85 - The eatables and non-eatables of the four Varnas 

Nanda said- О virtuous one, you kindly let me know what are the eatables and non-eatables for the four varnas of Brahmana, Kshatriyas, Shudra and Vaishya and what are the results of their deeds? Because you happen to be the cause of all the causes, the great sage and the lord on to yourself. I cannot ask this, question from anybody else. 

Sri Krishna said- I am now narrating to you about the eatables and non-eatables by the four varnas as prescribed in the Vedic literature. You listen to me attentively. Manu has prescribed that the water, the milk, curd and ghee, the food, fried materials, honey, guda, coconut water, fruit and the roots, kept in iron vases become unfit for consumption. The burnt food and the beverage, vinegar prepared by a Brahmana becomes unfit for consumption. 

The water of the coconut placed in a bronze vase, the honey and milk preparations kept in copper vases besides all other beverages become unfit for consumption except the ghee.

 The consumption of milk in a copper vase, the ghee in a used vase, the milk, the food and salt are prohibited because for the one who consumes it, it becomes like consuming a cow’s flesh. 

The ghee mixed with honey, oil and the guda mixed with ginger become unfit for consumption. This has been prescribed in the shrutis. 

The left-over water, the eating of radish in the month of Magha, the recitation of mantras seated on a bed are all prohibited and the intellectuals should not indulge in the same. The intellectuals should not take food twice a day or eat food at the time of both the Sandhya’s and taking the food in the last quarter of the night is prohibited for the intellectuals. 

The water, payasam, flour, ghee, salt, svastika, guda, milk, butter-milk and honey should not be received in the palm of the hand from anyone which happens to be like cow's flesh. The champhor placed in the vase of silver becomes unfit for consumption according to the Vedas. 

In case the person who serves the food touches the person who is eating food, then the food becomes unfit for consumption. This is the opinion of all.

О lord of Vraja, the meat of the mangos, rhinoceros, the birds, the snakes, fish, the donkeys, the cats, the jackals, the tiger, lion and of human being is prohibited from consumption.

Similarly, the aquatic animals like crocodile, lizard, frogs, crabs, porcupines and the spotted cow’s flesh should not be taken. О lord of Vraja, one should not take the meat of the elephant, horses, human flesh, demons, mosquitoes, flies, ants which is prohibited in the Vedas and the common human tradition,  

Similarly, the meat of the monkeys, the bears, the camel, Ashtapada, a deer with kasthuri and the meat of the donkey should not be consumed. The milk of a buffalo and the preparation of her milk like curd, ghee and butter besides the svastika prepared from the same is prohibited. The meat of the horse or the mare's milk is prohibited from consumption by all the four varnas. This has been prescribed in the Vedas. 

Ginger should not be consumed on Sundays by all and for the Brahmanas, the left-over water, food and milk is considered to be unfit for consumption. The food cooked by a widow having no son or husband should not be taken because such a food is like the cow's flesh or even worse than that. 

If a Brahmana takes such a food from a widow due to ignorance, all the adorations of the manes and the gods become infructuous. This has been prescribed by Manu. The fish is unfit for consumption of the Brahmanas, the Vaishnavas and people of other castes should not take the same on the eighth and fourth day of the fortnight, the moonless-night, full-moon night and the first day of the month. 

For the performing of the shraddhas and the adoration of the gods, the offering of the permissible meat is not prohibited. In the above five days, the consumption of meat is prohibited, this has been prescribed by Manu. The salt and the oil which is not well sanctified is not unfit for consumption but the food stuffs sanctified by the fire can be consumed by everyone. The consumption of the ghee or the water placed over the palm becomes unfit for consumption. The dirty water and the water with insets are also unfit for consumption even the visible clean water if it is not fully cleaned is unfit for consumption. The Brahmanas, especially the Vaishnavas, the recluses, the Brahmacharis should not take anything without first offering it to lord Vishnu. О father, the honey, the milk, curd, ghee and other things when filled with the ants should not be taken. This has been prescribed in the Vedas. In case a fruit is eaten by an insect or the bird, it remains pure but if something is eaten by a cow it becomes unfit for consumption. The sweets fried in ghee and oil beside other sweets prepared by Shudras are fit for their consumption but not by the Brahmanas. The food and water of all the unclean persons should be discarded. After removal of the impurity, everything becomes impure. There is no doubt about it. 

It is difficult to face the reward of the deeds.  This has been prescribed in the shrutis. О lord of Vraja, I have spelt out to you, the eatables and non-eatables by all, according to my knowledge. 

