[82] The entire subject of this discussion involves meditation, for no one who does not know about the soul enjoys the fruits of his rituals. [83] He should constantly chant the Veda about the sacrifice, the one about the gods, and the one about the soul, which is set down at the end of the Veda. [84] That is the refuge of those who do not know and of those who do know, of those who want to get to heaven and of those who long for the infinite. [85] A twice-born man who wanders as an ascetic after engaging in this sequence shakes off evil here on earth and reaches the highest ultimate reality.
[86] The duty of self-controlled ascetics has thus been taught to you; now learn about the activities that renouncers of the Veda should engage in.
[87] The chaste student of the Veda, the householder, the forest-dweller, and the ascetic – these four separate stages of life originate in the householder. [88] Any or all of these (stages of life), adopted in succession by a priest who does what has just been explained in accordance with the teaching, lead him to the highest level of existence. [89] But the householder is said to be the best of all of them, according to the rule of the revealed canon of the Veda, for he supports the other three. [90] Just as all rivers and streams culminate in the ocean, even so people in all stages of life culminate in the householder.
[91] Twice-born men in all four stages of life must constantly and carefully fulfil their ten-point duty. [92] The ten points of duty are patience, forgiveness, self-control, not stealing, purification, mastery of the sensory powers, wisdom, learning, truth, and lack of anger. [93] Those priests who study the ten points of duty carefully and, after they have learnt it, follow it, progress to the highest level of existence. [94] When a twice-born man has fulfilled his ten-point duty with concentration, learned the Vedānta according to the rules, and paid his (three) debts, he may become a renouncer.
[95] When he has renounced all innate activities and dispelled the faults of the effects of his past actions, when he has restrained himself and studied the Veda, he may live happily under the control of his sons. [96] When he has renounced actions in this way and regards as paramount what he himself should do, when he is without longing and has struck down his guilt by means of his renunciation, he attains the highest level of existence.
[97] The meritorious four-fold duty of the priest, which yields incorruptible fruits after death, has thus been explained to you; now learn the duties of kings.
End of Chapter 6
[2] Sons, rather than daughters, are almost certainly meant by ‘children’.
[3] One commentator suggests that he should take her along if she wants to go; another suggests that he take her along if she is old, but leave her behind if she is young.
[4] The term agnihotra here may denote the sacrificial fire or the materials for the daily fire sacrifice.
[10] Other readings of this verse specify two other sacrifices, modified versions of the new-moon and full-moon sacrifices.
[14] The three last plants are the bhūtṛṇa (Andropogon Schoenanthus), the śigruka (Moringa Pterygosperma), and the śleṣmātaka (Cordia Myxa).
[15] The month specified is Aśvina, mid-September to mid-October.
[18] The first instance indicates that he may collect in his, dish only enough for one meal.
[19] The commentators assume that there are two normal mealtimes each day, and that the four alternatives in this verse are therefore to eat once a day, once a night, every other day or night, or every fourth day or night.
[21] The ‘Diggers’ (vaikhānasas, presumably digging for roots) are famous householder hermits.
[22] He bathes at the time of the three savanas, Soma pressings, at sunrise, noon, and sunset.
[23] The asceticism of the five fires consists in building four fires around him on four sides, with the sun above as the fifth. He increases his inner heat not only in the sense of undertaking increasingly severe measures but in the sense of amassing a store of merit and accumulating inner heat.
[29] The commentaries state that the preparations for consecration (dīkṣās) are the restraints (niyamas).
[32] Some commentators suggest that ‘those practices’ are known from other texts and include drowning oneself, jumping off a cliff, burning oneself to death, and starving to death; others suggest that they are the methods enumerated in the present text, beginning with the asceticism of the five fires (in 6.23).
[34] The commentators suggest several ways in which he thrives – he has great powers, or bliss, or Freedom.
[35] 4.257 lists those to whom the debts are owed: the great sages, the ancestors, and the gods. Here, in 6.35–7, we learn what is owed to each of them, respectively. ‘Sinks down’ probably means falls into hell, rather than falls to a lower caste.
[45] An alternative interpretation of nirdeṣa is ‘pay-day’ rather than ‘orders’.
[46] For ‘purified by his gaze’, a commentator suggests that he should look to make sure there is no living creature where he is about to step.
