Mokshadharma Parva — The duties of the Brahmanas

Parashara said In the Brahmana, wealth gained by acceptance of gifts, in the Kshatriya that acquired by victory in battle, in the Vaishya that acquired by performing the duties laid down for his order, and in the Shudra that acquired by serving the three other orders, however small it may be, is worthy of praise, and when spent for the acquisition of virtue yields great benefits. The Shudra is said to be the constant servitor of the three other orders.

If the Brahmana, when hard-pressed for a living, performs the duties of either the Kshatriya or the Vaishya, he does not fall off from virtue. When, however, the Brahmana performs the duties of the lowest order, then does he certainly fall off.

When the Shudra is unable to secure his living by service of the three other orders, then it is lawful for him to follow trade, tending of cattle, and the practice of the mechanical arts.

Appearance on the stage and disguising oneself in various forms, exhibition of puppets, the sale of spirits and meat, and trading in iron and leather, should never be adopted for purposes of a living by one who had never before been engaged in those callings every one of which is regarded as censurable in the world. We have heard that if one engaged in them can renounce them, he acquires great merit.

When one who has become successful in life acts sinfully on account of his mind being filled with pride, his acts under such circumstances can never pass for authority.

It is heard in the Puranas that formerly mankind were self-controlled, that they valued virtue greatly, that the practices they followed for livelihood were all agreeable to propriety and the injunctions laid down in the scriptures; and that the only punishment that was necessary for chastising them when they did wrong was merely the deprecation of their deeds.

At the time of which we speak, O king, Virtue, and nothing else, was much praised among men. Having achieved great progress in virtue, men in those days adored only all good qualities that they saw.

The Asuras, however, O child, could not bear that virtue, which prevailed in the world. Multiplying the Asuras entered the bodies of inen.

Then was pride generated in men which is so destructive of virtue. From pride originated arrogance, and from arrogance originated anger.

When men thus became overwhelmed with anger, modesty and shame disappeared from them, and then they were possessed by carelessness.

Afflicted by carelessness, they could no longer see as before, and as the consequence thereof they began to assail one another and thereby gain riches without any compunction.

When men became such, the punishment of mere depreciation on transgressors could produce no effect. Men, showing no respect of either the gods or Brahmanas, began to indulge their senses to their fill.

At that time the gods repaired to that foremost of god, viz., Shiva, possessed of patience of multiform aspect and endued with the foremost of qualities and sought his protection.

The gods gave him their conjoined energy, and thereupon the great god, with a single arrow killed on the Earth those three Asuras, viz., Desire, Anger, and Cupidity, who were staying in the sky, along with their very dwellers.

The dreadful king those Asuras, endued with terrific prowess, who had struck the gods with terror, was also killed by Mahadeva armed with the lance.

When this king of the Asuras was killed men once more gained their proper natures, and once more began to study the Vedas and the other scriptures as in days of yore.

Then the seven ancient Rishis came forward and installed Vasava as the king of the gods and the ruler of heaven. And they took upon themselves the task of holding the rod of punishment over mankind.

After the seven Rishis came king Viprithu and many other kings, all belonging to the Kshatriya order for separately ruling separate classes of human beings.

There were, in those ancient times, certain clderly men from whose minds all wicked feelings did not disappear.

Hence, on account of that wicked state of their minds and of those incidents connected with it, there appeared many kings of dreadful prowess who began to perform only such acts as were fit for Asuras.

Those human beings, who are very foolish follow those wicked acts, establish them as authorities, and practise them to this day.

Therefore, O king, I say, you, have reflected properly with the help of the scriptures, that one should avoid all acts that are fraught with injury or malice and try to acquire a knowledge of the Soul.

The man endued with wisdom would not seek riches for the performance of religions rites by unfair and immoral ways. Wealth aquired by such means can never yield benefits.

Do you, then, become a Kshatriya of this kind! Do you restrain your senses, be kind to your friends, and cherish, according to the duties of your order, your subjects, servants, and children.

Through the union of both prosperity and adversity, there arise friendships and enmities. Thousands and thousands of existences are continually revolving, and in every mode of individual Soul's existence these must take place.

Therefore, be attached to good qualities of every sort, but never to faults. Such is the nature of good qualities that if the most foolish person, shorn of every virtue, hears himself praised for any good quality, he becomes filled with joy.

Virtue and sin exist, O king, only among men. These do not exist among other creatures.

One should, therefore, whether in need of food and other necessaries of life or above such need, be of virtuous disposition, acquire knowledge, always consider all creatures as his own self, and abstain totally from inflicting any kind of injury.

When one's mind becomes shorn of desire, and when all Darkness is removed from it, it is then that one acquires what is auspicious.