VISHNU PURANA. - BOOK
III. CHAP -16,17,18
CHAP. XVI.--Things
proper to be offered as food to deceased ancestors: prohibited things.
Circumstances vitiating a S'raddha: how to be avoided. Song of the Pitris, or
progenitors, heard by Ikshwaku.
CHAP. XVII.--Of
heretics, or those who reject the authority of the Vedas: their origin, as
described by Vas'ishtha to Bhishma: the gods, defeated by the Daityas, praise
Vishnu: an illusory being, or Buddha, produced from his body.
CHAP. XVIII.--Buddha
goes to the earth, and teaches the Daityas to contemn the Vedas: his sceptical
doctrines: his prohibition of animal sacrifices. Meaning of the term Bauddha.
Jainas and Bauddhas; their tenets. The Daityas lose their power, and are
overcome by the gods. Meaning of the term Nagna. Consequences of neglect of
duty. Story of S'atadhanu and his wife S'aivya. Communion with heretics to be
shunned.
CHAP. XVI.
Things proper to be
offered as food to deceased ancestors: prohibited things. Circumstances
vitiating a S'raddha: how to be avoided. Song of the Pitris, or progenitors,
heard by Ikshwaku.
AURVA
continued.--"Ancestors are satisfied for a month with offerings of rice or
other grain, with clarified butter, with fish, or the flesh of the hare, of
birds, of the hog, the goat, the antelope, the deer, the gayal, or the sheep,
or with the milk of the cow, and its products. They are for ever satisfied with
flesh (in general), and with that of the long-eared white goat in particular.
The flesh of the rhinoceros, the Kalas'aka potherb, and honey, are also
especial sources of satisfaction to those worshipped at ancestral ceremonies.
The birth of that man is the occasion of satisfaction to his progenitors who
performs at the due time their obsequial rites at Gaya. Grains that spring up
spontaneously, rice growing wild, Panic of both species (white or black),
vegetables that grow in forests, are fit for ancestral oblations; as are
barley, wheat, rice, sesamum, various kinds of pulse, and mustard. On the other
hand, a householder must not offer any kind of grain that is not consecrated by
religious ceremonies on its first coming into season; nor the pulse called Rajamasha,
nor millet, nor lentils, nor gourds, nor garlick, nor onions, nor nightshade,
nor camels' thorn, nor salt, nor the efflorescence of salt deserts, nor red
vegetable extracts, nor anything that looks like salt, nor any thing that is
not commendable; nor is water fit to be offered at a S'raddha that has been
brought by night, or has been abandoned, or is so little as not to satisfy a
cow, or smells badly, or is covered with froth. The milk of animals with
undivided hoofs, of a camel, a ewe, a deer, or a buffalo, is unfit for
ancestral oblations. If an obsequial rite is looked at by a eunuch, a man
ejected from society, an outcast, a heretic, a drunken man, or one diseased, by
a cock, a naked ascetic, a monkey, a village hag, by a woman in her courses or
pregnant, by an unclean person, or by a carrier of corpses, neither gods nor
progenitors will partake of the food. The ceremony should therefore be
performed in a spot carefully enclosed. Let the performer cast sesamum on the
ground, and drive away malignant spirits. Let him not give food that is fetid,
or vitiated by hairs or insects, or mixed with acid gruel, or stale. Whatever
suitable food is presented with pure faith, and with the enunciation of name
and race, to ancestors, at an obsequial oblation, becomes food to them (or
gives them nourishment). In former times, O king of the earth! this song of the
Pitris was heard by Ikshwaku, the son of Manu, in the groves of Kalapa (on the
skirts of the Himalaya mountains): 'Those of our descendants shall follow a
righteous path who shall reverently present us with cakes at Gaya. May he be
born in our race who shall give us, on the thirteenth of Bhadrapada and Magha,
milk, honey, and clarified butter; or when he marries a maiden, or liberates a
black bull, or performs any domestic ceremony agreeable to rule, accompanied by
donations to the Brahmans!"
