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householder should never disregard the man that comes to his abode, nor should he insult him by sending him away. A gift of |
food made unto even a Chandala or a dog is never lost. That man who makes a gift of clean food unto a person on the way who |
is toil-worn and unknown to the giver, is sure to acquire great merit. The man who gratifies with gifts of food the Pitris, the |
deities, the Rishis, the Brahmanas, and guests arrived at his abode, acquires merit whose measure is very large. That person |
who having committed even a heinous sin makes a gift of food unto one that solicits, or unto a Brahmana, is never stupefied by |
that heinous sin. A gift of food made unto a Brahmana becomes inexhaustible. One made to a Sudra becomes productive of |
great merit. Even this is the difference between the merits that attach to gifts of food made unto Brahmanas and Sudras. |
Solicited by it Brahmana, one should not enquire about his race or conduct or Vedic lore. Asked for food, one should give food |
to him that asks. There is no doubt in tits, O king, that he who makes gifts of food obtains both here and hereafter many trees |
yielding food and every other object of desire. Like tillers expecting auspicious showers of rain, the Pitris always expect that |
their sons and grandsons would make offerings unto them of food (in Sraddhas). The Brahmana is a great being. When he |
comes into one's anode and solicits, saying, 'Give me,' the owner of the abode, whether influenced or not by the desire of |
acquiring merit, is sure to win great merit by listening to that solicitation. The Brahmana is the guest of all creatures in the |
universe. He is entitled to the first portion of every food. That house Increases in prosperity to which the Brahmanas repair |
from desire of soliciting alms and from which they return honoured in consequence of their desires being fulfilled. The owner |
of such a house takes birth in his next life in a family, O Bharata, that can command all the comforts and luxuries of life. A |
man, by making gifts of food in this world, is sure to attain to an excellent place hereafter. He who makes gifts of sweetmeat |
and all food that is sweet, attains to a residence in heaven where he is honoured by all the deities and other denizens. Food |
constitutes the life-breath of men. Everything is established upon food. He who makes gifts of food obtains many animals (as |
his wealth), many children, considerable wealth (in other shape), and a command in abundance of all articles of comfort and |
luxurious enjoyment. The giver of food is said to be the giver of life. Indeed, he is said to be the giver of everything. Hence, O |
king, such a man acquires both strength and beauty of form in this world. If food be given duly unto a Brahmana arrived at the |
giver's house as a guest, the giver attains to great happiness, and is adored by the very deities. The Brahmana, O Yudhishthira, |
is a great being. He is also a fertile field. Whatever seed is sown on that field produces an abundant crop of merit. A gift of |
food is visibly and immediately productive of the happiness of both the giver and the receiver. All other gifts produce fruits |
that are unseen. Food is the origin of all creatures. From food, comes happiness and delight. O Bharata, know that religion and |
wealth both flow from food. The cure of disease or health also flows from food. In a former Kalpa, the Lord of all creatures |
said that food is Amrita or the source of immortality. Food is Earth, food is Heaven, food is the Firmament. Everything is |
established on food. In the absence of food, the five elements that constitute the physical organism cease to exist in a state of |
union. From absence of food the strength of even the strongest man is seen to fail. Invitations and marriages and sacrifices all |
cease in the absence of food. The very Vedas disappear when food there is none. Whatever mobile and immobile creatures |
exist in the universe are dependent on food. Religion and wealth, in the three worlds, are all dependent on food. Hence the wise |
should make gifts of food. The strength, energy, fame and achievements of the man who makes gifts of food, constantly |
increase in the three worlds, O king. The lord of the life-breaths, viz., the deity of wind, places above the clouds (the water |
sucked up by the Sun). The water thus borne to the clouds is caused by Sakra to be poured upon the earth, O Bharata. The Sun, |
by means of his rays, sucks up the moisture of the earth. The deity of wind causes the moisture to fall down from the Sun.[333] |
When the water falls down from the clouds upon the Earth, the goddess Earth becomes moist, O Bharata. Then do people sow |
diverse kinds of crops upon whose outturn the universe of creatures depends. It is in the food thus produced that the flesh, fat, |
bones and vital seed of all beings have their origin. From the vital seed thus originated, O king, spring diverse kinds of living |
creatures. Agni and Soma, the two agents living within the body, create and maintain the vital seed. Thus from food, the Sun |
and the deity of wind and the vital seed spring and act. All these are said to constitute one element or quantity, and it is from |
these that all creatures spring. That man who gives food into one who comes into his house and solicits it, is said, O chief of the |
Bharatas, to contribute both life and energy unto living creatures.' |
'Bhishma continued, 'Thus addressed by Narada, O king, I have always made gifts of food. Do thou also, therefore, freed from |
malice and with a cheerful heart, make gifts of food. By making gifts of food, O king, unto deserving Brahmanas with due |
rites, thou mayst be sure, O puissant one, of attaining to Heaven. Hear me, O monarch, as I tell thee what the regions are that |
are reserved for those that make gifts of food. The mansions of those high-souled persons shine with resplendence in the |
