Listen now to me, O lord of Earth, as I expound to
thee the merits of Brahmacharya. That man, who practises the vow of
Brahmacharya from his birth to the time of his death, know, O king, has
nothing unattainable! Many millions of Rishis are residing in the region
of Brahma. All of them, while here, were devoted to Truth, and
self-restrained and had their vital seed drawn up. The vow of
Brahmacharya, O king, duly observed by a Brahmana, is sure to burn all
his sins. The Brahmana is said to be a blazing fire. In those Brahmanas
that are devoted to penances, the deity of fire becomes visible. If a
Brahmacharin yields to wrath in consequence of any slight the chief of
the deities himself trembles in fear. Even this is the visible fruit of
the vow of Brahmacharya that is observed by the Rishis. Listen to me, O
Yudhishthira, what the merit is that attaches to the worship of the
father and the mother. He, who dutifully serves his father without ever
crossing him in anything, or similarly serves his mother or (elder)
brother or other senior or preceptor, it should be known, O king, earns a
residence in heaven. The man of cleansed soul, in consequence of such
service rendered to his seniors, has never even to behold hell.'"
SECTION LXXVI
"Yudhishthira said, 'I desire, O king, to hear thee discourse in detail
upon those high ordinances which regulate gifts of kine, for it is by
making gifts (of kine) according to those ordinances that one attains to
innumerable regions of eternal felicity.
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