"'"Parasara said, 'Nobody in this world does good to another. Nobody is seen to make gifts to others. All persons are seen to act for their own selves. People are seen to cast off their very parents and their uterine brothers when these cease to be affectionate. What need be said then of relatives of other degrees?[1517] Gifts to a distinguished person and acceptance of the gifts made by a distinguished person both lead to equal merit. Of these two acts, however, the making of a gift is superior to the acceptance of a gift.[1518] That wealth which is acquired by proper means and increased also by proper means, should be protected with care for the sake of acquiring virtue. This is an accepted truth. One desirous of acquiring righteousness should never earn wealth by means involving injury to others. One should accomplish one's acts according to one's power, without zealously pursuing wealth. By giving water, whether cold or heated by fire, with a devoted mind, unto a (thirsty) guest, according to the best of one's power, one earns the merit that attaches to the act of giving food to a hungry man. The high-souled Rantideva obtained success in all the worlds by worshipping the ascetics with offerings of only roots and fruits and leaves. The royal son of Sivi also won the highest regions of felicity by having gratified Surya along with his companion with offerings of the same kind. All men, by taking birth, incur debts to gods, guests, servants, Pitris, and their own selves. Everyone should, therefore, do his best for freeing himself from those debts. One frees oneself from one's debt to the great Rishis by studying the Vedas. One pays off one's debts to the gods by performing sacrifices. By performing the rites of the Sraddha one is freed from one's debts to the Pitris. One pays off one's debt to one's fellowmen by doing good offices to them. One pays off the debts one owes to one's own self by listening to Vedic recitations and reflecting on their import, by eating the remnants of sacrifices, and by supporting one's body. One should duly discharge all the acts, from the beginning, that one owes to one's servants. Though destitute of wealth, men are seen to attain to success by great exertions.[1519] Munis by duly adoring the deities and by duly pouring libations of clarified butter on the sacred fire, have been seen to attain to ascetic success. Richika's son became the son of Vishwamitra. By adoring the deities who have shares in sacrificial offerings, with Richs (he attained to success in after life). Usanas became Sukra by having gratified the god of gods. Indeed, by hymning the praises of the goddess (Uma), he sports in the firmament, endued with great splendour.[1520] Then, again, Asita and Devala, and Narada and Parvata, and Karkshivat, and Jamadagni's son Rama, and Tandya possessed of cleansed soul, and Vasishtha, and Jamadagni, and Viswamitra and Atri, and Bharadwaja, and Harismasru, and Kundadhara, and Srutasravas,—these great Rishis, by adoring Vishnu with concentrated minds with the aid of Richs, and by penances, succeeded in attaining to success through the grace of that great deity endued with intelligence. Many undeserving men, by adoring that good deity, obtained great distinction. One should not seek for advancement by achieving any wicked or censurable act. That wealth which is earned by righteous ways is true wealth. Fie on that wealth, however, which is earned by unrighteous means. Righteousness is eternal. It should never, in this world, be abandoned from desire of wealth. That righteous-souled person who keeps his sacred fire and offers his daily adorations to the deities is regarded as the foremost of righteous persons. All the Vedas, O foremost of kings, are established on the three sacred fires (called Dakshina, Garhapatya, and Ahavaniya). That Brahmana is said to possess the sacred fire whose acts exist in their entirety. It is better to at once abandon the sacred fire than to keep it, abstaining the while from acts. The sacred fire, the mother, the father who has begotten, and the preceptor, O tiger among men, should all be duly waited upon and served with humility. That man who, casting off all feelings of pride, humbly waits upon and serves them that are venerable for age, who is possessed of learning and destitute of lust, who looketh upon all creatures with an eye of love, who has no wealth, who is righteous in his acts, and who is destitute of the desire of inflicting any kind of harm (upon any one), that truly respectable man is worshipped in this world by those that are good and pious.'"'"[1521]
