“Parasara said, ’The sires, the friends, the preceptor, and the spouses of the preceptors of men that are destitute of devotion are unable to give to those men the merits that attach to devotion.  Only they that are firmly devoted to such seniors, that speak what is agreeable to them, that seek their welfare, and that are submissive to them in behaviour, can obtain the merit of devotion.  The sire is the highest of deities with his children.  It is said that the sire is superior to the mother.  The attainment of Knowledge is regarded as the highest acquisition.  They that have subjugated the objects of the senses (by attainment of Knowledge), acquire what is highest (viz., Emancipation).  That Kshatriya prince who, repairing to the field of battle, receives wounds amid fiery shafts flying in all directions and burns therewith, certainly repairs to regions that are unattainable by the very deities and, arrived there, enjoys the felicity of heaven in perfect contentment.  A Kshatriya should not, O king, strike one that is fatigued, or one that is frightened, or one that has been disarmed, or one that is weeping, or one that is unwilling to fight, or one that is unequipped with mail and cars and horse and infantry, or one that has ceased to exert oneself in the fight, or one that is ill, or one that cries for quarter, or one that is of tender years, or one that is old.  A Kshatriya should, in battle, fight one of his order who is equipped with mail and cars and horse and infantry, who is ready for exertion and who occupies a position of equality.  Death at the hands of one that is equal or of a superior is laudable, but not that at the hands of one that is low, or of one that is a coward, or of one that is a wretch.  This is well-known.  Death at the hands of one that is sinful, or of one that is of low birth and wicked conduct, O king, is inglorious and leads to hell.  One whose period of life has run out cannot be rescued by anybody.  Similarly, one whose period of life has not been exhausted can never be slain by any one.[1547] One should prevent one’s affectionate seniors from doing unto one (for one’s benefit) such acts as are done by menials, as also all such acts as are fraught with injury to others.  One should never desire to extend one’s own life by taking the lives of others.[1548] When they lay down their lives, it is laudable for all householders observant of the duties of men living in sacred places to lay down their lives on the banks of sacred streams.[1549] When one’s period of life becomes exhausted, one dissolves away into the five elements.  Sometimes this occurs suddenly (through accidents) and sometimes it is brought about by (natural) causes.[1550] He who, having obtained a body, brings about its dissolution (in a. sacred place by means of some inglorious accident), becomes invested with another body of a similar kind.  Though set on the path of the Emancipation, he yet becomes a traveller and attains to another body like a person repairing from one room into another.[1551]