ped. One should
not sleep after sunrise. Morning and evening the prayers (ordained in the
scriptures) should be said, sitting with face turned towards the east and
towards the west respectively. Washing the five limbs,[589] one should
eat silently with face turned towards the east. One should never
disparage the food which one is to eat. One should eat food that is good
to the taste. After eating one should wash one's hands and rise.[590] One
should never go to sleep at night with wet feet. The celestial Rishi
Narada said that these are indications of good conduct. One should every
day circumambulate a sacred spot, a bull, a sacred image, a cow-pen, a
place where four roads meet, a pious Brahmana, and sacred tree. One
should not make distinctions between one's guests and attendants and
kinsmen in matters of food. Equality (in this respect) with servants is
applauded. Eating (twice a day) in the morning and evening is an
ordinance of the gods. It is not laid down that one should eat (once
more) at any intermediate period. He who eats according to this rule
acquires the merit of a fast.[591] At the hours ordained for Homa one
should pour libations on the sacred fire. Without seeking the
companionship of other people's wives, the man of wisdom who seeks his
own wife in her season acquires the merit of Brahmacharyya. The remnants
of a Brahmana's dish are like ambrosia. They are like the lacteal
sustenance that is yielded by the mother's breast. People highly prize
those remnants. The good, by eating them attain to Brahma. He who pounds
turf to clay (for making sacrificial altars), or he who cuts grass (for
making sacrificial fuel), or he who uses his nails only (and not weapons
of any kind) for eating (sanctified meat), or he who always subsists on
the remnants of Brahmana's dishes, or he who acts, induced by desire for
reward, has not to live long in the world.[592] One who has abstained
from meat (under any vow) should not take meat even if it be sanctified
with mantras from the Yajurveda. One should also avoid the flesh about
the vertebral column (of any animal) and the flesh of animals not slain
in sacrifices.[593] Whether at one's own place or in a strange land, one
should never cause one's guest to fast. Having obtained alms and other
fruits of optional acts, one should offer them to one's seniors. One
should offer seats to one's seniors and salute them with respect. By
worshipping one's seniors, one obtains long life,