of all delicacies, attains to prosperity, and he
that abstains from animal food, obtains children and cattle. He who lies
down with his head downwards, or who lives in water, or who lives
secluded and alone in the practice of Brahmacharya, attains to all the
desired ends. He who offers shelter to a guest and welcomes him with
water to wash his feet as also with food, light and bed, attains to the
merits of the sacrifice with the five gifts. He who lays himself down on
a warrior's bed on the battle-field in the posture of a warrior, goes to
those eternal regions where all the objects of desire are fulfilled. A
man, O king, attains to riches that makes charitable gifts. One secures
obedience to one's command by the vow of silence, all the enjoyments of
life by practice of austerities, long life by Brahmacharya, and beauty,
prosperity and freedom from disease by abstaining from injury to others.
Sovereignty falls to the lot of those that subsist on fruits and roots
only. Residence in heaven is attained by those that live on only leaves
of trees. A man, O king, is said to obtain happiness, by abstention from
food. By confining one's diet to herbs alone, one becomes possessed of
cows. By living on grass one attains to the celestial regions. By
foregoing all intercourse with one's wife and making ablutions three
times during the day and by inhaling the air only for purposes of
subsistence, one obtains the merit of a sacrifice. Heaven is attained by
the practice of truth, nobility of birth by sacrifices. The Brahmana of
pure practices that subsists on water only, and performs the Agnihotra
ceaselessly, and recites the Gayatri, obtains a kingdom. By abstaining
food or by regulating it, one attains to residence in heaven. O king, by
abstaining from all but the prescribed diet while engaged in sacrifices,
and by making pilgrimage for twelve years, one attains to a place better
than the abodes reserved for heroes. By reading all the Vedas, one is
instantly liberated from misery, and by practising virtue in thought, one
attains to the heavenly regions. That man who is able to renounce that
intense yearning of the heart for happiness and material enjoyments,--a
yearning that is difficult of conquest by the foolish and that doth not
abate with the abatement of bodily vigour and that clings like a fatal
disease unto him,--is able to secure happiness. As the young calf is able
to recognise its dam from among a thousand cows, so does the p