Chapter 12

“Vaisampayana said, ‘Hearing these words of Arjuna, O chastiser of foes,Nakula of mighty arms and a broad chest, temperate in speech andpossessed of great wisdom, with face whose colour then resembled that ofcopper, looked at the king, that foremost of all righteous persons, andspoke these words, besieging his brother’s heart (with reason).’

“Nakula said, ‘The very gods had established their fires in the regioncalled Visakha-yupa. Know, therefore, O king, that the gods themselvesdepend upon the fruits of action.[20] The Pitris, that support (by rain)the lives of even all disbelievers, observing the ordinances (of theCreator as declared in the Vedas), are, O king, engaged in action.[21]Know them for downright atheists that reject the declaration of the Vedas(which inculcate action). The person that is learned in the Vedas, byfollowing their declarations in all his acts, attains, O Bharata, to thehighest region of heaven by the way of the deities.[22]

This (domestic mode of life again) has been said by all personsacquainted with Vedic truths to be superior to all the (other) modes oflife. Knowing this, O king, that the person who in sacrifices gives awayhis righteously acquired wealth unto those Brahmanas that are wellconversant with the Vedas, and restrains his soul, is, O monarch,regarded as the true renouncer. He, however, who, disregarding (a life ofdomesticity, that is) the source of much happiness, jumps to the nextmode of life,–that renouncer of his own self,[23] O monarch, is arenouncer labouring under the quality of darkness. That man who ishomeless, who roves over the world (in his mendicant rounds), who has thefoot of a tree for his shelter, who observes the vow of taciturnity,never cooks for himself, and seeks to restrain all the functions of hissenses, is, O Partha, a renouncer in the observance of the vow ofmendicancy.[24] That Brahmana who, disregarding wrath and joy, andespecially deceitfulness, always employs his time in the study of theVedas, is a renouncer in the observance of the vow of mendicancy.[25] Thefour different modes of life were at one time weighed in the balance. Thewise have said, O king, that when domesticity was placed on one scale, itrequired the three others to be placed on the other for balancing it.Beholding the result of this examination by scales, O Partha, and seeingfurther, O Bharata, that domesticity alone contained both heaven andpleasure, that became the way of the great Rishis and the refuge of allpersons conversant with the ways of the world. He, therefore, O bull ofBharata’s race, who betakes himself to this mode of life, thinking it tobe his duty and abandoning all desire for fruit, is a real renouncer, andnot that man of clouded understanding who goes to the woods, abandoninghome and its surroundings. A person, again, who under the hypocriticalgarb of righteousness, fails to forget his desires (even while living inthe woods), is bound by the grim King of death with his deadly fettersround the neck. Those acts that are done from vanity, are said to beunproductive of fruit. Those acts, on the other hand, O monarch I thatare done from a spirit of renunciation, always bear abundant fruits.[26]Tranquillity, self-restraint, fortitude, truth, purity, simplicity,sacrifices, perseverance, and righteousness,–these are always regardedas virtues recommended by the Rishis. In domesticity, it is said, areacts intended for Pitris, gods, guests. In this mode of life alone, Omonarch, are the threefold aims to be attained.[27] The renouncer thatrigidly adheres to this mode of life, in which one is free to do allacts, has not to encounter ruin either here or hereafter. The sinlessLord of all creatures, of righteous soul, created creatures, with theintention that they would adore him by sacrifices with profuse presents.Creepers and trees and deciduous herbs, and animals that are clean, andclarified butter, were created as ingredients of sacrifice. For one inthe observance of domesticity the performance of sacrifice is fraughtwith impediments. For this, that mode of life has been said to beexceedingly difficult and unattainable. Those persons, therefore, in theobservance of the domestic mode of life, who, possessed of wealth andcorn and animals, do not perform sacrifices, earn, O monarch, eternalsin. Amongst Rishis, there are some that regard the study of the Vedas tobe a sacrifice: and some that regard contemplation to be a greatsacrifice which they perform in their minds. The very gods, O monarch,covet the companionship of a regenerate person like this, who inconsequence of his treading along such a way which consists in theconcentration of the mind, has become equal to Brahma. By refusing tospend in sacrifice the diverse kinds of wealth that thou hast taken fromthy foes, thou art only displaying thy want of faith. I have never seen,O monarch, a king in the observance of a life of domesticity renouncinghis wealth in any other way except in the Rajasuya, the Astwamedha, andother kinds of sacrifice. Like Sakra, the chief of the celestial, O sire,perform those other sacrifices that are praised by the Brahmanas. Thatking, through whose heedlessness the subjects are plunged by robbers, andwho does not offer protection to those whom he is called upon to govern,is said to be the very embodiment of Kati. If, without giving awaysteeds, and kine, and female slaves, and elephants adorned withtrappings, and villages, and populous regions, and fields, and houses,unto Brahmanas, we retire into the woods with hearts not harbouringfriendly feeling towards kinsmen, even we shall be, O monarch, such Kalisof the kingly order. Those members of the kingly order that do notpractise charity and give protection (to others), incur sin. Woe is theirportion hereafter and not bliss. If, O lord, without performing greatsacrifices and the rites in honour of thy deceased ancestors, and it,without bathing in sacred waters, thou betakest thyself to a wanderinglife, thou shalt then meet with destruction like a small cloud separatedfrom a mass and dashed by the winds. Thou shalt then fall off from bothworlds and have to take thy birth in the Pisacha order.[28] A personbecomes a true renouncer by casting off every internal and externalattachment, and not simply by abandoning home for dwelling in the woods.A Brahmana that lives in the observance of these ordinances in whichthere are no impediments, does not fall off from this or the other world.Observant of the duties of one’s own order,–duties respected by theancients and practised by the best of men, who is there, O Partha, thatwould grieve, O king, for having in a trice stain in battle his foes thatswelled with prosperity, like Sakra slaying the forces of the Daityas?Having in the observance of Kshatriya duties subjugated the world by theaid of thy prowess, and having made presents unto persons conversant withthe Vedas, thou canst, O monarch, go to regions higher than heaven. Itbehoves thee not, O Partha, to indulge in grief.”