[48] The commentators are full of helpful suggestions about these gates: the five senses, plus mind and the sense of ‘I’ or plus mind and intellect; the seven vital breaths in the head; or the seven permutations of the combinations of the three human goals, religion (dharma), profit (artha), and pleasure (kāma). The verb (‘shed’, avakīrṇa) is the same as the term for someone who has violated his vow by ‘shedding’ his semen. The metaphor remains opaque, but from the context it seems to refer to promiscuous worldly chatter.
[66] The meaning of this rather obscure verse seems to be that, on the one hand, even if one is flawed (perhaps by the lack of the external signs of a stage of life, such as the staff of the ascetic, as the commentators suggest), one can still fulfil the duty; and that, on the other hand, it is not sufficient merely to carry the external signs of a stage of life (such as the staff of the ascetic) if one does not actually fulfil the duty.
[67] The fruit of the clearing-nut tree is the kataka or Strychnos Potatorum, which is rubbed on the insides of water jars to precipitate the particles of dirt in the water.
[70] For the three Vedic exclamations, see 2.76.
[72] The unmastered (anīśvara) qualities (guṇas) are those that are not independent, or that are not associated with the Lord, or not virtuous.
[75] ‘That place’ is the world of ultimate reality, or the condition of union with ultimate reality.
[76–7] ‘Dwelling-place of living beings’ (bhūtavāsa) may also be translated ‘dwelling-place made of the elements’. ‘Polluted by passion’ (rajasvala) may also be translated ‘dominated by the quality of energy’ or (in the feminine) ‘menstruating’. For the metaphor of the body as house, see Maitri Upaniḥad 3.4 and Mahābhārata 12.316.42–3.
[78] The ‘shark’ (Sanskrit graha) is literally a ‘grabber’, a name for any rapacious marine animal, such as a crocodile or shark or sea-serpent. The commentators gloss the first two metaphors in various ways, generally arguing for a contrast between the involuntary separation of the tree from the bank and the voluntary separation of the bird from the tree.
[81] The pairs are the dualisms of sensory perceptions, such as pain and pleasure, heat and cold, hunger and satiety, honour and dishonour.
[82] ‘The subject of this discussion’ (etad abhiśabditam) may refer to the one preceding verse, to all the verses in this text about the stages of life, or indeed to anything that has been said anywhere on this subject.
[83] The Veda of the sacrifice might be the Yajur Veda and/or the Sāma Veda, or the Brāhmaṇas, or the part of the Veda known as the karmakaṇḍa. The Veda about the gods is the ṛg Veda. The ‘end of the Veda’, or Vedānta, probably refers to the Upaniṣads.
[86] This is a troubling verse. The commentators take pains to specify that ‘renouncers of the Veda’ (vedasannyāsikas) no longer perform the Vedic sacrifices but continue to recite the Veda, which is the ‘activity they should engage in’ (karmayoga, which might also refer to the performance of Vedic rituals!). We might also tr
anslate ‘of the Vedas’ more loosely to mean ‘Vedic’, so that the compound would designate not people who renounce the Veda but renouncers who remain Vedic in their allegiance. Most commentators suggest that these are priests who have renounced worldly life but continue to live in houses; some say that they are householders, others that they are ascetics, while still others identify them with the householders described at 4.22–4. In any case, only in 6.94–6 is such an ascetic described; the intervening verses seem to suggest reasons why one should not take this path but should, rather, remain a non-renouncing householder.
[95] He may renounce all innate activities (karmans) or all rituals.
[97] Duty (dharma) is four-fold here in that it deals with the four stages of life (or āśramas). (It is also four-fold in dealing with the four classes, or varṇas.)
CHAPTER 7
[1] I will explain the duties of kings, how a king should behave, how he came to exist, and how (he may have) complete success. [2] A ruler who has undergone his transformative Vedic ritual in accordance with the rules should protect this entire (realm) properly. [3] For when this world was without a king and people ran about in all directions out of fear, the Lord emitted a king in order to guard this entire (realm), [4] taking lasting elements from Indra, the Wind, Yama, the Sun, Fire, Varuṇa, the Moon, and (Kubera) the Lord of Wealth. [5] Because a king is made from particles of these lords of the gods, therefore he surpasses all living beings in brilliant energy, [6] and, like the Sun, he burns eyes and hearts, and no one on earth is able even to look at him. [7] Through his special power he becomes Fire and Wind; he is the Sun and the Moon, and he is (Yama) the King of Justice, he is Kubera and he is Varuṇa, and he is great Indra. [8] Even a boy king should not be treated with disrespect, with the thought, ‘He is just a human being’; for this is a great deity standing there in the form of a man.
