SECTION CCXCVIII
"Parasara said, 'The sires, the friends, the preceptor, and the spouses
of the preceptors of men that are destitute of devotion are unable to
give to those men the merits that attach to devotion. Only they that are
firmly 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 with
his children. It is said that the sire is superior to the mother. The
attainment of Knowledge is regarded as the highest acquisition. They that
have 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 shafts
flying in all directions and burns therewith, certainly repairs to
regions that are unattainable by the very deities and, arrived there,
enjoys the felicity of heaven in perfect contentment. A Kshatriya should
not, O king, strike one that is fatigued, or one that is frightened, or
one that has been disarmed, or one that is weeping, or one that is
unwilling to fight, or one that is unequipped with mail and cars and
horse 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 of
tender years, or one that is old. A Kshatriya should, in battle, fight
one of his order who is equipped with mail and cars and horse and
infantry, who is ready for exertion and who occupies a position of
equality. Death at the hands of one that is equal or of a superior is
laudable, but not that at the hands of one that is low, or of one that is
a coward, or of one that is a wretch. This is well-known. Death at the
hands of one that is sinful, or of one that is of low birth and wicked
conduct, O king, is inglorious and leads to hell. One whose period of
life has run out cannot be rescued by anybody. Similarly, one whose
period of life has not been exhausted can never be slain by any
one.[1547] One should prevent one's affectionate seniors from doing unto
one (for one's benefit) such acts as are done by menials, as also all
such acts as are fraught with injury to others. One should never desire
to extend one's own life by taking the lives of others.[1548] When they
lay down their lives, it is laudable for all householders observant of
the duties of men living in sacred places to lay down their lives on the
banks of sacred streams.[1549] When one's period of life becomes
exhausted, one dissolves away into the five elements. Sometimes this
occurs suddenly (through accidents) and sometimes it is brought about by
(natural) causes.[1550] He who, having obtained a body, brings about its
dissolution (in a. sacred place by means of some inglorious accident),
becomes invested with another body of a similar kind. Though set on the
path of the Emancipation, he yet becomes a traveller and attains to
another body like a person repairing from one room into another.[1551] In
the matter of such a man's attainment of a second body (notwithstanding
his death in a sacred spot) the only cause is his accidental death. There
is no second cause. That new body which embodied creatures obtain (in
consequence 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 a
conglomeration of arteries and sinews and bones and much repulsive and
impure matter and a compound of (primal) essences, and the senses and
objects of the senses born of desire, all having an outer cover of skin
close to them. Destitute (in reality) of beauty and other
accomplishments, this conglomeration, through force of the desires of a
previous life, assumes a human form.[1553] Abandoned by the owner, the
body becomes inanimate and motionless. Indeed, when the primal
ingredients return to their respective natures, the body mingles with the
dust. Caused by its union with acts, this body reappears under
circumstances determined by its acts. Indeed, O ruler of the Videhas,
under whatever circumstances this body meets with dissolution, its next
birth, determined by those circumstances, is seen to enjoy and endure the
fruits of all its past acts. Jiva, after dissolution of the body it
inhabited, does not, O king, take birth in a different body immediately.
It roves through the sky for some time like a spacious cloud. Obtaining a
new receptacle, O monarch, it then takes birth again. The soul is above
the mind. The mind is above the senses. Mobile creatures, again, are
foremost of all created objects. Of all mobile creatures those that have
two legs are superior. Amongst two-legged creatures, those that are
regenerate are superior. Amongst those that are regenerate they that are
possessed of wisdom are superior. Amongst them that are possessed of
wisdom they that have succeeded in acquiring a knowledge of the soul are
superior. Amongst those that are possessed of a knowledge of the soul,
they that are endued with humility are superior. Death follows birth in
respect of all men. This is settled. Creatures, influenced by the
attributes of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, pursue acts which have an
end.[1554] That man is regarded as righteous who meets with dissolution
when the Sun is in the northern declension, and at a time and under a
constellation both of which are sacred and auspicious. He. is righteous
who., having cleansed himself of all sins and accomplished all his acts
according to the best of his power and having abstained from giving pain
to any man, meets with death when it comes. The death that one meets with
by taking poison, by hanging, by burning, at the hands of robbers, and at
the teeth of animals, is said to be an inglorious one.[1555] Those men
that are righteous never incur such or similar deaths even if they be
afflicted with mental and physical diseases of the most agonising kind.
The lives of the righteous, O king, piercing through the Sun, ascend into
the regions of Brahma. The lives of those that are both righteous and
sinful rove in the middle regions. The lives of those that are sinful
sink into the lowest depths. There is only one foe (of man) and not
another. That foe is identifiable with ignorance, O king. Overwhelmed by
it, one is led to perpetrate acts that are frightful and exceedingly
cruel. That foe for resisting which one should put forth one's power by
waiting upon the aged according to the duties laid down in the
Srutis--that foe which cannot be overcome except by steady
endeavours,--meets with destruction., O king, only when it is crushed by
the shafts of wisdom.[1556] The man desirous of achieving merit should at
first study the Vedas and observe penances, becoming a Brahmacharin. He
should next, entering the domestic mode of life, perform the usual
Sacrifices. Establishing his race, he should then enter the forest,
restraining his senses, and desirous of winning Emancipation. One should
never emasculate oneself by abstaining from any enjoyment. Of all births,
the status of humanity is preferable even if one has to become a
Chandala. Indeed, O monarch, that order of birth (viz., humanity) is the
foremost, since by becoming a human being one succeeds in rescuing one's
self by meritorious acts. Men always perform righteous acts, O lord,
guided by the authority of the Srutis, so that they may not fall away
from the status of humanity. That man who, having attained to the status
of humanity that is so difficult of attainment, indulges in malice,
disregards righteousness and yields himself up to desire, is certainly
betrayed by his desires.[1557] That man who looks upon all creatures with
eyes guided by affection, regarding them worthy of being cherished with
loving aid, who disregards all kinds of wealth, who offers them
consolation, gives them food, address them in agreeable words, and who
rejoices in their happiness and grieves in their griefs, has never to
suffer misery in the next world, Repairing to the Saraswati, the Naimisha
woods, the Pushkara waters, and the other sacred spots on earth, one
should make gifts, practise renunciation, render one's aspect amiable, O
king, and purify one's body with baths and penances. Those men who meet
with death within their houses should have the rites of cremation
performed upon their persons. Their bodies should be taken to the
crematorium on vehicles and there they should be burnt according to the
rites 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 other
meritorious acts, the performance, according to the best of one's power,
of all that has been ordained in the case of one's deceased
ancestors,--all these one does for benefiting one's own self. The Vedas
with their six branches, and the other scriptures, O king, have been
created for the good of him who is of stainless acts.'
"Bhishma continued, 'All this was said by that high-souled sage unto the
ruler of the Videhas, O king, in days of old for his benefit.'"
