novelraw Arc 6 - Markandeya-Samasya Parva Chapter 5 - Mārkaṇḍeya on Dana-dharma (Acts of Donation)
Arc 6 - Markandeya-Samasya Parva Chapter 5 - Mārkaṇḍeya on Dana-dharma (Acts of Donation)
Vaiśampāyana said:
“The sons of Pāṇḍu and the ṛṣis then asked Mārkaṇḍeya, saying:
‘O venerable one, is there any being blessed with longer life than thou?’
And the sage answered them:
‘Indeed there is, O sons of Kuntī. Hear how I once beheld the royal seer Indradyumna, long-lived and virtuous.
When his merit diminished, he fell from heaven, crying aloud in grief:
“My achievements are lost!”
Coming unto me, he asked:
‘Dost thou know me?’
I replied:
‘We ascetics do not dwell long in any one place. Night after night we wander in quest of merit, sustained by our vows. Fasting renders us weak in body, detached from worldly ways. How then can I know thy pursuits, O king?’
The royal sage, sighing, asked again:
‘Is there any one longer-lived than thou?’
I answered him:
‘On Himavat there dwells an ancient owl named Pravarakarṇa. Older is he than I. He may know thee.’
At once Indradyumna took the form of a horse, and bearing me upon his back, carried me to the lofty mountain. There we found the owl, venerable and still as stone. The king asked him:
‘Dost thou know me?’
The owl reflected and replied:
‘I do not know thee. But within a distant lake dwells a crane named Nadijaṅgha, elder even than I. He may know thee.’
So together—the king, myself, and the owl—we went unto the lake. There the crane, white as moonlight, was questioned. But he too, after reflecting, said:
‘I do not know king Indradyumna. Yet here in this very lake dwells Akupara, the tortoise, who is older than I. He may recall him.’
Then the crane summoned the tortoise. Slowly he emerged from the waters, ancient, his shell darkened by the ages. When asked if he knew the fallen king, the tortoise trembled, his eyes brimming with tears. His voice, heavy with memory, broke forth:
“Alas, how should I not know this one?
It was Indradyumna who a thousand times
Planted the stake of sacrifice,
Kindling the sacred fire of the yajña.
This very lake was hollowed by the feet of cows,
Gifted by him to the Brāhmaṇas,
At the close of his mighty rites.
Here have I dwelt ever since that time.”
As the tortoise spoke, a wonder occurred. From the heavens descended a celestial car, radiant like the rising sun. And a voice resounded in the sky:
“O Indradyumna, come thou now!
Regain the place thou hast earned in heaven.
Thy deeds are great, thy gifts imperishable.
Ascend, O king, to thy eternal sphere!”
And with that voice came teaching, like law engraved upon the firmament:
“The report of virtue spreadeth through the earth,
And riseth upward unto heaven.
So long as that report endureth,
So long abideth the doer in heaven.
But when evil deeds are bruited abroad,
The sinner falleth into the lower realms,
And there abides as long as men speak of him.
Therefore, let man take refuge in virtue,
Abandoning the darkness of sin.”
Then Indradyumna, his heart calmed, said:
‘Let this car remain awhile, until I return these ancients to their homes.’
With reverence he bore me back to my hermitage, and Pravarakarṇa to his dwelling, before mounting the divine car. Then, radiant with peace, he ascended once more to heaven.
Thus, O Bhāratas, being long-lived, I bore witness to all this.”
Vaiśampāyana continued:
“When Mārkaṇḍeya had finished, the sons of Pāṇḍu exclaimed:
‘Blessed art thou! By thy guidance Indradyumna, fallen from heaven, regained his sphere.’
And Mārkaṇḍeya added:
‘Even so did Devakī’s son, Kṛṣṇa, lift up King Nṛga, who had sunk in hell, and cause him to ascend once more to heaven.’”