CHAP. XVII.
Of heretics, or
those who reject the authority of the Vedas: their origin, as described by
Vas'ishtha to Bhishma: the gods, defeated by the Daityas, praise Vishnu: an
illusory being, or Buddha, produced from his body.
PARAS'ARA.--Thus, in
former days, spake the holy Aurva to the illustrious monarch Sagara, when he
inquired concerning the usages proper to be practised by mankind; and thus I
have explained to you the whole of those observances against which no one ought
to transgress.
MAITREYA.--You have
told me, venerable sir, that an ancestral rite is not to be looked upon by
certain persons, amongst whom you mentioned such as were apostates. I am
desirous to learn whom you intended by that appellation; what practices bestow
such a title upon a man; and what is the character of the individual to whom
you alluded.
PARAS'ARA.--The Rig,
Yajur, and Sama Vedas constitute the triple covering of the several castes, and
the sinner who throws this off is said to be naked (or apostate). The three
Vedas are the raiment of all the orders of men, and when that is discarded,
they are left bare. On this subject hear what I heard my grandfather, the pious
Vas'ishtha, relate to the magnanimous Bhishma:
There was formerly a
battle between the gods and demons, for the period of a divine year, in which
the gods were defeated by the demons under the command of Hrada. The
discomfited deities fled to the northern shore of the milky ocean, where
engaging in religious penance they thus prayed to Vishnu: "May the first
of beings, the divine Vishnu, be pleased with the words that we are about to
address to him, in order to propitiate the lord of all worlds; from which
mighty cause all created things have originated, and into whom they shall again
dissolve! Who is able to declare his praise? We, who have been put to shame by
the triumph of our foes, will glorify thee, although thy true power and might
be not within the reach of words. Thou art earth, water, fire, air, ether,
mind, crude matter, and primeval soul: all this elementary creation, with or
without visible form, is thy body; all, from Brahma to a stock, diversified by
place and time. Glory to thee, who art Brahma, thy first form, evolved from the
lotus springing from thy navel, for the purpose of creation. Glory to thee, who
art Indra, the sun, Rudra, the Vasus, fire, the winds, and even also ourselves.
Glory to they, Govinda, who art all demons, whose essence is arrogance and want
of discrimination, unchecked by patience or self-control. Glory to thee, who
art the Yakshas, whose nature is charmed with sounds, and whose frivolous
hearts perfect knowledge cannot pervade. Glory to thee, who art all fiends,
that walk by night, sprung from the quality of darkness, fierce, fraudulent,
and cruel. Glory to thee, Janarddana, who art that piety which is the
instrument of recompensing the virtues of those who abide in heaven. Glory to
thee, who art one with the saints, whose perfect nature is ever blessed, and
traverses unobstructed all permeable elements. Glory to thee, who art one with
the serpent race, double-tongued, impetuous, cruel, insatiate of enjoyment, and
abounding with wealth. Glory to thee, who art one with the Rishis, whose nature
is free from sin or defect, and is identified with wisdom and tranquillity.
Glory to thee, oh lotus-eyed, who art one with time, the form that devours,
without remorse, all created things at the termination of the Kalpa. Glory to
thee, who art Rudra, the being that dances with delight after he has swallowed
up all things, the gods and the rest, without distinction. Glory to thee,
Janarddana, who art man, the agent in developing the results of that activity
which proceeds from the quality of foulness. Glory to thee, who art brute
animals, the universal spirit that tends to perversity, which proceeds from the
quality of darkness, and is encumbered with the twenty-eight kinds of
obstructions. Glory to thee, who art that chief spirit which is diversified in
the vegetable world, and which, as the essence of sacrifice, is the instrument
of accomplishing the perfection of the universe. Glory to thee, who art everything,
and whose primeval form is the objects of perception, and heaven, and animals,
and men, and gods. Glory to thee, who art the cause of causes, the supreme
spirit; who art distinct from us and all beings composed of intelligence and
matter and the like, and with whose primeval nature there is nothing that can
be compared. We bow to thee, O lord, who hast neither colour, nor extension,
nor bulk, nor any predicable qualities; and whose essence, purest of the pure,
is appreciable only by holy sages. We bow to thee, in the nature of Brahma,
untreated, undecaying; who art in our bodies, and in all other bodies, and in
all living creatures; and besides whom there is nothing else. We glorify that
Vasudeva, the sovereign lord of all, who is without soil, the seed of all
things, exempt from dissolution, unborn, eternal, being in essence the supreme
condition of spirit, and in substance the whole of this universe."