О father, there is a difference of opinion because of the four Vedas but in spite of that, I have told you the gist of everything. 

After the expiry of hundred crores of kalpas, the deed is never destroyed. 

With the adoration of the gods and visiting the holy places in different types of bodies, the human bodies also receive some merit. О father, the one who remains inimical to me cannot be purified by performing any amount of repentance, as the vase of wine cannot be purified by any number of rivers. 

О lord of the Vaishyas, a person cannot be purified by performing any type of auspicious deeds or repentance, performing of charities and the yogic practices because the good and bad deeds never get destroyed unless one faces them.  By facing them, one gets purified and only then does he achieve redemption. The bad deed cannot be destroyed with the performing of the good deeds. The bad deeds cannot be destroyed by performing yajnas, tapas, vratas, fasting bathing in holy places, performing charities, recitations, strict observance of the rules, going around the globe, listening to the Puranas, auspicious discourses, adoring the teacher and the gods, by following one's own dharma, adoring the guest and the Brahmanas and serving  them with food. 

Whatever is given to the Brahmana one gets back the whole of it because a Brahmana happens to be the field and the charities given to him are like the seed. О father, a person can achieve heaven by performing a deed, but the moksha cannot be achieved by performing the deeds. It can be achieved by serving me. 

One achieves heaven by performing noble deeds and by performing evil and deplorable deeds, one is thrown into hell and then is reborn, suffering from ailment in degraded yonis. He then gets purified. 

The Brahmana who resorts to the killing of cows and the one who commits big or small crimes, falls into the dandashuka hell up to the number of years equivalent to the number of the hair on the body of the cow. 

He is bitten there by the snakes who emit flames of poison. He feels tortured, remains without food and his belly shrinks. He is then taken out of the same and is placed in the yoni of the cow for the number of years equivalent to the number of hairs on the cow's body. Thereafter he becomes a patient of leprosy for a lakh of years and then becomes a Chandala. Thereafter he is born as a human being. 

Because of his deeds, he is reborn as a Brahmana suffering from leprosy. He is relieved of the ailment by serving food to a lakh of Brahmanas and then gets purified. 

If one performs the deeds unmindfully, he has to face half the reward for the same. Similarly, a Kshatriya also by performing a degraded act has to suffer fully and if he does something unmindfully, he has to suffer half the result of the same. Half of his sin has to be borne by the Vaishya and half of it by the Shudra who kills the cow. There is no doubt about it. After performing repentance, he is purified and has to face the rest of the reward. In the Anukalpa one fourth of the result of the misdeeds has to be faced by a person, there is no doubt about it. But a Brahmana who becomes a killer of cow's has to suffer four times for the sin. 

Similarly, a Brahmana or a person of any other caste if he does so unwillingly, he has to face the reward accordingly for the sin. Repentance is the only remedy for the same. There is no doubt about it. The killer of the cows has to be born as a cow for an equal number of years as the number of hairs on the cow's body.

A killer of the Brahmana becomes an insect of refuge for four times the number of years and of four times more the number of years, he becomes a mleccha. Thereafter for four times more the number of years he becomes a blind Brahmana who is purified after serving food to four lakh Brahmanas. 

After getting relieved of the terrible impurity, he regains his eyesight and becomes glorious. In all the four varnas, the killer of a woman has been treated as a great sinner; he falls in the kalasutra hell for the number of years equivalent to the number of hairs on the body of the woman and is eaten away by the insects where he remains without food, suffering immensely.

Thereafter, the great sinner is born on earth as a person suffering from the ailment of consumption. Thereafter for hundred years he has to serve food to the Brahmanas for getting purified. He then becomes a Brahmana of a suitable form for performing tapas. Thereafter, he also has to suffer for his sins and with the giving away of gold in charity, he is purified.  The one who terminates pregnancy, is treated to be a great sinner and is driven in the Shunimukha hell where he has to spend a hundred years and is tortured there with sharp weapons. Thereafter, he has to be born for a hundred years as a horse.

He is then born a wealthy Vaishya and he gets purified after giving away gold in charity for fifty years. 

He is then reborn in his own race and is freed from the ailment and is then born as a Brahmana again. If a Brahmana or a Kshatriya kills a Kshatriya except in battle, he falls into Taptashula hell where he has to suffer for a thousand years; he cries aloud there when he is tortured with burning iron rods. Thereafter for a hundred years he becomes an intoxicated elephant and then for a hundred years he is reborn as a Shudra suffering from blood ailment. 

