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been previously invited by a Brahmana. By eating at the house of the person whose invitation has been posterior in point of |
time, he becomes inferior and even incurs the sin that attaches to the slaughter of an animal on occasions other than those of |
sacrifices.[224] So also, if he eats elsewhere after having been invited by a person of the royal order or a Vaisya, he falls away |
from his position and incurs half the sin that attaches to the slaughter of an animal on occasions other than those of sacrifices. |
That Brahmana, O king, who eats on occasions of such rites as are performed in honour of the deities or the Pitris by |
Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas, without having performed his ablutions, incurs the sin of uttering an untruth for a cow. |
That Brahmana, O king, who eats on occasions of similar rites performed by persons belonging to the three higher orders, at a |
time when he is impure in consequence either of a birth or a death among his cognates, through temptation, knowing well that |
he is impure incurs the same sin.[225] He who lives upon wealth obtained under false pretences like that of sojourns to sacred |
places or who solicits the giver for wealth pretending that he would spend it in religious acts, incurs, O monarch, the sin of |
uttering a falsehood.[226] That person, belonging to any of the three higher orders, O Yudhishthira, who at Sraddhas and on |
other occasions distributes food with the aid of Mantras, unto such Brahmanas as do not study the Vedas and as are not |
observant of vows, or as have not purified their conduct, certainly incurs sin.' |
"Yudhishthira said,--'I desire, O grandsire, to know by giving unto whom the things dedicated to the deities and the Pitris, one |
may earn the amplest rewards.' |
"Bhishma said,--'Do thou, Yudhishthira, feed those Brahmanas whose spouses reverently wait for the remnants of the dishes of |
their husbands like tillers of the soil waiting in reverence for timely showers of rain. One earn great merit by making gifts unto |
those Brahmanas that are always observant of pure conduct, O king, that are emaciated through abstention from all luxuries |
and even full meals, that are devoted to the observances of such vows as lead to the emaciation of the body, and that approach |
givers with the desire of obtaining gifts. By making gifts unto such Brahmanas as regard conduct in this light of food, as regard |
conduct in the light of spouses and children, as regard conduct in the light of strength, as regard conduct in the light of their |
refuge for crossing this world and attaining to felicity in the next, and as solicit wealth only when wealth is absolutely needed, |
one earns great merit. By making gifts unto those persons, O Yudhishthira, that having lost everything through thieves or |
oppressors, approach the giver, one acquires great merit.[227] By making gifts unto such Brahmanas as solicit food from the |
hands of even a poor person of their order who has just got something from others, one earns great merit. By making gifts unto |
such Brahmanas as have lost their all in times of universal distress and as have been deprived of their spouses on such |
occasions, and as come to givers with solicitations for alms, one acquires great merit. By making gifts unto such Brahmanas as |
are observant of vows, and as place themselves voluntarily under painful rules and regulations, as are respectful in their |
conduct to the declaration laid down in the Vedas, and as come to solicit wealth for spending it upon the rites necessary to |
complete their vows and other observances, one earns great merit. By making gifts unto such Brahmanas as live at a great |
distance from the practices that are observed by the sinful and the wicked, as are destitute of strength for want of adequate |
support, and as are very poor in earthly possessions, one earns great merit. By making gifts unto such Brahmanas as have been |
robbed of all their possessions by powerful men but as are perfectly innocent, and as desire to fill their stomachs any how |
without, that is, any scruples respecting the quality of the food they take, one earns great merit. By making gifts unto such |
Brahmanas as beg on behalf of others that are observant of penances and devoted to them and as are satisfied with even small |
gifts, one earns great merit. Thou hast now, O bull of Bharata's race, heard what the declarations are of the scriptures in respect |
of the acquisition of great merit by the making of gifts. Listen now to me as I expound what those acts are that lead to hell or |
heaven. They, O Yudhishthira, that speak an untruth on occasions other than those when such untruth is needed for serving the |
purpose of the preceptor or for giving the assurance of safety to a person in fear of his life, sink into hell[228]. They who ravish |
other people's spouses, or have sexual congress with them, or assist at such acts of delinquency, sink in hell. They who rob |
others of their wealth or destroy the wealth and possessions of other people, or proclaim the faults of other people, sink in hell. |
They who destroy the containers of such pieces of water as are used by cattle for quenching thirst, as injure such buildings as |
are used for purposes of public meetings, as break down bridges and causeways, and as pull down houses used for purposes of |
habitation, have to sink to hell. They who beguile and cheat helpless women, or girls, or aged dames, or such women as have |
been frightened, have to sink to hell. They who destroy the means of other people's living, they who exterminate the habitations |
of other people, they who rob others of their spouses, they who sow dissensions among friends, and they who destroy the hopes |
of other people, sink into hell. They who proclaim the faults of others, they who break down bridges or causeways, they who |
live by following vocations laid down for other people, and they who are ungrateful to friends for services received, have to |
sink in hell. They who have no faith in the Vedas and show no reverence for them, they who break the vows made by |