regions of Heaven. Bright as the stars in the firmament, and supported upon many columns, white as the disc of the moon, and |
adorned with many tinkling bells, and rosy like the newly-risen sun, those palatial abodes are either fixed or movable. Those |
mansions are filled with hundreds upon hundreds of things and animals that live on land and as many things and animals living |
in water. Some of them are endued with the effulgence of lapis lazuli and some are possessed of the resplendence of the sun. |
Some of them are made of silver and some of gold. Within those mansions are many trees capable of crowning with fruition |
every desire of the inmates. Many tanks and roads and halls and well and lakes occur all around. Thousands of conveyances |
with horses and other animals harnessed thereto and with wheels whose clatter is always loud, may be seen there. Mountains of |
food and all enjoyable articles and heaps of cloths and ornaments are also to be seen there. Numerous rivers that run milk, and |
hills of rice and other edibles, may also be seen there. Indeed, many palatial residences looking like white clouds, with many |
beds of golden splendour, occur in those regions, All these are obtained by those men that make gifts of food in this world. Do |
thou, therefore, become a giver of food. Verily, these are the regions that are reserved for those high-souled and righteous |
persons that make gifts of food in this world. For these reasons, men should always make gifts of food in this world.'" |
SECTION LXIV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'I have heard the discourse regarding the ordinance about the gift of food. Do thou discourse to me now |
about the conjunction of the planets and the stars in relation to the subject of making gifts.[334] |
"Bhishma said, 'In this connection is recited this ancient narrative of the discourse between Devaki and Narada, that foremost |
of Rishis. Once on a time when Narada of godlike feature and conversant with every duty arrived at Dwaraka, Devaki asked |
him this question. Unto her that had asked him, the celestial Rishi Narada duly answered in the following words. Do thou hear |
as I recite them.' |
"Narada said, 'By gratifying, O blessed lady, deserving Brahmanas with Payasa mixed with ghee, under the constellation |
Krittika one attains to regions of great happiness.[335] Under the constellation Rohini, one should for freeing oneself from the |
debt one owes to the Brahmanas make gift unto them of many handfuls of venison along with rice and ghee and milk, and other |
kinds of edibles and drinks. One giving away a cow with a calf under the constellation called Somadaivata (or Mrigasiras), |
proceeds from this region of human beings to a region in heaven of great felicity. One undergoing a fast and giving away |
Krisara mixed with sesame, transcends all difficulties in the next world, including those mountains with rocks sharp as razors. |
By making gifts, O beautiful lady, of cakes and other food under the constellation Punarvasu one becomes possessed of |
personal beauty and great fame and takes birth in one's next life in a family in which there is abundance of food. Making a gift |
of wrought or unwrought gold, under the constellation Pushya, one shines in effulgence like Soma himself in regions of |
surrounding gloom. He who makes a gift, under the constellation Aslesha, of silver of a bull, becomes freed from every fear |
and attains to great affluence and prosperity. By making a gift, under the constellation Magha, of earthen dishes filled with |
sesame, one becomes possessed of children and animals in this world and attains to felicity in the next.[336] For making gifts |
unto Brahmanas, under the constellation called Purva-Phalguni of food mixed with Phanita the giver observing a fast the while, |
reward is great prosperity both here and hereafter.[337] By making a gift, under the constellation called Uttara-Phalguni, of |
ghee and milk with rice called Shashthika, one attains to great honours in heaven. Whatever gifts are made by men under the |
constellation of Uttara-Phalguni produce great merit, which, again, becomes inexhaustible. This is very certain. Observing a |
fast the while, the person that makes, under the constellation Hasta, a gift of a car with four elephants, attains to regions of |
great felicity that are capable of granting the fruition of every wish. By making a gift, under the constellation Chitra, of a bull |
and of good perfumes, one sports in bliss in regions of Apsaras like the deities sporting in the woods of Nandana. By making |
gifts of wealth under the constellation Swati, one attains to such excellent regions as one desires and wins besides great fame. |
By making gifts, under constellation Visakha, of a bull, and a cow that yields a copious measure of milk, a cart full of paddy, |
with a Prasanga for covering the same, and also cloths for wear,[338] a person gratifies the Pitris and the deities attains to |
inexhaustible merit in the other world. Such a person never meets with any calamity and gratifies the Pitris and the deities and |
attains to inexhaustible merit in the other world. Such a person never meets with any calamity and certainly reaches heaven. By |
making gifts unto the Brahmanas of whatever articles they solicit, one attains to such means of subsistence as one desires, and |
becomes rescued from hell and every calamity that visits a sinner after death. This is the certain conclusion of the scriptures. |
By making gifts, under the constellation Anuradha of embroidered cloth and other vestments and of food, observing a fast the |
while, one becomes honoured in heaven for a hundred Yugas. By making a gift under the constellation Jyeshtha, of the potherb |
called Kalasaka with the roots, one attains to great prosperity as also to such an end as is desirable. By making unto Brahmanas |
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