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of the virtues of the offerer become inexhaustible. Even such is the merit that attaches to the person who, with concentrated |
attention, recites these mysteries to foremost of Brahmanas on days of the full moon or the new moon. Such a person, in |
consequence of such an act, becomes steady in the observance of all duties. Beauty of form and prosperity also become his. He |
succeeds, besides this, in becoming the favourite, for all time, of the Rishis and the deities and the Pitris. If a person becomes |
guilty of all sins save those which are classed as grave or heinous, he becomes cleansed of them all by only listening to the |
recitation of these mysteries about religion and duty.' |
"Bhishma continued, 'Even these, O king of men, are the mysteries in respect of religion and duty dwelling in the breasts of the |
deities. Held in high respect by all the gods and promulgated by Vyasa, they have now been declared by me for thy benefit. |
One who is conversant with religion and duty thinks that this excellent knowledge is superior (in value) to even the whole earth |
full of riches and wealth. This knowledge should not be imparted to one that is bereft of faith, or to one that is an atheist, or to |
one that has fallen away from the duties of his order, or to one that is destitute of compassion, or to one that is devoted to the |
science of empty disputations, or to one that is hostile to one's preceptors, or to one that thinks all creatures to be different from |
oneself.'" |
SECTION CXXXV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Who are those persons, O Bharata, from whom a Brahmana in this world may accept his food? From |
whom may a Kshatriya, a Vaisya, and a Sudra take their food respectively?' |
"Bhishma said, 'A Brahmana may take his food from another Brahmana or from a Kshatriya or a Vaisya, but he must never |
accept food from a Sudra. A Kshatriya may take his food from a Brahmana, a Kshatriya or a Vaisya. He must, however, |
eschew food given by Sudras who are addicted to evil ways and who partake of all manner of food without any scruple. |
Brahmanas and Kshatriyas can partake of food given by such Vaisyas as tend the sacred fire every day, as are faultless in |
character, and as perform the vow of Chaturmasya. But the man who takes food from a Sudra, swallows the very abomination |
of the earth, and drinks the excretions of the human body, and partakes of the filth of all the world. He partakes of the very filth |
of the earth who takes his food thus from a Sudra. Verily, those Brahmanas that take their food from Sudras, take the dirt of the |
earth. If one engages in the service of a Sudra, one is doomed to perdition though one may duly perform all the rites of one's |
order. A Brahmana, a Kshatriya, or a Vaisya, so engaging, is doomed, although devoted to the due performance of religious |
rites. It is said that a Brahmana's duty consists in studying the Vedas and seeking the welfare of the human race; that a |
Kshatriya's duty consists in protecting men, and that a Vaisya's in promoting their material prosperity. A Vaisya lives by |
distributing the fruits of his own acts and agriculture. The breeding of kine and trade are the legitimate work in which a Vaisya |
may engage without fear of censure. The man who abandons his own proper occupation and betakes himself to that of a Sudra, |
should be considered as a Sudra and on no account should any food be accepted from him. Professors of the healing art, |
mercenary soldiers, the priest who acts as warder of the house, and persons who devote a whole year to study without any |
profit, are all to be considered as Sudras. And those who impudently partake of food offered at ceremonials in a Sudra's house |
are afflicted with a terrible calamity. In consequence of partaking such forbidden food they lose their family, strength, and |
energy, and attain to the status of animals, descending to the position of dogs, fallen in virtue and devoid of all religious |
observances. He who takes food from a physician takes that which is no better than excrement; the food of a harlot is like |
urine; that of a skilled mechanic is like blood. If a Brahmana approved by the good, takes the food of one who lives by his |
learning, he is regarded as taking the food of a Sudra. All good men should forego such food. The food of a person who is |
censured by all is said to be like a draught from a pool of blood. The acceptance of food from a wicked person is considered as |
reprehensible as the slaying of a Brahmana. One should not accept food if one is slighted and not received with due honours by |
the giver. A Brahmana, who does so, is soon overtaken by disease, and his race soon becomes extinct. By accepting food from |
the warder of a city, one descends to the status of the lowest outcaste. If a Brahmana accepts food from one who is guilty of |
killing either a cow or a Brahmana or from one who has committed adultery with his preceptor's wife or from a drunkard, he |
helps to promote the race of Rakshasas. By accepting food from a eunuch, or from an ungrateful person, or from one who has |
misappropriated wealth entrusted to his charge, one is born in the country of the Savaras situated beyond the precincts of the |
middle country. I have thus duly recited to thee the persons from whom food may be accepted and from whom it may not. Now |
