मोक्षधर्म पर्व — नित्य कर्म का निर्णय

Yudhishthira said You, O grandfather, are our highest preceptor in the matter of all acts which it is difficult to perform. I ask, how should one judge of an act regarding one's obligation to do it or of abstaining from it? Is it to be judged quickly or with delay?

Regarding it is cited the old discourse of what took place regarding Chirakarin born in the race of Angirasa.

Twice blessed be the man who thinks long before he acts! One man who thinks long before he acts is surely possessed of great intelligence. Such a man never offends in an act.

There was once a highly wise man by name Chirakarin, who was the son of Gautama. Thinking for a long time upon every aspect of proposed acts, he used to do all he had to do.

He passed by the name of Chirakarin because he used to think long upon all matters, to remain awake for a long time, to sleep for a long time, and to take a long time in performing such acts.

But still he passed for an idle man. He was also considered as a foolish person, by every person of a light understanding and shorn of foresight.

On a certain occasion, seeing an act of great fault in his wife, the father Gautama, passing over his other children commanded in anger this Chirakarin, saying,-kill this women!

Having said these words without much thought, the learned Gautama, that foremost of persons engaged in the practice of Yoga, that highly blessed ascetic, left for the forest.

Having after a long while assented to it, saying,-So be it,-Chirakarin, on account of his very nature, and owing to his habit of never performing any act without much thought, began to think for a long while.-पितुराज्ञां कथं कुर्यां न हन्यां मातरं कथम्।

How shall I obey the order of my father, and yet how avoid killing my mother? How shall I avoid sinking, like a wicked man, into sin in this plight in which contradictory duties are dragging me into opposite directions?

Obedience to the orders of the father forms the highest merit. The protection of the mother again is a clear duty. The condition of a son is fraught with dependence. How shall I avoid being affected by sin?

Who is there that can be happy after having killed a woman, especially his mother? Who again can acquire prosperity and fame by disobeying his own father.

Regard for the father's order is obligatory. The protection of my mother is equally a duty. How shall I so act that both obligations may be satisfied?

The father puts his own self within the mother's womb and takes birth as the son, for continuing his practices, conduct, name and race.

I have been begotten as a son by both my mother and my father. Knowing as I do my own birth, why should I not have this knowledge?

The words spoken by the father while performing the initial rite consequent upon birth, and those that were spoken by him on the occasion of the subsidiary rite are sufficient (evidence) for settling the respect due to him and, indeed, confirm the respect actually paid to him.

On account of his bringing up the son and instructing him, the father is the son's foremost of superiors and the highest religion. The very Vedas sanction it as certain that the son should consider what the father says as his highest duty.

The son is only a source of joy to his father. The father is all in all to a son. The body and all else that the son has he has got from the father alone.

Hence, the commands of the father should be obeyed without ever questioning them in the least. The very sins of one who obeys his father are cleansed.

The father is the giver of all articles of enjoyment, of all articles of food, of instructions in the Vedas, and of all other knowledge of the world. The father is the performer of such rites as Garbhadhana (the ceremony for the attainment of puberty by the wife), and Simantonnayana the ceremony performed by the husband in the fourth, sixth, or eighth, month of gestation.

The father is religion. The father is heaven. The father is the highest penance. The father being pleased all the gods are pleased.

Whatever words are spoken by the father, become blessings that attach to the son. The words of joy that the father utters purify the son of all his sins.

The flower is seen to drop down from the stalk. The fruit is seen to drop down from the tree. But the father, in whatever difficulty he may be, moved by parental affection, never leaves the son.

These then are my thoughts upon the respect due from the son to the father. The father is not an ordinary object to the son, I shall now think upon the mother.

Of this the mother is the principal cause of those union of the five elements in me due to my birth as a human being, as the fire-sticks of fire.

The mother is as the fire-stick about the bodies of all men. She is the medicine for all sorts of calamities. The existence of the mother grants protection to one; the reverse deprives one of all protection.

The man who, thought shorn of prosperity, enters his house uttering the words-0 mother!-does not suffer from grief. Nor does decrepitude ever attack him.

A person whose mother exists, even if he has sons and grandsons and even if he is a hundred years old, looks like a child of two.

Able or disabled, lean or robust, the son is always protected by the mother. None else, according to the Scripture, is the son's protector.

When the mother leaves him then does the son become old, then does he become stricken with grief, then does the world look empty in his eyes.

There is no shelter like the mother. There is no refuge like the mother. There is no defence like the mother. There is no one dearer than the mother.

For having borne him in her womb the mother is the son's Dhatri. For having been the principal cause of his birth, she is his Janani. For having reared his young limbs, she is called Amva. For giving birth to a child possessed of courage, she is called Virasu.

For nursing and loO king after the son, she is called Shushru. The mother is one's own body. What rational man is there who would kill his mother to whose care only his own head did not lie on the street like a dry gourd?

When husband and wife unite themselves for procreation, the desire for a son is cherished by both, but about its fruition more depends upon the mother than on the father.

The mother knows the family in which the son is born and the father who has begotten him. From the time of conception the mother beings to show affection to her child and find joy in him. On the other hand, the Scriptures hold that the issue belong to the father only.

If men, after taking wives and pledging themselves to acquire religious merit without being dissociated from them, seek union with other people's wives, they then cease to deserve respect.

The husband, because he maintains the wife, is called Bharta, and he is called Pati, because he protects her. When he fails to discharge these two functions, he ceases to both Bhartri and Pati.

Then again woman can commit no fault. It is man only who commits commits faults. By committing an act of adultery, the man only becomes sullied with sin.

It has been said that the husband is the highest object with the wife and the highest god to her. My mother resigned her sacred person to one who came to her in the shape of hcr own husband.