SECTION CCXCIV
"'"Parasara said, 'The lowest order, it is proper, should derive their sustenance from the three other orders. Such service, rendered with affection and reverence, makes them righteous.[1522] If the ancestors of any Sudra were not engaged in service, he should not still engage himself in any other occupation (than service). Truly, he should apply himself to service as his occupation. In my opinion, it is proper for them to associate, under all circumstances, with good men devoted to righteousness, but never with those that are wicked. As in the Eastern hills, jewels and metals blaze with greater splendour in consequence of their adjacence to the Sun, even so the lowest order blazes with splendour in consequence of their association with the good. A piece of white cloth assumes that hue with which it is dyed. Even such is the case with Sudras.[1523] Hence also, one should attach oneself to all good qualities but never to qualities that are evil. The life of human beings in this world is fleeting and transitory. That wise man who, in happiness as also in misery, achieves only what is good, is regarded as a true observer of the scriptures. That man who is endued with intelligence would never do an act which is dissociated from virtue, however high may the advantages be of that act. Indeed, such an act is not regarded as truly beneficial. That lawless king who, snatching thousands of kine from their lawful owners, gives them away (unto deserving persons), acquires no fruit (from that act of giving) beyond an empty sound (expressive of the act he does). On the other hand, he incurs the sin of theft. The Self-born at first created the Being called Dhatri held in universal respect. Dhatri created a son who was engaged in upholding all the worlds.[1524] Worshipping that deity, the Vaisya employs himself, for the means of his support, in agriculture and the rearing of cattle. The Kshatriyas should employ themselves in the task of protecting all the other classes. The Brahmanas should only enjoy. As regards the Sudras, they should engage themselves in the task of humbly and honestly collecting together the articles that are to be offered in sacrifices, and in cleaning altars and other places where sacrifices are to be performed. If each order acts in this way, righteousness would not suffer any diminution. If righteousness is preserved in its entirety, all creatures inhabiting the earth would be happy. Beholding the happiness of all creatures on earth, the deities in heaven become filled with gladness. Hence, that king who, agreeably to the duties laid down for his order, protects the other classes, becomes worthy of respect. Similarly, the Brahmana that is employed in studying the scriptures, the Vaisya that is engaged in earning wealth, and the Sudra that is always engaged in serving the three other classes with concentrated attention, become objects of respect. By conducting themselves in the other ways, O chief of men, each order is said to fall away from virtue. Keeping aside gifts by thousands, even twenty cowries that one may give painfully, having earned them righteously, will be productive of the great benefit. Those persons, O king, who make gifts unto Brahmanas after reverencing them duly, reap excellent fruits commensurate with those gifts. That gift is highly prized which the donor makes after seeking out the donee and honouring him properly. That gift is middling which the donor makes upon solicitation. That gift, however, which is made contemptuously and without any reverence, is said to be very inferior (in point of merit). Even this is what those utterers of the truth, viz., the sages, say. While sinking in this ocean of life, man should always seek to cross that ocean by various means. Indeed, he should so exert himself that he might be freed from the bonds of this world. The Brahmana shines by self restraint; the Kshatriya by victory; the Vaisya by wealth; while the Sudra always shines in glory through cleverness in serving (the three other orders).'"'"
