Mokshadharma Parva — The Vedas

Vyasa said These then are the obligatory acts laid down for Brahmanas. One gifted with knowledge, always attains to success by going through (the prescribed acts).

If no doubt is entertained about acts, then acis done are sure to lead to success. The doubt we speak of is whether acts are obligatory or optional.

About this if acts, are ordained for man for gaining knowledge, they should be considered as obligatory. I shall now describe them by the light of inferences and experience. Here me. some

Regarding acts men hold that Exertion is their root. Others say that Necessity is their cause. Others, again, hold that Nature is the cause.

Some hold that acts are the outcome of both Exertion and Necessity. Some hold that acts originate from Time, Exertion, and Nature. Some hold that of the three, one only is the cause. Some hold that all three combined are the cause.

Some persons who perform acts say, with respect to all objects that they exist, that they do not exist, that they cannot be said to exist, that they cannot be said not to exist, that it is not that they cannot be said to exist, and lastly, that it is not that they cannot be said not to exist. These then are the diverse views entertained by men. The Yogins, however, see Brahma as the universal cause.

The men of the Treta, the Dvapara, and the Kali Yugas, are filled with doubts. The men, however, the Krita Yuga, are given to penances, endued with tranquil souls, and observant of righteousness,

In that age all men consider the Richs, the Samans, and the Yajushes as Identical, despite their seeming diversity. Analysing desire and hatred, they adore only penance.

Given to the practice of penances, firm in them, and rigid in their observance, one acquires the fruition of all desires by penances alone.

By penance one acquires to that portion, by becoming which one creates the universe. By penance one becomes that by which one becomes the powerful master of all things.

That Brahma has been expounded in the injunctions of the Vedas. For all that, Brahma cannot be conceived by even those who are conversant with those declarations. Once more has Brahma been described in the Vedanta. Brahına, however, cannot be seen by means of acts.

The sacrifices ordained for Brahmanas consist in recitation, that for Kshatriyas consists in the destruction of (clean) animals for the satisfaction of the gods; that for Vaishyas consists in the rearing of crops and the kecp of domestic animals and that for Shudras in menial service of the three other castes.

By observing the duties sanctioned for him, and by studying the Vedas and other scriptures, one becomes a twice-born one whether one does any other deed or not, he becomes a Brahmana by becoming the friend of all creatures.

In the beginning of Treta, the Vedas and sacrifices and the distribution of caste and the several modes of life existed in full. On account of the duration of life being decreased in Dvapara, those suffer decline.

In Dvapara age as also in the Kali, the Vedas become of doubtful interpretation. Towards the close of Kali again, it is doubtful if they ever can be seen by the eye.

In that age, the duties of the respective castes disappear, and men become possessed by sin, the juicy attributes of kine, of the earth, of water, and of herbs, disappear.

Through (universal) sin the Vedas disappear, and with them all the duties laid down in them, as also the duties of the four imodes of life. They who follow the duties, of their own order become afflicted, and all mobile and immobile objects suffer a change for the worse.

As the rain from the sky causes all products of the Earth to grow, likewise the Veda develops all its auxilliaries.

Forsooth, Time assumes various shapes. It has neither beginning nor end. It is Time which creates all creatures and again devours them. I have already spoken of it to you.

Time is the origin of all creatures; it is Time which makes them grow; Time is their destroyer; and lastly it is Time which is their ruler. Subject to pairs of opposites, innumerable sorts of creatures rest on Time, according to their own natures.