Thereafter, he is relieved of the ailment by donating an elephant. He then becomes a pure Brahmana. Similarly, a Vaishya who kills a Vaishya or a Shudra or a Shudra who kills a Vaishya, all are treated to be similar types of killers and they have to fall in the Krimikunda for a hundred years where they suffer with the biting of insects. He then becomes a hunter and suffer from the ailment. О lord of Vraja, thereafter for fifty years, he becomes a person with a krushodara belly and by giving away a horse in charity at a holy place, he is relieved of the sin.

If a Brahmana kills willingly or unwillingly a Shudra, he gets purified by reciting the Gayatri mantra a lakh of times or half the number of the same. The one who kills a dog because of the curse of Shiva has to fall in the terrific hell for a hundred years; thereafter he is born as a dog for sixteen years. He is then eaten away and gets purified as a Brahmana. After taking a bath in the Ganga and giving away gold in charity, he is purified for all times to come. 

The one who kills a cat is purified by taking a bath in the Ganga and by giving away a measure of salt to a Brahmana. The one who kills snakes with his feet implanted on its hood, the people of all the four varnas earn the sin of one fourth of the Brahmahatya. Thereafter for a hundred years they fall into the Asipatra hell and have to suffer there getting eroded by sharp-edged weapons.  Thereafter they are born as aquatic snakes for five years and they meet with their end after having been tortured by human beings. 

He is then born as a sinful human being suffering from fever, with lean and thin body and meets with his end at the age of five years. О lord of Vraja, he is then born as a horse for twenty years and becomes a Shudra again but remains quite proud and suffers from ailments.  By giving away silver in charity and feeding a hundred Brahmanas, he is purified 

By killing the wretched creatures, one himself becomes wretched. He suffers from small ailments for a hundred years and is then purified. 

О lord of Vraja, therefore one should always be compassionate towards the non-ferocious animals but it is not a crime to kill the wild animals. О father, such of the people of the four varnas who cut the pipala tree, attract the sin of Brahmahatya and fall into the Asipatra hell and are tortured by sharp-edged weapons daily throughout the day and night. They then suffer from torture for a hundred years and become the semara tree for a lakh of years. Then they are born as deformed Shudra persons suffering from ailment. 

They have to suffer for the whole life, and are reborn as Brahmanas, suffering from boils. A person is relieved of the ailment by giving away gold in charity. 

The one who gives false evidence and is an  extremely ungrateful person, a betrayer of the  faith, a killer of the friend, a usurper of the riches  of the Brahmanas, the one who takes the food of  the shraddha with the Shudras, the one who bums  the dead bodies of the Shudras, the cook of the  Shudras, the driver of the bulls or the one who  earns his livelihood with the driving of the  bullocks, the messengers and the temple priest  have been treated to be great sinners who have to  remain in the Kumbhipaka hell for a thousand  years. 

They are tortured throughout day and night in the boiling oil, they suffer from ailments and are eaten away by serpent like creatures. 

They are then born in this world as vultures for a thousand years, a pig for a hundred births, a dog for a hundred births and then they become Shudras, suffering from diseases and live for fifty years suffering from indigestion and fever. They are relived of the ailment after giving away in charity a hundred pieces of gold. 

Of all the four varnas, whosoever costumes, milk, curd and ghee besides steals the silver and jewels or the riches of Shudras, falls into the tank of urine for a thousand years. He is then reborn as a sky-lark. This is certain. 

He is then born as a Shudra for a hundred years, where he leads a miserable life suffering from leprosy. He is then reborn as a Brahmana suffering from leprosy. He is then purified after giving away six pieces of gold. 

The one who loots away the treasure steals fruits and vegetables and playfully steals the riches, becomes a Yaksha on earth.

Не then becomes Nilakantha for a hundred years and then is reborn as a- black complexioned Shudra. 

He then is born as a Brahmana with excess limbs and then again, he is born as a Brahmana.  He is relieved of all the sins by serving food to the Brahmanas. The one who steals the ripe fruits is born as an animal having fragrant andakoshas. It is called kasthuri. Similarly, by remaining as a deer for seven births, he is then born as sulphur.  In one of his births, he is born as a Shudra suffering from leprosy and then he is born as a Brahmana with an insignificant ailment and remains quite lean and thin. Here he gets purified by giving away six pieces of gold in charity.  There is no doubt about it. 

