Matali on Three Kinds of Sin

Yayati said:

1-2. O you charioteer of Indra, due to my good luck I have been able to see you. This gives me immense merit. Even in the mortal world human beings commit a terrible sin. O Matali, now tell me about the ripening of their actions. Matali said:

3-12. Listen, I shall tell (you) the characteristics of a sinful (1160 Padma Pur ana behaviour. In this world great knowledge is produced when, (things) are heard. People condemn the Vedas and censure brahmanic practices. Those who are learned should also know what great sin is. He who causes harm to all the good persons (has committed) a major sin. It would go (i.e. its effect would be nullified only) by expiation. People give up the customs peculiar to their own family and practise those of others. Those who know what should be done (i.e. what is proper ) have described this to be a major sin. Reviling one's mother and father, beating one's sisters, and abusing one's father's sister is certainly a sin. The dead ancestors of him, who, when the time for offering a sraddha has come, proceeds (to offer the sraddha and) feeds someone else through lust or anger or fear, ignoring his son-in-law living at a distance of five kosas, his daughter's son, his own sister and her son, do not enjoy (the oblations offered by him), nor do the gods enjoy (the offerings made to them). This sin, committed by him, is equal to patricide. When the time for giving gifts has come, and when a brahmana (-group) has come, he avoids giving gifts to many, and gives them (only) to a few. That a gift is given to one, and no gift is given to another, is also a terrible sin, and is said to destroy (the merit acquired from) gifts.

13-23a. That is not a distinctive mark of a gift which is given (to someone else) ignoring his own brahmanas employed by the patron. O king, a (patron) should well nourish, with all means and good gifts, that brahmana of a religious conduct who has resorted to him. He should not consider whether he is a foolish or a learned brahmana. A brahmana is always to be fed. He should always worship a learned brahmana endowed with all religious merit, who has come to him, after honouring him with good gifts. There is no doubt that the gifts which he would give to some other brahmana by ignoring that (learned brahmana) or the offerings that he would make, would be fruitless. On all auspicious occasions a brahmana, a ksatriya, a vaisya and a shudra as the fourth should worship a brahmana that has sought their shelter — whether he is a fool or a learned brahmana. Listen (I will tell you) the meritorious fruit of it. He obtains the fruit of a horse-sacrifice. O king, what is the reason for which '(i.e. there is no reason why) he should not get done what is possible? If another brahmana comes at that time when the sraddha-rite is going on, he should then honour both the brahmanas by giving them food, shelter, tambiila and presents. (If he does this) his dead ancestors are pleased. One should always give gifts and make presents to (a brahmana) who has eaten at a sraddha. The sin of that performer of a sraddha who does not give gifts would be equal to that due to the killing of a cow. Therefore, O best king, these two should be honoured with faith. Or if he is poor he should honour one (of the two).

23b-30. Thus men belonging to the three castes such as brahmana etc. should perform a sraddha on the day of a great calamity, or when the astronomical division of time called vaidhrti has come, or on a new-moon day, or a day between two sunrises in the next half. O great king, he should employ priests officiating at sacrifices. In the same way he should always employ brahmanas for offering a sraddha. A wise man should never employ an unknown brahmana. He should invite that brahmana whose family up to the third (previous) generation from him is known and whose conduct is known, O king. He should consider the conduct of a brahmana whose family is not known. When the sraddha-offering is to be made, it may not be known whether a brahmana is pure or foolish, or is one who has mastered the Vedas and the Vedarigas. A sraddha-offering ought to be done; so he should invite a brahmana (for that); O best king, first hospitable reception should be given (to him). If a sinful (host) does otherwise he certainly goes to hell. Therefore a brahmana should be engaged at a presentation of gifts or a sraddha on the parvandays.

