ain. That man who gives away a pair of
sandals unto a superior Brahmana that is deserving of the gift, attains
to similar merits. By giving away an umbrella a person obtains
comfortable shade in the next world. (He will not have to be exposed to
the sun). A gift made to a deserving person is never lost. It is certain
to produce agreeable consequences to the giver.' Hearing these opinions
of Chitragupta, Surya's hairs stood on their ends. Endued with great
splendour, he addressed all the deities and the Pitris, saying 'Ye have
heard the mysteries relating to duty, as propounded by the high-souled
Chitragupta. Those human beings who, endued with faith, make these gifts
unto high-souled Brahmanas, become freed from fear of every kind. These
five kinds of men, stained with vicious deeds, have no escape. Verily, of
sinful behaviour and regarded as the worst of men, they should never be
talked to. Indeed they should always be avoided. Those five are he who is
the slayer of a Brahmana, he who is the slayer of a cow, he who is
addicted to sexual congress with other people's wives, he who is bereft
of faith (in the Vedas), and he who derives his sustenance by selling the
virtue of his wife. These men of sinful conduct, when they repair to the
region of the dead, rot in hell like worms that live upon pus and blood.
These five are avoided by the Pitris, the deities, the Snataka Brahmanas,
and other regenerate persons that are devoted to the practice of
penances.'"'"

SECTION CXXXI

"'Bhishma said, "Then all the highly blessed deities and the Pitris, and
the highly blessed Rishis also, addressing the Pramathas, said,[557] 'Ye
are all highly blessed beings. Ye are invisible wanderers of the night.
Why do you afflict those men that are vile and impure and that are
unclean? What acts are regarded as impediments to your power? What,
indeed, are those acts in consequence of which ye become incompetent to
afflict men? What are those acts that are destructive of Rakshasas and
that prevent you from asserting your power over the habitations of men?
Ye wanderers of the night, we desire to hear all this from you.'

"'"The Pramathas said, 'Men are rendered unclean by acts of sexual
congress. They who do not purify themselves after such acts, they who
insult their superiors, they who from stupefaction eat different kinds of
meat, the man also who sleeps at the foot of a tree, he who keeps any
animal matter under his pillow while lying dow