[9] Fire burns just one man who approaches it wrongly, but the fire of a king burns the whole family, with its livestock and its heap of possessions. [10] In order to make justice succeed, he takes all forms again and again, taking into consideration realistically what is to be done, (his) power, and the time and place. [11] The lotus goddess of Good Fortune resides in his favour, victory in his aggression, and death in his anger; for he is made of the brilliant energy of all (the gods). [12] The man who is so deluded as to hate him will certainly be destroyed, for the king quickly makes up his mind to destroy him. [13] Therefore no one should violate the justice that the king dispenses for those that please him nor the unpleasant justice (that he dispenses) differently for those that displease him. [14] For (the king’s) sake the Lord in ancient times emitted the Rod of Punishment, his own son, (the incarnation of) Justice, to be the protector of all living beings, made of the brilliant energy of ultimate reality. [15] Through fear of him all living beings, stationary and moving, allow themselves to be used and do not swerve from their own duty. [16] Upon men who persist in behaving unjustly he should inflict the punishment they deserve, taking into consideration realistically (the offender’s) power and learning and the time and place. [17] The Rod is the king and the man, he is the inflicter and he is the chastiser, traditionally regarded as the guarantor for the duty of the four stages of life. [18] The Rod alone chastises all the subjects, the Rod protects them, the Rod stays awake while they sleep; wise men know that justice is the Rod. [19] Properly wielded, with due consideration, it makes all the subjects happy; but inflicted without due consideration, it destroys everything.
[20] If the king did not tirelessly inflict punishment on those who should be punished, the stronger would roast the weaker like fish on a spit. [21] The crow would eat the sacrificial cake and the dog would lick the oblation; there would be no ownership in anyone, and (everything) would be upside down. [22] The whole world is mastered by punishment, for an unpolluted man is hard to find. Through fear of punishment everything that moves allows itself to be used. [23] The gods, the titans, the centaurs, the ogres, the birds and the snakes, even they allow themselves to be used, but only when under pressure from punishment. [24] All the classes would be corrupted, and all barriers broken, all people would erupt in fury as a result of a serious error in punishment.
[25] Where the Rod moves about, black and with red eyes, destroying evil, there the subjects do not get confused, as long as the inflicter sees well. [26] They say that a king is a (proper) inflicter of punishment when he speaks the truth, acts after due consideration, is wise, and is conversant with religion, pleasure, and profit. [27] A king who inflicts punishment correctly thrives on the triple path, but if he is lustful, partial, and mean, he is destroyed by that very punishment. [28] For punishment has great brilliant energy, and for those who are undisciplined it is hard to maintain; if a king swerves from justice it strikes him down, together with his relatives, [29] and then his fort, his territory, and the whole world, with all that moves and does not move; it even oppresses the gods and the hermits who have gone to the atmosphere. [30] (Punishment) cannot be inflicted according to the right standards by anyone who has no assistant, by a fool, by anyone who is greedy or whose mind is undisciplined or who is attached to the sensory objects. [31] Punishment can be inflicted rightly by someone who has a good assistant, who is wise and unpolluted, who keeps his promises and who acts in accordance with the teachings.
[32] He should uphold the right standards in his own realms and inflict severe punishment among his enemies, without bias toward his close friends and with patience towards priests. [33] If a king behaves like this, even though he makes his living by gleaning (corn) and gathering (single grains), his fame spreads throughout the world like a drop of oil on water. [34] But the fame of a king who is the opposite of this, who has not conquered himself, congeals in the world like a drop of clarified butter in water. [35] The king was created as the protector of the classes and the stages of life, that are appointed each to its own particular duty, in proper order.
[36] I will explain to you, properly and in order, the various things that he must do, together with his retainers, to protect his subjects.
