Even such is the effect of the gift of lamps and of incense,
as also of bows and prostrations, to the deities. When food is cooked,
the first portion thereof should be offered to a Brahmana. The particular
offerings called Vali should also be presented to the household deities.
The deities become gratified with such gifts.[447] It is also well-known
that the measure of gratification which the deities derive from such
offerings is a hundred times as great as that which the householder
himself derives from making them. Persons endued with piety and wisdom
make offerings of incense and lights, accompanying them with bows and
prostrations. Such acts are always fraught with advancement and
prosperity to those that do them. Those rites which the learned go
through in course of their ablutions, and with the aid of waters,
accompanied with bows unto the gods, always contribute to the
gratification of the gods. When worshipped with proper rites, the highly
blessed Pitris, Rishis possessed of wealth of asceticism, and the
household deities, all become gratified. Filled with such ideas, Nahusha,
that great king, when he obtained the sovereignty of the deities,
observed all these rites and duties fraught with great glory. Some time
after the good fortune of Nahusha waned, and as the consequence thereof,
he disregarded all these observances and began to act in defiance of all
restraints in the manner I have already adverted to.
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