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the sacred fire, and accomplishment of the business of the preceptor, leading a mendicant life, always bearing the sacred thread, |
constant recitation of the Vedas, and rigid observance of the duties of Brahmacharya, are the duties of the Brahmana. After the |
period of study is over, the Brahmana, receiving the command of his preceptor, should leave his preceptor's abode for returning |
to his father's house. Upon his return he should duly wed a wife that is fit for him. Another duty of the Brahmana consists in |
avoiding the food prepared by the Sudra. Walking along the path of righteousness, always observing fasts and the practices of |
Brahmacharya, are his other duties.[561] The householder should keep up his domestic fire for daily worship. He should study |
the Vedas. He should pour libations in honour of the Pitris and the deities. He should keep his senses under proper control. He |
should eat what remains after serving gods and guests and all his dependants. He should be abstemious in food, truthful in |
speech, and pure both externally and internally. Attending to guests is another duty of the householder, as also the keeping up |
of the three sacrificial fires. The householder should also attend to the ordinary sacrifices that go by the name of Ishti and |
should also dedicate animals to the deities according to the ordinances. Indeed, the performance of sacrifices is his highest duty |
as also a complete abstention from injury to all creatures. Never to eat before serving the deities and guests and dependants is |
another duty of the householder. The food that remains after serving gods and guests and dependants is called Vighasa. The |
householder should eat Vighasa. Indeed, to eat after the members of one's family including servants and other dependants, is |
regarded as one of the special duties of the regenerate householder, who should, be conversant with the Vedas. The conduct of |
husband and wife, in the case of householder, should be equal. He should every day make offerings of flowers and other |
articles unto those deities that preside over domesticity. The householder should take care that his house is every day properly |
rubbed (with cowdung and water). He should also observe fasts every day. Well-cleaned and well-rubbed, his house should |
also be every day fumigated with the smoke of clarified butter poured on his sacred fire in honour of the deities and the Pitris. |
Even these are the duties appertaining to the householder's mode of life as observable by a regenerate person. Those duties |
really uphold the world. Verily, those duties always and eternally flow from those righteous persons among the Brahmanas that |
lead a life of domesticity. Do thou listen to me with concentrated attention, O goddess, for I shall now tell thee what the duties |
are which appertain to the Kshatriya and about which thou hast asked me. From the beginning it has been said that the duty of |
the Kshatriya is to protect all creatures. The king is the acquirer of a fixed share of the merits earned by his subjects. By that |
means the king becomes endued with righteousness. That ruler of men who rules and protects his subjects righteously, |
acquires, by virtue of the protection he offers to others, many regions of felicity in the world to come. The other duties of a |
person of the kingly order consist of self-restraint and Vedic study, the pouring of libations on the sacred fire, the making of |
gifts, study, the bearing of the sacred thread, sacrifices, the performance of religious rites, the support of servants and |
dependants, and perseverance in acts that have been begun. Another duty of his is to award punishments according to the |
offences committed. It is also his duty to perform sacrifices and other religious rites according to the ordinances laid down in |
the Vedas. Adherence to the practice of properly judging the disputes of litigants before him, and a devotion to truthfulness of |
speech, and interference for aiding the distressed, are the other duties by discharging which the king acquires great glory both |
here and hereafter. He should also lay down his life on the field of battle, having displayed great prowess on behalf of kine and |
Brahmanas. Such a king acquires in Heaven such regions of felicity as are capable of being won by the performance of Horse- |
sacrifices. The duties of the Vaisya always consist of the keeping of cattle and agriculture, the pouring of libations on the |
sacred fire, the making of gifts, and study. Trade, walking in the path of righteousness, hospitality, peacefulness, self-restraint, |
welcoming of Brahmanas, and renouncing things (in favour of Brahmanas), are the other eternal duties of the Vaisya. The |
Vaisya, engaged in trade and walking in the path of righteousness, should never sell sesame and perfumery and juices or liquid |
substances. He should discharge the duties of hospitality towards all. He is at liberty to pursue religion and wealth and pleasure |
according to his means and as much as is judicious for him. The service of the three regenerate classes constitutes the high duty |
of the Sudra. That Sudra who is truthful in speech and who has subdued his senses is regarded as having acquired meritorious |
penances. Verily, the Sudra, who having got a guest, discharges the duties of hospitality towards him, is regarded as acquiring |
the merit of high penances. That intelligent Sudra whose conduct is righteous and who worships the deities and Brahmanas, |
becomes endued with the desirable rewards of righteousness. O beautiful lady, I have thus recited to thee what the duties are of |
the four orders. Indeed, O blessed lady, I have told thee what their respective duties are. What else dost thou wish to hear?' |
"Uma said, 'Thou has recited to me what the respective duties are of the four orders, auspicious and beneficial for them. Do |
thou now tell me, O holy one, what the common duties are of all the orders.' |
"Maheswara said, 'The foremost of all beings in the universe viz., the Creator Brahma, ever desirous of righteous |
accomplishments, created the Brahmanas for rescuing all the worlds. Among all created beings, they are, verily, gods on earth. |