SECTION CCXCV
"'"Parasara said, 'In the Brahmana, wealth acquired by acceptance of gifts, in the Kshatriya that won by victory in battle, in the Vaisya that obtained by following the duties laid down for his order, and in the Sudra that earned by serving the three other orders, however small its measure, is worthy of praise, and spent for the acquisition of virtue is productive of great benefits. The Sudra is said to be the constant servitor of the three other classes. If the Brahmana, pressed for a living, betakes himself to the duties of either the Kshatriya or the Vaisya, he does not fall off from righteousness. When, however, the Brahmana betakes himself to the duties of the lowest order, then does he certainly fall off. When the Sudra is unable to obtain his living by service of the three other orders, then trade, rearing of cattle, and the practice of the mechanical arts are lawful for him to follow. Appearance on the boards of a theatre and disguising oneself in various forms, exhibition of puppets, the sale of spirits and meat, and trading in iron and leather, should never be taken up for purposes of a living by one who had never before been engaged in those professions every one of which is regarded as censurable in the world. It hath been heard by us that if one engaged in them can abandon them, one then acquires great merit. When one that has become successful in life behaves sinfully in consequence of one's mind being filled with arrogance, one's acts under such circumstances can never pass for authority. It is heard in the Puranas that formerly mankind were self-restrained; that they held righteousness in great esteem; that the practices they followed for livelihood were all consistent with propriety and the injunctions laid down in the scriptures, and that the only punishment that was required for chastising them when they went wrong was the crying of fie on them.[1525] At the time of which we speak, O king, Righteousness, and nothing else, was much applauded among men. Having achieved great progress in righteousness, men in those days worshipped only all good qualities that they saw. The Asuras, however, O child, could not bear that righteousness which prevailed in the world. Multiplying (in both number and energy), the Asuras (in the form of Lust and Wrath) entered the bodies of men. Then was pride generated in men that is so destructive of righteousness. From pride arose arrogance, and from arrogance arose wrath. When men thus became overwhelmed with wrath, conduct implying modesty and shame disappeared from them, and then they were overcome by heedlessness. Afflicted by heedlessness, they could no longer see as before, and as the consequence thereof they began to oppress one another and thereby acquire wealth without any compunction. When men became such, the punishment of only crying fie on offenders failed to be of any effect. Men, showing no reverence for either the gods or Brahmanas, began to indulge their senses to their fill.[1526] At that time the deities repaired to that foremost of gods, viz., Siva, possessed of patience, of multiform aspect, and endued with the foremost of attributes, and sought his protection. The deities imparted unto him their conjoined energy, and thereupon the great god, with a single shaft, felled on the earth those three Asuras, viz., Desire, Wrath, and Cupidity, who were staying in the firmament, along with their very habitations.[1527] The fierce chief of those Asuras possessed of fierce prowess, who had struck the Devas with terror, was also slain by Mahadeva armed with the lance.[1528] When this chief of the Asuras was slain, men once more obtained their proper natures, and once more began to study the Vedas and the other scriptures as was in former times. Then the seven ancient Rishis came forward and installed Vasava as the chief of the gods and the ruler of heaven. And they took upon themselves the task of holding the rod of chastisement over mankind. After the seven Rishis came king Viprithu (to rule mankind), and many other kings, all belonging to the Kshatriya order for separately ruling separate groups of human beings. (When Mahadeva dispelled all evil passions from the minds of creatures) there were, in those ancient times, certain elderly men from whose minds all wicked feelings did not fly away. Hence, in consequence of that wicked state of their minds and of those incidents that were connected with it, there appeared many kings of terrible prowess who began to indulge in only such acts as were fit for Asuras. Those human beings that are exceedingly foolish adhere to those wicked acts, establish them as authorities, and follow them in practice to this day.[1529] For this reason, O king, I say unto thee, having reflected properly with the aid of the scriptures, that one should abstain from all acts that are fraught with injury or malice and seek to acquire a knowledge of the Soul.[1530] The man possessed of wisdom would not seek wealth for the performance of religious rites by ways that are unrighteous and that involve an abandonment of morality. Wealth earned by such means can never prove beneficial. Do thou then become a Kshatriya of this kind. Do thou restrain thy senses, be agreeable to thy friends, and cherish, according to the duties of thy order, thy subjects, servants, and children. Through the union of both prosperity and adversity (in man's life), there arise friendships and animosities. Thousands and thousands of existences are continually revolving (in respect of every Jiva), and in every mode of Jiva's existence these must occur.[1531] For this reason, be thou attached to good qualities of every kind, but never to faults. Such is the character of good qualities that if the most foolish person, bereft of every virtue, hears himself praised for any good quality, he becomes filled with joy. Virtue and sin exist, O king, only among men. These do not exist among creatures other than man. One should therefore, whether in need of food and other necessaries of life or transcending such need, be of virtuous disposition, acquire knowledge, always look upon all creatures as one's own self, and abstain totally from inflicting any kind of injury. When one's mind becomes divested of desire, and when all Darkness is dispelled from it, it is then that one succeeds in obtaining what is auspicious.'"'"
