After the same manner, the Rishis acquired the Vedas through the power of
penances. It was by the aid of penances that the Grandsire created food,
fruit and roots. It is by penances that persons crowned with ascetic
success behold the three worlds, with rapt souls. Medicines and all
antidotes to injurious substances, and the diverse acts (seen here),
produce their intended results through the aid of penance. The
accomplishment of all purposes depends upon penance. Whatever things
there are that are apparently unattainable are sure to be won by the aid
of penance. Without doubt, the Rishis obtained their sixfold divine
attributes through penance. A person that drinks alcoholic stimulants,
one that appropriates the possessions of others without their consent,
one guilty of foeticide, one that violates one's preceptor's bed, are all
cleansed by penance properly practised. Penances are of many kinds. They
exhibit themselves through various outlets. Of all kinds of penances,
however, that one may Practise after abstaining from pleasure and
enjoyment, abstention from food Is the highest and best. The penance
involved in abstention from food is superior, O king, to even compassion,
truthfulness of speech, gifts, and restraining the senses. There is no
act more difficult to accomplish than gift. There is no mode of life that
is superior to serving one's mother. There is no creature superior to
those that are conversant with the three Vedas. Similarly, Renunciation
constitutes the highest penance.
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