June 28, 2026
varaṁ vaidhavyamābālyād varaṁ maraṇameva ca
varaṁ vyādhirathāpadvā nāhṛdyaprakṛtiḥ patiḥ (3)
The CELESTIAL continued:
After a considerable time, the same attachment and affection I had for my husband became non-attachment and dispassion. My husband had grown old, he was interested only in seclusion and was devoid of all attachment and taste for sensual pleasures; he was ever silent. Of what use is life itself to me? I consider child-widowhood, even death or disease or even the worst calamity preferable to a husband whose nature is not after one’s own heart. Indeed, the greatest blessing and the fruition of the life of a woman are that she obtains a young husband who enjoys life and whose conduct and behaviour are sweet and agreeable.
A woman whose husband does not enjoy life is frustrated. The uncultivated intellect is destructive. Wealth which falls into the hands of wicked people is misfortune. When one’s shame has been extinguished by a prostitute there is great harm. She is a woman who follows the husband. That is wealth which seeks the good people. That alone is intelligence which is sweet and not limited, noble and endowed with equal vision.
If the husband and wife are fond of each other, then neither diseases of the body nor those of the mind, neither calamities nor natural disasters, afflict their minds. To the woman whose husband is of bad character or who does not have a husband, the pleasure-gardens of the world are burning sands. A woman can abandon everything in this world for one reason or another, but she cannot abandon her husband.
You yourself see, O sage, what unhappiness I have endured all these years. But now I have cultivated dispassion. Now I have only one desire: to be instructed by you so that I may attain nirvāṇa. Death is preferable to life to one whose desires are frustrated here and whose heart is agitated and who is slowly proceeding towards death. My husband, too, is desirous of attaining nirvāṇa. He is endeavouring to control the mind by the mind. Lord, awaken self-knowledge in both of us with your words of the highest wisdom.
Because my husband had no interest in me, I developed dispassion. The mental conditioning became weak and I practised yoga which conferred on me control over space so that I can move in space. Thereupon I practised such concentration as would bring about my meeting with the perfected ones. All these have borne fruit.
When I flew away from my own world, I saw a rock on the Lokāloka mountains which I had not seen before. We had no desire to see this before. My husband and I now desire to attain self-knowledge. I beg of you to grant this boon, for holy men do not decline such a request. I have seen many perfected ones, but none like you. I take refuge at your feet; do not abandon me.