The one who steals away the paddy, is born as a miser for seven births and remains filled with grief. He is then thrown into the pit of refuse from where he is freed ultimately. 

The one who steals away the gold is born as a degraded person, suffering from leprosy and the one who receives gold in charity also has to fall into the pit of refuse for a hundred years. Then suffering for the reward of all his misdeeds he again becomes a Brahmana with minor ailments.  He is relieved of the remaining part of the sin by giving away gold in charity. 

The one who enjoys the company of an inaccessible woman, falls into the terrific hell.  He then is thrown into the terrific Kumbhipaka hell for a hundred thousand years and becomes an insect of the pelvic region of loose woman.  He has then to be born as an insect of refuse and he remains there for a lakh of years. He is then born as an animal and thereafter as a petty creature. He is then born a mleccha and thereafter he becomes a degraded Shudra. He is then born as a eunuch and after, becoming a Brahmana suffering from ailment, he is reborn as a Brahmana who gets purified after visiting holy places but because of the impurity he remains issueless. He is relieved of the impurity by serving food to a lakh of Brahmanas and then obtains a son. 

The enraged person is born as a donkey for seven births, a quarrel-some person is born as a crow for seven births, a person who gives away in charity, Salagrama, he falls into the kalasutra hell for a hundred years where he has to suffer.  He is then born as a wagtail bird on earth.

The one who steals away iron, is deprived of progeny. The one who steals away ink, is born as a parrot and the one who steals away sweets becomes an insect. 

Those who are envious of Brahmanas and teachers are born as insects of the head. О father, the one who enjoys the company of loose woman has to suffer in the terrific hell for a hundred years and is then reborn as a useless insect, thereafter for seven births he is born as a widow, a childless woman, untouchable and a woman with a severed nose. The one who steals away red articles, suffers from a blood ailment he also becomes Yavana having no character, is cruel and lame. He becomes a dwarf, devoid of diksha, having an evil eye or becomes a one-eyed person. He then becomes arrogant, deaf, a denouncer of the Vedas, ill spoken and dumb, indulging in violence, devoid of hair, devoid of truth, beard and moustaches, ill spoken, deprived of teeth, untruthful, devoid of tongue, engaged in evil deeds and devoid of fingers. The one who steals books, he becomes a foolish person with disease. The one who receives a horse in charity has to fall into the red urine hell for a hundred years and thereafter he is born as a horse.

The one who steals away an elephant or receives the same in charity, has to remain as an elephant for a long period before he becomes a Shudra. The one who kills a he-goat without the yajna, the one who steals it or receives the goat in charity, has to fall in the kunda of puss for a hundred years and after that he is born as a Chandala. He is then reborn as a goat for one year and thereafter the person is purified.

He is relieved of the curse after meeting his death with the weapon of the enemy. The one  who takes back the things given in charity or the  one who takes back his words, is born as a  mleccha and falls into the hell, the one who  consumes alone sweets in the company of others,  he surely falls into the kalasutra hell, he remain  there for a hundred years and is reborn as a  goblin for a thousand years. He is then reborn as a filly or as an ant. 

He is born as a black wasp and during one birth he is born as a bee, then a wasp for one birth, a large mosquito for one birth and ill smelling insect for one birth, a bug for one birth and thereafter is born as a foolish Shudra suffering from ailment. Getting free from the sin, he becomes a Brahmana again in due course of time. The one who steals away oil and the one who crushes oil, becomes a louse for one birth and a wicked gold smith for one birth. Even the Brahmana the creator of the letters, if he steals away the riches of the giver of food, he has also to be thrown in the kunda of darkness and then has to be born as a gold-smith. He has then to be born as a widow and a kayastha in one birth. In case a kayastha has not eaten the flesh of his mother while remaining in the womb of the mother, it is not because of his grace but is due to his having no teeth.

О lord of Vraja, the gold smith, the trader in gold and a kayastha are all very clever and there is no one else more cruel than them on earth

The heart of these people is always like the sharp-edged dagger. In hundreds of the kayastha people only one could be found as a noble one but the goldsmith and the trader in gold can never be a noble person. 

О father, therefore, people with great wisdom filled with welfare, well-versed in the scriptures and the religious people should not believe in them, keeping in view their own welfare. The one who usurps the boundary, thief of the land, the terrorist and the one who usurps the land surely falls into the kalasutra hell. He has to suffer there with hunger and thirst for sixty thousand years and then is thrown as the insect of refuse. He then is born as an untouchable Shudra before he is relieved of the impurity. Therefore, the intellectuals should always be careful in using their intelligence. 

