"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell his those duties in respect of persons like
ourselves which are auspicious, productive of happiness in the future,
benevolent, approved by all, pleasant, and agreeable.'
"Bhishma said, 'The four modes of life, O puissant one, have been laid
down for the Brahmana. The other three orders do not adopt them, O best
of the Bharatas! Many acts, O king, leading to heaven and especially fit
for the kingly order, have already been declared. Those, however, cannot
be referred to in reply to thy present query, for all of them have been
duly laid down for such Kshatriyas as are not disinclined to
pitilessness. The Brahmana who is addicted to the practices of Kshatriyas
and Vaisyas and Sudras, incurs censure in this world as a person of
wicked soul and goes to hell in the next world. Those names which are
applied among men to slaves and dogs and wolves and (other) beasts, are
applied, O son of Pandu, to the Brahmana who is engaged in pursuits that
are improper for him. That Brahmana who, in all the four modes of life.
is duly engaged in the six-fold acts (of regulating the breath,
contemplation, etc.), who performs all his duties, who is not restless,
who has his passions under control, whose heart is pure and who is ever
engaged in penances, who has no desire of bettering his prospects, and
who is charitable, has inexhaustible regions of bliss in the other world.
Everyone derives his own nature from the nature of his acts, in respect
of their circumstances, place, and means and motives. Thou shouldst,
therefore, O king, regard the study of the Vedas, which is fraught with
such high merit, to be equal with the exertion of kingly power, or the
pursuits of agriculture, trade, and hunting. The world is set agoing by
Time. Its operations are settled by the course of Time. Man does all his
acts, good, bad, and indifferent, entirely influenced by Time. Those
amongst the good acts of a man's past life that exert the greatest
influence on the next, are liable to be exhausted. Men, however, are
always engaged in those acts to which their propensities lead. Those
propensities, again, lead a living being to every direction.'"
