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loses its force upon a Brahmana when it encounters him. Thinking that thou art a king, that thou art possessed of great power, |
and that thou hast affluence, do not, O Yudhishthira, enjoy thy affluence without giving anything unto the Brahmanas. |
Observing the duties of thy own order, do thou worship the Brahmanas with whatever wealth thou hast, O sinless one, for |
purposes of adornment or sustaining thy power. Let the Brahmanas live in whatever way they like. Thou shouldst always bend |
thy head unto them with reverence. Let them always rejoice in thee as thy children, living happily and according to their |
wishes. Who else than thou, O best of the Kurus, is competent to provide the means of subsistence for such Brahmanas as are |
endued with eternal contentment as are thy well-wishers, and as are gratified by only a little? As women have one eternal duty, |
in this world, viz., dependence upon and obedient service to their husbands, and as such duty constitutes their only end, even so |
is the service to Brahmanas Our eternal duty and end. If, at sight of cruelties and other sinful acts in Kshatriyas, the Brahmanas, |
O son, unhonoured by us, forsake us all, I say, of what use would life be to us, in the absence of all contact with the |
Brahmanas, especially as we shall then have to drag on our existence without being able to study the Vedas to perform |
sacrifices, to hope for worlds of bliss hereafter, and to achieve great feats? I shall, in this connection, tell thee what the eternal |
usage is. In days of yore, O king, the Kshatriyas used to serve the Brahmanas. The Vaisya in a similar manner used in those |
days to worship the royal order, and the Sudra to worship the Vaisya. Even this is what is heard. The Brahmana was like a |
blazing fire. Without being able to touch him or approach his presence, the Sudra used to serve the Brahmana from a distance. |
It was only the Kshatriya and the Vaisya who could serve the Brahmana by touching his person or approaching his presence. |
The Brahmanas are endued with a mild disposition. They are truthful in behaviour. They are followers of the true religion. |
When angry, they are like snakes of virulent poison. Such being their nature, do thou, O Yudhishthira, serve and attend upon |
them with obedience and reverence. The Brahmanas are superior to even those that are higher than the high and the low. The |
energy and penances of even those Kshatriyas who blaze forth with energy and might, become powerless and neutralised when |
they come in contact with the Brahmanas. My sire himself is not dearer to me than the Brahmanas. My mother is not dearer to |
me than they. My grandsire, O king, is not dearer, my own self is not dearer, my life itself is not dearer, O king, to me than the |
Brahmanas! On earth there is nothing, O Yudhishthira, that is dearer to me than thou. But, O chief of Bharata's race, the |
Brahmanas are dearer to me than even thou. I tell thee truly, O son of Pandu! I swear by this truth, by which I hope to acquire |
all those regions of bliss that have been Santanu's. I behold those sacred regions with Brahma shining conspicuously before |
them. I shall repair thither, O son, and reside in them for unending days. Beholding these regions, O best of the Bharatas (with |
my spiritual eyes), I am filled with delight at the thought of all these acts which I have done in aid and honour of the |
Brahmanas, O monarch!'" |
SECTION LX |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Unto which of two Brahmanas, when both happen to be equally pure in behaviour, equally possessed of |
learning and purity, of birth and blood, but differing from each other in only this, viz., the one solicits and the other does not,--I |
ask, O grandsire, unto which of these two would a gift be more meritorious?" |
"Bhishma said, 'It has been said. O son of Pritha, that a gift made unto an unsoliciting person is productive of greater merit than |
one made to a person who solicits. One possessed of contentment is certainly more deserving than that person who is destitute |
of that virtue and is, therefore, helpless amidst the storms and buffets of the world. The firmness of a Kshatriya consists in the |
protection he gives to others. The firmness of a Brahmana consists in his refusal to solicit. The Brahmana possessed of |
steadiness and learning and contentment gladdens the deities. The wise have said that an act of solicitation on the part of a poor |
man is a great reproach. Those persons that solicit others are said to annoy the world like thieves and robbers.[323] The person |
who solicits is said to meet with death. The giver, however, is said not to meet with death. The giver is said to grant life unto |
him who solicits. By an act of gift, O Yudhishthira, the giver is said to rescue his own self also. Compassion is a very high |
virtue. Let people make gift from compassion unto those that solicit. Those, however, that do not beg, but are plunged into |
poverty and distress should be respectfully invited to receive assistance. If such Brahmanas, who must be regarded as the |
foremost of their order, live in thy kingdom, thou shouldst regard them as fire covered with ashes. Blazing with penances, they |
are capable of consuming the whole earth. Such persons, O son of Kuru's race, though not generally worshipped, should still be |
regarded as deserving of worship in every way. Endued with knowledge and spiritual vision and penances and Yoga, such |
persons always deserve our worship. O scorcher of foes, do thou always offer worship unto such Brahmanas. One should repair |
of one's own accord unto those foremost of Brahmanas that do not solicit anybody and make unto them gifts of diverse kinds of |
