SECTION CXXVIII
"Vayu said, 'I shall recite some duties the observance of which is
fraught with happiness to mankind. Do ye listen also with concentrated
attention to certain transgressions with the secret causes upon which
they depend. That man who offers for the four months of the rainy season
sesame and water (unto the Pitris), and food, according to the best of
his power, unto a Brahmana well-conversant with the duties, who duly
pours libations on the sacred fire, and makes offerings of rice boiled in
sugared milk, who gives lamps in honour of the Pitris, with sesame and
water,--verily he who does all this with faith and concentrated attention
acquires all the merits that attach to a hundred sacrifices in which
animals are offered to the deities. Listen to this other high mystery
that is unknown to all. That man who thinks it all right when a Sudra
ignites the fire upon which he is to pour libations or who does not see
any fault when women who are incompetent to assist at Sraddhas and other
rites are allowed to assist at them, really becomes stained with
sin[556]. The three sacrificial fires become enraged with such a person.
In his next life he has to take birth as a Sudra. His Pitris, together
with the deities are never gratified with him. I shall now recite what
the expiations are which one must go through for cleansing oneself from
such sins. Listen to me with attention. By performing those expiatory
acts, one becomes happy and free from fever. Fasting all the while, one
should, for three days, with concentrated attention, pour libation, on
the sacred fire, of the urine of the cow mixed with cowdung and milk and
ghee. The deities accept the offerings of such a man on the expiration of
a full year. His Pitris also, when the time comes for him for performing
the Sraddha, become gratified with him. I have thus recited what is
righteous and what is unrighteous, with all their unknown details, in
respect of human beings desirous of attaining to heaven. Verily, men who
abstain from these transgressions or who having committed them undergo
the expiatory rites indicated, succeed, in attaining to heaven when they
leave this world."
