Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 3

Imagine walking through a forest, alone, thin as a stick, a man who has decided that nothing in the world matters except the fire inside him. You have not slept properly in years. You eat almost nothing. You have given up home, wealth, marriage, name. You are proud of it. You think you are close to God.

Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Astika Parva, in the sections numbered thirteen and forty-five to forty-seven in the Ganguli translation. The details of the ancestors hanging by virana roots, the rat as Time, the words that a son is greater than asceticism, the conditions of the marriage, and the twilight incident are in the text. The description of the forest and Jaratkaru's inner feelings are my retelling.

Note:  ...