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cloths and robes, succeed in ascending to heaven[231]. Those men who make public pleasure-houses and gardens and wells, |
resting houses and buildings for public meetings and tanks for enabling cattle and men to quench their thirst, and fields for |
cultivation, O Bharata, succeed in ascending to heaven.[232] Those men who make gifts of houses and fields and populated |
villages unto persons that solicit them, succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men who having themselves manufactured juicy |
drinks of sweet taste and seeds and paddy or rice, make gifts of them unto others succeed in ascending to heaven. Those men |
who being born in families high or low beget hundreds of children and live long lives practising compassion and keeping wrath |
under complete subjection, succeed in ascending to heaven. I have thus expounded to thee, O Bharata, what the rites are in |
honour of the deities and the Pitris which are performed by people for the sake of the other world, what the ordinances are in |
respect of making gifts, and what the views are of the Rishis of former times in respect of both the articles of gift and the |
manner of giving them.'" |
SECTION XXIV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'O royal son of Bharata's race, it behoveth thee to answer this question of mine truly and in detail. What are |
those circumstances under which a person may become guilty of Brahmanicide without actually slaying a Brahmana!' |
"Bhishma said, 'Formerly, O monarch, I had one day requested Vyasa to explain to me this very subject. I shall now narrate to |
thee what Vyasa told me on that occasion. Do thou listen to it with undivided attention. Repairing to the presence of Vyasa, I |
addressed him, saying,--Thou, O great ascetic, art the fourth in descent from Vasishtha. Do thou explain to me this. What are |
those circumstances under which one becomes guilty of Brahmanicide without actually slaying a Brahmana,--Thus addressed |
by me, the son of Parasara's loins, O king, well-skilled 'n the science of morality, made me the following answer, at once |
excellent and fraught with certainty, Thou shouldst know that man as guilty of Brahmanicide who having of his own will |
invited a Brahmana of righteous conduct to his house for giving him alms subsequently refuses to give anything to him on the |
pretence of there being nothing in the house. Thou shouldst, O Bharata, know that man as guilty of Brahmanicide who destroys |
the means of living of a Brahmana learned in the Vedas and all their branches, and who is freed from attachments to worldly |
creatures and goods. Thou shouldst, O king, know that man to be guilty of Brahmanicide, who causes obstructions in the way |
of thirsty kine while employed in quenching that thirst. Thou shouldst take that man as guilty of Brahmanicide who, without |
studying the Srutis that have flowed from preceptor to pupil for ages and ages together, finds fault with the Srutis or with those |
scriptures that have been composed by the Rishis. Thou shouldst know that man as guilty of Brahmanicide who does not |
bestow upon a suitable bride-groom his daughter possessed of beauty and other excellent accomplishments. Thou shouldst |
know that foolish and sinful person to be guilty of Brahmanicide who inflicts such grief upon Brahmanas as afflict the very |
core of their hearts. Thou shouldst know that man to be guilty of Brahmanicide who robs the blind, the lame, and idiots of their |
all. Thou shouldst know that man to be guilty of Brahmanicide who sets fire to the retreats of ascetics or to woods or to a |
village or a town.'" |
SECTION XXV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'It has been said that sojourns to sacred waters as fraught with merit; that ablutions in such waters is |
meritorious; and that listening to the excellence of such waters is also meritorious. I desire to hear thee expatiate on this |
subject, O grandsire. It behoveth thee, O chief of Bharata's race, to mention to me the sacred waters that exist on this earth. I |
desire, O thou of great puissance, to hear thee discourse on this topic.' |
"Bhishma said, 'O thou of great splendour, the following enumeration of the sacred waters on the Earth was made by Angiras. |
Blessed be thou, it behoveth thee to listen to it for thou shalt then earn great merit. Once on a time, Gautama of rigid vows, |
approaching the great and learned Rishi Angiras endued with tranquillity of soul, while he was dwelling in a forest, questioned |
him, saying,--O illustrious one, I have some doubts regarding the merits attaching to sacred waters and shrines. So I desire to |
hear thee discourse on that topic. Do thou, therefore, O ascetic, discourse to me. What merits are earned by a person in respect |
of the next world, by bathing in the sacred waters on the Earth, O thou of great wisdom? Do thou expound to me this truly and |
according to the ordinance.' |
"Angiras said, 'A person by bathing for seven days in succession in the Chandrabhaga or the Vitasta whose waters are always |
seen to dance in waves, observing a fast the while, is sure to become cleansed of all his sins and endued with the merit of an |
ascetic.[233] The very many rivers that flowing through Kasmira, fall into the great river called Sindhu (Indus). By bathing in |
these rivers one is sure to become endued with good character and to ascend to heaven after departing from this world. By |
bathing in Pushkara, and Prabhasa, and Naimisha, and the ocean, and Devika, and Indramarga, and Swarnavindu, one is sure to |
ascend to heaven being seated on a celestial car, and filled with transports of joy at the adorations of Apsara. By plunging in |
