But, Nachiketas replied, "Dharmaraja! However vast the riches, however pleasant the experiences they confer, they have to receive your impact without a murmur? Nothing in creation can escape you, can they? Everything is immersed in death. Why then should I aspire for items that give only temporary relief? Grant me the boon on which my heart is set". In the Mahabharatha, Dharmaraja is asked to answer the question, "Name the greatest marvel in the world". And, Dharmaraja replied, "Though we see every day people dying, we do not think we would ourselves die. What can be a greater marvel than this?" Similarly, Yajnavalkya, the famous sage, after deciding that he would join the monastic order, called before him, his two wives - Katyayani and Maitreyi, and informed them that he had partitioned his moveable and immovable properties, equally, for both of them. On hearing this, the elder wife, Maitreyi, who was endowed with a high level of intelligence and insight, protested and said, with a smile on her face, "Lord!, Can these riches you are handing over to me save me from death and render me immortal? If you assure me that they will do so, certainly I shall accept them, with due reverence to you." Yajnavalkya explained, "Riches make life pleasant and delightful by the chances they give you to live happily. Do you say that you do not need such valuable riches?" But, Maitreyi persisted. She said, "If what you say is true, you could have continued enjoying these riches and deriving happiness therefrom. Why have you decided to give them up and become a monk? No. it is not proper to cheat us, weak-minded women holding forth before us these delusive trinkets. How can the riches, which you refuse to keep, give us peace and happiness? These are temporary objects; they are liable to destruction; they entangle us still further in bondage; they foster the ignorance which we yearn to discard; they are the chief promoters of anxiety and worry. They are basically polluted, since they are not within the realm of the Atma." When Maitreyi placed before him this truth Yajnavalkya was silenced and, not knowing how to proceed, he stood with his head bent before her. Then, Maitreyi fell at the feet of her husband, and said, "Lord! You are the master of all mysteries. You must have called us and placed before us this proposal, in order to test our intelligence. I have no desire for luxury or even comfort. I do not crave for riches and possessions. Instruct me, about the path that can confer eternal Bliss".