He should always read the Vedas and the scriptures.  He should always speak the truth, and practise self-denial.  He should eat Vighasa (viz., what remains after serving the deities and guests).  Indeed, he should be hospitable towards all that come to his abode.  He should always eat Amrita (viz., the food that remains in the house after all the family, including guests and servants have eaten) He should duly observe all rites and perform sacrifices.’”

“Yudhishthira said, “How may one come to be regarded as always observant of fasts?  How may one become observant of vows?  How, O king, may one come to be an eater of Vighasa?  By doing what may one be said to be found of guest?’”

“Bhishma said, ’He who takes food only morning and evening at the prescribed hours and abstains from all food during the interval between, is said to be an abstainer from food.  He who has congress with only his wedded wife and that only at her season, is said to be observant of the vow of Brahmacharya.  By always making gifts, one comes to be regarded as truthful in speech.  By abstaining from all meat obtained from animals slaughtered for nothing, one becomes an abstainer from meat.[417] By making gifts one becomes cleansed of all sins, and by abstaining from sleep during daytime one comes to be regarded as always awake.  He who always eats what remains after serving the needs of guests and servants is said to always eat Amrita.  He who abstains from eating till Brahmanas have eaten (of that food), is regarded as conquering heaven by such abstention.  He who eats what remains after serving the deities, the Pitris, and relatives and dependants, is said to eat Vighasa.  Such men acquire many regions of felicity in the abode of Brahman himself.  There, O king, they dwell in the company of Apsaras and Gandharvas.  Indeed, they sport and enjoy all sports of delight in those regions, with the deities and guests and the Pitris in their company, and surrounded by their own children and grandchildren.  Even such becomes their high end.’”

“Yudhishthira said, ’People are seen to make diverse kinds of gifts unto the Brahmanas.  What, however, is the difference, O grandsire, between the giver and the receiver?’”

“Bhishma said, ’The Brahmana accepts gifts from him that is righteous, and from him that is unrighteous.  If the giver happens to be righteous, the receiver incurs little fault.  If on the other hand, the giver happens to be unrighteous the receiver sinks in hell.  In this connection is cited an old history of the conversation between Vrishadarbhi and the seven Rishis, O Bharata.  Kasyapa and Atri and Vasishtha and Bharadwaja and Gautama and Viswamitra and Jamadagni, and the chaste Arundhati (the wife of Vasishtha), all had a common maidservant whose name was Ganda.  A Sudra of the name of Pasusakha married Ganda and became her husband.  Kasyapa and others, in days of old, observed the austerest penances and roved over the world, desirous of attaining to the eternal