The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,582 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4.

The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,582 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4.
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
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The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.