One guilty of foeticide becomes
cleansed at even a hundred Yojanas from Mahasaras, or the tirthas called
Pushkara, or Prabhasa, or Manasa on the north, if only one gets out for
any of them.[446] A slayer of creatures is cleansed of his sins by saying
from imminent peril as many creatures of that particular species as have
been slain by him. Manu has said that by diving in water after thrice
reciting the Aghamarshana mantras, one reaps the fruits of the final bath
in a Horse-sacrifice.[447] Such an act very soon cleanses one of all
one's sins, and one regains in consequence the esteem of the world. All
creatures become obedient to such a person like helpless idiots (obedient
to those that surround them). The gods and Asuras, in days of yore,
approaching the celestial preceptor Vrihaspati, O king, humbly enquired
of him, saying, 'Thou knowest, O great Rishi, the fruits of virtue, as
also the fruits of those other acts that lead to hell in the next world.
Does not that person succeed in liberating himself from both merit and
sin with whom the two (weal and woe) are equal? Tell us, O great Rishi,
what the fruits of righteousness are, and how does a righteous person
dispels his sins.'
"Vrihaspati answered, 'If having committed sin through folly, one does
meritorious acts understanding their nature, one succeeds, by such
righteousness, in cleansing one's self from sin even as a piece of dirty
cloth is washed clean by means of some saline substance.
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