"'"
SECTION CCIX
"Markandeya continued, 'Hear, O king Yudhishthira what the virtuous
fowler, thus interrogated by that Brahmana, said to him in reply. The
fowler said, "Men's minds are at first bent on the acquisition of
knowledge. That acquired, O good Brahmana, they indulge in their
passions and desires, and for that end, they labour and set about tasks
of great magnitude and indulge in much-desired pleasures of beauty,
flavour, &c. Then follows fondness, then envy, then avarice and then
extinction of all spiritual light. And when men are thus influenced by
avarice, and overcome by envy and fondness, their intellect ceases to be
guided by righteousness and they practise the very mockery of virtue.
Practising virtue with hypocrisy, they are content to acquire wealth by
dishonourable means with the wealth thus acquired the intelligent
principle in them becomes enamoured of those evil ways, and they are
filled with a desire to commit sins. And when, O good Brahmana, their
friends and men of wisdom remonstrate with them, they are ready with
specious answers, which are neither sound nor convincing. From their
being addicted to evil ways, they are guilty of a threefold sin. They
commit sin in thought, in word, as also in action. They being addicted
to wicked ways, all their good qualities die out, and these men of
wicked deeds cultivate the friendship of men of similar character, and
consequently they suffer misery in this world as well as in the next.
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