Women can commit no sin. It is man who becomes sullied with sin. Indeed, on account of the natural weakness of the sex as shown in every act, and their liability to solicitation, women cannot be considered as offenders.

Then again the sinfulness is evident of Indra himself who made the recollection of the request that had been made to him in days of yore by woman. There is no doubt that my mother is sinless.

She whom I have been ordered to kill is a woman. That woman is again my own mother. She occupies, therefore, a place of greater respect. The very beasts which are irrational, know that the mother should not be killed.

The father must be known to be a combination of all the gods together. The mother, however, is a combination of all mortal creatures and all the gods.

On account of his habit of reflecting long before acting, Gautama's son Chirakarin, by thinking thus, passed a long time. After many days, his father Gautama came back.

Gifted with great wisdom, Medhatithi of Gautama's race. Practising penances, returned, convinced, after having meditated for that long time, of the impropriety of the punishment he had ordered to be inflicted upon his wife.

Burning with grief and shedding profuse tears, for repentance had come to hiin on account of the wholesome effects of that calmness of temper which is caused by a knowledge of the scriptures, he said:-

The lord of the three worlds, viz., Purandara, came to my asylum, in the guise of a Brahmana asking for hospitality.

He was received by me with becoming words, and welcomed and presented in due form with water to wash his feet and the usual offerings of the Arghya. I also gave him the rest he had asked for.

I further told him that I had acquired a protector in him, I thought that such conduct on my part would make him treat me as a friend. When, however, not-withstanding all this, he misbehaved himself, my wife Ahalya could not be considered to have committed any sin.

It seems that neither my wife, nor myself, nor Indra himself who while passing through the firmament had seen my wife, could he held to have committed any sin. The blame really is the result of the carelessness of my Yoga power.

The sages have said that all calamities originate from envy, which, in its turn, springs from mistaken judgement. By that envy, also, I have been dragged from where I was plunged into an ocean of sin.

Alas, I have killed a woman,-a woman who is again my wife-one, who, on account of her sharing her husband's misfortunes passed by the name of Vasita, one, who was called Bharya owing to my obligation for maintaining her, Who is there who can save me from this sin ?

Acting carelessly I ordered the great Chirakarin! If on the present occasion he proves true to his name then may he save me from this sin.

Twice blessed be you, O Chirakarin! If on this occasion you have delayed accomplishing the work, then are you truly worthy of your name!

Save me, and your mother, and the penances I have won, as also your own self, from grave sins:-Be you truly a Chirakarika to-day!

Ordinarily, on account of your great wisdom you take a long time for reflection before performing any act. Let not you conduct be otherwise to-day! Be you a true Chirakarika to-day.

Your mother had expected you coming for a long time. For a long time did she carry you in her womb. O Chirakarika, let your habit of reflecting long before acting yield beneficial results to-day!

Perhaps, my son Chirakarika is delaying today, anticipating the sorrow it would cause me! Perhaps, he is sleeping over that order, bearing it in his heart. Perhaps, he is delaying, anticipating the grief it would cause both him and me, and thinking upon the circumstances of the case!-

Repenting in this way, O king, the great Rishi Guatama then saw his son Chirakarin sitting near him.

Seeing his father return to their house, the son Chirakarin, laden with grief, cast away the weapon and bowing his head began to pacify Gautama.

Seeing his son prostrated before him with bent head, and seeing also his wife almost petrified with shame, the Rishi became filled with great joy.

From the time the great Rishi, living in that solitary hermitage did not live separately from his wife or his careful son.

Having made the command that his wife should be killed he had gone away from his asylum for accomplishing some object of his own. Since then his son had stood in an humble manner, weapon in hand, for satisfying that command on his mother.

Seeing that son prostrated at his feet, the father thought that, filled with fear, he was asking for pardon for the offence he had perpetrated in taking up a weapon.

The father praised his son for a long time, and smelt his head for a long time, and embraced him for a long time, and blessed him, uttering the words-Do you live long.

Then, filled with joy and contented with what had taken place, Gautama, O you of great Wisdom, said to his son.

Blessed be you, O Chirakarika! Do you always think long before acting! By your delay in carrying out my command you have to-day made me happy for ever!

That learned and best of Rishis then saying these verses upon the subject of the merits of such cool men as think for a long time before doing any work,-

If it be the death of a friend, one should perform it after a long time. If one has to give up a project already begun, he should do it after a long time. A friendship that is contracted after a long examination lasts for a long time.

In yielding to anger, to arrogance, to pride, to disputes, to sinful deeds, and in performing all disagreeable works, he who delays long, deserves praise!

When the offence is not distinctly proved against a relative, a friend, a servant, or a wife, he who thinks long before inflicting the punishment, is praised.

Thus, O Bharata, was Gautama pleased with his son, O you of Kuru's race or that act of delay on the latter's part in satisfying the former's order.

In all deeds a man should, in this wise, think for a long time and then settle what he should do. By acting thus one is sure to avoid grief for a long time.

That man who nurses his anger for a long time, who thinks long before doing any work, never does any act which produces repentance. One should wait for a long time upon the aged, and sitting near them show them respect. One should satisfy his duties for a long time and be engaged for a long time in determining them.

Serving for a long time the learned, and reverentially serving for a long time those who are good in conduct and keeping one's soul for a long while under proper control, one succeeds in enjoying the respect of the world for a long time.

One instructing others on the subject of religion and duty, should, when asked by another for information on those subjects, take a long time to think before giving an answer. He will not then repent.

Regarding Gautama of austere penances, that Rishi, having worshipped the gods for a long while in that asylum of his, at last went up to heaven with his son.