tell me, O son of Kunti, what else thou wishest to hear from me today.'" |
SECTION CXXXVI |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Thou hast told me in full of those from whom food may be accepted and of those from whom it should not |
be taken. But I have grave doubts on one point. Do thou, O sire, enlighten me, do thou tell me what expiation a Brahmana |
should make (for the sin he incurs) upon accepting the different kinds of food, those especially offered in honour of the gods |
and the oblations made to the manes.' |
"Bhishma said, 'I shall tell thee, O prince, how high-souled Brahmanas may be absolved from all sin incurred by accepting |
food from others. In accepting clarified butter, the expiation is made by pouring oblations on the fire, reciting the Savitri hymn. |
In accepting sesamum, O Yudhishthira, the same expiation has to be made. In accepting meat, or honey, or salt, a Brahmana |
becomes purified by standing till the rising of the sun. If a Brahmana accepts gold from any one, he becomes cleansed of all |
sins by silently reciting the great Vedic prayer (Gayatri) and by holding a piece of iron in his hand in the presence of the public. |
In accepting money or clothes or women or gold, the purification is the same as before. In accepting food, or rice boiled in milk |
and sugar, or sugarcane juice, or sugar-cane, or oil, or any sacred thing, one becomes purified by bathing thrice in the course of |
the day, viz., at morn, noon and eve. If one accepts, paddy, flowers, fruits, water, half-ripe barley, milk, or curdled milk, or |
anything made of meal or flour, the expiation is made by reciting the Gayatri prayer a hundred times. In accepting shoes or |
clothes at obsequial ceremonies, the sin is destroyed by reciting devoutly the same hymn a hundred times. The acceptance of |
the gift of land at the time of an eclipse or during the period of impurity, is expiated by observing a fast during three successive |
nights. The Brahmana who partakes of oblations offered to deceased ancestors, in course of the dark fortnight, is purified by |
fasting for a whole day and night. Without performing his ablutions a Brahmana should not say his evening prayers, nor betake |
himself to religious meditation, nor take his food a second time. By so doing he is purified. For this reason, the Sraddha of |
deceased ancestors has been ordained to be performed in the afternoon and then the Brahmana who has been invited |
beforehand should be feasted, The Brahmana who partakes of food at the house of a dead person on the third day after the |
death, is purified by bathing three times daily for twelve days. After the expiration of twelve days, and going through the |
purification ceremonies duly, the sin is destroyed by giving clarified butter to Brahmanas. If a man takes any food in the house |
of a dead person, within ten days after the death, he should go through all the expiations before mentioned, and should recite |
the Savitri hymn and do the sin-destroying Ishti and Kushmanda penances. The Brahmana who takes his food in the house of a |
dead person for three nights, becomes purified by performing his ablutions thrice daily for seven days, and thus attains all the |
objects of his desire, and is never troubled by misfortunes. The Brahmana who takes his food in the company of Sudras is |
purged from all impurity by duly observing the ceremonies of purification. The Brahmana who takes his food in the company |
of Vaisyas is absolved from sin by living on alms for three successive nights. If a Brahmana takes his food with Kshatriyas, he |
should make expiation by bathing with his clothes on. By eating with a Sudra from off the same plate the Sudra loses his |
family respectability; the Vaisya by eating from off the same plate with a Vaisya, loses his cattle and friends. The Kshatriya |
loses his prosperity, and the Brahmana his splendour and energy. In such cases, expiations should be made, and propitiatory |
rites should be observed, and oblations offered to the gods. The Savitri hymn should be recited and the Revati rites and |
Kushmanda penances should be observed with the view of destroying the sin. If any of the above four classes partake of food |
partly eaten by a person of any other class, the expiation is undoubtedly made by smearing the body with auspicious substances |
like Rochana, Durva grass, and turmeric.'" |
SECTION CXXXVII |
"Yudhishthira said, 'O Bharata, of the two things charity and devotion, do thou condescend to tell me, O sire, which is the |
better in this world? Do thou, by this, remove a great doubt from my mind.' |
"Bhishma said, 'Do thou, listen to me as I recite the names of the princes who having been devoted to virtue, and having |
cleansed their hearts by penances and practised gifts and other acts of piety, undoubtedly attained to the different celestial |
regions. The Rishi Atreya revered by all, attained, O monarch, to the excellent celestial regions, by imparting the knowledge of |
the unconditional Supreme Being to his pupils. King Sivi, the son of Usinara, by offering the life of his dear son, for the benefit |
of a Brahmana, was translated from this world to heaven. And Pratardana, the king of Kasi, by giving his son to a Brahmana, |
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