Passage 20

In English

addressed in great reverence and humility and asked , “At the time when I was humiliated in the court of , you never spoke of any code of conduct; and at the time when my husbands were banished into the forest for twelve years and were to live incognito for one year, you never preached any code of conduct. You are now teaching the to the who are the very embodiments of . Why are you now teaching this to the people who do not need to be taught? This should have been taught to and his accomplices. Such a thought came to my mind and I laughed. Not only this, in the court that day lost in the game of Dice and also lost when he placed himself as the stake. Then he offered me as the stake. It was then decided that the were to go to the forest and I was humiliated. Was this ? You are an embodiment of and right conduct. Do you think that on that day, after losing himself in the game, had the right to bid me? I was married to five husbands, and in that context, belonged to all of them. If only one husband wanted to bid me, was that right? At that time, what had happened to all your professed adherence to right conduct.