Upon the conclusion
of their prayers, the gods beheld the sovereign deity Hari, armed with the
shell, the discus, and the mace, riding on Garuda. Prostrating themselves
before him, they addressed him, and said, "Have compassion upon us, O
lord, and protect us, who have come to thee for succour from the Daityas. They
have seized upon the three worlds, and appropriated the offerings which are our
portion, taking care not to transgress the precepts of the Veda. Although we,
as well as they, are parts of thee, of whom all beings consist, yet we behold
the world impressed by the ignorance of unity, with the belief of its separate
existence. Engaged in the duties of their respective orders, and following the
paths prescribed by holy writ, practising also religious penance, it is
impossible for us to destroy them. Do thou, whose wisdom is immeasurable,
instruct us in some device by which we may be able to exterminate the enemies
of the gods."
When the mighty
Vishnu heard their request, he emitted from his body an illusory form, which he
gave to the gods, and thus spake This deceptive vision shall wholly beguile the
Daityas, so that, being led astray from the path of the Vedas, they may be put to
death; for all gods, demons, or others, who shall be opposed to the authority
of the Veda, shall perish by my might, whilst exercised for the preservation of
the world. Go then, and fear not: let this delusive vision precede you; it
shall this day be of great service unto you, oh gods!"
CHAP. XVIII.
Buddha goes to the
earth, and teaches the Daityas to contemn the Vedas: his sceptical doctrines:
his prohibition of animal sacrifices. Meaning of the term Bauddha. Jainas and
Bauddhas; their tenets. The Daityas lose their power, and are overcome by the
gods. Meaning of the term Nagna. Consequences of neglect of duty. Story of
S'atadhanu and his wife S'aivya. Communion with heretics to be shunned.
PARAS'ARA.--After
this, the great delusion, having proceeded to earth, beheld the Daityas engaged
in ascetic penances upon the banks of the Narmada river; and approaching them
in the semblance of a naked mendicant, with his head shaven, and carrying a
bunch of peacock's feathers, he thus addressed them in gentle accents:
"Ho, lords of the Daitya race! wherefor is it that you practise these acts
of penance? is it with a view to recompense in this world, or in another?"
"Sage," replied the Daityas, "we pursue these devotions to
obtain a reward hereafter; why should you make such an inquiry?" "If
you are desirous of final emancipation," answered the seeming ascetic,
"attend to my words, for you are worthy of a revelation which is the door
to ultimate felicity. The duties that I will teach you are the secret path to
liberation; there are none beyond or superior to them: by following them you
shall obtain either heaven or exemption from future existence. You, mighty
beings, are deserving of such lofty doctrine." By such persuasions, and by
many specious arguments, did this delusive being mislead the Daityas from the
tenets of the Vedas; teaching that the same thing might be for the sake of
virtue and of vice; might be, and might not be; might or might not contribute
to liberation; might be the supreme object, and not the supreme object; might
be effect, and not be effect; might be manifest, or not be manifest; might be
the duty of those who go naked, or who go clothed in much raiment: and so the
Daityas were seduced from their proper duties by the repeated lessons of their
illusory preceptor, maintaining the equal truth of contradictory tenets; and
they were called Arhatas, from the phrase he had employed of "Ye are
worthy (Arhatha) of this great doctrine;" that is, of the false doctrines
which he persuaded them to embrace.