the waters of Hiranyavindu with a concentrated mind and reverencing that sacred stream, and bathing next at Kusesaya and |
Devendra, one becomes cleansed of all one's sins. Repairing to Indratoya in the vicinity of the mountains of Gandhamadana |
and next to Karatoya in the country called Kuranga, one should observe a fast for three days and then bathe in those sacred |
waters with a concentrated heart and pure body. By doing this, one is sure to acquire the merit of a Horse-sacrifice. Bathing in |
Gangadwara and Kusavarta and Vilwaka in the Nita mountains, as also in Kankhala, one is sure to become cleansed of all one's |
sins and then ascend to heaven. If one becomes a Brahmacharin and subdues one's wrath, devotes oneself to truth and practises |
compassion towards all creatures, and then bathes in the Jala parda (Lake of Waters), one is sure to acquire the merit of a |
Horse-sacrifice. That part where Bhagirathi-Ganga flows in a northward direction is known as the union of heaven, earth, and |
the nether regions. Observing a fast for one month and bathing in that sacred Tirtha which is known to be acceptable to |
Maheswara, one becomes competent to behold the deities. One who gives oblations of water unto one's Pitris at Saptaganga |
and Triganga and Indramarga, obtains ambrosia for food, if one has still to undergo rebirth. The man who in a pure state of |
body and mind attends to his daily Agnihotra and observes a fast for one month and then baths in Mahasrama, is sure to attain |
success in one month. By bathing, after a fast of three days and purifying the mind of all evil passions, in the large lake of |
Bhrigu Kunda, one becomes cleansed of even the sin of Brahmanicide. By bathing in Kanyakupa and performing one's |
ablutions in Valaka, one acquires great fame among even the deities and shines in glory. Bathing in Devika and the lake known |
by the name of Sundarika as also in the Tirtha called Aswini, one acquires, in one's next life, great beauty of form. By fasting |
for a fortnight and bathing in Mahaganga and Krittikangaraka, one becomes cleansed of all one's sins and ascends to heaven. |
Bathing in Vaimanika and Kinkinika, one acquires the power of repairing everywhere at will and becomes an object of great |
respect in the celestial region of the Apsaras.[234] If a person, subduing his wrath and observing the vow of Brahmacharyya |
for three days, bathes in the river Vipasa at the retreat called Kalika, he is sure to succeed in transcending the obligation of |
rebirth. Bathing in the asylum that is sacred to the Krittakas and offering oblations of water to the Pitris, and then gratifying |
Mahadeva, one becomes pure in body and mind and ascends to heaven. If one, observing a fast for three days with a purified |
body and mind, bathes in Mahapura, one becomes freed from the fear of all mobile and immobile animals as also of all animals |
having two feet. By bathing in the Devadaru forest and offering oblations of water to the Pitris and dwelling there for seven |
nights with a pure body and mind, one attains to the region of the deities on departing from this world. Bathing in the waterfalls |
at Sarastamva and Kusastambha and Dronasarmapada, one is sure to attain to the region of the Apsaras where one is waited |
upon with dutiful services by those superhuman beings. If one, observing a fast, bathes at Chitrakuta and Janasthana and the |
waters of Mandakini, one is sure to be united with prosperity that is royal.[235] By repairing to the retreat that is known by the |
name of Samya and residing there for a fortnight and bathing in the sacred water that exists there, one acquires the power of |
disappearing at will (and enjoy the happiness that has been ordained for the Gandharvas). Repairing to the tirtha known by the |
name of Kausiki and residing there with a pure heart and abstaining from all food and drink for three days, one acquires the |
power of dwelling (in one's next life) in the happy region of the Gandharvas. Bathing in the delightful tirtha that goes by the |
name of Gandhataraka and residing there for one month, abstaining all the while from food and drink, one acquires the power |
of disappearing at pleasure and, then one and twenty days, of ascending to heaven. He that bathes in the lake known by the |
name of Matanga is sure to attain to success in one night. He that bathes in Analamva or in eternal Andhaka, or in Naimisha, or |
the tirtha called Swarga, and offers oblations of water to the Pitris, subduing his senses the while, acquires the Merit of a |
human sacrifice.[236] Bathing in Ganga hrada and the tirtha known by the name of Utpalavana and daily offering oblations of |
water there for a full month to the Pitris, one acquires the merit of a Horse-sacrifice. Bathing in the confluence of the Ganga |
and the Yamuna as also at the tirtha in the Kalanjara mountains and offering every day oblations of water to the Pitris for a full |
month, one acquires the merit that attaches to ten Horse-sacrifices. Bathing in the Shashthi lake one acquires merit much |
greater than what is attached to the gift of food. Ten thousand tirthas and thirsty millions of other tirthas come to Prayaga (the |
confluence of Ganga and Yamuna), O chief of Bharata's race in the month of Magha. He who bathes in Prayaga, with a |
restrained soul and observing rigid vows the while, in the month of Magha, becomes cleansed of all his sins, O chief of |
Bharata's race, and attains to heaven. Bathing in the tirtha that is sacred to the Maruts, as also in that which is situate in the |
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