"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell me, O grandsire, if gifts, sacrifices,
penances, and dutiful services returned to preceptors, are productive of
wisdom and high felicity.'Anwikshikim may also mean 'microscopic'.

'Bhishma said, 'If the mind becomes affected by desire, wrath and other
evil passions, it then runs towards sin. If one's acts are stained by
sin, one is obliged to dwell in painful regions. Sinful men take birth in
indigent circumstances and repeatedly suffer the pangs of famine, woe,
fear, and death. Those that are virtuous in their acts, and possessed of
faith, and that have their senses under control, become born as affluent
men and repeatedly sport in festivities and heaven and happiness.
Unbelievers, with their arms manacled, are sent to regions rendered
inaccessible by carnivorous beasts and elephants and full of terrors in
consequence of snakes and robbers. What more need be said of them? They,
on the other hand, who have reverence for gods and guests, who are
liberal, who are fond of good and honest men, go, in consequence of their
acts of charity, along that happy way which belongs to persons of
cleansed souls. They that have no reverence for virtue are as vile among
men as seedless grains among corn or the gnat among birds. That which is
ordained in consequence of the acts of a past life pursues the actor even
if the latter strives his best for leaving it behind.The word dattam, generally rendered 'gifts' or 'charity,' means and includes protection of suppliants, abstention from injury as regards all creatures, and actual gifts made outside the sacrificial altar. Similarly, the maintenance of the sacred fire, penances, purity of conduct, the study of the Vedas, hospitality to guests, and offer of food to the Viswedevas, are all included in the word Ishta which is ordinarily rendered 'sacrifice.' It sleeps when
he sleeps and does whatever else he does.i.e., even if he seeks to avoid it. Like his shadow it rests
when he rests, proceeds when he proceeds, and acts when he acts. Whatever
acts a man does he has certainly to obtain the fruits thereof. Death is
dragging all creatures who are surely destined to fall (into orders of
existence they deserve) and who are surely 'liable to enjoy or suffer
that which has been ordained as the consequence of their acts. The acts
of a past life develop their consequences in their own proper time even
as flowers and fruits, without extraneous efforts of any kind, never fail
to appear when their proper time comes. After the consequences, as
ordained, of the acts of a past life, have been exhausted (by enjoyment
or sufferings), honour and disgrace, gain and loss, decay and growth, no
longer flow or appear in respect of any one. This happens
repeatedly.i.e., becomes his inseparable associate. A creature while still in the mother's womb enjoys or
suffers the happiness or the misery that has been ordained for him in
consequence of his own acts. In childhood or youth or old age, at
whatever period of life one does an act good or bad, the consequences
thereof are sure to visit him in his next life at precisely the same
period. As a calf recognises and approaches its parent in the midst of
even a thousand kine, even so the acts of a past life recognise and visit
the doer in his new life. Washed in water a (dirty) piece of cloth
becomes clean. Similarly, men burning in repentance obtain endless
happiness by proper penances.What is meant is that if once the consequences of the acts of a past life are exhausted, the creature (with respect to whom such exhaustion takes place), is freed from all vicissitudes of life. Lest, however, such creatures become emancipated, the orthodox view is that a balance is always left of both merit and demerit, so that a new birth must take place and the consequences of what is thus left as a balance must begin to be enjoyed or suffered. This is not referred to here, but this is the view of all orthodox Hindus. Those that can take up their residence
in the woods and by performing austerities for a long period can wash
themselves of their sins, succeed in obtaining the objects on which they
set their hearts. As no one can mark the track of birds in the sky or of
fishes in the water, similarly, the track of persons whose souls have
been cleansed by knowledge cannot be marked by any.The first word of this verse is diversely read. The reading I adopt is samunnam meaning drenched in water. If it be samjuktam it would mean united, with filth, of course. Another reading is samswinnam, meaning 'drenched with sweat.' Nilakantha explains upavasah here as equivalent to the renunciation of all earthly possessions. Ordinarily it means 'fasts.' There is no need
of any more eloquence or any more reference to sinful acts. Suffice it to
say that one should, with proper judgment and as befits one best, do what
is for one's good. This is the means by which wisdom and high felicity
may be achieved.'"