The foes of the gods
being thus induced to apostatize from the religion of the Vedas, by the
delusive person sent by Vishnu, became in their turn teachers of the same
heresies, and perverted others; and these, again, communicating their
principles to others, by whom they were still further disseminated, the Vedas
were in a short time deserted by most of the Daitya race. Then the same
deluder, putting on garments of a red colour, assuming a benevolent aspect, and
speaking in soft and agreeable tones, addressed others of the same family, and
said to them, "If; mighty demons, you cherish a desire either for heaven
or for final repose, desist from the iniquitous massacre of animals (for
sacrifice), and hear from me what you should do. Know that all that exists is
composed of discriminative knowledge. Understand my words, for they have been
uttered by the wise. This world subsists without support, and engaged in the
pursuit of error, which it mistakes for knowledge, as well as vitiated by
passion and the rest, revolves in the straits of existence." In this
manner, exclaiming to them, "Know!" (Budhyadwam), and they replying,
"It is known" (Budhyate), these Daityas were induced by the arch
deceiver to deviate from their religious duties (and become Bauddhas), by his
repeated arguments and variously urged persuasions, When they had abandoned
their own faith, they persuaded others to do the same, and the heresy spread,
and many deserted the practices enjoined by the Vedas and the laws.
The delusions of the
false teacher paused not with the conversion of the Daityas to the Jaina and
Bauddha heresies, but with various erroneous tenets he prevailed upon others to
apostatize, until the whole were led astray, and deserted the doctrines and
observances inculcated by the three Vedas. Some then spake evil of the sacred
books; some blasphemed the gods; some treated sacrifices and other devotional
ceremonies with scorn; and others calumniated the Brahmans. "The
precepts," they cried, "that lead to the injury of animal life (as in
sacrifices) are highly reprehensible. To say that casting butter into flame is
productive of reward, is mere childishness. If Indra, after having obtained
godhead by multiplied rites, is fed upon the wood used as fuel in holy fire, he
is lower than a brute, which feeds at least upon leaves. If an animal
slaughtered in religious worship is thereby raised to heaven, would it not be
expedient for a man who institutes a sacrifice to kill his own father for a
victim? If that which is eaten by one at a S'raddha gives satisfaction to
another, it must be unnecessary for one who resides at a distance to bring food
for presentation in person." "First, then, let it be determined what
may be (rationally) believed by mankind, and then," said their preceptor,
"you will find that felicity may be expected from my instructions. The
words of authority do not, mighty Asuras, fall from heaven: the text that has
reason is alone to be acknowledged by me, and by such as you are." By such
and similar lessons the Daityas were perverted, so that not one of them
admitted the authority of the Vedas.
When the Daityas had
thus declined from the path of the holy writings, the deities took courage, and
gathered together for battle. Hostilities accordingly were renewed, but the
demons were now defeated and slain by the gods, who had adhered to the
righteous path. The armour of religion, which had formerly protected the
Daityas, had been discarded by them, and upon its abandonment followed their
destruction.
Thus, Maitreya, you
are to understand that those who have seceded from their original belief are
said to be naked, because they have thrown off the garment of the Vedas.
According to the law there are four conditions or orders of men (of the three first
castes), the religious student, the householder, the hermit, and the mendicant.
