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SECTION CLII |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell us, O king, what is that reward attached to the worship of Brahmanas, seeing which thou worshippest |
them, O thou of superior intelligence! Indeed, what is that success, flowing from their worship, guided by which thou |
worshippest them?' |
"Bhishma said, 'In this connection is cited this old narrative of a conversation between Pavana and Arjuna, O Bharata! Endued |
with a thousand arms and great beauty the mighty Kartavirya, in days of yore, became the lord of all the world. He had his |
capital in the city of Mahishmati. Of unbaffled prowess, that chief of the Haihaya race of Kshatriyas swayed the whole earth |
with her belt of seas, together with all her islands and all her precious mines of gold and gems. Keeping before him the duties |
of the Kshatriya order, as also humility and Vedic knowledge, the king made large gifts of wealth unto the Rishi Dattatreya. |
Indeed, the son of Kritavirya thus adored the great ascetic who, becoming pleased with him, asked him to solicit three boons. |
Thus requested by the Rishi in respect of boons, the king addressed him, saying, 'Let me become endued with a thousand arms |
when I am in the midst of my troops. While, however, I remain at home let me have, as usual only two arms! Indeed, let |
combatants, when engaged in battle, behold me possessed of a thousand arms, observant also of high vows, let me succeed in |
subjugating the whole earth by dint of my prowess. Having acquired the earth righteously, let me sway her with vigilance. |
There is a fourth boon which, O foremost of regenerate persons, I solicit thee to grant. O faultless one, in consequence of the |
disposition to favour me, it behoveth thee to grant it to me. Dependent that I am on thee, whenever I may happen to go wrong, |
let the righteous come forth to instruct and set me right! Thus addressed, the Brahmana replied unto the king, saying, 'So let it |
be!' Even thus were those boons acquired by that king of blazing effulgence. Riding then on his car whose splendour resembled |
that of fire or the Sun, the monarch, blinded by his great prowess, said, 'Who, indeed, is there that can be regarded as my equal |
in patience and energy, in fame and heroism, in prowess and strength?' After he had uttered these words, an invisible voice in |
the welkin said, 'O ignorant wretch, dost thou not know that the Brahmana is superior to the Kshatriya? The Kshatriya, assisted |
by the Brahmana rules all creatures!' |
"Arjuna said, 'When gratified, I am able to create many creatures. When angry, I am able to destroy all. In thought, word, and |
deed, I am the foremost. The Brahmana is certainly not above me!' The first proposition here is that the Brahmana is superior to |
the Kshatriya. The counter-proposition is that the Kshatriya is superior. Thou hast said, O invisible being that the two are |
united together (in the act upon which the Kshatriya's superiority is sought to be based). A distinction, however, is observable |
in this. It is seen that Brahmanas take refuge with Kshatriyas. The Kshatriyas never seek the refuge of Brahmanas. indeed, |
throughout the earth, the Brahmanas, accepting such refuge under the pretence of teaching the Vedas, draw their sustenance |
from the Kshatriyas. The duty of protecting all creatures is vested in Kshatriyas. It is from the Kshatriyas that the Brahmanas |
derive their sustenance. How then can the Brahmana be superior to the Kshatriyas? Well, I shall from today, bring under my |
subjection, your Brahmanas who are superior to all creatures but who have mendicancy for their occupation and who are so |
self-conceited! What the virgin Gayatri has said from the welkin is not true. Robed in skins, the Brahmanas move about in |
independence. I shall bring those independent wights under my subjection. Deity or man, there is none in the three worlds who |
can hurl me from the sovereignty I enjoy. Hence, I am certainly superior to the Brahmanas. This world that is now regarded as |
having Brahmanas for its foremost denizens shall soon be made such as to have Kshatriyas for its foremost denizens. There is |
none that is capable of bearing my might in battle! Hearing these words of Arjuna, the welkin-ranging goddess became |
agitated. Then the god of wind, addressing the king from the sky, said, 'Cast off this sinful attitude. Bow unto the Brahmanas. |
By injuring them thou wilt bring about troubles on thy kingdom. The Brahmanas will either slay thee, king though thou art, or, |
endued with great might that they are, they will drive thee away from thy kingdom, despoiling thee of thy energy!' The king, |
hearing this speech, addressed the speaker, saying, Who, indeed, art thou?' The god of wind answered, 'I am the god of wind |
and the messenger of the deities! I say unto thee what is for thy benefit.' |
"Arjuna said, 'Oh, I see that thou hast today shown thy devotion and attachment to the Brahmanas. Tell me now what kind of |
earthly creature is the Brahmana! Tell me, does a superior Brahmana resemble the Wind in any respect? Or, is he like Water, or |
Fire, or the Sun, or the Firmament?'" |
SECTION CLIII |
"The god of wind said, 'Hear, O deluded man, what the attributes are that belong to Brahmanas all of whom are endued with |
high souls. The Brahmana is superior to all those which, O king, thou hast named! In days of yore, the earth, indulging in a |