The one who steals the red garment becomes an insect for one birth of red colour, he then is reborn as a Shudra and is then reborn as a sinless Brahmana.

The one who is devoid of performing the  sandhya thrice a day and the one who sleeps early in the morning at the time of performing sandhya, the thief of yajnopavita, the one who  performs sandhya in spite of being impure, the  denouncer of the Vedic and post-Vedic literature  is impure and falls for three births and instead of  going to the heaven he falls in the hell.

The Shudra who cohabits with a Brahmana woman surely falls into the Kumbhipaka hell where he has to stay for three lakhs of years, suffering all the times. He is then throne in the kunda of boiling oil where he has to be born throughout the day and night and then he is born as the insect of the pelvic region of the loose woman. For sixty thousand years he has to consume the filth of the pelvic region and for a lakh of births, he has to be born as a Chandala. He is born as a Shudra with a wound. He is then purified and is born as a Brahmana with ailment who gets purified after visiting the holy places. A person who adores a god placing him in an unclean environment, surely becomes a Shudra.

The one who adores the stone Shivalinga with matted locks of hair, surely becomes a Yavana. If  one prepares a weak Shivalinga, he becomes blind  and in case a degraded linga is made, the one  who makes it earns disgrace and the one who  makes it without devotion, is born as a pauper  and deformed and a person with ailment because  the result of the preparation of the linga is  bestowed according to the making of the linga. 

The one who makes a linga in clay, in ashes, cow dung, Pindas or sand and adores it once he stays in heaven for a kalpa. 

Thereafter, he becomes an intelligent Brahmana possessing vast land. By adoring a hundred lingas of Shiva, one becomes a king in the land of Bharata. 

By adoring a thousand Shivalinga’s one surely gets the merit, he remains in heaven for a long time and remain a great king in the land of Bharata. By adoring ten thousand lingas, one becomes the lord of Bharata and by adoring a lakh of lingas one becomes the lord of the universe and if these lingas are adorned with great devotion, one achieves extra merit. 

One achieves birth in the race of Brahmana by taking a bath at holy places, performing charities, serving food to the Brahmanas and by adoring Narayana.

By performing additional tapas, one becomes an intellectual Brahmana and a Vaishnava who has controlled all his senses. One is born on the land of Bharata after performing deeds of great merit or with the touching of his feet, the earth gets purified. The pious and Vaishnava Brahmana bestows suspiciousness to the holy places and redeems thousands of his generations. This has been ordained in the Vedas. 

A Brahmana becomes a physician because of his ill deeds and then a wicked surgeon, he is then born for three births, as a wicked surgeon, a physician and a snake charmer, who is always wicked and is envious of the Brahmanas and the gods. For a thousand years he remains as a terrific serpent. 

О lord of Vraja, the female messengers of the loose woman fall into the kalasutra hell for a number of years and then become lizards. After becoming a lizard for a birth, he ’becomes a deer for three births, he-buffalo for a birth, a bear for a birth, a rhinoceros for a birth and for three births he is born as a jackal. The one who cuts off the water from the tank of someone else and cuts the standing crop denoting the same, he becomes a crocodile during one birth and a tortoise for three births. A Brahmana greedy of fish and also consumes meat and also the meat which is not given to him is born a fish and a deer. О father, he has to bear the ill-effects of his misdeeds for a thousand years and by getting purified with his deeds, he becomes a Brahmana. He who does not perform Ekadashi vrata, becomes degraded. 

But he is relieved of the sin if he offers double the weight of the food he consumed, in charity. The one who consumed food on my birthday, consumes the sin of the three worlds; there is no doubt about it. After eating the food, he falls into the hell and then he becomes a chandala.

Similarly, the one who takes food on Shivaratri and Ramanavami days meets with the same fate. If one is unable to observe fast then he should consume the havishya food and should perform auspicious festivities serving food to the Brahmanas. He is then purified and is relieved of the sin. 

Therefore, on that day one should recite my name delightfully. In case someone eats food on the night of a moonless day, he has to become a vulture for a crore of births, a pig for a hundred births and a wild animal for a hundred births. Thereafter he becomes an impure Brahmana, a white kite and a parrot; 

An unmarried Brahmana and a goose. He who steals away the divine garments, he is born a peacock for three births.

