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in becoming the equal of one who has made gifts of many kine? What kind or Dakshina is regarded as distinguished for pre- |
eminence in the matter of gifts of kine? It behoveth thee, O holy one, to discourse unto me on all this agreeably to truth.'" |
SECTION LXXIII |
"The Grandsire said, 'The questions thou hast asked me in respect of kine, beginning with their gift, are such that there is none |
else in the three worlds, O thou of a hundred sacrifices, who could put them! There are many kinds of regions, O Sakra, which |
are invisible to even thee. Those regions are seen by me, O Indra, as also by those women that are chaste and that have been |
attached to only one husband. Rishis observant of excellent vows, by means of their deeds of righteousness and piety, and |
Brahmanas of righteous souls, succeed in repairing to them in even their fleshy forms. Men that are observant of excellent |
vows behold those regions which resemble the bright creations of dreams, aided by their cleansed minds and by that |
(temporary) emancipation which succeeds the loss of one's consciousness of body.[358] Listen, O thou of a thousand eyes, to |
me as I tell thee what the attributes are with which those regions are endued. There the very course of Time is suspended. |
Decrepitude is not there, nor Fire which is omnipresent in the universe. There the slightest evil does not occur, nor disease, nor |
weakness of any kind. The kine that live there, O Vasava, obtain the fruition of every desire which they cherish in their hearts. |
I have direct experience of what I say unto thee. Capable of going everywhere at will and actually repairing from place to place |
with ease, they enjoy the fruition of wish after wish as it arises in their minds. Lakes and tanks and rivers and forests of diverse |
kinds, and mansions and hills and all kinds of delightful objects,--delightful, that is, to all creatures,--are to be seen there. There |
is no region of felicity that is superior to any of these of which I speak. All those foremost of men, O Sakra, who are forgiving |
unto all creatures, who endure everything, who are full of affection for all things, who render dutiful obedience unto their |
preceptors, and who are free from pride and vanity, repair to those regions of supreme felicity. He, who abstains from every |
kind of flesh, who is possessed of a cleansed heart, who is endued with righteousness, who worships his parents with |
reverence, who is endued with truthfulness of speech and conduct, who attends with obedience upon the Brahmanas, who is |
faultless in conduct, who never behaves with anger towards kine and towards the Brahmanas, who is devoted to the |
accomplishment of every duty, who serves his preceptors with reverence, who is devoted for his whole life to truth and to gifts, |
and who is always forgiving towards all transgression against himself, who is mild and self-restrained, who is full of reverence |
for the deities, who is hospitable to all guests, who is endued with compassion,--verily, he, who is adorned with these |
attributes,--succeeds in attaining to the eternal and immutable region of kine. He, who is stained with adultery, sees not such a |
region; nor he, who is a slayer of his preceptor; nor he, who speaks falsely or indulges in idle boasts; nor he, who always |
disputes with others; nor he who behaves with hostility towards the Brahmanas. Indeed, that wicked wight, who is stained with |
such faults fails to attain even a sight of these regions of felicity; also he that injures his friends; also he that is full of guile; |
also he that is ungrateful; also he that is a cheat; also he that is crooked in conduct; also he that is a disregarder of religion; also |
he that is a slayer of Brahmanas. Such men are incapable of beholding in even imagination the region of kine that is the abode |
of only those who are righteous of deeds. I have told thee everything about the region of kine in minute detail, O chief of the |
deities! Hear now, O thou of a hundred sacrifices, the merit that is theirs who are engaged in making gifts of kine. He, who |
make gifts of kine, after purchasing them with wealth obtained by inheritance or acquired lawfully by him, attains, as the fruit |
of such an act to many regions of inexhaustible felicity. He, who makes a gift of a cow, having acquired it with wealth won at |
dice, enjoys felicity, O Sakra, for ten thousand years of celestial measure, He, who acquires a cow as his share of ancestral |
wealth is said to acquire her legitimately. Such a cow may be given away. They that make gifts of kine so acquired obtain |
many eternal regions of felicity that is inexhaustible. That person, who, having acquired a cow in gift makes a gift of her with a |
pure heart, succeeds without doubt, O lord of Sachi, in obtaining eternal regions of beatitude. That person, who, with restrained |
senses speaks the truth from his birth (to the time of his death) and who endures everything at the hands of his preceptor and of |
the Brahmanas, and who practises forgiveness, succeeds in attaining to an end that is equal to that of kine. That speech which is |
improper, O lord of Sachi, should, never be addressed to a Brahmana. One, again, should not, in even one's mind, do an injury |
to a cow. One should, in one's conduct, imitate the cow, and show compassion towards the cow.[359] Hear, O Sakra, what the |
fruits are that become his, who is devoted to the duty of truth. If such a person gives away a single cow, that one cow becomes |
equal to a thousand kine. If a Kshatriya, possessed of such qualifications, makes a gift of a single cow, his merit becomes equal |
to that of a Brahmana's. That single cow, listen, O Sakra which such a Kshatriya gives away becomes the source of as much |
merit as the single cow that a Brahmana gives away under similar circumstances. Even this is the certain conclusion of the |
scriptures. If a Vaisya, possessed of similar accomplishments, were to make a gift of a single cow, that cow would be equal to |
five hundred kine (in respect of the merit she would produce) If a Sudra endued with humility were to make a gift of a cow, |
