true use.  Such a man is affrighted at the Vedic ritual like a man at sight of a forest conflagration.  Giving up dry disputation, have recourse to Sruti and Smriti, and seek thou, with the aid of thy reason, the knowledge of the Undecaying One that is without a second.  One’s search (after this knowledge) becometh futile from defect of means.  Therefore, should one carefully strive to obtain that knowledge by aid of the Vedas.  The Vedas are the Supreme Soul; they are His body; they are the Truth.  The soul that is bounded by the animal organism is incompetent to know Him in whom all the Vedas merge.  That Supreme Soul, however, is capable of being known by the pure intellect.  The existence of the gods as stated in the Vedas, the efficacy of acts, and the capacity for action of being furnished with bodies, are noticeable in every Yuga.  Independence of these and annihilation are to be sought from purity of the senses.  Therefore, the suspension of the function of the senses is the true fasting.  One may attain to heaven by asceticism, one may obtain objects of enjoyment by the practice of charity and may have his sins purged off by ablutions in tirthas.  But complete emancipation cannot be had except by knowledge.’”

Vaisampayana continued, “Thus addressed, O great king, by the Rishi, Yudhishthira of great fame then said, ’O holy one, I desire to listen to the rules about that charity which is meritorious.’

“Markandeya said, ’O great king, O Yudhishthira, the rules about charity which thou wishest to hear from me are always highly regarded by me.  Listen now to the mysteries of charity as expounded in the sruti and the smritis!  A man that performs a sraddha in the conjunction called Gajacchaya at a place that is fanned by the leaves of the Aswattha tree enjoys the fruits thereof, O Yudhishthira, for a hundred thousand kalpas.  O king, he that foundeth a dharmasala and established there a person to look after all comers, is crowned with the merits of all the sacrifices.  He that giveth away a horse at a tirtha where the current of the river runneth in a direction opposite to its general course, reapeth merit that is inexhaustible.  The guest that comes to one’s house for food is none other than Indra himself.  If he is entertained with food, Indra himself conferreth on the best merit that is inexhaustible.  As men cross seas by vessels, so are the givers mentioned above are saved from all their sins.  So what is given unto Brahmanas produceth, like gift of curds, inexhaustible merits.  A gift on particular lunations produceth merit that is twice as much as a gift on other days.  That in a particular season produceth merit ten times greater that in other seasons.  That in a particular year produceth merit a hundred times greater than in other years.  And lastly, a gift on the last day of the last month