gifts, on the day of the new moon, of sesame seeds and water, mixed with honey and using a vessel of copper, O thou that art possessed of wealth of penances, are regarded as duly performing a Sraddha with all its mysteries.  These men get children of sound health and cheerful minds.  The merit acquired by the giver of the Pinda (to the Pitris) takes the form of the growth of his race.  Verily, he who performs these acts with faith, becomes freed from the debt he owes to the Pitris.  Even thus has been laid down the proper time for the performance of the Sraddha, the ordinance in respect of the rites to be observed, the proper person that should be fed at the Sraddha, and the merits that attach to it.  I have declared everything to thee in due order.’

SECTION CXXVI

“Bhishma said, ’The chief of the deities, Indra, after the Pitri has ceased to speak, addressed the puissant Hari, saying, ’O Lord, what are those acts by which thou becomest gratified?  How, indeed, do men succeed in gratifying thee?’

“Vishnu said, “That which I greatly hate is the detraction of Brahmanas; without doubt, if the Brahmanas are worshipped, I regard myself worshipped.  All superior Brahmanas should always be saluted with reverence, after feeding them with hospitality.  One should reverence one’s own feet also (in the evening).  I am gratified with men who act in this way, as also with those who worship and make offerings to the whirl that is noticeable on cowdung (when it first drops from the cow)[548].  They who behold a Brahmana that is a dwarf in stature, or a boar that has just risen from water and that bears on his head a quantity of mud taken up from the bank, have never to meet with any evil.  They become freed from every sin.  That man who worships every day the Aswattha (Ficus religiosa) and the substance called Gorochana and the cow, is regarded as worshipping the whole universe with the deities and Asuras and human beings.  Verily, staying within these, I accept, in my own form, the worship that is offered to them.  The worship that is offered to these is the worship offered to me.  This has been so as long as the worlds have been created.  Those men of little understanding that worship me in a different way worship me in vain, for the worship of that kind I never accept.  Verily, the worship of other kinds is not at all gratifying to me.’

“Indra said, ’Why dost thou applaud the circular marks on cowdung, the feet, the boar, the Brahmana that is a dwarf in stature, and mud raised up from the soil?  It is thou who createst and it is thou who destroyest them.  Thou art the eternal nature of all mortal or transitory things:’