Chapter 298

“Parasara said, ‘The sires, the friends, the preceptor, and the spousesof the preceptors of men that are destitute of devotion are unable togive to those men the merits that attach to devotion. Only they that arefirmly devoted to such seniors, that speak what is agreeable to them,that seek their welfare, and that are submissive to them in behaviour,can obtain the merit of devotion. The sire is the highest of deities withhis children. It is said that the sire is superior to the mother. Theattainment of Knowledge is regarded as the highest acquisition. They thathave subjugated the objects of the senses (by attainment of Knowledge),acquire what is highest (viz., Emancipation). That Kshatriya prince who,repairing to the field of battle, receives wounds amid fiery shaftsflying in all directions and burns therewith, certainly repairs toregions that are unattainable by the very deities and, arrived there,enjoys the felicity of heaven in perfect contentment. A Kshatriya shouldnot, O king, strike one that is fatigued, or one that is frightened, orone that has been disarmed, or one that is weeping, or one that isunwilling to fight, or one that is unequipped with mail and cars andhorse and infantry, or one that has ceased to exert oneself in the fight,or one that is ill, or one that cries for quarter, or one that is oftender years, or one that is old. A Kshatriya should, in battle, fightone of his order who is equipped with mail and cars and horse andinfantry, who is ready for exertion and who occupies a position ofequality. Death at the hands of one that is equal or of a superior islaudable, but not that at the hands of one that is low, or of one that isa coward, or of one that is a wretch. This is well-known. Death at thehands of one that is sinful, or of one that is of low birth and wickedconduct, O king, is inglorious and leads to hell. One whose period oflife has run out cannot be rescued by anybody. Similarly, one whoseperiod of life has not been exhausted can never be slain by anyone.[1547] One should prevent one’s affectionate seniors from doing untoone (for one’s benefit) such acts as are done by menials, as also allsuch acts as are fraught with injury to others. One should never desireto extend one’s own life by taking the lives of others.[1548] When theylay down their lives, it is laudable for all householders observant ofthe duties of men living in sacred places to lay down their lives on thebanks of sacred streams.[1549] When one’s period of life becomesexhausted, one dissolves away into the five elements. Sometimes thisoccurs suddenly (through accidents) and sometimes it is brought about by(natural) causes.[1550] He who, having obtained a body, brings about itsdissolution (in a. sacred place by means of some inglorious accident),becomes invested with another body of a similar kind. Though set on thepath of the Emancipation, he yet becomes a traveller and attains toanother body like a person repairing from one room into another.[1551] Inthe matter of such a man’s attainment of a second body (notwithstandinghis death in a sacred spot) the only cause is his accidental death. Thereis no second cause. That new body which embodied creatures obtain (inconsequence of the accidental character of their deaths in sacred places)comes into existence and becomes attached to Rudras and Pisachas.[1552]Learned men, conversant with Adhyatma, say that the body is aconglomeration of arteries and sinews and bones and much repulsive andimpure matter and a compound of (primal) essences, and the senses andobjects of the senses born of desire, all having an outer cover of skinclose to them. Destitute (in reality) of beauty and otheraccomplishments, this conglomeration, through force of the desires of aprevious life, assumes a human form.[1553] Abandoned by the owner, thebody becomes inanimate and motionless. Indeed, when the primalingredients return to their respective natures, the body mingles with thedust. Caused by its union with acts, this body reappears undercircumstances determined by its acts. Indeed, O ruler of the Videhas,under whatever circumstances this body meets with dissolution, its nextbirth, determined by those circumstances, is seen to enjoy and endure thefruits of all its past acts. Jiva, after dissolution of the body itinhabited, does not, O king, take birth in a different body immediately.It roves through the sky for some time like a spacious cloud. Obtaining anew receptacle, O monarch, it then takes birth again. The soul is abovethe mind. The mind is above the senses. Mobile creatures, again, areforemost of all created objects. Of all mobile creatures those that havetwo legs are superior. Amongst two-legged creatures, those that areregenerate are superior. Amongst those that are regenerate they that arepossessed of wisdom are superior. Amongst them that are possessed ofwisdom they that have succeeded in acquiring a knowledge of the soul aresuperior. Amongst those that are possessed of a knowledge of the soul,they that are endued with humility are superior. Death follows birth inrespect of all men. This is settled. Creatures, influenced by theattributes of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, pursue acts which have anend.[1554] That man is regarded as righteous who meets with dissolutionwhen the Sun is in the northern declension, and at a time and under aconstellation both of which are sacred and auspicious. He. is righteouswho., having cleansed himself of all sins and accomplished all his actsaccording to the best of his power and having abstained from giving painto any man, meets with death when it comes. The death that one meets withby taking poison, by hanging, by burning, at the hands of robbers, and atthe teeth of animals, is said to be an inglorious one.[1555] Those menthat are righteous never incur such or similar deaths even if they beafflicted with mental and physical diseases of the most agonising kind.The lives of the righteous, O king, piercing through the Sun, ascend intothe regions of Brahma. The lives of those that are both righteous andsinful rove in the middle regions. The lives of those that are sinfulsink into the lowest depths. There is only one foe (of man) and notanother. That foe is identifiable with ignorance, O king. Overwhelmed byit, one is led to perpetrate acts that are frightful and exceedinglycruel. That foe for resisting which one should put forth one’s power bywaiting upon the aged according to the duties laid down in theSrutis–that foe which cannot be overcome except by steadyendeavours,–meets with destruction., O king, only when it is crushed bythe shafts of wisdom.[1556] The man desirous of achieving merit should atfirst study the Vedas and observe penances, becoming a Brahmacharin. Heshould next, entering the domestic mode of life, perform the usualSacrifices. Establishing his race, he should then enter the forest,restraining his senses, and desirous of winning Emancipation. One shouldnever emasculate oneself by abstaining from any enjoyment. Of all births,the status of humanity is preferable even if one has to become aChandala. Indeed, O monarch, that order of birth (viz., humanity) is theforemost, since by becoming a human being one succeeds in rescuing one’sself by meritorious acts. Men always perform righteous acts, O lord,guided by the authority of the Srutis, so that they may not fall awayfrom the status of humanity. That man who, having attained to the statusof humanity that is so difficult of attainment, indulges in malice,disregards righteousness and yields himself up to desire, is certainlybetrayed by his desires.[1557] That man who looks upon all creatures witheyes guided by affection, regarding them worthy of being cherished withloving aid, who disregards all kinds of wealth, who offers themconsolation, gives them food, address them in agreeable words, and whorejoices in their happiness and grieves in their griefs, has never tosuffer misery in the next world, Repairing to the Saraswati, the Naimishawoods, the Pushkara waters, and the other sacred spots on earth, oneshould make gifts, practise renunciation, render one’s aspect amiable, Oking, and purify one’s body with baths and penances. Those men who meetwith death within their houses should have the rites of cremationperformed upon their persons. Their bodies should be taken to thecrematorium on vehicles and there they should be burnt according to therites of purification that have been laid down in the scriptures.Religious rites, beneficial ceremonies, the performance of sacrifices,officiation at the sacrifices of others, gifts, the doing of othermeritorious acts, the performance, according to the best of one’s power,of all that has been ordained in the case of one’s deceasedancestors,–all these one does for benefiting one’s own self. The Vedaswith their six branches, and the other scriptures, O king, have beencreated for the good of him who is of stainless acts.’

“Bhishma continued, ‘All this was said by that high-souled sage unto theruler of the Videhas, O king, in days of old for his benefit.'”