of the eternal, conversant with the scriptures and purified by
knowledge, can never be moved by affection. The man that is influenced
by affection is tortured by desire; and from the desire that springeth
up in his heart his thirst for worldly possessions increaseth. Verily,
this thirst is sinful and is regarded as the source of all anxieties. It
is this terrible thirst, fraught with sin that leaneth unto unrighteous
acts. Those find happiness that can renounce this thirst, which can
never be renounced by the wicked, which decayeth not with the decay of
the body, and which is truly a fatal disease! It hath neither beginning
nor end. Dwelling within the heart, it destroyeth creatures, like a fire
of incorporeal origin. And as a faggot of wood is consumed by the fire
that is fed by itself, even so doth a person of impure soul find
destruction from the covetousness born of his heart. And as creatures
endued with life have ever a dread of death, so men of wealth are in
constant apprehension of the king and the thief, of water and fire and
even of their relatives. And as a morsel of meat, if in air, may be
devoured by birds; if on ground by beasts of prey; and if in water by
the fishes; even so is the man of wealth exposed to dangers wherever he
may be. To many the wealth they own is their bane, and he that beholding
happiness in wealth becometh wedded to it, and knoweth not true
happiness. And hence accession of wealth is viewed as that which
increaseth covetousness and folly. Wealth alone is the root of
niggardliness and boastfulness, pride and fear and anxiety! These are
the miseries of men that the wise see in riches! Men undergo infinite
miseries in the acquisition and retention of wealth. Its expenditure
also is fraught with grief. Nay, sometimes, life itself is lost for the
sake of wealth! The abandonment of wealth produces misery, and even they
that are cherished by one's wealth become enemies for the sake of that
wealth! When, therefore, the possession of wealth is fraught with such
misery, one should not mind its loss. It is the ignorant alone who are