SECTION CCXXXV
"Vyasa said, 'The knowledge called Trayi which occurs in the Vedas and
their branches should be acquired. That knowledge is to be derived from
the Richs, the Samans, and the sciences called Varna and Akshara. There
are besides, the Yajuses and the Atharvans. In the six kinds of acts
indicated in these, dwells the Divine Being. They that are well-versed in
the declarations of the Vedas, that have knowledge of the Soul, that are
attached to the quality of Goodness, and that are highly blessed, succeed
in understanding the origin and the end of all things. A Brahmana should
live in the observance of the duties laid down in the Vedas. He should do
all his acts like a good man of restrained soul. He should earn his
livelihood without injuring any creature. Having derived knowledge from
the good and wise, he should control his passions and propensities.
Well-versed in the scriptures, he should practise those duties that have
been laid down for him, and do all acts in this world guided by the
quality of goodness. Leading even the domestic mode of life., the
Brahmana should be observant of the six acts already spoken of.[901] His
heart full of faith, he should worship the deities in the five well-known
sacrifices. Endued with patience, never heedless, having self-control,
conversant with duties, with a cleansed soul, divested of joy, pride, and
wrath, the Brahmana should never sink in languor. Gifts, study of the
Vedas, sacrifices, penances, modesty, guilelessness, and
self-restraint,--these enhance one's energy and destroy one's sins. One
endued with intelligence should be abstemious in diet and should conquer
one's senses. Indeed, having subdued both lust and wrath, and having
washed away all his sins, he should strive for attaining to Brahma. He
should worship the Fire and Brahmanas, and bow to the deities. He should
avoid all kinds of inauspicious discourse and all acts of unrighteous
injury. This preliminary course of conduct is first laid down for a
Brahmana. Subsequently, when knowledge comes, he should engage himself in
acts, for in acts lies success.[902] The Brahmana who is endued with
intelligence succeeds in crossing the stream of life that is so difficult
to cross and that is so furious and terrible, that has the five senses
for its waters that has cupidity for its source, and wrath for its mire.
He should never shut his eyes to the fact that Time stands behind him in
a threatening attitude.--Time who is the great stupefier of all things,
and who is armed with very great and irresistible force, issuing from the
great Ordainer himself. Generated by the current of Nature, the universe
is being ceaselessly carried along. The mighty river of Time, overspread
with eddies constituted by the years, having the months for its waves and
the seasons for its current, the fortnights for its floating straw and
grass, and the rise and fall of the eyelids for its froth, the days and
the nights for its water, and desire and lust for its terrible
crocodiles, the Vedas and sacrifices for its rafts, and the righteousness
of creatures for its islands, and Profit and Pleasure for its springs,
truthfulness of speech and Emancipation for its shores, benevolence for
the trees that float along it, and the yugas for the lakes along its
course,--the mighty river of Time,--which has an origin as inconceivable
as that of Brahma itself, is ceaselessly bearing away all beings created
by the great Ordainer towards the abode of Yama.[903] Persons possessed
of wisdom and patience always succeed in crossing this awful river by
employing the rafts of knowledge and wisdom. What, however, can senseless
fools, destitute of similar rafts do (when thrown into that furious
stream)? That only the man of wisdom succeeds in crossing this stream and
not he that is unwise, is consistent with reason. The former beholds from
a distance the merits and faults of everything. (Accordingly, he succeeds
in adopting or rejecting what is deserving of adoption or rejection). The
man, however, of unstable and little understanding, and whose soul is
full of desire and cupidity, is always filled with doubt. Hence the man
destitute of wisdom never succeeds in crossing that river. He also who
sits inactively (in doubt) can never pass it over. The man destitute of
the raft of wisdom, in consequence of his having to bear the heavy weight
of great faults, sinks down. One that is seized by the crocodile of
desire, even if possessed of knowledge, can never make knowledge one's
raft.[904] For these reasons, the man of wisdom and intelligence should
strive to float over the stream of Time (without sinking in it). He
indeed, succeeds in keeping himself afloat who becomes conversant with
Brahma. One born in a noble race, abstaining from the three duties of
teaching, officiating at other's sacrifices and accepting gifts, and
doing only the three other acts, viz., studying, sacrificing, and giving,
should, for those reasons, strive to float over the stream. Such a man is
sure to cross it aided by the raft of wisdom. One who is pure in conduct,
who is self-restrained and observant of good vows, whose soul is under
control, and who is possessed of wisdom, certainly wins success in this
and the other world. The Brahmana leading a domestic mode of life should
conquer wrath and envy, practise the virtues already named, and
worshipping the deities in the five sacrifices, eat after having fed the
deities, Pitris, and guests. He should conform to those duties which are
observed by the good; he should do all his acts like a person of governed
soul; and he should, without injuring any creature, draw his substance by
adopting a course that is not censurable. One who is well-versed in the
truths of the Vedas and the other branches of knowledge, whose behaviour
is like that of a person of well-governed soul, who is endued with a
clear vision, who observes those duties that are laid down for his order,
who does not, by his acts, produce an inter-mixture of duties, who
attends to the observances set down in the scriptures, who is full of
faith, who is self-restrained, who is possessed of wisdom, who is
destitute of envy and malice, and who is well-conversant with the
distinctions between righteousness and inequity, succeeds in crossing all
his difficulties. That Brahmana who is possessed of fortitude, who is
always heedful, who is self-restrained, who is conversant with
righteousness, whose soul is under control, and who has transcended joy,
pride, and wrath, has never to languish in grief. This is the course of
conduct that was ordained of old for a Brahmana. He should strive for the
acquisition of Knowledge, and do all the scriptural acts. By living thus,
he is sure to obtain success. One who is not possessed of clear vision
does wrong even when one wishes to do right. Such a person, by even
exercising his judgment, does such acts of virtue as partake of the
nature of inequity. Desiring to do what is right, one does what is wrong.
Similarly, desiring to do what is wrong one does what is right. Such a
person is a fool. Not knowing, the two kinds of acts, one has to undergo
repeated rebirths and deaths.'"
