SECTION XXXIV

“Bhishma said, ’One should always offer the most reverent worship unto the Brahmanas.  They have Soma for their king, and they it is who confer happiness and misery upon others.  They, O king, should always be cherished and protected as one cherishes and protects one’s own sires and grandsires, and should be adored with bows and gifts of food and ornaments and other articles of enjoyment, as also with such things as they may desire.  The peace and happiness of the kingdom flow from such respect shown to the Brahmanas even as the peace and happiness of all living creatures flow from Vasava, the chief of the celestials.  Let Brahmanas of pure behaviour and Brahma-effulgence be born in a kingdom.  Kshatriyas also that are splendid car-warriors and that are capable of scorching all foes, should be desired (amongst those that settle in a kingdom).  This was said unto me by Narada.  There is nothing higher, O king, than this, viz., the act of causing a Brahmana possessed of good birth, having a knowledge of morality and righteousness, and steadfast in the observance of excellent vows, to take up his residence in one’s mansion.  Such an act is productive of every kind of blessing.  The sacrificial offerings given unto Brahmanas reach the very deities who accept them.  Brahmanas are the sires of all creatures.  There is nothing higher than a Brahmana.  Aditya, Chandramas, Wind, Water, Earth, Sky and the points of the compass, all enter the body of the Brahmana and take what the Brahmana eats.[257] In that house where Brahmanas do not eat, the Pitris refuse to eat.  The deities also never eat in the house of the wretch who hates the Brahmanas.  When the Brahmanas are gratified, the Pitris also are gratified.  There is no doubt in this.  They that give away the sacrificial butter unto the Brahmanas become themselves gratified (in this and the other world).  Such men never meet with destruction.  Verily, they succeed in attaining to high ends.  Those particular offerings in sacrifices with which one gratifies the Brahmanas go to gratify both the Pitris and the deities.  The Brahmana is the cause of that sacrifice whence all created things have sprung.  The Brahmana is acquainted with that from which this universe has sprung and unto which, when apparently destroyed, it returns.  Indeed the Brahmana knows the path that leads to Heaven and the other path that leads to the opposite place.  The Brahmana is conversant with what has happened and what will happen.  The Brahmana is the foremost of all two-legged beings.  The Brahmana, O chief of the Bharatas, is fully conversant with the duties that have been laid down for his order.  Those persons that follow the Brahmanas are never vanquished.  Departing from this world, they never meet with destruction.  Indeed victory is always theirs.  Those high-souled persons,—­indeed, those persons that have subdued their souls,—­who accept the words that fall from the lips of the Brahmanas,