31-33. At the time of presentation of gifts or a sraddha, he should engage a brahmana after examining him. In his house the dead ancestors do not eat without a brahmana. They go away after cursing (him who offers the sraddha) from a sraddha (performed) without a brahmana. He (who offers such a sraddha) is a great sinner even if he resembles Brahma. O king, he who lives by abandoning the performance (of rites) to the dead ancestors, should be known to be a great sinner to be excommunicated.

34-39. Those who give up auspicious practices relating to Vishnu and giving (i.e. bringing) enjoyments, and who condemn the brahmanic way of conduct should be known as men of increasing sins. Those, who give up auspicious practices (or practices relating to Shiva), who hate the devotees of Shiva, who, the sinners, abuse Hari (i.e. Vishnu), who always hate Brahma (or brahmanas), who condemn the (religious) practices, are the greatest sinners. I shall now tell (you) about the religious merit of those who worship the first, venerable, the highest knowledge, the meritorious Bhagavata and (other Puranas like) Vishnu, HariVamsha, Matsya or Padma. He (i.e. such a person) has actually worshipped god Vishnu. Therefore one should worship the knowledge, contained in the Vishnu (Purana), (and) dear to Vishnu. O king, there is always (kept) a book (i.e. a copy) of the Vishnu (Purana). When it is worshipped, Laksml's lord (i.e. Vishnu) is worshipped.

40-58. Those who, without worshipping (the Purana containing) knowledge about Hari, sing or write, or without knowing it, present it, or listen to or recite it, or sell it through greed and devotion to bad (i.e. wrong) knowledge, or place it, as they will, at places that are not purified, or one who would declare it explicitly in accordance with (i.e. helping) his welfare, or he who, being capable, commits mistakes after having studied it, or he who being impui e explains or listens to it at an impure place (all these condemn knowledge). This, in brief, is said to be the condemnation of knowledge. I (shall now) tell (you) about the sin of him who, the sinful one, desires to learn sacred texts without worshipping his preceptor, who does not render service (to his preceptor and) deliberately disobeys him, (and who) does not approve of the words (of the preceptor), does not respond to him, ignores when (some) work of the preceptor is to be done, (and he, who) abandons his preceptor who is afflicted and weak, or is proceeding to a foreign country or has been humiliated by adversaries or while he is reciting a Purana. Till (the period during which) fourteen Indras have ruled, he would live in (the hell called) Kum.bhipa.ka. Also one who, of a sinful mind, ignores his preceptor reading the Purana, has (committed) a terrible sin, giving (i.e. taking him to) hell. Also the sin (of him) who condemns his wife, sons and friends is as great as (that of) the condemnation of one's preceptor. One who kills a brahmana, one who steals gold, one who drinks liquor, one who violates his teacher's bed (i.e. his teacher's wife) — -all these are great sinners; so also the one who joins (i.e. abets) them. He, who very much cuts the vitals especially of a brahmana through anger, hatred or greed, is declared to be the killer of a brahmana. O king, he also is the killer of a brahmana, who, having invited a poor, soliciting brahmana, says 'no' (i.e. refuses to give any gift) to him. He is declared to be killer of a brahmana, who, due to the pride of his own knowledge, renders lustreless (i.e. humiliates) a neutral brahmana in an assembly. He is said to be the killer of a brahmana, who elevates himself by means of pretended virtues, and who opposes his preceptor. They call him to be the killer of a brahmana, who creates an obstacle to them, who, with their bodies tormented by hunger and thirst, seek food or meal. He also is said to be the killer of a brahmana, who, a wicked one, is intent upon finding out the weak points of all the people, who causes torture and is cruel. They call him the killer of a brahmana, who would snatchback the land, though destroyed, in course of time, which was formerly given to a deity, a brahmana, or cows. That sin of taking away the wealth of a brahmana obtained as (i.e. which was put as) a deposit should be known to be as great as that of killing a brahmana.