themselves or oblige others to break them, and they who fall away from their status through sin, sink in hell. They who betake |
themselves to improper conduct, they who take exorbitant rates of interest, and they who make unduly large profits on sales, |
have to sink in hell. They who are given to gambling, they who indulge in wicked acts without any scruple, and they who are |
given to slaughter of living creatures, have to sink in hell. They who cause the dismissal by masters of servants that are hoping |
for rewards or are expectant of definite need or are in the enjoyment of wages or salaries or are waiting for returns in respect of |
valuable services already rendered, have to sink in hell. They who themselves eat without offering portions thereof unto their |
spouse or their sacred fires or their servants or their guests, and they who abstain from performing the rites laid down in the |
scriptures for honouring the Pitris and deities, have to sink in hell. They who sell the Vedas, they who find fault with the |
Vedas, and they who reduce the Vedas into writing, have all to sink in hell.[229] They who are out of the pale of the four well- |
known modes of life, they who betake themselves to practices interdicted by the Srutis and the scriptures, and they who live by |
betaking themselves to acts that are wicked or sinful or that do not belong to their order of birth, have to sink in hell. They who |
live by selling hair, they who subsist by selling poisons, and they who live by selling milk, have to sink in hell. They who put |
obstacles in the path of Brahmanas and kine and maidens, O Yudhishthira, have to sink in hell. They who sell weapons, they |
who forge weapons, they who make shafts, and they who make bows, have to sink in hell. 'I hey who obstruct paths and roads |
with stones and thorns and holes have to sink in hell. They who abandon and cast off preceptors and servants and loyal |
followers without any offence, O chief of Bharata's race, have to sink in hell. They who set bullocks to work before the animals |
attain to sufficient age, they who bore the noses of bullocks and other animals for controlling them the better while employed |
in work, and they who keep animals always tethered, have to sink in hell. Those kings that do not protect their subjects while |
forcibly taking from them a sixth share of the produce of their fields, and they who, though able and possessed of resources, |
abstain from making gifts, have to sink in hell. They who abandon and cast off persons that are endued with forgiveness and |
self-restraint and wisdom, or those with whom they have associated for many years, when these are no longer of services to |
them, have to sink in hell. Those men who themselves eat without giving portions of the food to children and aged men and |
servants, have to sink in hell.' |
"'All these men enumerated above have to go to hell. Listen now to me, O bull of Bharata's race, as I tell thee who those men |
are that ascend to heaven. The man who transgresses against a Brahmana by impeding the performances of all such acts in |
which the deities are adored, becomes afflicted with the loss of all his children and animals. (They who do not transgress |
against Brahmanas by obstructing their religious acts ascend to heaven). Those men, O Yudhishthira, who follow the duties as |
laid down in the scriptures for them and practise the virtues of charity and self-restraint and truthfulness, ascend to heaven. |
Those men who having acquired knowledge by rendering obedient services to their preceptors and observing austere penances, |
become reluctant to accept gifts, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men through whom other people are relieved and |
rescued from fear and sin and the impediments that lie in the way of what they wish to accomplish and poverty and the |
afflictions of disease, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men who are endued with a forgiving disposition, who are |
possessed of patience, who are prompt in performing all righteous acts, and who are of auspicious conduct, succeed in |
ascending to heaven. Those men who abstain from honey and meat, who abstain from sexual congress with the spouses of |
other people, and who abstain from wines and spirituous liquors, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men that help in the |
establishment of retreats for ascetics, who become founders of families, O Bharata, who open up new countries for purposes of |
habitation, and lay out towns and cities succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men who give away cloths and ornaments, as |
also food and drink, and who help in marrying others, succeed in ascending to heaven.[230] Those men that have abstained |
from all kinds of injury or harm to all creatures, who are capable of enduring everything, and who have made themselves the |
refuge of all creatures, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men who wait with humility upon their fathers and mothers, who |
have subjugated their senses, and who are affectionate towards their brothers, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men that |
subjugate their senses notwithstanding the fact of their being rich in worldly goods and strong in might and in the enjoyment of |
youth, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men that are kind towards even those that offend against them, that are mild of |
disposition, that have an affection for all who are of mild behaviour, and that contribute to the happiness of others by rendering |
them every kind of service in humility, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men that protect thousands of people, that make |
gifts unto thousands of people, and that rescue thousands of people from distress, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men |
who make gifts of gold and of kine, O chief of Bharata's race, as also those of conveyances and animals, succeed in ascending |
to heaven. Those men who make gifts of such articles as are needed in marriages, as also those of serving men and maids, and |
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