The
three qualities relating to one's austerity, sacrifice
and food intake
(1)
Aylen
said: 'He who abandons the scriptural regulations but,
endowed with faith, is of worship, is he, o Dwayne, in
goodness or else in passion or ignorance?'
(2) The
fortunate one said: 'The faith of the one embodied
manifests, depending on each his birth, in the three
forms of goodness, passion and ignorance; hear about
this as well from me. (3) The evolution of one's faith
is a matter of consciousness31,
o son of the Many dynasty; the person is the full of
that faith and is, with such a faith endowed, thus
certain of himself. (4) Those who are of goodness keep
the godly in mind, in passion one bows to the demons,
and people in ignorance are devoted to the spirits of
the deceased and ghosts and such. (5-6) Those persons
who, impelled by the force of lust, egotistically and
conceited are engaged in penances that with violence
are executed and are not prescribed in the scriptures,
are surely of an obscure resolve; they doing harm to
the body its material integrity are mistaken about me
who, next to themselves, is also situated within that
body.
(7) The
way the food one prefers is also of three kinds, are
there as well three kinds of charity, sacrifices and
austerities; hear now about these differences.
(8) Food
which increases the duration of life, which purifies
one's being, gives strength, health, happiness and
satisfaction and which is juicy, rich, wholesome and a
pleasure to the heart, is food preferred by the ones
in goodness. (9) Bitter, sour, salty, very hot,
smelly, dried out and burned is the food of those in
the mode of passion; it makes unhappy, miserable and
brings disease. (10) That what cooked too long, lacks
taste, smells bad, is decomposed, a leftover from a
previous meal and has impurities in it, is food dear
to the ignorant.
(11) A
sacrifice
which according the scriptural regulations is
conducted by souls who, free from profit motives,
consequently performed with an absorbed mind, is of
goodness. (12) But that sacrifice which is performed
out of vanity and with the desire for a certain
advantage, o leader of the Many line, know that
sacrifice to be of the mode of passion. (13) Any
sacrifice in defiance of the regulative principles,
with no food distributed, with no hymns sung, without
any gifts and without faith performed, must be
considered a sacrifice in the mode of ignorance.
(14) When
one in cleanliness, sincerity, celibacy and
nonviolence is of respect for the divinity, the
twice-born, the spiritual teacher and the wise, speaks
one of austerity in the sense of physical actions.
(15) To the voice is austerity said to be of truthful,
pleasing and beneficial, inoffensive words derived
from studying the books of spiritual wisdom in a
persistent practice. (16) Austerity of the mind
pertains to a mind trained in serenity, good faith,
gravity, self-control and
self-correction32.
(17) This threefold austerity33
which, free from desiring a certain advantage, is
performed by men with faith in the transcendental, is
said to be of goodness. (18) Austerity which in this
world is performed for the sake of respect, honor and
veneration and thus is vain, is, unstable and
temporary as it is, said to be of the mode of passion.
(19) Austerity foolishly performed with the intent to
torture oneself or bring down others, is said to be of
the mode of ignorance.
(20) That
what is given in charity as a gift without expecting
anything in return, at the right place, at the right
time, and to the right person is a form of charity
which is considered to be of goodness. (21) But that
which is given with some return in mind, again is
given desiring a result, or is given with a grudge, is
charity understood to be of passion. (22) Charity,
without respect and proper attention, given at the
wrong place, the wrong time and to persons not
deserving, is said to be of ignorance. (23) With 'AUM,
that, true'34,
is the threefold of the spiritual supreme indicated;
these words were since time immemorial used by the
twice-born with as well their sacrifices as with the
holy books of prayers and hymns. (24) For that reason
marks the syllable AUM always the beginning of the
performances of the sacrifices, the charity and the
penance of the transcendentalists proceeding according
the regulations. (25) The word 'that' in this is used
by the ones desiring liberation to refer to the fact
that one is not after any result in the various
activities of sacrifice, penance and charity. (26-27)
The word 'true' is used to express the nature of the
supreme as well as the devotion to the supreme in the
activities one agreed upon, o son of Alice. Thus is in
case of sacrifice, penance and charity the word 'true'
uttered to indicate as well the activities in question
as the absolute of the truth. (28) If one makes some
sort of offering, donates this or that way, or when
one is of some kind of penance, is one completely
false if one proceeds without any belief, o son of
Alice; to act this way in disbelief is of no use here,
nor in the hereafter.'