SECTION CCXCVI
"'"Parasara said, 'I have now discoursed to thee on what the ordinances are of the duties in respect of one that leads the domestic mode of life. I shall now speak to thee of the ordinances about penances. Listen to me as I discourse on the topic. It is generally seen, O king, that in consequence of sentiments fraught with Rajas and Tamas, the sense of meum, born of attachment, springs up in the heart of the householder. Betaking oneself to the domestic mode of life, one acquires kine, fields, wealth of diverse kinds, spouses, children, and servants. One that becomes observant of this mode of life continually casts one's eye upon these objects. Under these circumstances, one's attachments and aversions increase, and one ceases to regard one's (transitory) possessions as eternal and indestructible. When a person becomes overwhelmed by attachment and aversion, and yields himself up to the mastery of earthly objects, the desire of enjoyment then seizes him, taking its rise from heedlessness, O king. Thinking that person to be blessed who has the largest share of enjoyments in this world, the man devoted to enjoyment does not, in consequence of his attachment thereto, see that there is any other happiness besides what waits upon the gratification of the senses. Overwhelmed with cupidity that results from such attachment, he then seeks to increase the number of his relatives and attendants, and for gratifying these latter he seeks to increase his wealth by every means in his power. Filled with affection for children, such a person commits, for the sake of acquiring wealth, acts that he knows to be evil, and gives way to grief if his wealth be lost. Having earned honours and always guarding against the defeat of his plans, he betakes himself to such means as would gratify his desire of enjoyment. At last he meets with destruction as the inevitable consequence of the conduct he pursues. It is well-known, however, that true felicity is theirs that are endued with intelligence, that are utterers of the eternal Brahma, that seek to accomplish only acts that are auspicious and beneficial, and that abstain from all acts that are optional and spring from desire alone.[1532] From loss of all such objects in which are centred our affections, from loss of wealth, O king, and from the tyranny of physical diseases add mental anguish, a person falls into despair. From this despair arises an awakening of the soul. From such awakening proceeds study of the Scriptures. From contemplation of the import of the scriptures, O king, one sees the value of penance. A person possessed of the knowledge of what is essential and what accidental, O king, is very rare,—he, that is, who seeks to undergo penances, impressed with the truth that the happiness one derives from the possession of such agreeable objects as spouses and children leads ultimately to misery.[1533] Penances, O child, are for all. They are ordained for even the lowest order of men (viz., Sudras). Penances set the self-restrained man having the mastery over all his senses on the way to heaven. It was through penances that the puissant Lord of all creatures, O, king, observing vows at particular intervals created all existent objects. The Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, Agni, the Aswins, the Maruts, the Viswedevas, the Saddhyas, the Pitris, the Maruts, the Yakshas, the Rakshasas, the Gandharvas, the Siddhas and the other denizens of heaven, and, indeed, all other celestials whatever, O child, have all been crowned with success through their penances. Those Brahmanas whom Brahmana created at the outset, succeeded through their penances in honouring not the Earth alone but the heaven also in which they roved at pleasure. In this world of mortals, they that are kings, and those others that are householders born in high families, have all become what they are only in consequence of their penances.[1534] The silken robes they wear, the excellent ornaments that adorn their persons, the animals and vehicles they ride, and the seats they use are all the result of their penances. The many charming and beautiful women, numbering by thousands, that they enjoy, and their residence in palatial mansions, are all due to their penances. Costly beds and diverse kinds of delicious viands become theirs that act righteously. There is nothing in the three worlds, O scorcher of foes, that penances cannot attain. Even those that are destitute of true knowledge win Renunciation as the consequence of their penances.[1535] Whether in affluent circumstances or miserable, a person should cast off cupidity, reflecting on the scriptures, with the aid of his Mind and understanding, O best of kings. Discontent is productive of misery. (Discontent is the result of cupidity). Cupidity leadeth to the stupefaction of the senses. The senses being stupefied, one's wisdom disappears like knowledge not kept up by continued application. When one's wisdom disappears, one fails to discriminate what is proper from what is improper. Hence, when one's happiness is destroyed (and one becomes subject to misery) one should practise the austerest of penances.