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with concentrated attention, pour libation, on the sacred fire, of the urine of the cow mixed with cowdung and milk and ghee. |
The deities accept the offerings of such a man on the expiration of a full year. His Pitris also, when the time comes for him for |
performing the Sraddha, become gratified with him. I have thus recited what is righteous and what is unrighteous, with all their |
unknown details, in respect of human beings desirous of attaining to heaven. Verily, men who abstain from these |
transgressions or who having committed them undergo the expiatory rites indicated, succeed, in attaining to heaven when they |
leave this world." |
SECTION CXXIX |
"Lomasa said, 'The Pitris of those men who, without having wedded wives of their own, betake themselves to the wives of |
other people, become filled with disappointment when the time for the Sraddhas comes. He who betakes himself to the wives |
of other people, he who indulges in sexual union with a woman that is barren, and he who appropriates what belongs to a |
Brahmana, are equally sinful. Without doubt, the Pitris of such people cut them off without desiring to have any intercourse |
with them. The offerings they make fail to gratify the deities and the Pitris. Hence, one should always abstain from sexual |
congress with women that are the wedded wives of others, as also with women that are barren. The man who desires his own |
good should not appropriate what belongs to a Brahmana. Listen now to another mystery, unknown to all with regard to |
religion. One should, endued with faith, always do the bidding of one's preceptor and other seniors. On the twelfth lunar day, as |
also on the day of the full moon, every month, one should make gifts unto Brahmanas of ghee and the offerings that constitute |
Akshata. Listen to me as I say what the measure is of the merit that such a person acquires. By such an act one is said to |
increase Soma and the Ocean. Vasava, the chief of the celestials, confers upon him a fourth part of the merits that attach to a |
Horse-sacrifice. By making such gifts, a person becomes endued with great energy and prowess. The divine Soma, well- |
pleased with him, grants him the fruition of his wishes. Listen now to another duty, together with the foundation on which it |
rests, that is productive of great merit. In this age of Kali, that duty, if performed, brings about much happiness to men. That |
man who, rising at early dawn and purifying himself by a bath, attires himself in white robes and with the concentrated |
attention makes gifts unto Brahmanas of vessels full of sesame seeds, who makes offerings unto the Pitris of water with sesame |
seeds and honey, and who gives lamps as also the food called Krisara acquires substantial merits. Listen to me as I say what |
those merits are. The divine chastiser of Paka has ascribed these merits to the gift of vessels of copper and brass filled with |
sesame seeds. He who makes gifts of kine, he who makes gifts of land that are productive of eternal merit, he who performs the |
Agnishtoma sacrifice with copious presents in the form of Dakshina to the Brahmanas, are all regarded by the deities as |
acquiring, merits equal to those which one acquires by making gifts of vessels filled with sesame seeds. Gifts of water with |
sesame seeds are regarded by the Pitr is as productive of eternal gratification to them. The grandsires all become highly pleased |
with gifts of lamps and Krisara. I have thus recited the ancient ordinance, laid down by the Rishis, that is highly applauded by |
both the Pitris and the deities in their respective regions.'" |
SECTION CXXX |
"Bhishma said, 'The Rishis there assembled, together with the Pitris and the deities, then, with concentrated attention, |
questioned Arundhati (the spouse of Vasishtha) who was endued with great ascetic merit. Possessed of abundant wealth of |
penances, Arundhati was equal to her husband, the high-souled Vasishtha in energy for in both vows and conduct she was her |
husband's equal. Addressing her they said, 'We desire to hear from thee the mysteries of duty and religion. It behoveth thee, O |
amiable lady, to tell us what thou regardest as a high mystery.' |
"Arundhati said, 'The great progress I have been able to achieve in penances is due to your consideration for me in thus |
remembering my poor self. With your gracious permission I shall now discourse on duties that are eternal, on duties that are |
high mysteries. I shall discourse thereon with the causes on which they depend. Listen to me as I discourse to you elaborately. |
A knowledge of these should be imparted unto him only that is possessed of faith or that has a pure heart. These four, viz., he |
that is bereft of faith, he that is full of pride, he that is guilty of Brahmanicide, and he that violates the bed of his preceptor, |
should never be talked to. Religion and duty should never be communicated unto them. The merits acquired by a person who |
gives away a Kapila cow every day for a period of two and ten years, or by a person who adores the deities every month in a |
sacrifice, or by him who gives away hundreds of thousands of kine in the great Pushkara, do not come up to those that are his |
with whom a guest is gratified. Listen now to another duty whose observance is fraught with happiness to mankind. It should |
be observed with its secret ritual by a person endued with faith, Its merits are certainly high. Listen to what they are. If a |
person, rising at early dawn and taking with him a quantity of water and a few blades of Kusa grass, proceeds into a cow-pen |