[37] The king should rise early in the morning, attend respectfully to learned priests who have grown old in the study of the triple learning, and abide by their advice. [38] He should always serve unpolluted old priests who know the Veda; for a man who serves old people is always revered, even by ogres. [39] He should learn humility from them even if he is always humble, for the king who is humble is never destroyed. [40] Many kings have been destroyed, together with their entourages, through lack of humility, while even forest-dwellers have won kingdoms through humility. [41] Vena was destroyed through lack of humility, and so was king Nahusa, Sudās the son of Pījavana, Sumukha, and Nimi. [42] But through humility Prthu won a kingdom, and so did Manu, and Kubera become Lord of Wealth, and (Viśvāmitra) the son of Gādhi became a priest.
[43] From those who have the triple learning he should acquire the triple learning, the eternal science of politics and punishment, philosophy, and the knowledge of the soul; and from the people (he should learn) the trades and enterprises.
[44] Day and night he should make a great effort to conquer his sensory powers, for the man who has conquered his sensory powers is able to keep his subjects under his control. [45] He should make a great effort to avoid the ten vices that arise from desire and the eight that are born of anger, which (all) end badly. [46] For a king who is addicted to the vices born of desire and pleasure loses his religion and profit, but (if he is addicted to the vices) born of anger (he loses) his very self. [47] Hunting, gambling, sleeping by day, malicious gossip, women, drunkenness, music, singing, dancing, and aimless wandering are the group of ten (vices) born of desire.
[48] Slander, physical violence, malice, envy, resentment, destruction of property, verbal abuse, and assault are the group of eight (vices) born of anger. [49] But he should make an effort to conquer greed, which all poets know is the root of both of these groups; both are born of it. [50] Drinking, gambling, women, and hunting
, in that order, he should know to be the very worst four in the group (of vices) born of desire. [51] And he should know that bodily assault, verbal abuse, and destruction of property are always the very worst three in the group (of vices) born of anger. [52] A self-possessed man should know that, of this cluster of seven that is universally addictive, each vice is more serious than the one that follows. [53] Between vice and death, vice is said to be worse; a man with vices sinks down and down, but a man without vices goes to heaven when he dies.
[54] (The king) should appoint seven or eight advisers who are hereditary and know the teachings, who are brave and have distinguished themselves, who are well born and well tested. [55] Even a deed that is easy to do is hard for one man to do alone; how much harder (for a king to rule) a highly productive kingdom, especially if he has no assistant. [56] Together with them he should always consider ordinary matters of peace and war, the condition (of the kingdom), its wealth and protection, and the consolidation of gains. [57] When he has got the opinion of each of them individually, separately, and of all of them together, he should arrange in his affairs what is best for himself.
[58] But the king should take counsel about the most important concerns of the six-fold policy with an intelligent priest who is the most distinguished of them all. [59] He should always be confident in him and entrust all his affairs to him, and when he has made his decision with him he should then begin his action. [60] He should also appoint other ministers, unpolluted, wise, firm, who collect money properly and have been well tested. [61] He should appoint as many tireless, skilful, clever men as are needed to accomplish the job to be done. [62] Of them, he should use those who are brave, skilful, and well-born, in financial matters; those who are unpolluted, in mines and manufacturing; and the timid in the interior of the palace.
[63] And he should appoint as an ambassador a man who is well versed in all the teachings, who understands involuntary movements, facial expressions, and gestures, and who is unpolluted, skilful, and well-born. [64] The man who is well liked, unpolluted, and skilful, who has a good memory and knows (the proper) time and place, who is good-looking, fearless, and eloquent, is recommended to be a king’s ambassador. [65] The army depends on the minister (of defence), military and disciplinary activity on the army, the treasury and kingdom on the king, and peace and its opposite on the ambassador. [66] For it is the ambassador who unites and who divides those who are united; the ambassador does the deed by which men are divided. [67] Through secret involuntary movements and gestures, (the ambassador) should learn the facial expressions, involuntary movements, and gestures (of the other king concerned) in his affairs, and (he should learn) among his servants what he intends to do. [68] And when he has found out accurately all that the other king intends to do, he should take pains to prevent any harm to himself.
The Laws of Manu Page 22
