SECTION XXXVII
"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell me, O grandfather, what food is clean and what
unclean, what gift is praiseworthy, and who should be considered
deserving and who undeserving (of gifts).'
"Vyasa said, 'In this connection is cited the old account of a discourse
between the ascetics and that lord of creation, viz., Manu. In the Krita
age, an assembly of Rishis, of rigid vows, having approached the great
and puissant lord of creation, Manu, while seated at his ease, solicited
him to discourse on duties, saying, 'What food should be taken, who is to
be regarded a deserving person (for gifts), what gifts should be made,
how should a person study, and what penances should one perform and how,
and what acts should be done and what acts should not be done, O lord of
creation, tell us everything about all this.' Thus addressed by them, the
divine and self-born Manu said unto them, 'Listen to me as I expound the
duties in brief and in detail. In regions which have not been
interdicted, silent recitation (of sacred mantras, homa), fasts,
knowledge of self, sacred rivers, regions inhabited by men devoted to
this pious acts,--these have been laid down as acts and objects that are
cleansing. Certain mountains also are cleansing, as also the eating of
gold and bathing in waters into which have been dipped gems and precious
stones. Sojourn to holy places, and eating of sanctified butter--these
also, without doubt speedily cleanse a man. No man would ever be called
wise if he is indulged in pride. If he wishes to be long-lived, he should
for three nights drink hot water (as an expiation for having indulged in
pride). Refusal to appropriate what is not given, gift, study (of
scriptures), penance, abstention from injury, truth, freedom from wrath,
and worship of the gods in sacrifices,--these are the characteristics of
virtue. That again which is virtue may, according to time and place, be
sin. Thus appropriation (of what belongs to others), untruth, and injury
and killing, may under special circumstances, become virtue. With respect
to persons capable of judging, acts are of two kinds, viz., virtuous and
sinful. From the worldly and the Vedic points of view again, virtue and
sin are good or bad (according to their consequences). From the Vedic
point of view, virtue and sin (i.e., everything a man may do or not do),
would be classed under action and inaction. Inaction (i.e., abstention
from Vedic rites and adoption of a life of contemplation) leads to
emancipation (from rebirth); while the consequences of action (i.e.,
practice of Vedic rites) are repeated death and rebirth. From the worldly
point of view, acts that are evil lead to evil and those that are good to
consequences that are good. From the worldly point of view, therefore,
virtue and sin are to be distinguished by the good and the evil character
of their consequences.[118] Acts that are (apparently) evil, when
undertaken from considerations connected with the gods, the scriptures,
life itself, and the means by which life is sustained, produce
consequences that are good. When an act is undertaken from the
expectation, however doubtful, that it will produce mischief (to some
one) in the future, or when an act is done whose consequence is visibly
mischievous, expiation has been laid down. When an act is done from wrath
or clouded judgment, then expiation should be performed by giving pain to
the body, guided by precedent, by scriptures, and by reason. When
anything, again, is done for pleasing or displeasing the mind, the sin
arising therefrom may be cleansed by sanctified food and recitation of
mantras. The king who lays aside (in a particular case) the rod of
chastisement, should fast for one night. The priest who (in a particular
case) abstains from advising the king to inflict punishment, should fast
for three nights as an expiation. The person who, from grief, attempts to
commit suicide by means of weapons, should fast for three nights. There
is no expiation for them that cast off the duties and practices of their
order and class, country, and family, and that abandon their very creed.