wealth in abundance. The merit that flows from properly pouring libations into the sacred fire every morning and evening is |
won by the person who makes gifts unto a Brahmana endued with learning, with the Vedas and with high and excellent vows. |
Thou shouldst, O son of Kunti, invite those foremost of Brahmanas who are cleansed by learning and the Vedas and vows, who |
live in independence, whose Vedic studies and penances are hidden without being proclaimed from the house-top, and who are |
observant of excellent vows, and honour them with gifts of well-constructed and delightful houses equipped with servitors and |
robes and furniture, and with all other articles of pleasure and enjoyment. Conversant with all duties and possessed of minute |
vision, those foremost of Brahmanas, O Yudhishthira, may accept the gifts offered to them with devotion and respect, thinking |
that they should not refuse and disappoint the giver. Thou shouldst invite those Brahmanas whose wives wait for their return |
like tillers in expectation of rain. Having fed them well thou shouldst make gifts of additional food unto them so that upon their |
return home their expectant wives might be able to distribute that food among their children that had clamoured for food but |
that had been pacified with promises Brahmacharins of restrained senses, O son, by eating at one's house in the forenoon, cause |
the three sacrificial fires to be gratified with the householder at whose house they eat. Let the sacrifice of gift proceed in thy |
house at midday, O son, and do thou also give away kine and gold and robes (unto thy guests after feeding them well). By |
conducting thyself, in this way, thou art sure to gratify the chief of the celestials himself. That would constitute thy third |
sacrifice, O Yudhishthira, in which offerings are made unto the deities, the Pitris, and the Brahmanas. By such sacrifice thou |
art sure to gratify the Viswedevas. Let compassion unto all creatures, giving unto all creatures what is due unto them, |
restraining the senses, renunciation, steadiness, and truth, constitute the final bath of that sacrifice which is constituted by gift. |
Even this is the sacrifice that is spread out for thee,--a sacrifice that is sanctified by devotion and faith, and that has a large |
Dakshina attached to it. This sacrifice which is constituted by gift is distinguished above all other sacrifices, O son, let this |
sacrifice be always performed by thee.'" |
SECTION LXI |
"Yudhishthira said, 'I wish to know in detail, O Bharata, where one meets with the high rewards of gifts and sacrifices. Are |
those rewards earned here or are they to come hereafter? Which amongst these two (viz., Gift and Sacrifice) is said to be |
productive of superior merit? Unto whom should gifts be made? In what manner are gifts and sacrifices to be made? When also |
are they to be made? I ask thee all these. O learned sire! Do thou discourse to me on the duty of gifts! Do tell me, O grandsire, |
what leads to the highest reward, viz., gifts made from the sacrificial platform or those made out of that place?[324] |
'Bhishma said, 'O son, a Kshatriya is generally employed in deeds of fierceness. In his case, sacrifices and gifts are regarded as |
cleansing or sanctifying him. They, that are good and righteous, do not accept the gifts of persons of the royal order, who are |
given to sinful acts. For this reason, the king should perform sacrifices with abundant gifts in the form of Dakshina.[325] If the |
good and righteous would accept the gifts made unto them, the Kshatriya, O monarch, should incessantly make gifts with |
devotion and faith unto them. Gifts are productive of great merit, and are highly cleansing. Observant of vows, one should |
perform sacrifices and gratify with wealth such Brahmanas as are friends of all creatures, possessed of righteousness, |
conversant with the Vedas, and preeminent for acts, conduct, and penances. If such Brahmanas do not accept thy gifts, no merit |
becomes thine. Do thou perform sacrifices with copious Dakshina, and make gifts of good and agreeable food unto those that |
are righteous. By making an act of gift thou shouldst regard thyself as performing a sacrifice. Thou shouldst with gifts adore |
those Brahmanas who perform sacrifices. By doing this thou will acquire a share in the merits of those sacrifices of theirs. |
Thou shouldst support such Brahmanas as are possessed of children and as are capable of sending people to Heaven. By |
conducting thyself in this way thou art sure to get a large progeny--in fact as large a progeny as the Prajapati himself. They that |
are righteous support and advance the cause of all righteous acts. One should, by giving up one's all, support such men, as also |
those that do good unto all creatures. Thyself being in the enjoyment of affluence, do thou, O Yudhishthira, make unto |
Brahmanas gifts of kine and bullocks and food and umbrellas, and robes and sandals or shoes Do thou give unto sacrificing |
Brahmanas clarified butter, as also food and cars and vehicles with horses harnessed thereto, and dwelling houses and |
mansions and beds. Such gifts are fraught with prosperity and affluence to the giver, and are regarded as pure, O Bharata. |
Those Brahmanas that are not censurable for anything they do, and that have no means of support assigned to them, should be |
searched out. Covertly or publicly do thou cherish such Brahmanas by assigning them the means of support. Such conduct |
always confers higher benefit upon Kshatriyas than the Rajasuya and the Horse-sacrifices. Cleansing thyself of sin, thou art |
sure of attaining to Heaven. Filling thy treasury thou shouldst do good to thy kingdom. By such conduct thou art sure to win |
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