Good persons
possessing the virtues of truthfulness, abstention from doing injury to
any one, rectitude, abstention from evil towards any one, want of
haughtiness, modesty, resignation, self-restraint, absence of passion,
wisdom, patience, and kindness towards all creatures, and freedom from
malice and lust, are the witnesses of the world. These three are said to
constitute the perfect way of the virtuous, viz., a man must not do wrong
to any body, he must bestow alms, and must always be truthful. Those
high-souled good men of virtuous conduct, and settled convictions, who
are kind to all and are full of compassion, depart with contentment from
this world to the perfect way of virtue. Freedom from malice,
forbearance, peace of mind, contentment, pleasant speech, renunciation of
desire and anger, virtuous conduct and actions regulated according to the
ordinances of holy writ, constitute the perfect way of the virtuous. And
those who are constant in virtue follow these rules of virtuous conduct,
and having reached the pinnacle of knowledge, and discriminating between
the various phases of human conduct, which are either very virtuous or
the reverse, they escape from the great danger. Thus, O great Brahmana,
having introduced the subject of virtuous conduct, have I described to
thee all this, according to my own knowledge and to what I have heard on
the subject."

SECTION CCVII

"Markandeya continued, 'The pious fowler, O Yudhishthira, then said to
that Brahmana, 'Undoubtedly my deeds are very cruel, but, O Brahmana,
Destiny is all-powerful and it is difficult to evade the consequence of
our past actions. And this is the karmic evil arising out of sin
committed in a former life. But, O Brahmana, I am always assiduous in
eradicating the evil. The Deity takes away life, the executioner acts
only as a secondary agent. And we, O good Brahmana, are only such agents
in regard to our karma. Those animals that are slain by me and whose meat
I sell, also acquire karma, because (with their meat), gods and guests
and servants are regaled with dainty food and the manes are propitiated.
It is said authoritatively that herbs and vegetables, deer, birds and
wild animals constitute the food of all creatures. And, O Brahmana, king
Sivi, the son of Usinara, of great forbearance attained to heaven, which
is hard to reach, giving away his own flesh. And in days of yore, O
Brahmana, two thousand animals used to be killed every day in the