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day, one happens to have a son. The man of wisdom should in the matter of congress, attend to this rule (about odd and even |
days). Kinsmen and relatives by marriage and friends should all be treated with respect. One should, according to the best of |
one's power, adore the deities in sacrifices, giving away diverse kinds of articles as sacrificial Dakshina. After the period |
ordained for the domestic mode of life has been passed, one should, O king, enter the life of a forest recluse. I have thus told |
thee all the indications, in brief, of persons who succeed in living long.[484] What remains untold by me should be heard by |
thee from the mouths of persons well-versed in the three Vedas, O Yudhishthira. Thou shouldst know that conduct is the root |
of prosperity. Conduct is the enhancer of fame. It is conduct that prolongs life. It is conduct that destroys all calamities and |
evils. Conduct has been said to be superior to all the branches of knowledge. It is conduct that begets righteousness, and it is |
righteousness that prolongs life. Conduct is productive of fame, of long life, and of heaven. Conduct is the most efficacious rite |
of propitiating the deities (for bringing about auspiciousness of every kind). The Self-born Brahman himself has said that one |
should show compassion unto all orders of men.'"[485] |
SECTION CV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell me, O chief of Bharata's race, how the eldest brother should behave towards his younger brothers and |
how the younger brothers should behave towards their eldest brother.' |
"Bhishma said, 'Do thou, O son, always behave towards thy younger brothers as their eldest brother should. Thou art always |
the eldest of all these thy brothers. That high conduct which the preceptor should always adopt towards his disciples should be |
adopted by thee towards thy younger brothers. If the preceptor happens to be unendued with wisdom, the disciple cannot |
possibly behave towards him in a respectful or proper way. If the preceptor happens to be possessed of purity and highness of |
conduct, the disciple also succeeds in attaining to conduct of the same kind, O Bharata. The eldest brother should at times be |
blind to the acts of his younger brothers, and though possessed of wisdom should at times act as if he does not understand their |
acts. If the younger brothers be guilty of any transgression, the eldest brother should correct them by indirect ways and means. |
If there be good understanding among brothers and if the eldest brother seek to correct his younger brothers by direct or |
ostensible means, persons that are enemies, O son of Kunti, that are afflicted with sorrow at the sight of such good |
understanding and who, therefore, always seek to bring about a disunion, set themselves to disunite the brothers and cause |
dissension among them. It is the eldest brother that enhances the prosperity of the family or destroys it entirely. If the eldest |
brother happens to be unendued with sense and wicked in behaviour, he brings about the destruction of the whole family. The |
eldest brother who injures his younger brothers ceases to be regarded as the eldest and forfeits his share in the family property |
and deserves to be checked by the king. That man who acts deceitfully, has, without doubt, to go to regions of grief and every |
kind of evil. The birth of such a person serves no useful purpose even as the flowers of the cane.[486] That family in which a |
sinful person takes birth becomes subject to every evil. Such a person brings about infamy, and all the good acts of the family |
disappear. Such among the brothers as are wedded to evil acts forfeit their shares of the family property. In such a case; the |
eldest brother may appropriate the whole Yautuka property without giving any portion thereof to his younger brothers. If the |
eldest brother makes any acquisition, without using the paternal property and by going to a distant place he may appropriate for |
his own use, such acquisitions, without giving any share thereof to his younger brothers. If unseparated brothers desire (during |
the lifetime of their father) to portion the family property, the father should give equal shares unto all his sons. If the eldest |
brother happens to be of sinful acts and undistinguished by accomplishments of any kind he may be disregarded by his younger |
brothers. If the wife or the younger brother happens to be sinful, her or his good must still be looked after. Persons conversant |
with the efficacy of righteousness say that righteousness is the highest good. The Upadhyaya is superior to even ten Acharyas. |
The sire is equal to ten Upadhyayas. The mother is equal to ten sires or even the whole earth. There is no senior equal to the |
mother Verily, she transcends all in respect of the reverence due to her.[487] It is for this reason that people regard the mother |
to deserve so much reverence. After the father has ceased to breathe, O Bharata, the eldest brother should be regarded as the |
father. It is the eldest brother who should assign unto them their means of support and protect and cherish them. All the |
younger brothers should bow to him and obey his authority. Indeed, they should live in dependence upon him even as they did |
upon their father while he was alive. So far as the body is concerned, O Bharata, it is the father and the mother that create it. |
That birth, however, which the Acharya ordains, is regarded as the true birth, that is, besides, really unfading and immortal. |
