The king who had
stolen the kine belonging to a Brahmana obtained an infamous end. Hence,
one should never steal or appropriate anything that belongs to a
Brahmana. Behold to what state I am reduced in consequence of my having
eaten food that had been sprinkled over with milk belonging to a
Brahmana! It is for this reason that Soma plants become unsaleable by a
person possessed of wisdom. They who sell the Soma plant are censured by
the wise. Indeed, O son, they who purchase Soma and they who sell it,
both sink in the hell called Raurava when, departing from this world,
they repair to the region of Yama. That man who, possessing a knowledge
of the Vedas, duly sells Soma, becomes in his next life a usurer and
quickly meets with destruction. For three hundred times he has to sink
into hell and become transformed into an animal that subsists upon human
ordure. Serving a person that is vile and low, pride, and rape upon a
friend's wife, if weighed against one another in a balance, would show
that pride, which transcends all restraints, is the heaviest. Behold this
dog, so sinful and disagreeably pale and lean! (He was a human being in
his former life). It is through pride that living creatures attain to
such a miserable end. As regards myself, I was born in a large family, in
a former birth of mine.
Pages:
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716