and arriving there washes a cow's horns by sprinkling thereon that water with those blades of Kusa grass and then causes the |
water to drip down on his own head, he is regarded, in consequence of such a bath, as one that has performed his ablutions in |
all the sacred waters that the wise have heard to exist in the three worlds and that are honoured and resorted to by Siddhas and |
Charanas.' After Arundhati had said these words, all the deities and Pitris applauded her, saying, 'Excellent, Excellent,' Indeed, |
all the beings there were highly gratified and all of them worshipped Arundhati.' |
"Brahman said, 'O highly blessed one, excellent is the duty that thou hast enunciated, together with its secret ritual. Praise be to |
thee! I grant thee this boon, viz., that thy penances will continually increase!' |
"Yams said, 'I have heard from thee an excellent and agreeable discourse. Listen now to what Chitragupta has said and what is |
agreeable to me. Those words relate to duty with its secret ritual, and are worthy of being heard by the great Rishis, as also by |
men endued with faith and desirous of achieving their own good. Nothing is lost of either piety or sin that is committed by |
creatures. On days of the full moon and the new moon, those acts are conveyed to the sun where they rest. When a mortal goes |
into the region of the dead, the deity of the sun bears witness to all his acts. He that is righteous acquires the fruits of his |
righteousness there. I shall now tell you of some auspicious duties that are approved by Chitragupta. Water for drink, and |
lamps for lighting darkness, should always be given, as also sandals and umbrellas and Kapila kine with due rites. In Pushkara |
especially should one make the gift of a Kapila cow unto a Brahmana conversant with the Vedas. One should also always |
maintain one's Agnihotra with great care. Here is another duty which was proclaimed by Chitragupta. It behoveth them that are |
the best of creatures to listen to what the merits are of that duty separately. In course of time, every creature is destined to |
undergo dissolution. They that are of little understanding meet with great distress in the regions of the dead, for they become |
afflicted by hunger and thirst. Indeed, they have to rot there, burning in pain. There is no escape for them from such calamity. |
They have to enter into a thick darkness. I shall now tell you of those duties by performing which one may succeed in crossing |
such calamity. The performance of those duties costs very little but is fraught with great merit. Indeed, such performance is |
productive of great happiness in the other world. The merits that attach to the gift of water for drink are excellent. In the next |
world in especial, those merits are very high. For them that make gifts of water for drink there is ordained in the other world a |
large river full of excellent water. Indeed, the water contained in that river is inexhaustible and cool and sweet as nectar. He |
who makes gifts of water in this world drinks from that stream in the world hereafter when he goes thither. Listen now to the |
abundant merits that attach to the giving of lamps. The man who gives lamps in this world has never to even behold the thick |
darkness (of Hell). Soma and Surya and the deity of fire always give him their light when he repairs to the other world. The |
deities ordain that on every side of such a person there should be blazing light. Verily, when the giver of lights repairs to the |
world of the dead, he himself blazes forth in pure effulgence like a second Surya. Hence, one should give lights while here and |
water for drink in especial. Listen now to what the merits are of the person who makes the gift of a Kapila cow to a Brahmana |
conversant with the Vedas, especially if the gift be made in Pushkara. Such a man is regarded as having made a gift of a |
hundred kine with a bull, a gift that is productive of eternal merit. The gift of a single Kapila cow is capable of cleansing |
whatever sins the giver may be guilty of even if those sins be as grave. Brahmanicide, for the gift of a single Kapila cow is |
regarded as equal in point of merit to that of a hundred kine. Hence, one should give away a Kapila cow at that Pushkara which |
is regarded as the senior (of the two Tirthas known by that name) on the day of the full moon in the month of Karttika. Men |
that succeed in making such a gift have never to encounter distress of any kind, or sorrow, or thorns giving pain. That man who |
gives away a pair of sandals unto a superior Brahmana that is deserving of the gift, attains to similar merits. By giving away an |
umbrella a person obtains comfortable shade in the next world. (He will not have to be exposed to the sun). A gift made to a |
deserving person is never lost. It is certain to produce agreeable consequences to the giver.' Hearing these opinions of |
Chitragupta, Surya's hairs stood on their ends. Endued with great splendour, he addressed all the deities and the Pitris, saying |
'Ye have heard the mysteries relating to duty, as propounded by the high-souled Chitragupta. Those human beings who, endued |
with faith, make these gifts unto high-souled Brahmanas, become freed from fear of every kind. These five kinds of men, |
stained with vicious deeds, have no escape. Verily, of sinful behaviour and regarded as the worst of men, they should never be |
talked to. Indeed they should always be avoided. Those five are he who is the slayer of a Brahmana, he who is the slayer of a |
cow, he who is addicted to sexual congress with other people's wives, he who is bereft of faith (in the Vedas), and he who |
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