ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html><head><title>The Sampradaya Sun - Independent Vaisnava News - Editorials - The Mahabharata - Book 13, Anusasana Parva - Part Two </title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7"> </head> <body bgcolor="white" width=800 link="#990000" alink="#990000" vlink="#000088"> <table width=750 border=1 bordercolor="#CC9933" bordercolordark="990000" bordercolorlight="CC9933" cellpadding=10 cellspacing=0 bgcolor="white"> <tr> <td valign=top><font face="verdana"><font size=2> <center><P> <img src="../../head1.gif" width=605 height=99 border=0 usemap="#nav1"></center> <center><table width=700 border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 bgcolor="white"> <tr> <td valign=top colspan=2><font face="verdana"><font size=2> <MAP NAME="nav1"> <AREA COORDS="23,17,110,82" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../index.htm"> <AREA COORDS="1,87,46,98" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../../media/mantra.wav" target="_blank"> <AREA COORDS="76,86,111,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../news/news.htm"> <AREA COORDS="121,86,189,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../editorials/editorials.htm"> <AREA COORDS="199,86,256,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../features/features.htm"> <AREA COORDS="266,86,329,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../sunblogs/sunblogs.htm"> <AREA COORDS="339,86,412,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../classifieds/classifieds.htm"> <AREA COORDS="421,86,466,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../events/events.htm"> <AREA COORDS="476,86,539,97" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../recipes/recipes.htm"> <AREA COORDS="549,86,796,604" SHAPE="rect" HREF="../../../podcasts/podcasts.htm"> </MAP> <P><BR> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width=700> <font face="verdana"><font size=2> <P> <blockquote> <FONT SIZE=+2>The Mahabharata</font> <P> BY: SUN STAFF <P> <center><img src="pix04.jpg" width=680 height=498 border=1> <P><font size=-2><b> Battlefield of Kurukshetra </b></font></center> <P><BR> <center><font size=+1>The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa</font><BR><B>Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (published between 1883 and 1896)</b></center> <P><BR> <center><font size=+2>ANUSASANA PARVA</font></center> <p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2><B>Dec 16, 2011, CANADA (SUN) &#151; Book 13 - Anusasana Parva, Part Two - Section 141, Part Three </b> </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>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. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>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. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>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. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>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. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>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 in the same place for more than a day. Freed from all bonds he roves over the world. Emancipated from all ties, he never sleeps on even the same river-bank for more than a day. Even this is the religion of persons conversant with Emancipation as declared in the Vedas. Even this is the righteous path that is trodden by the righteous. He who follows in this track leaves no vestige behind. Bhikshus (or followers of the religion of Emancipation) are of four kinds. They are Kutichakas, Vahudakas, Hansas, and Paramahansas. The second is superior to the first, the third to the second, and the fourth to the third. There is nothing superior to the Paramahansa; nor is there anything inferior to it or beside it or before it. It is a condition that is divested of sorrow and happiness; that is auspicious and freed from decrepitude and death and that knows no change.' </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>Uma said, 'Thou halt recited the religion of the householders, that of Emancipation, and that which is based upon the observances of the righteous. These paths are high and exceedingly beneficial to the world of living creatures. O thou that art conversant with every religion, I desire now to hear what is the high religion of the Rishis. I always have a liking for those that dwell in ascetic retreats. The perfume that emanates from the smoke of the libations of clarified butter poured on the sacred fire seems to pervade the entire retreats and make them delightful. Marking this, O great god, my heart becomes always filled with delight. O puissant deity, I have doubts regarding the religion of the ascetics. Thou art conversant with the details of all religions. Do thou enlighten me, O god of gods, in detail, respecting this topic truly about which I have asked thee, O great deity!' </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>The blessed and holy one said, 'Yes, I shall recite to thee the high and excellent religion of the ascetics. By following the dictates of that religion, O auspicious lady, the ascetics attain to success through the severe penances they practise. O highly blessed one, do thou hear, from the beginning, what the duties are of those righteous Rishis that are conversant with every duty and that are known by the name of Phenapas. The Grandsire Brahma (during the days he devoted to the observance of penances) drank some nectar (in the form of water). That water had flowed in heaven from a great sacrifice. The froth of that water is highly auspicious and (in consequence of Brahma's having drunk it) it partook of His own nature. Those