There is no fifth state; and the unrighteous man who relinquishes the order of
the householder, and does not become either an anchoret or a mendicant, is also
a naked (seceder). The man who neglects his permanent observances for one day
and night, being able to perform them, incurs thereby sin for one day; and
should he omit them, not being in trouble, for a fortnight, he can be purified
only by arduous expiation. The virtuous must stop to gaze upon the sun after
looking upon a person who has allowed a year to elapse without the observance
of the perpetual ceremonies; and they must bathe with their clothes on should
they have touched him: but for the individual himself no expiation has been
declared. There is no sinner upon earth more culpable than one in whose
dwelling the gods, progenitors, and spirits, are left to sigh unworshipped. Let
not a man associate, in residence, sitting, or society, with him whose person
or whose house has been blasted by the sighs of the gods, progenitors, and
spirits. Conversation, interchange of civilities, or association with a man who
for a twelvemonth has not discharged his religious duties, is productive of
equality of guilt; and the person who eats in the house of such a man, or sits
down with him, or sleeps on the same couch with him, becomes like him
instantaneously. Again; he who takes his food without shewing reverence to the
gods, progenitors, spirits, and guests, commits sin. How great is his sin! The
Brahmans, and men of the other castes, who turn their faces away from their
proper duties, become heretics, and are classed with those who relinquish pious
works. Remaining in a place where there is too great an intermixture of the
four castes is detrimental to the character of the righteous. Men fall into
hell who converse with one who takes his food without offering a portion to the
gods, the sages, the manes, spirits, and guests. Let therefore a prudent person
carefully avoid the conversation, or the contact, and the like, of those
heretics who are rendered impure by their desertion of the three Vedas. The
ancestral rite, although performed with zeal and faith, pleases neither gods
nor progenitors if it be looked upon by apostates.
It is related that
there was formerly a king named S'atadhanu, whose wife S'aivya was a woman of
great virtue. She was devoted to her husband, benevolent, sincere, pure,
adorned with every female excellence, with humility, and discretion. The Raja and
his wife daily worshipped the god of gods, Janarddana, with pious meditations,
oblations to fire, prayers, gifts, fasting, and every other mark of entire
faith, and exclusive devotion. On one occasion, when they had fasted on the
full moon of Kartika, and had bathed in the Bhagirathi, they beheld, as they
came up from the water, a heretic approach them, who was the friend of the
Raja's military preceptor. The Raja, out of respect to the latter, entered into
conversation with the heretic; but not so did the princess; reflecting that she
was observing a fast, she turned from him, and cast her eyes up to the sun. On
their arrival at home, the husband and wife, as usual, performed the worship of
Vishnu, agreeably to the ritual. After a time the Raja, triumphant over his
enemies, died; and the princess ascended the funeral pile of her husband.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. XV.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. XIV.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. XIII.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. XII.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. XI.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. X
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. IX
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. VIII
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. VII.
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. VI
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. V
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III. CHAP. IV
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III.- CHAP. III
VISHNU
PURANA. - BOOK III.- CHAP. II.
चंद्रकांता
(उपन्यास) पहला अध्याय : देवकीनन्दन खत्री
खूनी औरत का
सात खून (उपन्यास) : किशोरी लाल गोस्वामी
ब्राह्मण की
बेटी : शरतचंद्र चट्टोपाध्याय (बांग्ला उपन्यास)
SELF-SUGGESTION AND
THE NEW HUNA THEORY OF MESMERISM AND HYPNOSIS – chapter-1, BY- MAX FREEDOM LONG
VISHNU PURAN-BOOK I
- CHAPTER 11-22
VISHNU PURANA. -
BOOK I. CHAP. 1. to 10
THE ROLE OF PRAYER.
= THOUGHT: CREATIVE AND EXHAUSTIVE. MEDITATION EXERCISE.
HIGHER REASON AND
JUDGMENT= CONQUEST OF FEAR.
QUEEN CHUNDALAI, THE
GREAT YOGIN
THE POWER OF
DHARANA, DHIYANA, AND SAMYAMA YOGA.
THE POWER OF THE
PRANAYAMA YOGA.
KUNDALINI,
THE MOTHER OF THE UNIVERSE.
TO THE KUNDALINI—THE
MOTHER OF THE UNIVERSE.
