अनुशासनिक पर्व — भूतहरूमाथि ब्राह्मणहरूको श्रेष्ठता

The God of wind said Hear, O deluded man, what the attributes are of Brahmanas who have all high souls. The Brahmana is superior to all those which, O king, you have named.

Formerly, the Earth, indulging in a spirit of rivalry with the king of the Angas, forsook her character as Earth. The regenerate Kashyapa caused destruction to befall her by actually paralysing her.

The Brahmanas are always unconquerable, O king, in Heaven as also on Earth. Formerly, the great Rishi Angirasa, through his energy, drank off all the water.

Having drunk off all the waters as if they were milk, the great Rishi did not feel yet his thirst to be satisfied. He, therefore, once more caused the Earth to be filled with water by raising a mighty wave.

On another occasion, when Angirasa became enraged with me, I fled away, leaving the world, and lived for a long time concealed in the Agnihotra of the Brahmanas, through fear of that Rishi.

The illustrious Purandara, an account of his having coveted the body of Ahalya, was cursed by Gautama, yet for the sake of Virtue and wealth, the Rishi did not destroy outright the king of the celestials.

The Ocean, O king, that was full in former days of crystal water, cursed by the Brahmanas, become saline in taste.

Even Agni who is goldhued, and who blazes with cffulgence when destitute of smoke, and whose flames uniting together, burn upwards, when cursed by the angry Angiras, became divested of all these qualities.

See, the sixty thousand sons of Sagara, who came here to worship the Ocean, have all been pulverised by the Brahmana Kapila of golden hue.

You are not equal to the Brahmanas. Do you, O king, seek your own good. The Kshatriya of even great power bows to Brahmana children who are still in their mothers' wombs.

The large kingdom of the Dandakas was destroyed by a Brahmana. The powerful Kshatriya Talajangha was destroyed by a single Brahmana, viz., Aurva.

You, too, have acquired a large kingdom, great might, religious merit, and learning, which are all difficult of acquirement, through the grace of Dattatreya.

Why do yu, O Arjuna, adore Agni everyday who is a Brahmana? He is the bearer of sacrificial libations from every part of the universe. Are you ignorant of this fact.

Why, indeed, do you allow yourself to be stupefied by folly when you are not ignorant of the fact that a superior Brahmana is the protector of all creatures in the world and is, indeed, the creator of the living world?

The Lord of all creatures, Brahman, unmanifest, gifted with power, and of unfading glory, who created this vast universe with its mobile and immobile creatures, (is Brahmana).

Some ignorant persons there are, who say that Brahman was born of an Egg. From the original Egg, when it opened, mountains and the cardinal points and the waters and the Earth and the Heavens all came into existence.

No one had seen this birth of the creation. How then can Brahman be said to to have taken his birth from thc original Egg, when especially he is said to be Unborn? It is said that vast increate Space is the original Egg. It was from this in create Space that the Grandfather was born. If you

ask, Whereon would the Grandfather, after his birth from increate Space, rest for there was then nothing else? The answer may be given thus. There is an existent Being of the name of Consciousness. That mighty Being is gifted with great energy.

There is no Egg. Brahman, however, is existent. He is the Creator of the universe and is its King! Thus addressed by the god of wind, king Arjuna remained silent.