spirit of rivalry with the kind of the Angas, forsook her character as Earth. The regenerate Kasyapa caused destruction to |
overtake her by actually paralysing her. The Brahmanas are always unconquerable, O king, in heaven as also on earth. In days |
of yore, the great Rishi Angiras, through his energy, drank off all the waters. The high-souled Rishi, having drank off all the |
waters as if they were milk, did not feel yet his thirst to be slaked. He, therefore, once more caused the earth to be filled with |
water by raising a mighty wave. On another occasion, when Angiras became enraged with me, I fled away, leaving the world, |
and dwelt for a long time concealed in the Agnihotra of the Brahmanas through fear of that Rishi. The illustrious Purandara, in |
consequence of his having coveted the body of Ahalya, was cursed by Gautama, yet, for the sake of Righteousness and wealth, |
the Rishi did not destroy outright the chief of the deities. The Ocean, O king, that was full in former days of crystal water, |
cursed by the Brahmanas, became saline in taste.[608] Even Agni who is of the complexion of gold, and who blazes with |
effulgence when destitute of smoke, and whose flames uniting together burn upwards, when cursed by the angry Angiras, |
became divested of all these attributes.[609] Behold, the sixty thousand sons of Sagara, who came here to adore the Ocean, |
have all been pulverised by the Brahmana. Kapila of golden complexion. Thou art not equal to the Brahmanas. Do thou, O |
king, seek thy own good. The Kshatriya of even great puissance bows to Brahmana children that are still in their mothers' |
wombs. The large kingdom of the Dandakas was destroyed by a Brahmana. The mighty Kshatriya Talajangala was destroyed |
by a single Brahmana. viz., Aurva. Thou too hast acquired a large kingdom, great might, religious merit, and learning, which |
are all difficult of attainment, through the grace of Dattatreya. Why dost thou, O Arjuna, worship Agni everyday who is a |
Brahmana? He is the bearer of sacrificial libations from every part of the universe. Art thou ignorant of this fact? Why, indeed, |
dost thou suffer thyself to be stupefied by folly when thou art not ignorant of the fact that a superior Brahmana is the protector |
of all creatures in the world and is, indeed, the creator of the living world? The Lord of all creatures, Brahman, unmanifest, |
endued with puissance, and of unfading glory, who created this boundless universe with its mobile and immobile creatures (is a |
Brahman). Some persons there are, destitute of wisdom, who say that Brahman was born of an Egg. From the original Egg, |
when it burst forth, mountains and the points of the compass and the waters and the earth and the heavens all sprang forth into |
existence. This birth of the creation was not seen by any one. How then can Brahman be said to have taken his birth from the |
original Egg, when especially he is declared as Unborn? It is said that vast uncreate Space is the original Egg. It was from this |
uncreate Space (or Supreme Brahman) that the Grandsire was born. If thou askest, 'Whereon would the Grandsire, after his |
birth from uncreate Space, rest, for there was then nothing else?' The answer may be given in the following words, 'There is an |
existent Being of the name of Consciousness. That mighty Being is endued with great energy. There is no Egg. Brahman, |
however, is existent. He is the creator of the universe and is its king! Thus addressed by the god of wind, king Arjuna remained |
silent.'"[610] |
SECTION CLIV |
"The god of wind said, 'Once on a time, O king, a ruler of the name of Anga desired to give away the whole earth as sacrificial |
present unto the Brahmanas. At this, the earth became filled with anxiety. 'I am the daughter of Brahman. I hold all creatures. |
Having obtained me, alas, why does this foremost of kings wish to give me away unto the Brahmanas? Abandoning my |
character as the soil, I shall now repair to the presence of my sire. Let this king with all his kingdom meet with destruction? |
Arrived at this conclusion, she departed for the region of Brahman The Rishi Kasyapa, beholding goddess Earth on the point of |
departing, himself immediately entered the visible embodiment of the goddess, casting off his own body, by the aid of Yoga. |
The earth thus penetrated by the spirit of Kasyapa, grew in prosperity and became full of all kinds of vegetable produce. |
Indeed, O king for the time that Kasyapa pervaded the earth, Righteousness became foremost everywhere and all fears ceased. |
In this way, O king, the earth remained penetrated by the spirit of Kasyapa for thirty thousand celestial years, fully alive to all |
those functions which it used to discharge while it was penetrated by the spirit of Brahman's daughter. Upon the expiry of this |
period, the goddess returned from the region of Brahman and arrived here bowed unto Kasyapa and from that time became the |
daughter of that Rishi, Kasyapa is a Brahmana. Even this was the feat, O king, that a Brahmana did. Tell me the name of the |
Kshatriya who can be held to be superior to Kasyapa! Hearing these words, king Arjuna remained silent. Unto him the god of |
wind once more said, 'Hear now, O king, the story of Utathya who was born in the race of Angiras. The daughter of Soma, |
named Bhadra, came to be regarded as unrivalled in beauty. Her sire Soma regarded Utathya to be the fittest of husbands for |
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