Rajadharmanushasana Parva — The most important duties described by Bhishma

Yudhishthira said The path of duty in long. It has also, O Bharata, many branches. What are those duties which you hold to be the best to practise.

What are the most important duties in your view by the practice of which I may acquire the highest merit both in this world and in the next.

Bhishma said The adoration of mother, father, and preceptor is, I consider, the most important. The man, who satisfies that duty here, succeeds in winning great fame and many blessed regions.

Adored by you, whatever they will command you, be it consistent with righteousness, or be it inconsistent with it, you should carry it out unhesitatingly, O Yudhishthira.

One should never do what they forbid. Forsooth, there command should always be done.

They are the three worlds. They are the three modes of life. They are the three Vedas. They are the three sacred fires.

The father is said to be the Garhapatya fire; the mother, the Dakshina fire; and the preceptor is the fire upon which libations are poured. These three fires are, of course, the greatest. If you adore carefully these three fires, you will conquer the three worlds.

By serving the father regularly one may cross this world. By serving the mother in the same way, one may enjoy blessed regions in the next. By serving the preceptor regularly, one may acquire the region of Brahma.

Properly treat these three, O Bharata, you will then acquire great fame in the three worlds, and be you blessed, great will be your merit and reward.

Never transgress them in your deeds. Never eat before they eat, nor eat any thing that is better than what they eat. Never attribute any fault to them. One should always serve them humbly. That is an act of great merit.

By acting thus, O best of kings, you may acquire fame, merit, honour, and blessed regions hereafter. He, who honours these three is honoured of all the worlds.

He, however, who disregards these three, cannot acquire any merit from any of his acts. Such a man, O scorcher of foes, neither obtains this would nor the next.

He, who always disregards these three elders never enjoys fame either in this world or in the next. Such a man never reaps any good in the next world.

All that I have dedicated to the honour of those three has multiplied a hundred-fold or a thousand-fold. On account of that merit that even now, Yudhishthira, the three worlds are clearly visible to me.

One Acharya is superior to ten Brahmanas learned in the Vedas. One Upadhyaya is again superior to ten Acharyas. The father, again, is superior to ten Upadhyayas.

The mother, again, is superior to ten fathers, or, perhaps, the whole world, there is no one so much worthy of reverence as the mother.

In my view, however, the preceptor deserves greater respect then the father or even the mother. The father and the mother are the creators of one's being.

The father and the mother, O Bharata, only create the body. The life, on the other hand, which one acquires from his preceptor, is divine. That life suffers no decays and is imimortal.

The father and the inother, even if they offend you, should never be killed. By not punishing a father and a mother one does not commit sin. Indeed, such reverend persons, by escaping punishment do not stain the king. The gods and the Rishis do not withhold their favours from such persons who try to maintain even their sinful fathers reverently.

He, who favours a person by giving him true instruction, by communicating the Vedas, and by giving immortal knowledge, should be honoured as parents. The disciple, out of gratitude for what the instructor has done, should never do what would injure the latter.

They, who do not honour their preceptors after receiving instruction from them by obeying them dutifully in thought and deed commit the sin of killing a foetus. There is no greater sinner in this world than this. Preceptors always treat their disciples with great affection. The latter should, therefore, reverse their preceptors duly.

He, therefore, who wishes to acquire that high merit which has existed from days of yore, should adore his preceptors and carefully share with them every object of enjoyment.

Prajapati himself is pleased with him who pleases his father, He, who pleases his mother, pleases the Earth herself.

He, who pleases his preceptor pleases Brahma. Therefore the preceptor deserves greater respect then enter the father or the mother.

If preceptors are adored the very Rishis, and the gods, together the Pitris, are all pleased. Therefore, the preceptor deserves the highest respect.

The preceptor should never in any way be dishonoured by the disciple. Neither the mother nor the father deserves the honour which the preceptor does.

No insult should be offered to the father, the mother, and the preceptor. No act of theirs should be censured. The good and the great Rishis are pleased with him who treats his preceptors reverentially.

They, who injure in thought and deed their preceptors, or fathers, or mothers, commit the sin of killing a foetus. There is no sinner in the world equal to them.

That son, who, being born of parents and brought up by them and when he comes to age, does not maintain them on his turn, commits the sin of killing a foetus. There is no sinner like him in the world.

We have never heard that these four, viz., he, who injures a friend, he, who is ungrateful, he, who kills a woman, and he, who kills preceptor, succeed in purifying themselves.

I have described to you in general all that a person should do in this world. Besides those duties that I have described, there is nothing which yields greater happiness. Thinking of all duties, I have described to you their essence. ever