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them,--kine, that is, which are not vicious and which while given away, are wrapped round with cloths,--succeed in conquering |
both this and the other world. Such persons as succeed in making gift of a bull that is still in the prime of youth, that has all its |
senses strong, and that may be regarded as the foremost one among hundreds of herds, that has large horns adorned with |
ornaments (of gold or silver), unto a Brahmana possessed of Vedic learning, succeed, O scorcher of foes, its attaining to great |
prosperity and affluence each time they take birth in the world. One should never go to bed without reciting the names of kine. |
Nor should one rise from bed in the morning without a similar recitation of the names of kine. Morning and evening one should |
bend one's head in reverence to kine. As the consequence of such acts, one is sure to attain to great prosperity. One should |
never feel any repugnance for the urine and the dung of the cow. One should never eat the flesh of kine. As the consequence of |
this, one is sure to attain to great prosperity. One should always take the names of kine. One should never show any disregard |
for kine in any way. If evil dreams are seen, men should take the names of kine. One should always bathe, using cow-dung at |
the time. One should sit on dried cowdung. One should never cast one's urine and excreta and other secretions on cowdung. |
One should never obstruct kine in any way. One should eat, sitting on a cowhide purified by dipping it in water, and then cast |
one's eyes towards the west, Sitting with restrained speech, one should eat ghee, using the bare earth as one's dish. One reaps, |
in consequence of such acts, that prosperity of which kine are the source[375]. One should pour libations on the fire, using |
ghee for the purpose. One should cause Brahmanas to utter blessings upon one, by presents of ghee. One should make gift of |
ghee. One should also eat ghee. As the reward of such acts one is sure to attain to that prosperity which kine confer. That man |
who inspires a vaccine form made of sesame seeds by uttering the Vedic Mantras called by the name of Gomati, and then |
adorns that form with every kind of gems and makes a gift of it, has never to suffer any grief on account of all his acts of |
omission and commission,--Let kine that yield copious measures of milk and that have horns adorned with gold,--kine viz., that |
are Surabhis or the daughters of Surabhis.--approach me even as rivers approach the ocean! I always look at kine. Let kine |
always look at me. Kine are ours. We are theirs. Ourselves are there where kine are!--Even thus, at night or day, in happiness |
or woe, verily, at times of even great fear,--should a man exclaim. By uttering such words he is certain to become freed from |
every fear.'" |
SECTION LXXIX |
"Vasishtha said, 'The kine that had been created in a former age practised the austerest penances for a hundred thousand years |
with the desire of attaining to a position of great pre-eminence. Verily, O scorcher of foes, they said unto themselves,--We |
shall, in this world, become the best of all kinds of Dakshina in sacrifices, and we shall not be liable to be stained with any |
fault! By bathing in water mixed with our dung people shall become sanctified. The deities and men shall use our dung for the |
purpose of purifying all creatures mobile and immobile. They also that will give us away shall attain to those regions of |
happiness which will be ours.[376]--The puissant Brahman, appearing unto them at the conclusion of their austerities, gave |
them the boons they sought, saying,--it shall be as ye wish! Do ye (thus) rescue all the worlds!--Crowned with fruition in |
respect of their wishes, they all rose up,--those mothers of both the Past and the Future. Every morning, people should bow |
with reverence unto kine. As the consequence of this, they are certain to win prosperity. At the conclusion of their penances O |
monarch, kine became the refuge of the world. It is for this that kine are said to be highly blessed, sacred, and the foremost of |
all things. It is for this kine are said to stay at the very head of all creatures. By giving away a Kapila cow with a calf |
resembling herself, yielding a copious measure of milk, free from every vicious habit, and covered with a piece of cloth, the |
giver attains to great honours in the region of Brahma. By giving away a cow of red complexion, with a calf that resembles |
herself, yielding milk, free from every vice, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the region of |
Surya. By giving away a cow of variegated hue, with a calf similar to herself, yielding milk, free from every vice, and covered |
with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the region of Soma. By giving away a cow of white complexion, with a |
calf similar to herself, yielding milk, free from every vice, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the |
region of Indra. By giving away a cow of dark complexion, with a calf similar to herself, yielding milk, free from every vice, |
and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the region of Agni. By giving away a cow of the complexion |
of smoke, with a calf similar to herself, yielding milk, free from every vice, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to |
great honours in the region of Yama. By giving away a cow of the complexion of the foam of water, with a calf and a vessel of |
white brass for milking her, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to the region of Varuna. By giving away a cow |
whose complexion is like that of the dust blown by the wind, with a calf, and a vessel of white brass for milking her, and |
covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the region of the Wind-god. By giving a cow of the complexion of |
