted with pleasures, but devoted to self-control, he went to his father and mother, and spoke as follows: ‘I have learned the five great vows; (I know) the suffering (that awaits the sinner) in hell or in an existence as a brute; I have ceased to take delight in the large ocean (of the Samsâra [cycle of life and death]); therefore, O mother, allow me to enter the order. O mother, O father, I have enjoyed pleasures which are like poisonous fruit: their consequences are painful, as they entail continuous suffering. This body is not permanent, it is impure and of impure origin; it is but a transitory residence (of the soul) and a miserable vessel of suffering. I take no delight in this transitory body which one must leave sooner or later, and which is like foam or a bubble. And this vain human life, an abode of illness and disease, which is swallowed up by old age and death, does not please me even for a moment. Birth is misery, old age is misery, and so are disease and death, and ah, nothing but misery is the Samsâra [cycle of life and death], in which men suffer distress. Leaving behind my fields, house, and gold, my son and wife, and my relations, leaving my body needs must, one day, depart. As the effect of Kimpâka-fruit is anything but good, so the effect of pleasures enjoyed is anything but good. He who starts on a long journey with no provisions, will come to grief on his way there, suffering from hunger and thirst. Thus he who without having followed the Law, starts for the next world, will come to grief on his way there, suffering from illness and disease. He who starts on a long journey with provisions, will be happy on his way there, not suffering from hunger and thirst. Thus he who after having followed the Law, starts for the next world, will be happy on his journey there, being exempt from karma and suffering. […]’”
