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All persons should take up arms for the sake of Brahmanas. Those brave persons that fight for Brahmanas attain to those felicitous regions in heaven that are reserved for persons that have always studied the Vedas with attention, that have performed the austerest of penances, and that have, after fasting, cast off their bodies into blazing fires.
O best of men, O son of Pritha, the seven righteous Rishis, for having observed the ordinance prescribed by the Creator himself in the Vedas, blaze in the firmament. Therefore, should no one act unrighteously, saying, I am mighty! Behold, O king, the mighty elephants, huge as mountain cliffs and furnished with tusks, transgress not, O exalted of men, the laws of the Creator!
The religion of the Hindus is professedly founded on the Vedas. To these books of their scripture they attach the greatest sanctity, and state that Brahma himself composed them at the creation. But the present arrangement of the Vedas is attributed to the sage Vyasa, about five thousand years ago. The Vedas undoubtedly teach the belief of one supreme God. The name of this deity is Brahma.
That Supreme Soul which is Unborn and which is the essence of nectar, that is seen by high-souled Brahmanas endued with intelligence and wisdom and conversant with the Vedas, is subtiler than what is subtile and greater than what is great. That Soul, though dwelling in all creatures, is not seen by them.
The Pancalas observe the duties enjoined in the Vedas; the Kauravas observe truth; the Matsyas and the Surasenas perform sacrifices, the Easterners follow the practices of the Shudras; the Southerners are fallen; the Vahikas are thieves; the Saurashtras are bastards.
In theory they reverence the Vedas but practically the two Purâṇas mentioned are their sacred books. They are strict vegetarians and teetotallers: they do not insist on child marriages nor object to the remarriage of widows. Their only object of worship is Śiva in the form of a lingam and they always carry one suspended round the neck or arm.
Proceeding hence, O Sanjaya, with all speed, thou shouldst wait upon those Brahmanas of pure energy and devoted to study according to the Brahmacharya mode, those, namely, that are devoted to the study of the Vedas while leading lives of mendicancy, those ascetics that habitually dwell in the woods, as also the aged ones of other classes, should all be addressed by thee in my name, O Sanjaya, and then their welfare should be enquired into by thee.
Whether he does or does not do any other act, if only he protects his subjects, he is regarded to accomplish all religious acts and is called a Kshatriya and the foremost of men. I shall now tell thee, O Yudhishthira, what the eternal duties of the Vaisya are. A Vaisya should make gifts, study the Vedas, perform sacrifices, and acquire wealth by fair means.
And on the acquisition of great ascetic wealth by Tapa, an intelligent son named Puranda was born to inherit the same. Another son named Ushma was also born. This fire is observed in the vapour of all matter. A third son Manu was born. He officiated as Prajapati. The Brahmanas who are learned in the Vedas, then speak of the exploits of the fire Sambhu.
Of these two ways in which a man may come to know what he is, the first grasps the phenomenon alone, the mere product of the principle of individuation; whereas the second makes a man immediately conscious that he is the thing-in-itself. This is a doctrine in which, as regards the first way, I have Kant, and as regards both, I have the Vedas, to support me.
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