Yoga Vashist part-1
-or- Heaven Found by Rishi Singh Gherwal
Shakti and Shâkta
-by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe),
Mahanirvana Tantra-
All- Chapter -1 Questions relating to
the Liberation of Beings
Tantra
of the Great Liberation
श्वेतकेतु और
उद्दालक, उपनिषद की कहानी, छान्द्योग्यापनिषद,
GVB THE UNIVERSITY OF VEDA
यजुर्वेद
मंत्रा हिन्दी व्याख्या सहित, प्रथम अध्याय 1-10,
GVB THE UIVERSITY OF VEDA
उषस्ति की
कठिनाई, उपनिषद की कहानी, आपदकालेमर्यादानास्ति,
_4 -GVB the uiversity of veda
वैराग्यशतकम्, योगी
भर्तृहरिकृत, संस्कृत काव्य, हिन्दी
व्याख्या, भाग-1, gvb the university of Veda
G.V.B. THE
UNIVERSITY OF VEDA ON YOU TUBE
इसे भी पढ़े-
इन्द्र औ वृत्त युद्ध- भिष्म का युधिष्ठिर को उपदेश
इसे भी पढ़े
- भाग- ब्रह्मचर्य वैभव
Read Also Next
Article- A Harmony of Faiths and Religions
इसे भी पढ़े-
भाग -2, ब्रह्मचर्य की प्राचीनता
वैदिक इतिहास
संक्षीप्त रामायण की कहानीः-
वैदिक ऋषियों
का सामान्य परिचय-1
वैदिक इतिहास
महाभारत की सुक्ष्म कथाः-
वैदिक ऋषियों
का सामान्य परिचय-2 –वैदिक ऋषि अंगिरस
वैदिक
विद्वान वैज्ञानिक विश्वामित्र के द्वारा अन्तरिक्ष में स्वर्ग की स्थापना
राजकुमार और
उसके पुत्र के बलिदान की कहानीः-
पुरुषार्थ और विद्या- ब्रह्मज्ञान
संस्कृत के अद्भुत सार गर्भित विद्या श्लोक हिन्दी अर्थ सहित
श्रेष्ट
मनुष्य समझ बूझकर चलता है"
पंचतंत्र- कहानि क्षुद्रवुद्धि गिदण की
कनफ्यूशियस के शिष्य चीनी विद्वान के शब्द। लियोटालस्टा
कहानी माधो चमार की-लियोटलस्टाय
पर्मार्थ कि यात्रा के सुक्ष्म सोपान
जीवन संग्राम -1, मिर्जापुर का परिचय
In consequence of
the fault committed by S'atadhanu, by speaking to an infidel when he was
engaged in a solemn fast, he was born again as a dog. His wife was born as the
daughter of the Raja of Kas'i, with a knowledge of the events of her
preexistence, accomplished in every science, and endowed with every virtue. Her
father was anxious to give her in marriage to some suitable husband, but she
constantly opposed his design, and the king was prevented by her from
accomplishing her nuptials. With the eye of divine intelligence she knew that
her own husband had been regenerate as a dog, and going once to the city of
Vaidis'a she saw the dog, and recognised her former lord in him. Knowing that
the animal was her husband, she placed upon his neck the bridal garland,
accompanying it with the marriage rites and prayers: but he, eating the
delicate food presented to him, expressed his delight after the fashion of his
species; at which she was much ashamed, and, bowing reverently to him, thus
spake to her degraded spouse: "Recall to memory, illustrious prince, the
ill-timed politeness on account of which you have been born as a dog, and are
now fawning upon me. In consequence of speaking to a heretic, after bathing in
a sacred river, you have been condemned to this abject birth. Do you not
remember it?" Thus reminded, the Raja recollected his former condition,
and was lost in thought, and felt deep humiliation. With a broken spirit he
went forth from the city, and falling dead in the desert, was born anew as a
jackal. In the course of the following year the princess knew what had
happened, and went to the mountain Kolahala to seek for her husband. Finding
him there, the lovely daughter of the king of the earth said to her lord, thus
disguised as a jackal, "Dost thou not remember, oh king, the circumstance
of conversing with a heretic, which I called to thy recollection when thou wast
a dog?" The Raja, thus addressed, knew that what the princess had spoken
was true, and thereupon desisted from food, and died. He then became a wolf;
but his blameless wife knew it, and came to him in the lonely forest, and
awakened his remembrance of his original state. "No wolf art thou,"
she said, "but the illustrious sovereign S'atadhanu. Thou wast then a dog,
then a jackal, and art now a wolf." Upon this, recollecting himself, the
prince abandoned his life, and became a vulture; in which form his lovely queen
still found him, and aroused him to a knowledge of the past.