gold, having eyes of a tawny hue with a calf and a vessel of white brass for milking her and covered with a piece of cloth, one |
enjoys the felicity of the region of Kuvera. By giving away a cow of the complexion of the smoke of straw, with a calf and a |
vessel of white brass for milking her, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the region of the Pitris. |
By giving away a fat cow with the flesh of its throat hanging down and accompanied by her calf, one attains with ease to the |
high region of the Viswedevas. By giving away a Gouri cow, with calf similar to her, yielding milk, free from every vice, and |
covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to the region of the Vasus. By giving away a cow of the complexion of a white |
blanket, with a calf and a vessel of white brass, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to the region of the Sadhyas. By |
giving away a bull with a high hump and adorned with every jewel, the giver, O king, attains to the region of the Maruts. By |
giving away a bull of blue complexion, that is full-grown in respect of years and adorned with every ornament, the giver attains |
to the regions of the Gandharvas and the Apsaras. By giving away a cow with the flesh of her throat hanging down, and |
adorned with every ornament, the giver, freed from every grief, attains to those regions that belong to Prajapati himself. That |
man, O king, habitually makes gifts of kine, proceed, piercing through the clouds, on a car of solar effulgence to Heaven and |
shines there in splendour. That man who habitually makes gifts of kine comes to be regarded as the foremost of his species. |
When thus proceeding to Heaven, he is received by a thousand celestial damsels of beautiful hips and adorned with handsome |
robes and ornaments. These girls wait upon him there and minister to his delight. He sleeps there in peace and is awakened by |
the musical laughter of those gazelle-eyed damsels, the sweet notes of their Vinas, the soft strains of their Vallakis, and the |
melodious tinkle of their Nupuras.[377] The men who makes gifts of kine resides in Heaven and is honoured there for as many |
years as there are hairs on the bodies of the kine he gives away. Falling off from Heaven (upon the exhaustion of his merit), |
such a man takes birth in the order of humanity and, in fact, in a superior family among men.'" |
SECTION LXXX |
"Vasishtha said, 'Kine are yielders of ghee and milk. They are the sources of ghee and they have sprung from ghee. They are |
rivers of ghee, and eddies of ghee. Let kine ever be in my house! Ghee is always my heart. Ghee is even established in my |
navel. Ghee is in every limb of mine. Ghee resides in my mind. Kine are always at my front. Kine are always at my rear. Kine |
are on every side of my person. I live in the midst of kine!--Having purified oneself by touching water, one should, morning |
and evening, recite these Mantras every day. By this, one is sure to be cleansed of all the sins one may commit in course of the |
day. They who make gifts of a thousand kine, departing from this world, proceed to the regions of the Gandharvas and the |
Apsaras where there are many palatial mansions made of gold and where the celestial Ganga, called the current of Vasu, runs. |
Givers of a thousand kine repair thither where run many rivers having milk for their water, cheese for their mire, and curds for |
their floating moss. That man who makes gifts of hundreds of thousands of kine agreeably to the ritual laid down in the |
scriptures, attains to high prosperity (here) and great honours in Heaven. Such a man causes both his paternal and maternal |
ancestors to the tenth degree to attain to regions of great felicity, and sanctifies his whole race. Kine are sacred. They are the |
foremost of all things in the world. They are verily the refuge of the universe. They are the mothers of the very deities. They |
are verily incomparable. They should be dedicated in sacrifices. When making journeys, one should proceed by their right (i.e., |
keeping them to one's left). Ascertaining the proper time, they should be given away unto eligible persons. By giving away a |
Kapila cow having large horns, accompanied by a calf and a vessel of white brass for milking her, and covered with a piece of |
cloth, one succeeds in entering, freed from fear, the palace of Yama that is so difficult to enter. One should always recite this |
sacred Mantra, viz.,--Kine are of beautiful form. Kine are of diverse forms. They are of universal form. They are the mothers of |
the universe. O, let kine approach me!--There is no gift more sacred than the gift of kine. There is no gift that produces more |
blessed merit. There has been nothing equal to the cow, nor will there be anything that will equal her. With her skin, her hair, |
her horns, the hair of her tail, her milk, and her fat,--with all these together,--the cow upholds sacrifice. What thing is there that |
is more useful than the cow? Bending my head unto her with reverence, I adore the cow who is the mother of both the Past and |
the Future, and by whom the entire universe of mobile and immobile creatures is covered. O best of men, I have thus recited to |
thee only a portion of the high merits of kine. There is no gift in this world that is superior to the gift of trine. There is also no |
refuge in this world that is higher than kine.' |
"Bhishma continued, 'That high-souled giver of land (viz., king Saudasa), thinking these words of the Rishi Vasishtha to be |
foremost in point of importance, then made gifts of a very large number of kine unto the Brahmanas, restraining his senses the |
while, and as the consequence of those gifts, the monarch succeeded in attaining to many regions of felicity in the next |
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