Apaddharmanushasana Parva — The purificatory rites of a king

Shaunaka said I shall for these reasons describe to you virtue, you whose heart has been exceedingly agitated. Endued with knowledge, great strength, and a contented heart, you seek virtue of your own accord.

First becoming exceedingly stern, a king then shows mercy and does good to all creatures by his acts. This is certainly very wonderful.

People say that that king who begins with sternness consumes the entire world. You were stern before. But you now seck righteousness.

Forsaking luxurious food and all articles of enjoyment, you are now practising rigid penances for a long time. All this, O Janamejaya, is sure to appear wonderful to those kings who are sunk in sin.

It is not at all wonderful that he who has wealth should become liberal, or that he who has wealth of asceticism should become unwilling to spend it. It has been said that the one does not live far off from the other.

An ill-judged thing produces enough of miserics. That, on the other hand, which is done with the help of sound judgement yields excellent results.

Sacrifice, gift, mercy, the Vedas, and truth, O king,-these five,-are purifying. The sixth is penance well-practised. This last, O Janamejaya, is highly purifying for kings.

By following it duly, you are sure to acquire great merit and blessedness. Pilgrimage to sacred places has also been described to be highly purifying

Regarding it is cited the following verse sung by Yayati-That mortal who would acquire life and longevity should, after having celebrated sacrifices with devotion, renounce them and practise penances.

The field of Kuru has been described to be sacred. The river Sarasvati is considered more so. The Tirthas of the Sarasvati are inore sacred than the Sarasvati herself; and the Tirtha called Prithudaka is more sacred than all the Tirthas of the Sarasvati. One that has bathed in Prithudaka and drunk its waters will not have to be sorry for a premature death.

You should go to Mahasaras, to all the Tirthas known by the name of Pushkara, to Prabhasa, to the northern lake Manasa, and to Kalodaka. You will then regain life and acquire longevity. Lake Manasa is where the Sarasvati and the Drishadvati join each other. A person endued with Vedic lore should bathe in these places. Manu has said that liberality is the highest of all duties, and that renunciation is better than liberality.

Regarding it is cited the following verse composed by Satyavat (One should act) as a child full of simplicity and shorn of either merit or sin.

For all creatures there is in this world neither misery nor happiness. Such is the true nature of all living creatures.

Of all creatures, they are superior who have betaken themselves to renunciation and abstained from acts both meritorious and sinful, I shall now tell you those acts which are best for a king.

By showing your power and liberality do you conquer heaven, O king. that man who is endued with might and energy acquired righteousness.

Do you govern the Earth, O king, for the sake of the Brahmanas and for the sake of happiness. You used formerly to blame the Brahmanas. Do you please them now.

Though they have censured you and though they have deserted you, do you still, guided by knowledge of self, solemnly promise never to injure them, Engaged in becoming acts, try to do what is for your highest good.

Amongst kings some one becomes as cool as snow; some one, as fierce as fire; some one becomes like a plough; and some one, again, becomes like a thunder-bolt.

He who wishes to prevent self-destruction, should never mix with wicked persons for general or particular purposes.

From a sinful act committed only once, one may clear himself by repenting for it. From an act committed twice, one may purify himself by vowing never to repeat the act.

From such an act committed thrice, one may purify himself by determining to act virtuously all along afterwards. By committing such an act again and again, one may purify himself by visiting sacred places.

One who wishes to acquire prosperity should do all that yields blessedness. They who live amidst fragrance themselves become fragrant by virtue thereof. They, on the other hand, who live in the midst of foul smell themselves become foui.

One who practises ascetic austerities is soon purged of all one's sins. By adoring the sacrificial fire for a year, one sullied by various sins becomes purified.

One guilty of foeticide is purified by adoring the fire for three years. One guilty for foeticide becomes purifies at even a hundred Yojanas from Mahasara, or the Tirthas called Pushkara, or Prabhasa, or Manasa on the north, if only he sets out for any of them. A slayer of creatures is purged of his sins by saving from impending danger as many creatures of that particular kind as have been killed by him.

Manu has said that by diving in water after reciting thrice the sin-destroying Mantras, one rcaps the fruits of the final bath in a Horsesacrifice.

Such an act very soon purifies one of all his sins, and he becomes, once again, the esteemed of the world. All creatures obey such a person, like helpless idiots.

Approaching, in days of yore, the celestial preceptor Brihaspati, the gods and Asuras, O king, humbly enquired of him, saying,-You are cognisant, O great Rishi, of the fruits of virtue, as also the fruits of those other acts which lead to hell in the next world.

Can not that person free himself from both virtue and sin who regards the two (happiness and inisery) equally? Tell us, O great Rishi, what are the fruits of righteousness, and how does a virtuous person remove his sins!

Brihaspati answered If, having committed sin through foolishness, one performs meritorious acts understanding their nature, he succeeds, by such righteousness, in cleansing himself from sin even as a piece of dirty cloth is washed clean by some saline substance.

One should not brag after having committed sin. By having faith and by freeing one's self from malice, one acquires blessedness.

That person who screens the faults of good men, even when exposed, acquires blessedness even after committing sins.

As the sun rising on the morning removes all darkness, so does one dissipate all his sins by acting virtuously.

Bhishma said Having said these words to king Janamejaya, Indrota, the son of Shaunaka, assisted him in the celebration of the Horsesacrifice.

Purged of his sins, and regaining blessedness, the king shone like a burning fire, and that slayer of enemies then entered his kingdom like moon in his full form entering the celestial region. and that slayer of enemies then entered his kingdom like moon in his full form entering the celestial region.