[1536] That which is agreeable is called happiness. That which is disagreeable is said to be misery. When penances are practised, the result is happiness. When they are not practised, the result is misery. Behold the fruits of practising and abstaining from penances![1537] By practising stainless penances, people always meet with auspicious consequences of every kind, enjoy all good things, and attain to great fame.[1538] He, however, who by abandoning (stainless penances), betakes himself to penances from desire of fruit, meets with many disagreeable consequences, and disgrace and sorrow of diverse kinds, as the fruits thereof, all of which have worldly possessions for their cause.[1539] Notwithstanding the desirability of practising righteousness, penances, and gifts, the wish springs up in his mind of accomplishing all kinds of forbidden acts. By thus perpetrating diverse kinds of sinful acts, he goes to hell.[1540] That person, O best of men, who, in both happiness and misery, does not fall away from the duties ordained for him, is said to have the scriptures for his eye. It is said that the pleasure one derives from the gratification of one's senses of touch, tongue, sight, scent, and hearing, O monarch, lasts only so long as a shaft urged from the bow takes in falling down upon the earth. Upon the cessation of that pleasure, which is so short-lived, one experiences the most keen agony. It is only the senseless that do not applaud the felicity of Emancipation that is unrivalled. Beholding the misery that attends the gratification of the senses, they that are possessed of wisdom cultivate the virtues of tranquillity and self-restraint for the purpose of attaining to Emancipation. In consequence of their righteous behaviour, wealth, and pleasure can never succeed in afflicting them.[1541] Householders may, without any compunction, enjoy wealth and other possessions that are obtained without Exertion. As regards, however, the duties of their order that are laid down in the scriptures, these, I am of opinion, they should discharge with the aid of Exertion.[1542] The practice of those that are honoured, that are born in high families, and that have their eyes always turned towards the import of the scriptures, is incapable of being followed by those that are sinful and that are possessed of unrestrained minds. All acts that are done by man under the influence of vanity, meet with destruction. Hence, for them that are respectable and truly righteous there is no other act in this world to do than penance.[1543] As regards those house-holders, however, that are addicted to acts, they should, with their whole hearts, set themselves to acts. Following the duties of their order, O king, they should with cleverness and attention perform sacrifices and other religious rites. Indeed, as all rivers, male and female, have their refuge in the Ocean, even so men belonging to all the other orders have their refuge in the householder.'"'"
SECTION CCXCVII
"'"Janaka said, 'Whence, O great Rishi, does this difference of colour arise among men belonging to the different orders? I desire to know this. Tell me this, O foremost of speakers! The Srutis say that the offspring one begets are one's own self. Originally sprung from Brahmana, all the inhabitants of the earth should have been Brahmanas. Sprung from Brahmanas, why have men betaken themselves to practices distinguished from those of Brahmanas.'
"'"Parasara said, 'It is as thou sayst, O king! The offspring procreated are none else than the procreator himself. In consequence, however, of falling away from penance, this distribution into classes of different colours has taken place. When the soil becomes good and the seed also is good, the offspring produced become meritorious. If, however, the soil and seed become otherwise or inferior, the offspring that will be born will be inferior. They that are conversant with the scriptures know that when the Lord of all creatures set himself to create the worlds, some creatures sprang from his mouth, some from his arms, some from his thighs, and some from his feet. They that thus sprang from his mouth, O child, came to be called Brahmanas. They that sprang from his arms were named Kshatriyas. They, O king, that sprang from his thighs were the wealthy class called the Vaisyas. And, lastly, they that were born of his feet were the serving class, viz., the Sudras. Only these four orders of men, O monarch, were thus created. They that belong to classes over and other than these are said to have sprung from an intermixture of these. The Kshatriyas called Atirathas, Amvashthas, Ugras, Vaidehas, Swapakas, Pukkasas, Tenas, Nishadas, Sutas, Magadhas, Ayogas, Karanas, Vratyas, and Chandalas, O monarch, have all sprung from the four original orders by intermixture with one another.'