Vaiśampāyana said:
When Yudhiṣṭhira heard of King Indradyumna’s return to heaven through the grace of merit remembered, he bowed again to Mārkaṇḍeya:
“O great muni, in what condition should a man practise dāna (charity) to win Indra’s realm? Is it best as a householder, in boyhood, in youth, or in old age? Tell us the fruits in each season of life.”
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
“Listen, O son of Dharma. Four kinds of life are vain, and sixteen kinds of gifts are fruitless.
A life is vain when:
a man leaves no son;he strays beyond the pale of virtue;he lives by others’ food;he cooks for himself and eats first, denying shares to Pitṛs, gods, and guests.Gifts are vain when given:
to one fallen from vows;from wealth wrongly earned;to a fallen Brāhmaṇa, a thief, a false preceptor;to the untruthful, the sinful, the ungrateful;to hire-priests for all-caste village rites;to sellers of Veda;to a Brāhmaṇa cooking for Śūdras;to a Brāhmaṇa by birth destitute of his order’s ways;to a man who weds a girl after her puberty’s onset;to women (as alms to claim religious merit);to gamblers;to men of menial crafts.These sixteen yield no merit.
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He who gives out of fear or anger enjoys that brittle fruit in the mother’s womb; he who gives, otherwise, to the Brāhmaṇas, enjoys the fruit in old age. Therefore, O King, whoever seeks heaven should, in all conditions of life, give to worthy Brāhmaṇas whatever he has set his heart to give.”
Give while the hand is strong,
Give with a tranquil mind;
Not fear, nor wrath, nor show,
But faith in dharma kind.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “How do Brāhmaṇas who accept gifts from all four orders save others and themselves?”
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
“By japa (holy mutterings), mantra, homa, and study of the Veda, the Brāhmaṇas build a Vedic boat that bears both giver and priest across. Even the gods are pleased by him who pleases Brāhmaṇas; by a Brāhmaṇa’s benediction heaven is won. Thou too, O King—though phlegmatic and slow of body—shalt surely attain the deathless regions by honoring gods and Pitṛs and revering the twice-born.
At śrāddhas feed Brāhmaṇas with care, excluding the fallen, the cursed, the deceitful, the leprous, those born of adultery or of widows unlawfully, and those living by arms; but if the officiants be dumb, blind, or deaf, join them with Veda-knowers. Give to one able to rescue both giver and himself.
Know also: sacred fires are less gladdened by ghee and garlands than by the honoring of a guest.”
Wash the traveller’s dusty feet,
Oil his weary shins;
Give lamp by night, a roof by rain—
Yama’s summons thins.
“Removing the flowers after worship, taking the leavings of a Brāhmaṇa’s meal, anointing and massaging a Brāhmaṇa—each yields more merit than the gift of kine. Yet a Kapila cow, decked and given to the worthy, rescues the giver. Give to one of good lineage versed in Veda, to the poor, to the burdened householder, to the daily fire-worshipper, and to one who has done thee no service. Give not to the affluent.
Give one cow to one Brāhmaṇa; if one cow be divided among many and sold, the giver’s line falls for three generations. He who gives eighty ratis of pure gold gains the standing of one who gives a hundred forever. He who gives a strong plough-bull is freed of all perils and goes to heaven. Land to a learned Brāhmaṇa fulfills desire.
If a dust-stained traveller asks, ‘Who will feed me?’ he who names the true giver shares the giver’s merit. Therefore, above all, give food.”
Food is Prajāpati,
Year, sacrifice, seed;
All beings rise from it—
Give food, and heaven is speed.
“They who dig lakes and wells, give shelter and kind words, hear not Yama’s reproof. He who gives rice honestly earned to well-behaved Brāhmaṇas—on him the Earth pours wealth. The giver of food walks first; next, the truth-speaker; and he who gives unasked—these three reach the same bright place.”
Hearing this, Yudhiṣṭhira asked again, eager of heart: “What is the measure and passage to Yama’s realm? How far, and by what means do men traverse it?”