The one who steals away a bay-leaf becomes a duck for long time. He who steals away the images of gods, is born as person with disease, a deaf and the hunch back. He who enjoys the company of his wife on Sunday and the five auspicious days besides using oil, honey and meat, surely falls into the hell named Vajradamshtra where the sinner has to face grief for a thousand years. Thereafter he is born as a mleccha for seven births, besides being a chandala or an ailing Shudra. Thereafter he is purified by becoming a Brahmana. 

Therefore, a religious minded person in the land of Bharata should make an effort not to take food on that particular day. The degraded person who does not bow in reverence while looking at a Brahmana or a god, becomes impure for the whole life and becomes a Yavana. He who does not welcome a Brahmana by getting up, surely earns the sin of killing a Brahmana for seven births. He who is envious of Shiva becomes a temple priest or a cock for seven births. 

A person who unknowingly destroys adoration of the gods and ancestors, falls into the terrific hell. He has to remain there for a thousand years and is reborn for three births as a crow. He is then reborn as a jackal at a holy place for three births and consumes dead bodies. О lord of Vraja, thereafter the sinner during the three births, protects dead bodies in holy places and snatches coffins. Such of the foolish people as neither adored the gods nor the teacher with devotion or provide them with good food surely get cursed and become temple priests. He becomes hostile to gods and he does not earn merit by performing puja. The one who extinguishes the lamps with his hand is born as a fire-fly for seven births. 

The one who eats without offering food to his family gods or the one who is quite greedy for fish, becomes a fish-eating-bird and then is born as a cat for seven births. 

He who steals away the begs becomes a pigeon, he who steals a garland becomes a bird; the one who steals away paddy, becomes a sparrow and a thief of meat becomes an elephant. 

A poet who attacks intellectuals becomes a frog for seven births. Such of the petty intellectuals as poses himself as a Brahmana, becomes a mangoose for seven births, a person suffering from leprosy during one birth and a chameleon for three births. He then becomes a wasp during one birth and then becomes an ant of the trees. He then is reborn as a Shudra, Vaishya, Kshatriya and a Brahmana, he who sells away girls of all the four varnas, surely falls in the hell and remains there till the time of the sun and the moon. Thereafter he becomes a hunter selling meat. He suffers from some aliment according to his earlier evil deeds. 

A Brahmana who sells away my name can never be freed and can never achieve salvation. This is certain. The one who remaining on earth does not recite my name, such an ignorant person becomes a cow during one birth, a goat and a ram and then for seven births he is to be born as a he-buffalo. A person who is a great conspirator, wicked and is devoid of dharma, becomes an oil man and a potter. The one who paints false blemishes and denounces the gods as well as the Brahmanas, becomes a black-smith during one birth and for seven births he has to be born as a washer man. Such of the Brahmana, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras are denounced and are unclean as they are born as mlecchas for ten thousand years. 

The one who is lustful of woman, passionate and always thinks of them, suffers from the disease of consumption and in the next birth he is born as a eunuch.

The one who looks with passionate eyes, at the pelvic region of the wives of others, the breasts and the faces of woman becomes blind and in his next birth he becomes a eunuch. A Brahmana who being ignorant performs evil deeds and indulges himself in killing, falls into the Andhatamisra hell for ten thousand years. Thereafter he is born as an astrologer, receiver of charities and remains devoid of wisdom. He is then born as a Shudra and then a Brahmana according to his deeds.

An astrologer who is well-versed in the scriptures if speaks falsehood, he surely becomes the chief of the monkeys for seven births. Thereafter, as a result of the reward of the tapas for several births, he is born in the land of Bharata and becomes a virtuous Brahmana. The person devoid of dharma becomes sinful. The one who performs his dharma is considered to be extremely purified like fire and illustrious and even the gods are afraid of him. As the Ganga is the most sacred of all the rivers, Pushkara is sacred among the holy places, Kasthuri among the cities, Shiva among the intellectual, the Vedas among the scriptures, the pipala tree among the trees, my adoration among the tapas, various types of tapas and fasting among performing of vratas, similarly the Brahmanas are adorable among all the people. 

All the tirthas reside in the feet of Brahmanas and the dust of the Brahmana's feet is considered to be quite auspicious and destroys sins and ailments; their blessing bestows welfare. О father, thus I have narrated to you the effects of the evil and good deeds as heard by me. Now you listen to the rest. After listening to the scriptures, one should offer gold, silver, clothes and betel to the Brahmanas. For my pleasure the reciter should be given a hundred gold coins, a cow, silver, costumes and betels.