Rishis that subsist upon the measure of froth that thus issued (from the water indicated) are called Phenapas (Froth-eaters). Even this is the conduct of those pure-souled Rishis, O lady, possessed of wealth of penances! </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>Listen now to me as I explain to thee who the Valkhilyas are. The Valkhilyas are ascetics that have won success by their penances. They reside in the solar disc. Adopting the means of subsistence that is followed by the birds, those Rishis, conversant with every duty of righteousness, live according to the Unchha mode. Their attire consists of deer-skins or barks of trees. Freed from every pair of opposites, the Valkhilyas, possessed of wealth of penances, walk in this track of righteousness. They are as big as a digit of the thumb. Distributed into classes, each class lives in the practice of the duties assigned to it. They desire only to practise penance. The merits they win by their righteous conduct are very high. They are regarded as having attained to an equality with the gods and exist for the accomplishment of the purposes of the gods. Having burnt off all their sins by severe penances, they blaze forth in effulgence, illuminating all the points of the compass. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>Others, called Chakracharas, are endued with cleansed souls and devoted to the practice of compassion. Righteous in their conduct and possessed of great sanctity, they live in the region of Soma. Thus residing near enough to the region of the Pitris, they duly subsist by drinking the rays of Soma. There are others called Samprakshalas and Asmkuttas and Dantolukhalas. 1 These live near the Soma-drinking deities and others that drink flames of fire. With their wedded spouses, and with passions under complete control, they too subsist upon the rays of Soma. They pour libations of clarified butter on the sacred fire, and adore the Pitris under proper forms. They also perform the well-known sacrifices. Even this is said to constitute their religion. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>The religion of the Rishis, O goddess, is always observed by those who are houseless and who are free to rove through every region including that of the gods. There are, again, other classes about whom I shall speak presently. Do thou listen. It is necessary that they who observe the different religions of the Rishis, should subjugate their passions and know the Soul. Indeed, in my opinion, lust and wrath should be completely conquered. With corn (wealth) acquired by the Unchha mode, they should discharge the following duties, viz., the pouring of libations on the sacred fire, occupying a fixed seat employing oneself the while in the sacrifice called Dharmaratri, performance of she Soma-sacrifice, acquisition of especial knowledge, the giving of sacrificial presents which forms the fifth, the daily performance of sacrifices, devotion to the worship of the Pitris and the deities, hospitality towards all. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>Abstention from all luxurious viands prepared from cow's milk, taking a pleasure in tranquillity of heart, lying on bare rocks or the earth, devotion to Yoga, eating potherbs and leaves of trees, and subsisting upon fruits and roots and wind and water and moss, are some of the practices of the Rishis by which they attain to the end that belongs to persons unsubjugated (by the world). When the smoke has ceased to curl upwards from a house, when the husking machine has ceased to ply, when the hearth-fire has been extinguished, when all the inmates have taken their food, when dishes are no longer carried from room to room, when mendicants have ceased to walk the streets, it is then that the man who is devoted to the religion of truth and tranquillity of soul, desiring to have a guest (but finding his desire ungratified), should eat what remnant of food may still occur in the house. By acting in this way, one becomes a practiser of the religion of the Munis. </font></font><p><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>One should not be arrogant, nor proud, nor cheerless and discontented; nor should one wonder at anything. Indeed, one should behave equally towards friends and foes. Verily, one who is the foremost of all persons conversant with duties should also be friendly towards all creatures." </font></font><p style='text-align:justify'><font face="verdana"><font size=2>Thus ends Section 141, Part Three, of the Anusasana Parva, Part Two, Sri Mahabharata. </blockquote> <P><BR><P> <center><a href="../../../index.htm"><img src="../../../leftarrow.gif" width=20 height=15 border=0 alt="Homepage"></a></center> <P><BR> <!-- ========================STORY===================== --> <blockquote> <font face="verdana"><font size=-2><center> | <a href="../../../index.htm">The Sun</a> | <a href="../../../news/news.htm">News</a> | <a href="../../../editorials/editorials.htm">Editorials</a> | <a href="../../../features/features.htm">Features</a> | <a href="../../../sunblogs/sunblogs.htm">Sun Blogs</a> | <a href="../../../classifieds/classifieds.htm">Classifieds</a> | <a href="../../../events/events.htm">Events</a> | <a href="../../../recipes/recipes.htm">Recipes</a> | <a href="../../../podcasts/podcasts.htm">PodCasts</a> | <P> | <a href="../../../about.htm">About</a> | <a href="../../../submit.htm">Submit an Article</a> | <a href="mailto:sun@harekrsna.com">Contact Us</a> | <a href="../../../ads/advertise.htm">Advertise</a> | <a href="../../../../index.htm">HareKrsna.com</a> | </center> </blockquote> <P> <center><b>Copyright 2005,2010, HareKrsna.com. 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