on virtue, and steadfast in conduct. Kindliness of feeling is the great
test of virtue amongst the good, and this same compassionate and humane
feeling is the source of perennial felicity to the virtuous. All the gods
question thee to remove their doubts in religion, and for this reason, O
lord, thou hast been placed in sovereignty over them all. It behoves thee
not, O thousand-eyed one, to advise me now to abandon this tree for ever.
When it was capable of good, it supported my life. How can I forsake it
now?--The virtuous destroyer of Paka, pleased with these well-meant words
of the parrot, thus said to him:--I am gratified with thy humane and
compassionate disposition. Do thou ask a boon of me.--At this, the
compassionate parrot craved this boon of him, saying,--Let this tree
revive.--Knowing the great attachment of the parrot to that tree and his
high character, Indra, well-pleased, caused the tree to be quickly
sprinkled over with nectar. Then that tree became replenished and
attained to exquisite grandeur through the penances of the parrot, and
the latter too, O great king, at the close of his life, obtained the
companionship of Sakra by virtue of that act of compassion. Thus, O lord
of men, by communion and companionship with the pious, people attain all
the objects of their desire even as the tree die through its
companionship with the parrot.'"



SECTION VI

"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell me, O learned sire that art versed in all the
scriptures, of Exertion and Destiny which is the most powerful?'

"Bhishma said, 'This ancient story of the conversation of Vasishtha and
Brahma, O Yudhishthira, is an illustration in point. In olden times the