59-66. He who gives up making an oblation to the fire in the rite of the five daily sacrifices; he who stands as a false witness against his mother, father and preceptor (is, a great sinner). (This sin and) eating what is not dear to Shiva's devotees and what ought not to be eaten, also killing innocent beasts in the forest, and setting fire to a cow-pen, a city or a village — all these are terrible sins equal to the sin (involved) in drinking liquor. Taking away all the possessions of a poor man, kidnapping another's wife, snatching elephants and horses, or cows, land, silver, garments, herbs and minerals, sandal, aloe wood, camphor, musk, woven silk, or taking away the deposits (made) by others is said to be like the stealing of gold. Not giving (in marriage) his marriageable daughter to a befitting groom, having an illicit connection with the wife of his son or friend or his own sister, fearful violating of a maiden, attachment to a shudra-woman, cohabiting with a woman of the same caste is said to be like violating one's teacher's bed (i.e. teacher's wife). Those sins, which have been enumerated as sins, resemble major sins.

67-70. When a brahmana having promised money to a brahmana does not give it and forgets about it — that is equal to a minor sin. (Some other minor sins are: ) snatching the wealth of a brahmana, crossing one's limit, too much pride, too much anger, hypocrisy, ingratitude, lust for someone other (than one's own wife), miserliness, wickedness, jealousy, sexual intercourse with the wife of someone else, violating a chaste maiden. The elder brother before whom his younger brother gets married, the younger brother married before the elder brother, the girl whom he marries (are sinners). (It is a sin) to offer a girl to them, or to act as a priest at sacrifices performed by them. (Other sins are: )

71-80. Abandoning one's son, friend, wife, also one's master when he is reduced to poverty, and one's wife and good people and ascetics; killing a cow, aksatriya, a vaisya, a woman or a shudra; destruction of a Shiva-temple, trees, and lovely groves. (He) who causes even a small damage to hermitages or harms the group of servents there, or the beasts (living there), or the grains or wild crops, or steals ploughs, corn or beasts, or acts as a priest at a sacrifice of those who do not deserve to perform a sacrifice (is a sinner). The sale of (the merit due to) a sacrifice, of a grove or a lake, one's wife and children, of (the merit of) pilgrimage, fasts, vows and (other) pious acts (is a sin). (They are sinners) who live by the wealth of women and he who lives for a large part on the affluence of a woman (are sinners). O prince, he who would sell off his own faith, and he who would praise unrighteousness, he who mentions the faults of others, he who observes the weak points of others, he who longs for other's wealth, he who (passionately) gazes on another's wife — all these should be looked upon as resembling the killers of cows. (He is a sinner) who condemns all sacred texts, who snatches a cow, who sells the beasts, who tells lies or listens to the lies (uttered) by others; (he is a sinner) who plots against his master, or preceptor, who is deceitful, who is fickle or wicked. (He is a sinner) who eats (alone) leaving his hungry wife, sons, friends, children, old people, weak and afflicted persons, and also servants, guests and relatives.

81-87a. Those who eat savory (food) and do not give it to him who desires it should be known as ones cooking separately (for themselves only) and such a person is condemned by the teachers of the Vedas. Those who take up restrictions and (later), with their organs of sense not conquered, give them up, and also those who have given up the life of a recluse, and those who are in the company of drunkards, and those who do not protect a cow that is afflicted with consumption or with thirst and hunger, are the killers of cows and are said to be hellish beings. Those who are engrossed (in committing) all (kinds of) sins, those who destroy the (grazing) field of the quadrupeds, or he who would beat (i.e. beats) saints, brahmanas, preceptors or a cow, and also those who beat a faultless woman settled in a good position (i.e. behaving properly), and he, who, with his entire body bound with laziness, sleeps again and again; those who do not feed the weak or who do not look for the missing ones, or who trouble (the bullocks) by (putting) large burdens on them or drive them (even) when they are wounded areinvolved in (i.e. have committed) all (kinds of) sins. So also those who eat together (i.e. from the same plate).