The eldest sister, O chief of Bharata's race, is like unto the mother The wife of the eldest brother also is like unto the mother, |
for the younger brother, in infancy, receives, suck from her.'"[488] |
SECTION CVI |
"Yudhishthira said, 'The disposition is seen, O grandsire, in all the orders of men, including the very Mlechchhas, of observing |
fasts. The reason, however, of this is not known to us. It has been heard by us that only Brahmanas and Kshatriyas should |
observe the vow of fasts. How, O grandsire, are the other orders to be taken as earning any merit by the observance of fasts? |
How have vows and fasts come to be observed by persons of all orders, O king? What is that end to which one devoted to the |
observance of fasts attains? It has been said that fasts are highly meritorious and that fasts are a great refuge. O prince of men, |
what is the fruit that is earned in this world by the man that observe fasts? By what means is one cleansed of one's sins? By |
what means doth one acquire righteousness? By what means, O best of the Bharatas, doth one succeed in acquiring heaven and |
merit? After having observed a fast, what should one give away, O king? O, tell me, what those duties are by which one may |
succeed in obtaining such objects as lead to happiness?' |
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Unto Kunti's son by the deity of Dharma, who was conversant with every duty and who said so |
unto him, Santanu's son, Bhishma, who was acquainted with every duty, answered in the following words.' |
"Bhishma, said, 'In former days, O king, I heard of these high merits, O chief of Bharata's race, as attaching to the observance |
of fasts according to the ordinance, I had, O Bharata, asked the Rishi Angiras of high ascetic merit, the very same questions |
which thou hast asked me today. Questioned by me thus, the illustrious Rishi, who sprang from the sacrificial fire, answered |
me even thus in respect of the observance of fasts according to the ordinance.' |
"Angiras said, 'As regards Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, fasts for three nights at a stretch are ordained for them, O delighter of |
the Kurus. Indeed, O chief of men, a fast for one night, for two nights, and for three nights, may be observed by them. (They |
should never go beyond three nights). As regards Vaisyas and Sudras, the duration of fasts prescribed for them is a single night. |
If, from folly, they observe fasts for two or three nights, such fasts never lead to their advancement. Indeed, for Vaisyas and |
Sudras, fasts for two nights have been ordained (on certain special occasions). Fasts for three nights, however, have not been |
laid down for them by persons conversant with and observant of duties. That man of wisdom who, with his senses and soul |
under control, O Bharata, fasts, by abstaining from one of the two meals, on the fifth and the sixth days of the moon as also on |
the day of the full moon, becomes endured with forgiveness and beauty of person and conversance with the scriptures. Such a |
person never becomes childless and poor. He who performs sacrifices for adoring the deities on the fifth and sixth days of the |
moon, transcends all the members of his family and succeeds in feeding a large number of Brahmanas. He who observes fasts |
on the eighth and the fourteenth days of the dark fortnight, becomes freed from maladies of every kind and possessed of great |
energy. The man who abstains from one meal every day throughout the month called Margasirsha, should, with reverence and |
devotion, feed a number of Brahmanas. By so doing he becomes freed from all his sins. Such a man becomes endued with |
prosperity, and all kinds of grain become his. He becomes endued with energy. In fact, such a person reaps an abundance of |
harvest from his fields, acquires great wealth and much corn. That man, O son of Kunti, who passes the whole month of |
Pausha, abstaining every day from one of two meals, becomes endued with good fortune and agreeable features and great fame. |
He who passes the whole month of Magha, abstaining every day from one of the two meals, takes birth in a high family and |
attains to a position of eminence among his kinsmen. He who passes the whole month of Bhagadaivata, confining himself |
every day to only one meal becomes a favourite with women who, indeed, readily own his sway. He who passes the whole of |
the month of Chaitra, confining himself every day to one meal, takes birth in a high family and becomes rich in gold, gems, |
and pearls. The person, whether male or female, who passes the month of Vaisakha, confining himself or herself every day to |
one meal, and keeping his or her senses under control, succeeds in attaining to a position of eminence among kinsmen. The |
person who passes the month of Jyaishtha confining himself every day to one meal a day, succeeds in attaining to a position of |
eminence and great wealth. If a woman, she reaps the same reward. He who passes the month of Ashadha confining himself to |
one meal a day and with senses steadily concentrated upon his duties, becomes possessed of much corn, great wealth, and a |
large progeny. He who passes the month of Sravana, confining himself to one meal a day, receives the honours of Abhisheka |
wherever he may happen to reside, and attains to a position of eminence among kinsmen whom he supports. That man who |
confines himself to only one meal a day for the whole month of Proshthapada, becomes endued with great wealth and attains, |
to swelling and durable affluence. The man who passes the month of Aswin, confining himself to one meal a day, becomes |
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