such a cow would be equal to a hundred and twenty-five kine (in respect of the merit it would produce) Devoted to penances |
and truth, proficient (in the scriptures and all acts) through dutiful services rendered to his preceptor, endued with forgiveness |
of disposition, engaged in the worship of the deities, possessed of a tranquil soul, pure (in body and mind), enlightened, |
observant of all duties, and freed from every kind of egotism, that man who makes a gift of a cow unto a Brahmana, certainly |
attains to great merit through that act of his, viz., the gift, according to proper rites, of a cow yielding copious milk. Hence, one, |
with singleness of devotion, observant of truth and engaged in humbly serving one's preceptor, should always make gifts of |
kine.[360] Hear, O Sakra, what the merit is of that person, who, duly studying the Vedas, shows reverence for kine, who |
always becomes glad at sight of kine, and who, since his birth has always bowed his head unto kine. The merit that becomes |
one's by performing the Rajasuya sacrifice, the merit that becomes one's by making gifts of heaps of gold, that high merit is |
acquired by a person who shows such reverence for kine. Righteous Rishis and high-souled persons crowned with success have |
said so. Devoted to truth, possessed of a tranquil soul, free from cupidity, always truthful in speech, and behaving with |
reverence towards kine with the steadiness of a vow, the man, who, for a whole year before himself taking any food, regularly |
presents some food to kine, wins the merit, by such an act, of the gift of a thousand kine. That man, who takes only one meal a |
day and who gives away the entire quantity of his other meal unto kine.--verily, that man, who thus reverences kine with the |
steadiness of a vow and shows such compassion towards them,--enjoys for ten years' unlimited felicity. That man, who |
confines himself to only one meal a day and 'with the other meal saved for some time purchases a cow and makes a gift of it |
(unto a Brahmana), earns, through that gift, O thou of a hundred sacrifices, the eternal merit that attaches to the gift of as many |
kine as there are hairs on the body of that single cow so given away. These are declarations in respect of the merit that |
Brahmanas acquire by making gifts of kine. Listen now to the merits that Kshatriyas may win. It has been said that a Kshatriya, |
by purchasing a cow in this manner and making a gift of it unto a Brahmana, acquires great felicity for five years. A Vaisya, by |
such conduct, acquires only half the merit of a Kshatriya, and a Sudra, by such conduct, earns half the merit that a Vaisya does. |
That man, who sells himself and with the proceeds thereof purchases kine and gives them away unto Brahmanas, enjoy felicity |
in heaven for as long a period as kine are seen on earth. It has been said, O highly blessed one, that in every hair of such kite as |
are purchased with the proceeds obtained by selling oneself, there is a region of inexhaustible felicity. That man, who having |
acquired kine by battle makes gifts of them (unto Brahmanas), acquires as much merit as he, who makes gifts of kine after |
having purchased the same with the proceeds of selling oneself. That man, who, in the absence of kine, makes a gift of a cow |
made of sesame seeds, restraining his senses the while, is rescued by such a cow from every kind of calamity or distress. Such |
a man sports in great felicity. The mere gift of kine is not fraught with merit. The considerations of deserving recipients, of |
time, of the kind of kine, and of the ritual to be observed, should be attended to. One should ascertain the proper time for |
making a gift of kine. One should also ascertain the distinctive qualifications of both Brahmanas (who are to receive them) and |
of kine themselves (which are to be given away). Kine should not be given unto one in whose abode they are likely to suffer |
from fire or the sun. One, who is rich in Vedic lore, who is of pure lineage, who is endued with a tranquil soul, who is devoted |
to the performance of sacrifices, who fears the commission of sin, who is possessed of varied knowledge, who is |
compassionate towards kine, who is mild in behaviour, who accords protection unto all that seek it of him, and who has no |
means of sustenance assigned unto him, is regarded as a proper person for receiving a gift of kine. Unto a Brahmana who has |
no means of sustenance, unto him while he is exceedingly afflicted for want of food (in a time, of famine, for example) for |
purposes of agriculture, for a child born in consequence of Homa, for the purposes of his preceptor, for the sustenance of a |
child born (in the ordinary course), should a cow be given. Verily, the gift should be made at a proper time and in a proper |
place[361]. Those kine, O Sakra, whose dispositions are well-known, which have been acquired as honoraria for knowledge, or |
which have been purchased in exchange for other animals (such as goats, sheep, etc.), or which have been who by prowess of |
arms, or obtained as marriage-dower; or which have been acquired by being rescued from situations of danger, or which |
incapable of being maintained by their 'poor owner have been made over for careful keep, to another's house are, for such |
reasons, regarded as proper objects of gift. Those kine which are strong of body, which have good dispositions, and which emit |
an agreeable fragrance, are applauded in the matter of gifts. As Ganga is the foremost of all streams, even so is a Kapila cow |
the foremost of all animals of the bovine breed. Abstaining from all food and living only upon water for three nights, and |
sleeping for the same period upon the bare earth, one should make gifts of kine unto Brahmanas after having gratified them |
with other presents. Such kine, freed from every vice should, at the same time, be accompanied by healthy calves that have not |
been weaned. Having made the gift, the giver should live for the next three days in succession on food consisting only of the |
products of the cow.[362] By giving away a cow that is of good disposition, that quietly suffers herself to be milked that |
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