When an occasion for doubt respecting what should be done arises, that
should be regarded as the injunction of the scriptures which ten persons
versed in Vedic scriptures or three of those that frequently recite them
may declare.[119] The bull, earth, little ants, worms generated in dirt,
and poison, should not be eaten by Brahmanas. They should not also eat
fishes that have no scales, and four-footed aquatic animals like frogs
and others, except the tortoise. Water-fowls called Bhasas, ducks,
Suparnas, Chakravakas, diving ducks, cranes, crows, shags, vultures,
hawks, owls, as also all four-footed animals that are carnivorous and
that have sharp and long teeth, and birds, and animals having two teeth
and those having four teeth, as also the milk of the sheep, the she-ass,
the she-camel, the newly-calved cow, woman and deer, should not be taken
by a Brahmana. Besides this, the food that has been offered to the man,
that which has been cooked by a woman who has recently brought forth a
child, and food cooked by an unknown person, should not be eaten. The
milk also of a cow that has recently calved should not be taken. If a
Brahmana takes food that has been cooked by a Kshatriya, it diminishes
his energy; if he takes the food provided by a Sudra, it dims his
Brahmanic lustre; and if he takes the food provided by a goldsmith or a
woman who has neither husband nor children it lessens the period of his
life. The food provided by a usurer is equivalent to dirt, while that
provided by a woman living by prostitution is equivalent to semen. The
food also provided by persons that tolerate the unchastity of their
wives, and by persons that are ruled by their spouses, is forbidden. The
food provided by a person selected (for receiving gifts) at a certain
stage of a sacrifice, by one who does not enjoy his wealth or make any
gifts, that provided by one who sells Soma, or one who is a shoe-maker,
by an unchaste woman, by a washerman, by a physician, by persons serving
as watchmen, by a multitude of persons, by one who is pointed at by a
whole village, by one deriving his support from keep of dancing girls, by
persons wedding before their elder brothers are wedded, by professional
panegyrists and bards, and by those that are gamblers, the food also
which is brought with the left hand or which is stale, the food which is
mixed with alcohol, the food a portion of which has been already tasted,
and the food that forms the remnant of a feast, should not be taken (by a
Brahmana). Cakes, sugarcanes, potherbs, and rice boiled in sugared milk,
if they have lost their relish, should not be taken. The powder of fried
barley and of other kinds of fried grain, mixed with curds, if become
stale with age, should not be taken. Rice boiled in sugared milk, food
mixed with the tila seed, meat, and cakes, that have not been dedicated
to the gods, should not be taken by Brahmanas leading a domestic mode of
life, Having first gratified the gods, Rishis, guests, Pitris, and the
household deities, a Brahmana leading a domestic mode of life should then
take his food. A householder by living thus in his own house becomes like
a person of the Bhikshu order that has renounced the world. A man of such
behaviour, living with his wives in domesticity, earns great religious
merit. No one should make a gift for the sake of acquiring fame, or from
fear (of censure and the like) or unto a benefactor. A virtuous man would
not make gifts unto persons living by singing and dancing or unto those
that are professional jesters, or unto a person that is intoxicated, or
unto one that is insane, or unto a thief, or unto a slanderer, or unto an
idiot, or unto one that is pale of hue, or unto one that is defective of
a limb, or unto a dwarf, or unto a wicked person, or unto one born in a
low and wicked family, or unto one that has not been sanctified by the
observance of vows. No gift should be made to a Brahmana destitute of
knowledge of the Vedas. Gifts should be made unto him only that is a
Srotriya.[120] An improper gift and an improper acceptance produce evil
consequences unto both the giver and the acceptor. As a person who seeks
to cross the ocean with the aid of a rock or a mass of catechu sinks
along with his support, even so the giver and the acceptor (in such a
case) both sink together. As a fire that is covered with wet fuel does
not blaze forth, even so the acceptor of a gift who is bereft of penances
and study and piety cannot confer any benefit (upon the giver). As water
in a (human skull) and milk in a bag made of dog-skin become unclean in
consequence of the uncleanliness of the vessels in which they are kept
even so the Vedas become fruitless in a person who is not of good
behaviour. One may give from compassion unto a low Brahmana who is
without mantras and vows, who is ignorant of the scriptures and who
harbours envy. One may, from compassion, give unto a person that is poor
or afflicted or ill. But he should not give unto such a person in the
belief that he would derive any (spiritual) benefit from it or that he
would earn any religious merit by it. There is no doubt that a gift made
to Brahmana bereft of the Vedas becomes perfectly fruitless in
consequence of the fault of the recipient. As an elephant made of wood or
an antelope made of leather, even so is a Brahmana that has not studied
the Vedas. All the three have nothing but names.[121] As a eunuch is
unproductive with women, as a cow is unproductive with a cow, as a bird
lives in vain that is featherless, even so is a Brahmana that is without
mantras. As grain without kernel, as a well without water, as libations
poured on ashes, even so is a gift to a Brahmana void of learning. An
unlearned Brahmana is an enemy (to all) and is the destroyer of the food
that is presented to the gods and Pitris. A gift made to such a person
goes for nothing. He is, therefore, like unto a robber (of other people's
wealth). He can never succeed in acquiring regions of bliss hereafter. I
have now told thee in brief, O Yudhishthira, all that was said (by Manu
on that occasion). This high discourse should be listened to by all, O
bull of Bharata's race.'"
