They
who behave as they should towards their mothers and fathers and
preceptors and other seniors even as thou, O tiger among the Vrishnis,
dost behave, succeed in crossing all calamities and obstacles--Having
said these words, the celestial Rishi ceased speaking.'
"Bhishma continued. 'For these reasons, do thou also, O son of Kunti,
always worship with reverence the deities, the Pitris, the Brahmanas, and
guests arrived at thy mansion and as the consequence of such conduct thou
art sure to attain to a desirable end!'"
SECTION XXXII
"Yudhishthira said,--'O grandsire, O thou of great wisdom, O thou that
art conversant with all branches of knowledge, I desire to hear thee
discourse on topics connected with duty and Righteousness. Tell me truly,
O chief of Bharata's race, what the merits are of those persons that
grant protection to living creatures of the four orders when these pray
for protection.'
"Bhishma said, 'O Dharma's son of great wisdom and widespread fame,
listen to this old history touching the great merit of granting
protection to others when protection is humbly sought. Once on a time, a
beautiful pigeon, pursued by a hawk, dropped down from the skies and
sought the protection of the highly-blessed king Vrishadarbha. The
pure-souled monarch, beholding the pigeon take refuge in his lap from
fear, comforted him, saying, Be comforted, O bird; do not fear, Whence
hast thou taken such great fright? What hast thou done and where hast
thou done it in consequence of which thou hast lost thy senses in fear
and art more dead than alive? Thy colour, beautiful bird, is such as to
resemble that which adorns a fresh-blown lotus of the blue variety.
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