Institutes of VIshnu 93

2616.

1. What is given to another than a Brâhma n a produces the same fruit in the world to come.

2. (What is given) to one who calls himself a Brâhma n a (because he was born and initiated as such, but who does not perform his daily duties) produces twice the same fruit.

3. (What is given) to one who has studied the main portions of the Veda produces a thousand times the same fruit.

4. (What is given) to one who has mastered the whole Veda, produces infinite fruit.

5. A domestic priest may claim gifts from his own employer (but from no one else).

6. And so may a sister, a daughter and sons-in-law (or other connections claim gifts from their. brother, father, etc., but not from a stranger).

7. One who knows his duty must not give even water to a twice-born man who acts like a [tiger],

or to a Brâhma n a who acts like a crane, or to one who has not studied the Veda.

8. One who constantly [hoists] [soils] the flag of religion, and who is greedy, crafty, deceitful, pitiless, and a calumniator of everybody, such a man is said to act like a [tiger].

9. One who hangs his head, who is bent upon, injuring others and upon his own gain, artful, and falsely demure, such a man is said to act like, a crane.

10. Those who act like cranes in this world, and those who act like cats, fall into (the hell called) Andhatâmisra on account of their wickedness.

11. If a man has committed an offence and does penance for it, he must not do so under pretext of performing an act of piety, covering his crime under a (fictitious) vow, and imposing on women and S ûdras.

12. A Brâhma n a who acts thus, is despised in the next life and in this by those who know the Veda, and the penance performed by him under such false pretence goes to the (demons called) Râkshasas.

13. One who gains his subsistence by wearing (a lock on the crown of the head or other) distinguishing marks of a caste or religious order, to which he does not belong, takes upon himself the (consequences of the) sins committed by those who have a right to those marks, and enters in a future birth the womb of an animal.

14. He must not give (to a panegyrist) from vain-glory, or from fear, or to a friend (from whom he hopes to obtain benefit), nor (must he bestow gifts), with a view to acquire religious merit, upon dancers or singers:, that is a fixed rule.

 

The Insitutes of Vishnu CHAPTER NINETY EIGHT

Divisions 2631-2660

 

INSTITUTES OF VISHNU 94-95

2631.

1. A householder, when he sees his skin has become wrinkled and his hair turned grey, must go to live in a forest.

2. Or (he must do so) when he sees the son of his son.

3. Let him (before going into the forest) entrust the care of his wife to his sons, or let her accompany him.

4. Let him keep the sacred fires in his new abode as before.

5. He must not omit to perform the five sacrifices, but (he must perform them) with (fruits, herbs, or roots) growing wild.

6. He must not relinquish the private recitation of the Veda.

7. He must preserve his chastity.

8. He must wear a dress made of skins or bark.

9. He must suffer the hairs of his head, of his beard, and of his body, and his nails to grow.

10. He must bathe at morning. noon, and evening.

11. He must either collect provisions, after the manner of the pigeon, for a month, or he must collect them for a year.

12. He who has collected provisions for a year, must throw away what he has collected on the day of full moon in the month  s vina.

13. Or an hermit may bring food from a village, placing it in a dish made of leaves, or in a single leaf, or in his hand, or in a potsherd, and eat eight mouthfuls of it.