s of
clarified butter with prayers into a blazing fire. It is
obligatory on Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, except those that accept
certain vows of great austerity.

[3] The Viswedeva sacrifice is the offer of food to all
creatures of the earth (by scattering a portion).

[4] A gift. It may be of various kinds. The fees paid to
Brahmanas assisting at sacrifices and religious rites, such as
offering oblations to the dead, are _Dakshinas_, as also gifts
to Brahmanas on other occasions particularly when they are fed,
it being to this day the custom never to feed a Brahmana without
paying him a pecuniary fee. There can be no sacrifice, no
religious rite, without _Dakshina_.

"Saunaka said, 'Alas, this world is full of contradictions! That which
shameth the good, gratifieth the wicked! Alas, moved by ignorance and
passion and slaves of their own senses, even fools perform many acts of
(apparent merit) to gratify in after-life their appetites! With eyes
open are these men led astray by their seducing senses, even as a
charioteer, who hath lost his senses, by restive and wicked steeds! When
any of the six senses findeth its particular object, the desire
springeth up in the heart to enjoy that particular object. And thus when
one's heart proceedeth to enjoy the objects of any particular sense a
wish is entertained which in its turn giveth birth to a resolve. And
finally, like unto an insect falling into a flame from love of light,
the man falleth into the fire of temptation, pierced by the shafts of
the object of enjoyment discharged by the desire constituting the seed
of the resolve! And thenceforth blinded by sensual pleasure which he
seeketh without stint, and steeped in dark ignorance and folly which he
mistaketh for a state of happiness, he knoweth not himself! And like
unto a wheel that is incessantly rolling, every creature, from ignorance
and deed and desire, falleth into various states in this world,
wandering from one birth to another, and rangeth the entire circle of
existences from a _Brahma_ to the point of a blade of grass, now in
water, now on land, and now against in the air!

"'This then is the career of those that are without knowledge. Listen
now to the course of the wise they that are intent on profitable virtue,
and are desirous of emancipation! The _Vedas_ enjoin act but _renounce_
(interest in) action. Therefore, shouldst thou act, renouncing
_Abhimana_,[5]