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Rishis have declared that Brahmana to be a deserving object of gifts who studies the four Vedas with all their branches and is |
devoted to the six well-known duties (laid down in the scriptures). One acquires great merit by making gifts unto Brahmanas |
possessed of such qualifications. The man who makes gifts unto a deserving Brahmana multiplies his merit a thousand-fold. A |
single righteous Brahmana possessed of wisdom and Vedic lore, observant of the duties laid down in the scriptures, |
distinguished by purity of behaviour, is competent to rescue a whole race.[210] One should make gifts of kine and horses and |
wealth and food and other kinds of articles unto a Brahmana that is possessed of such qualifications. By making such gifts unto |
such persons one earns great happiness in the next world. As I have already told thee even one such Brahmana is fully |
competent to rescue the entire race to which the giver belongs. What need I say, therefore, O dear son, of the merit of making |
gifts unto many Brahmanas of such qualifications? In making gifts, therefore one should always select the object to whom the |
gifts are to be made. Hearing of a Brahmana possessed of proper qualifications and regarded with respect by all good people, |
one should invite him even if he resides at a distance and welcome him when he arrives and one should worship him by all |
means in his power.'" |
SECTION XXIII |
"Yudhishthira said, 'I desire thee, O grandsire, to tell me what the ordinances are that have been laid down by the acts touching |
the deities and the (deceased) ancestors on occasions of Sraddhas.' |
"Bhishma said, 'Having purified oneself (by baths and other purificatory acts) and then going through the well-known |
auspicious rites, one should carefully do all act relating to the deities in the forenoon, and all acts relating to the Pitris in the |
afternoon. What is given to men should be given in the midday with affection and regard. That gift which is made untimely is |
appropriated by Rakshasas.[211] Gifts of articles that have been leapt over by any one, o been licked or sucked, that are not |
given peacefully, that have been seen by women that are impure in consequence of their season having come, do not produce |
any merit. Such gifts are regarded as the portion belonging to the Rakshasas. Gifts of articles that have been proclaimed before |
many people or from which a portion has been eaten by a Sudra, or that have been seen or licked by a dog, form portions of |
Rakshasas. Food which is mixed with hair or in which there are worms, or which has been stained with spittle or saliva or |
which has been gazed at by a dog or into which tear-drops have fallen or which has been trodden upon should be known as |
forming the portion of Rakshasa. Food that has been eaten by a person incompetent to utter the syllable Om, or that has been |
eaten by a person bearing arms, O Bharata, or that has been eaten by a wicked person should be known to form the portion of |
Rakshasas.[212] The food that is eaten by a person from which a portion has already been eaten by another, or which is eaten |
without a part thereof having been offered to deities and guests and children, is appropriated by Rakshasas. Such stained food, |
if offered to the deities and Pitris is never accepted by them but is appropriated by Rakshasas. The food offered by the three |
regenerate classes in Sraddhas, in which Mantras are either not uttered or uttered incorrectly and in which the ordinances laid |
down in the scriptures are not complied with, if distributed to guests and other people, is appropriated by Rakshasas. The food |
that is distributed to guests without having been previously dedicated to the deities or the Pitris with the aid of libation on the |
sacred fire, which has been stained in consequence of a portion thereof having been eaten by a person that is wicked or of |
irreligious behaviour, should be known to form the portion of Rakshasas.' |
"'I have told thee what the portions are of the Rakshasas. Listen now to me as I lay down the rules for ascertaining who the |
Brahmana is that is deserving of gift.[213] All Brahmanas that have been outcasted (on account of the commission of heinous |
sins), as also Brahmanas that are idiots and out of mind, do not deserve to be invited to Sraddhas in which offerings are made |
to either the deities or the Pitris. That Brahmana who is afflicted with leucoderma, or he that is destitute of virility, or he that |
has got leprosy, or he that has got phthisis or he that is labouring under epilepsy (with delusions of the sensorium), or he that is |
blind, should not, O king, be invited.[214] Those Brahmanas that practise the calling of physicians, those that receive regular |
pay for worshipping the images of deities established by the rich, or live upon the service of the deities, those that are observant |
of vows from pride or other false motives, and those that sell Soma, do not deserve to be invited. Those Brahmanas that are, by |
profession, vocalists, or dancers or players or instrumental musicians, or reciters of sacred books, or warriors and athletes, do |
not, O king, deserve to be invited. Those Brahmanas who pour libations on the sacred fire for Sudras, or who are preceptors of |
Sudras, or who as servants of Sudra masters, do not deserve to be invited. That Brahmana who is paid for his services as |
preceptor, or who attends as pupil upon the lectures of some preceptor because of some allowance that is granted to him, does |
not deserve to be invited, for both of them are regarded as sellers of Vedic lore. That Brahmana who has been once induced to |
accept the gift of food in a Sraddha at the very outset, as also he who has married a Sudra wife, even if possessed of every kind |
