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SATYA
asked the prince of sages, “I low can it be possible, how can it be imagined, that my husband lives chaste?”
The sage replied, “Hear me, good woman. From the moment when I took my vow, the king's soul was free from attachment and vehemently did he long to take a vow. For no such man as he could patiently endure to bear the yoke of sovereignty. Therefore he bears sway from a sense of duty, but his heart is not in what he docs. Moreover it is said, 'A woman who loves another man follows her husband. So also a yogī attached to the essence of things remains with the round of existences.' Precisely so the chastity of the king is possible, even though he is living the life of a householder, because his heart is free froni sin, just as the purity of the lotus is not stained, even though it grow in the mud."
The queen bowed before the sage, and then, experiencing supreine satisfaction, went to a certain place in the forest and set up her abode. Having caused a meal to be prepared for her retinue, she provided food and drink for the sage. Then, her vow fulfilled, she herself ate and drank.
When the queen went to take leave of the sage she asked him once more, “How can I cross the river now?” The sage replied, "Woman of tranquil speech, you must thus address the goddess of the river: 'If this sage, even to the end of his vow, shall always abide fasting, then grant mc passage.'"
Amazed once more, the queen went to the bank of the river, proclaimed the words of the sage, crossed the river, and went home. After relating the whole story to the king, she asked him, “How can the sage be fasting, when I myself caused him to break the fast?"
The king said, "O queen, you are confused in mind; you do not understand in what true religion consists. Tranquil in heart, noble in soul is he, whether in eating or in fasting. Therefore: even though a sage eat, for the sake of religion, food which is pure, which he has neither himself prepared, nor caused another
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