"Prince," she exclaimed, "recollect yourself: away with this
uncouth form, to which the sin of conversing with a heretic has condemned
you!" The Raja was next born as a crow; when the princess, who through her
mystical powers was aware of it, said to him, "Thou art now thyself the
eater of tributary grain, to whom, in a prior existence, all the kings of the
earth paid tribute." Having abandoned his body, in consequence of the
recollections excited by these words, the king next became a peacock, which the
princess took to herself, and petted, and fed constantly with such food as is
agreeable to birds of its class. The king of Kas'i instituted at that time the
solemn sacrifice of a horse. In the ablutions with which it terminated the
princess caused her peacock to be bathed, bathing also herself; and she then
reminded S'atadhanu how he had been successively born as various animals. On
recollecting this, he resigned his life. He was then born as the son of a
person of distinction; and the princess now assenting to the wishes of her
father to see her wedded, the king of Kas'i caused it to be made known that she
would elect a bridegroom from those who should present themselves as suitors
for her hand. When the election took place, the princess made choice of her
former lord, who appeared amongst the candidates, and again invested him with
the character of her husband. They lived happily together, and upon her
father's decease S'atadhanu ruled over the country of Videha. He offered many
sacrifices, and gave away many gifts, and begot sons, and subdued his enemies
in war; and having duly exercised the sovereign power, and cherished
benignantly the earth, he died, as became his warrior birth, in battle. His
queen again followed him in death, and, conformably to sacred precepts, once
more mounted cheerfully his funeral pile. The king then, along with his
princess, ascended beyond the sphere of Indra to the regions where all desires
are for ever gratified, obtaining ever-during and unequalled happiness in
heaven, the perfect felicity that is the rarely realised reward of conjugal
fidelity. Such, Maitreya, is the sin of conversing with a heretic, and such are
the expiatory effects of bathing after the solemn sacrifice of a horse, as I
have narrated them to you. Let therefore a man carefully avoid the discourse or
contact of an unbeliever, especially at seasons of devotion, and when engaged
in the performance of religious rites preparatory to a sacrifice. If it be
necessary that a wise man should look at the sun, after beholding one who has
neglected his domestic ceremonies for a month, how much greater need must there
be of expiation after encountering one who has wholly abandoned the Vedas? one
who is supported by infidels, or who disputes the doctrines of holy writ? Let
not a person treat with even the civility of speech, heretics, those who do
forbidden acts, pretended saints, scoundrels, sceptics, and hypocrites.
Intercourse with such iniquitous wretches, even at a distance, all association
with schismatics, defiles; let a man therefore carefully avoid them.
These, Maitreya, are
the persons called naked, the meaning of which term you desired to have
explained. Their very looks vitiate the performance of an ancestral oblation;
speaking to then destroys religious merit for a whole day. These are the
unrighteous heretics to whom a man must not give shelter, and speaking to whom
effaces whatever merit he may that day have obtained. Men, indeed, fall into
hell as the consequence of only conversing with those who unprofitably assume
the twisted hair, and shaven crown; with those who feed without offering food
to gods, spirits, and guests; and those who are excluded from the presentation
of cakes, and libations of water, to the manes.
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