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
“This is a sacred mystery, praised by ṛṣis. Yama’s realm is eighty-six thousand yojanas from the world of men. The way runs through void, waterless, treeless, shelterless—terrible to behold. Men and women are led upon it by Yama’s messengers.
Yet gifts made on earth become vehicles upon that road:
He who gave horses and conveyances goes borne by them;He who gave umbrellas walks shaded;He who gave food goes unfamished; he who gave none goes tormented by hunger;He who gave garments goes clothed; the nongiver goes naked;He who gave gold goes adorned;He who gave land walks with desire fulfilled;He who gave grain lacks no want;He who gave houses rides in cars;He who gave drink goes unthirsting;He who gave lamps goes with his path illumined;He who gave cows goes freed from sins.Fasters too win bright chariots: a month’s fast—swans draw his car; six nights—peacocks draw his car; three nights on one meal—he enters a realm without illness or fear.
Water is joy in Yama’s land; the givers of water drink from the river Puṣpodakā, cool and ambrosial; the evildoers, alas, have pus ordained for drink. Therefore, honor these Brāhmaṇas with all rites; a guest Brāhmaṇa is followed by the gods. If honored, the gods are pleased; if not, the celestials grieve.”
A guest at dusk—receive;
A Brāhmaṇa—reverence pay;
In him the gods draw near to thee,
And bless thy house and way.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Speak further, O master of virtue.”
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
“Hear then a cleansing teaching. The merit of gifting a Kapila cow at Jyeṣṭha-Puṣkara equals the merit of washing a Brāhmaṇa’s feet; so long as the earth is wet with that water, the Pitṛs drink from lotus-cups. If the guest is welcomed—Agni is gladdened; seated—Maghavan (Indra) rejoices; his feet washed—the Pitṛs are delighted; fed—Prajāpati is pleased.
Give a cow at the very moment her calf’s head and feet appear—she is equal to the Earth herself; the giver gains worship in heaven for as many thousand yugas as there are hairs on dam and calf. He who, having accepted a gift, passes it on at once to a virtuous man gains the fruit of gifting the whole earth with oceans and mountains.
A Brāhmaṇa who eats in silence with hands between his knees rescues others; so too those who abstain from drink, are blameless in speech, and daily recite the Saṁhitās. Pour clarified butter to a Veda-knower; as ghee in fire is never wasted, so gifts to learned, virtuous Brāhmaṇas never fail.
The Brāhmaṇa’s weapon is wrath—
Not iron, nor whetted steel;
Beware the curse of truth aflame,
More keen than thunder’s peal.
Thus the discourse on dharma ended; the forest-ṛṣis of Naimiṣa rejoiced, freed of grief and anger, cleansed of sin; and men who hear this are loosed from rebirth.
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
“O thou of great wisdom, by what daily purification may a Brāhmaṇa keep himself ever pure? Tell me this, O foremost among the righteous.”
Mārkaṇḍeya answered Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Dharma:
“O King, there are three purities: in speech, in deed, and by the lustration of water. He who keeps these three ascends, without doubt, to heaven. The Brāhmaṇa who worships Sandhyā at dawn and dusk and meditates upon holy Gāyatrī—the mother of the Vedas—stands sanctified; even if he were to accept the whole earth with its oceans as gift, sorrow touches him not. The wandering stars that rise adverse turn auspicious for him; the auspicious grow more auspicious still. Flesh-eating rākṣasas of terrible form cannot prevail against him who is thus purified.
Brāhmaṇas are like blazing fires: in teaching, in sacrifice, in accepting gifts they incur no fault. Whether learned or not, pure or impure, they are not to be reviled—for the cremation-fire is not defiled by its place. Cities walled and turreted lose their splendor if bereft of Brāhmaṇas. Where Veda-wise, vow-keeping ascetics dwell—even woods and pasturelands—there is a city, there a tīrtha.