87b-95a. Those men, who do not protect a cow with her limbs broken, and afflicted with wounds and (other) diseases and with hunger, are said to be hellish beings. Those men, who, the most sinful ones, strike the scrotum of bulls (i.e. castrate them), and also who harm cow's calves are beings living in a great (i.e. very painful) hell. Those (men) also, who do not honour a guest who has come to them with hope, and who is oppressed with hunger and exertion, go to hell. Those fools who do not show pity for a helpless, or maimed, or poor or young, or old or very much afflicted person, go to the ocean of (i.e. in the form of) hell. One who keeps goats, one who keeps buffaloes, one who is the husband of a shudra or a barren woman, or a shudra behaving like (i.e. following the profession of) a brahmana or a ksatriya, also architects, artisans, physicians and devalakas, 1 and those who make their servants work hard, go to hell. He, who, having transgressed what is prescribed, would charge arbitrarily (more) tax, also he who would inflict punishment without a (proper) cause, would be roasted in hells. That king whose subjects are harassed by officials receiving bribes, by thieves in. his kingdom, is roasted in hells.

1. Devalaka — A low brahmana who subsists upon the offerings made to an idol.

95b-103a. There is no doubt that those brahmanas who accept (gifts) from a king of a bad conduct also go to fearful hells. The king has (committed) that sin which is (committed) by men cohabiting with others' wives or by thieves. Being favoured by a king who does not protect, is fearful. That king, who, without thinking (properly), behaves with a person, who is not a thief, as (he would behave) with a thief, or who behaves with a thief, as he would behave with one who is not a thief, would also go to hell. Men (go to hell, who) through greed, snatch such objects as ghee, oil, food, drink, honey, flesh, wine or (any other) spirituous liquor, jaggery, sugarcane, vegetables, curd, roots and fruits, grass, wood, flowers, leaves, vessels of bell-metal, shoes, umbrella, bracelet, palanquin, soft seat, copper, lead, tin, bell-metal, or conch etc. that has come up from water, musical instrument like a flute, domestic utensils, (garments made of) wool, cotton or silken garments, objects belonging to the place of assembly or temples, or cotton or fine garments. He, who would snatch these and other objects, even in a small quantity, would quickly go to hell.

103b-114. There is no doubt that a man who snatches other's possession even of the measure of a mustard (i.e. even the smallest possession), goes to hell. There is no doubt that a man who takes away a small or a big object of another person, loved by the latter, goes to hell. Due to these and other sins, a man, immediately after his departure, would get (back) his former form or his body to be struck (by Yama's servants). The embodied ones go to Yama's world by the order of Yama. They are very much pained when they are being taken by the very fierce messengers of Yama. Dharmaraja (i.e. Yama) is said to be the punisher, due to various sorts of severe corporeal punishments meted out by him, to gods, lower animals and men who are governed by unrighteousness. A preceptor is the punisher through expiations (i.e. who makes them undergo expiations) of those who are endowed with decent behaviour but have soiled themselves through an error. Yama is not seen by them (i.e. their cases are not decided by Yama). A king is said to be the ruler of those who violate others' wives, who are thieves and who do their transactions unjustly; and Dharmaraja is the ruler of those who have hidden themselves. Therefore, one should undergo expiation for the sin that one has committed. There is no destruction of (the acts whose fruits) one has not enjoyed (or suffered) even after crores of kalpas. For him, who himself commits a sin, or causes (someone else) to commit it, or approves of it, by means of body, mind or speech, the fruit is going down (to hell). In this way, the three kinds of sin have been explained (by me) in brief. Different courses (followed by) men committing sins are narrated. O king, I have told you in minute detail, the fruit of righteousness. O best of men, tell me, what else I should explain to you. I have told you about the fruit of unrighteousness. I (shall) tell you about the fruit of righteousness also.

115. Thus Matali spoke to the king loved by all. The magnanimous one thus spoke on the topic of righteousness.

 

CHAPTER SIXTYEIGHT

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