of knowledge do not deserve to be invited.[215] Those Brahmanas that are destitute of their domestic fire, and they that attend |
upon corpses, they that are thieves, and they that have otherwise fallen away do not, O king, deserve to be invited.[216] Those |
Brahmanas whose antecedents are not known or are vile, and they that are Putrika-putras, do not, O king, deserve to be invited |
on occasions of Sraddhas.[217] That Brahmana who gives loans of money, or he who subsists upon the interest of the loans |
given by him, or he who lives by sale of living creatures, does not deserve, O king, to be invited. Persons who have been |
subjugated by their wives, or they who live by becoming the paramours of unchaste women, or they who abstain from their |
morning and evening prayers do not deserve, O king, to be invited to Sraddhas.' |
"'Listen now to me as I mention who the Brahmana is that has been ordained for acts done in honour of the deities and the |
Pitris. Indeed, I shall tell thee what those merits, are in consequence of which one may become a giver or a recipient of gifts in |
Sraddhas (notwithstanding the faults mentioned above).[218] Those Brahmanas that are observant of the rites and ceremonies |
laid down in the scriptures, or they that are possessed of merit, or they that are conversant with the Gayatri, or they that are |
observant of the ordinary duties of Brahmanas, even if they happen to betake themselves to agriculture for a living, are capable, |
O king, of being invited to Sraddhas. If a Brahmana happens to be wellborn, he deserves to be invited to Sraddhas |
notwithstanding his profession of arms for fighting the battle of others.[219] That Brahmana, however, O son, who happens to |
betake himself to trade for a living should be discarded (even if possessed of merit). The Brahmana who pours libations every |
day on the sacred fire, or who resides in a fixed habitation, who is not a thief and who does the duties of hospitality to guests |
arrived at his house, deserves, O king, to be invited to Sraddhas. The Brahmana, O chief of Bharata's race, who recites the |
Savitri morning, noon, and night, or who subsists upon eleemosynary charity, who is observant of the rites and ceremonies laid |
down in the scriptures for persons of his order, deserves, O king, to be invited to Sraddhas.[220] That Brahmana who having |
earned wealth in the morning becomes poor in the afternoon, or who poor in the morning becomes wealthy in the evening or |
who is destitute of malice, or is stained by a minor fault, deserves, O king, to be invited to Sraddhas. That Brahmana who is |
destitute of pride or sin, who is not given to dry disputation, or who subsists upon alms obtained in his rounds of mendicancy |
from house to house deserves, O king, to be invited to sacrifices. One who is not observant of vows, or who is addicted to |
falsehood (in both speech and conduct), who is a thief, or who subsists by the sale of living creatures or by trade in general, |
becomes worthy of invitation to Sraddhas, O king, if he happens to offer all to the deities first and subsequently drink Soma. |
That man who having acquired wealth by foul or cruel means subsequently spends it in adoring the deities and discharging the |
duties of hospitality, becomes worthy, O king, of being invited to Sraddhas. The wealth that one has acquired by the sale of |
Vedic lore, or which has been earned by a women, or which has been gained by meanness (such as giving false evidence in a |
court of law), should never be given to Brahmanas or spent in making offerings to the Pitris. That Brahmana, O chief of |
Bharata's race, who upon the completion of a Sraddha that is performed with his aid, refuses to utter the words 'astu swadha,' |
incurs the sin of swearing falsely in a suit for land.[221] The time for performing Sraddha, O Yudhishthira, is that when one |
obtains a good Brahmana and curds and ghee and the sacred day of the new moon, and the meat of wild animals such as deer |
and others.[222] Upon the completion of a Sraddha performed by a Brahmana the word Swadha should be uttered. If |
performed by a Kshatriya the words that should be uttered are--Let thy Pitris be gratified.--Upon the completion of a Sraddha |
performed by a Vaisya, O Bharata, the words that should be uttered are--Let everything become inexhaustible.--Similarly, upon |
the conclusion of a Sraddha performed by a Sudra, the word that should be uttered is Swasti,--In respect of a Brahmana, the |
declaration regarding Punyaham should be accompanied with the utterance of the syllable Om. In the case of a Kshatriya, such |
declaration should be without the utterance of syllable Om. In the rites performed by a Vaisya, the words that should be |
uttered, instead of beings the syllable Om, are,--Let the deities be gratified.[223]--Listen now to me as I tell thee the rites that |
should be performed, one after another, conformably to the ordinances, (in respect of all the orders). All the rites that go by the |
name of Jatakarma, O Bharata, are indispensable in the case of all the three orders (that are regenerate). All these rites, O |
Yudhishthira, in the case of both Brahmanas and Kshatriyas as also in that of Vaisyas are to be performed with the aid of |
mantras. The girdle of a Brahmana should be made of Munja grass. That for one belonging to the royal order should be a |
bowstring. The Vaisya's girdle should be made of the Valwaji grass. Even this is what has been laid down in the scriptures. |
Listen now to me as I expound to thee what constitutes the merits and faults of both givers and recipients of gifts. A Brahmana |
becomes guilty of a dereliction of duty by uttering a falsehood. Such an act on his part is sinful. A Kshatriya incurs four times |
and a Vaisya eight times the sin that a Brahmana incurs by uttering a falsehood. A Brahmana should not eat elsewhere, having |
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