k, thy
understanding is of this kind! They that are good highly applaud all
righteous attributes. That personal beauty and youth and prosperity do
not succeed in overwhelming thee is due to good luck. This favour done to
thee is due to the kindness of the deities. Listen to me as I discourse
to thee upon what is even superior (in efficacy) to gift. Whatever
scriptures and religious treatises there are, whatever (righteous)
inclinations are observable in the world, they have flowed in their due
order, agreeably with the lead of the Vedas, according to their due
order. Following them I applaud gift. Thou praisest penances and Vedic
lore. Penances are sacred. Penances are the means by which one may
acquire the Vedas and heaven also. With the aid of penances and of
knowledge, one attains to the highest fruits, we have heard. It is by
penances that one destroys one's sins and all else that is evil. It has
been heard by us that with whatever purpose in view one undergoes
penances, one attains the fruition thereof in consequence of those
penances. The same may be said of knowledge. Whatever is difficult to
accomplish, whatever is difficult to conquer, what is difficult to
attain, and whatever is difficult to cross, can all be achieved with the
aid of penances. Of all things, penances are possessed of very superior
might. The man who drinks alcohol, or he that takes by force what belongs
to others, or he that is guilty of foeticide, or he that violates the bed
of his preceptor, succeeds in crossing with the aid of penances. Indeed,
one becomes cleansed of all these sins through penances. One possessed of
all knowledge and, therefore, having true vision, and an ascetic of
whatever kind, are equal. One should always bow unto these two[536]. All
men who have the Vedas for their wealth should be worshipped. Similarly,
all men endued with penances deserve to be worshipped. Those who make
gifts obtain happiness hereafter and much prosperity here. Righteous men
of this world, by making gifts of food obtain both this world and that of
Brahman himself with many other regions of superior felicity. Those men
who are adored by all, themselves adore him who makes gifts. Those men
that are honoured everywhere themselves honour him who make gifts.
Wherever the giver goes, he hears himself praised. He who does acts and
he who omits to do them gets each what is proportionate to his acts and
omissions. Whether one dwells in the upper regions or in