Approach thou a protector-king and a tapas-rich Brāhmaṇa; honoring both, a man is swiftly cleansed. Bathing at holy fords, recalling the names of the righteous, conversing with the good—these are applauded by the wise. What sanctifies is pure company and pure speech; not merely the three staffs, the vow of silence, bark-garments, deer-skins, forest life or fasts, if the heart be unwashed.
The senses are six; the mind is the swiftest—
Curb that charioteer and the horses obey.
Fasts dry the flesh but not the fault;
A cleansed intent burns sins away.
He who is hard to his kin is not sinless though his body shine with ablutions; such hardness is the enemy of austerity. Asceticism is not mere fleeing from pleasure; the householder who lives ever-pure, ever-kind, is a muni indeed. Fasts and penances without understanding bring only torment; the fire he worships consumes not his stain. By holiness and virtue alone do vows take flame. Fruits-and-roots, silence and sky-bed, matted locks and daily fasts—these by themselves do not bestow the goal. By knowledge joined to deed do the holy conquer sickness, age, and death, like seeds well-roasted that never sprout again.
A half-śloka seen and held—
The Self beheld within—
Needs no other prop or staff
To cross the ford of sin.
Doubt darkens both worlds; the mark of liberation is the certainty of the Self. He who knows the Veda’s heart fears the treadmill of ritual as a man fears a forest fire. Lay aside dry dispute; to Śruti and Smṛti repair, and by reason seek the One without a second. Means must be sound, else the seeking fails; therefore study well. The Vedas are the Self’s own body and truth; yet the embodied soul cannot grasp Him save by a mind made pure. In every age gods, acts, and embodied agency are plain to see; freedom from all three is won by purity of the senses. The true fast is the stilling of their functions. Austerity wins heaven, charity wins enjoyments, tīrtha-baths wash off sin—but only knowledge cuts the knot entire.”
Vaiśampāyana continued:
Thus addressed, the king of steadfast fame said, “O holy one, speak now of that charity which is meritorious.”
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
“Hear, O Yudhiṣṭhira, the mystery of dāna praised in Śruti and Smṛti. He who performs a śrāddha under the Gajacchāyā, fanned by the leaves of the aśvattha, enjoys its fruit for a hundred thousand kalpas. He who founds a dharmaśālā and appoints a keeper to receive all comers gains the merit of all sacrifices. He who gives a horse at a ford where the river runs counter-current wins inexhaustible merit. The unexpected guest is verily Indra; feeding him, one receives Indra’s unfading reward. As ships bear men across the sea, such gifts bear the giver beyond his sins. Gifts to Brāhmaṇas—like curds poured out—yield unending fruit.
Right time outshines right place;
Right place outshines the day;
But when both meet—sun’s turnings,
Eclipses—gifts outstay decay.
A gift on special lunar days doubles merit; in chosen seasons, tenfold; at season-turnings, a hundredfold; on days when Rāhu is manifest, a thousandfold; at the Sun’s last day in Libra or Aries—merit that wanes not. No man rides in cars who never gave them, nor holds land who never gifted land. As the intent at giving, so the fruit on rebirth. Gold is of Agni, Earth of Viṣṇu, kine of the Sun—who gives these wins the realms of Fire, Viṣṇu, and Sūrya. Gift alone is the deathless thing; nothing in the three worlds surpasses it.
What thou wouldst wish to keep—give;
What thou wouldst hope to gain—share;
Heaven’s road is paved with dāna,
And open to the fair.
Remember also: the best gifts meet the worthiest hands. Let the giver seek the Veda-wise, the poor, the burdened householder, the daily fire-worshipper, and even him who has done no service—for that is purest giving. Food is foremost of gifts; water is joy in Yama’s land; cows redeem; lamps illumine the road; umbrellas shade; vehicles carry; houses shelter. Thus does dāna become the traveller’s convoy between worlds.”
Vaiśampāyana said:
When the sage had spoken thus, the Pāṇḍava asked once more, “O foremost of munis, by what daily rule may a Brāhmaṇa remain ever-pure?”
And Mārkaṇḍeya prepared to teach again.