I shall at the outset tell thee what the religious acts are which they should do and what the rewards are which they win through |
them. That religion which has been ordained for the Brahmanas is the foremost of all religions. For the sake of the |
righteousness of the world, three religions were created by the Self-born One. Whenever the world is created (or re-created), |
those religions are created by the Grandsire. Do thou listen. These are the three eternal religions. The religion that is |
propounded in the Vedas is the highest; that which is propounded in the Smritis is the next in the order of importance; the third |
in importance is that which is based upon the practices of those who are regarded as righteous. The Brahmans possessed of |
learning should have the three Vedas. He should never make the study of the Vedas (or recitation of the scriptures) the means |
of his living.[562] He should devote himself to the three well-known acts (of making gifts, studying the Vedas, and performing |
sacrifices). He should transcend' the three (viz., lust, wrath, and covetousness). He should be the friend of all creatures. A |
person that possesses these attributes is called a Brahmans. The lord of the universe declared these six acts for the observance |
of Brahmanas. Listen to those eternal duties. The performance of sacrifices, officiating at the sacrifices of others, the making of |
gifts, the acceptance of gifts, teaching, and study, are the six acts by accomplishing which a Brahmans wins religious merit. |
Verily, the daily study of the Vedas is a duty. Sacrifice is (another) eternal duty. The making of gifts according to the measure |
of his power and agreeable to the ordinance, is, in his case, much applauded. Tranquillity of mind is a high duty that has always |
been current among them that are righteous. Householders of pure mind are capable of earning very great merit. Indeed, he |
who cleanses his soul by the performance of the five sacrifices, who is truthful in speech, who is free from malice, who makes |
gifts, who treats with hospitality and honour all regenerate guests, who lives in well-cleaned abodes, who is free from pride, |
who is always sincere in his dealings, who uses sweet and assuring words towards others, who takes pleasure in serving guests |
and others arrived at his abode, and who eats the food that remains after the requirements have been gratified of all the |
members of his family and dependants, wins great merit. That man who offers water to his guests for washing their feet and |
hands, who presents the Arghya for honouring the recipient, who duly gives seats, and beds, and lamps for lighting the |
darkness, and shelter to those that come to his abode, is regarded as highly righteous. That householder who rises at dawn and |
washes his mouth and 'face and serves food to his guests, and having honoured them duly dismisses them from his abode and |
follows them (as a mark of honour) for a little distance, acquires eternal merit. Hospitality towards all, and the pursuit of the |
aggregate of three, are the duties of the householder. The duties of the Sudra consist in the pursuit of the aggregate of three. |
The Religion ordained for the householder is said to have Pravritti for its chief indication. Auspicious, and beneficial to all |
creatures, I shall expound it to thee. The householder should always make gifts according to the measure of his power. He |
should also perform sacrifices frequently after the same manner. Indeed, he who wishes to achieve his own good should always |
achieve meritorious acts. The householder, should acquire wealth by righteous means. The wealth thus acquired should be |
carefully divided into three portions, keeping the requirements of righteousness in view. With one of those portions he should |
accomplish all acts of righteousness. With another he should seek to gratify his cravings for pleasure. The third portion he |
should lay out for increasing. The Religion of Nivritti is different. It exists for emancipation (from re-birth by absorption into |
Brahman). I shall tell thee the conduct that constitutes it. Listen to me in detail, O goddess. One of the duties inculcated by that |
religion is compassion towards all creatures. The man that follows it should not reside in one place for more than one day. |
Desirous of achieving emancipation, the followers of this Religion free themselves from the bonds of hope (or desire). They |
have no attachment to habitation, to the Kamandalu they bear for keeping water, to the robes that cover their loins, or the seat |
whereupon they rest, or the triple stick they bear in their hands, or the bed they sleep on, or the fire they want, or the chamber |
that houses them. A follower of this Religion sets his heart upon the workings of his soul. His mind is devoted to Supreme |
Brahman. He is filled with the idea of attaining to Brahman. He is always devoted to Yoga and the Sankhya Philosophy. He |
desires no other shelter than the foot of a tree. He houses himself in empty abodes of men. He sleeps on the banks of rivers. He |
takes pleasure in staying by such banks. He is freed from every attachment, and from every tie of affection. He merges the |
existence of his own soul into the Supreme Soul. Standing like a stake of wood, and abstaining from all food he does only such |
acts as point to Emancipation. Or, he may wander about, devoted to Yoga. Even these are the eternal duties of a follower of the |
Religion of Nivritti. He lives aloof from his species. He is freed from all attachments. He never resides in the same place for |
more than a day. Freed from all bonds he roves over the world. Emancipated from all ties, he never sleeps on even the same |
river-bank for more than a day. Even this is the religion of persons conversant with Emancipation as declared in the Vedas. |
Even this is the righteous path that is trodden by the righteous. He who follows in this track leaves no vestige behind. Bhikshus |
(or followers of the religion of Emancipation) are of four kinds. They are Kutichakas, Vahudakas, Hansas, and Paramahansas. |
The second is superior to the first, the third to the second, and the fourth to the third. There is nothing superior to the |
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