42 – On bestowing gifts

The lord said:

1. As a calf can trace its mother cow among a thousand cows, so also the actions done in previous births can follow the doer. 

2. The sun, Varuna, Vishnu, Brahma, moon, fire and lord Shiva appreciate the person who gifts plots of land. 

3. There is no gift equal to the gift of land, no treasure equal to landed property, no virtue equal to truthfulness and no sin equal to falsehood. 

4. Gold is the first offspring of fire, land of Vishnu, and cow of the sun. He who gifts gold, cow and land actually makes a gift of three worlds. 

5. He who gifts knowledge, land and cow is blessed. Reciting Epics and the Puranas, cultivating seeds in the fertile land and milking the cow save people from the distress of hell. 

6. Even persons committing heinous sins are purified merely by making gift of a cow or a plot of land. 

7. If someone seizes cows or land unlawfully due to greed he should be stopped. He goes to hell who does not protect these. 

8. Even when the vital airs stick to the throat (when death is imminent) actions unworthy of performance should not be carried out; only worthy actions should be followed. This is known to Vedic scholars who have declared thus. 

9. There is as much of sin in seizing cows or land as that which results from slaughtering a thousand cows, in doing an evil action or in depriving someone of his livelihood. In helping someone to secure the means of livelihood, the benefit that accrues is equal to that of the gift of a hundred thousand cows. 

10. It is better to give away a cow once for all rather than give away a hundred cows and seize one. It one sizes a con he cannot expiate for that sin by even giving a hundred cows. 

11. If a person voluntarily gifts something and wontonly seizes the same he becomes a great sinner. He goes to hell where he stays till the universe is dissolved in Deluge. 

12. The merit that accrues to one in offering protection to a poor brahmin who is emaciated due to unemployment cannot be surpassed in sacredness even by performing a horse sacrifice accompanied by all sacrificial fees. 

13. The merit one secures by guarding the Vedas and performing sacrifices accompanied by sacrificial gifts cannot equal the merit of protecting a weak brahmin. 

14. The Vehicles and forces maintained with the wealth misappropriated from the brahmins break down at the time of battle like bunds made of sand. 

15. If one seizes land gifted by another he is reborn as a worm in faces where he remains for sixty thousand years. 

16. The brahmanical asset enjoyed by the deception of affection burns the entire family till the seventh generation. The same if enjoyed stealthily burns the race so long as the moon and the stars shine in the sky. 

17. Clever persons may be there who can digest powdered iron or stone or even poison. But is there a man in the world who can digest the property of a brahmin? 

18. By destroying the wealth of gods (temples), by seizing a brahmins wealth or by dishonouring and slighting a brahmin a family falls in esteem. 

19. There is no question of dishonouring a brahmin though devoid of learning. No one performs homa in ashes instead of in blazing fire. 

20. Gifts made during the transit of the sun from one sign of Zodiac to the other, Havyas and Kavyas offered at that time enable one to be honoured in heaven for seven Kalpas. 

21. Out of the three-acceptance of monetary gifts, imparting knowledge to the seeker and presiding over another man's sacrifice, acceptance of monetary gifts is the best. The sin, if any, in the acceptance of monetary gifts is removed by japas and homas but even the Vedas do not sanctify a person who presides over another man's sacrifice but himself does not perform any sacrifice. 

22. A person who performs japas and homas and abstains from accepting cooked food from others is not tarnished by any sin even if he accepts the gift of the whole earth, full of precious jewels.