If, O lord, without performing great
sacrifices and the rites in honour of thy deceased ancestors, and it,
without bathing in sacred waters, thou betakest thyself to a wandering
life, thou shalt then meet with destruction like a small cloud separated
from a mass and dashed by the winds. Thou shalt then fall off from both
worlds and have to take thy birth in the Pisacha order.[28] A person
becomes a true renouncer by casting off every internal and external
attachment, and not simply by abandoning home for dwelling in the woods.
A Brahmana that lives in the observance of these ordinances in which
there are no impediments, does not fall off from this or the other world.
Observant of the duties of one's own order,--duties respected by the
ancients and practised by the best of men, who is there, O Partha, that
would grieve, O king, for having in a trice stain in battle his foes that
swelled with prosperity, like Sakra slaying the forces of the Daityas?
Having in the observance of Kshatriya duties subjugated the world by the
aid of thy prowess, and having made presents unto persons conversant with
the Vedas, thou canst, O monarch, go to regions higher than heaven. It
behoves thee not, O Partha, to indulge in grief."
SECTION XIII
"Sahadeva said, 'By casting off all external objects only, O Bharata, one
does not attain to success. By casting off even mental attachments, the
attainment of success is doubtful.[29] Let that religious merit and that
happiness which are his who has cast off external objects but whose mind
still internally covets them, be the portion of our foes! On the other
hand, let that religious merit and that happiness which are his who
governs the earth, having cast off all internal attachments also, be the
portion of our friends.
Pages:
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052