Shri Hari’s dismissal of heretical doctrines and practices.
Shri Hari’s dismissal of heretical doctrines and practices.
Shri Narayan Muni said:-
‘You are all drunkards, fraudulent, fallen with your vile thoughts. The heretical doctrines that you give importance are of no authority by any means; they might be a vile work of some drunkard. You have regarded that text (work) as authentic out of your illusion and hence have become corrupted indeed. 1 - 2.
If sacred knowledge of Brahman could be attained through drinking, why exertion or perseverance? Were the great sages of yore, who had observed austerities, senseless? 3.
O lovers of meat, why haven’t all the low caste or outcaste men belonging in your tribe of drunkards not attained salvation? 4.
What made you to perceive wrongly? How have you become ill minded? Are you created by Svayambhu (Brahma) himself for making this world wholly one similar to your ilk? 5.
To uphold your own doctrines, you are certainly denouncing the ancient texts, comprising of verses that are staunchly against drinking. 6.
There are three sorts of liquor or wine namely Goudi (made from molasses) Madhva (a kind intoxicating sweet drink) and Paishthi (Spirituous liquor distilled from rice or other grains). Not even a single sort of drink should be drunk by good Brahmins. 7.
Svayambhuva Manu has prohibited drinking in his text on moral code. On that account, listen to the words of sage Yajnavalkya. 8.
‘If liquor or semen or urine is taken out of ignorance, reconsecration should be done for men belonging to Brahmins and all three castes. 9.
Liquors are of eleven varieties of same quality made from jackfruit, grapes, Madhuka flower, dates, palms, sugar-cane, honey, Sairam (a kind of intoxicating drink), Aristham (soapberry), Maireyam (a kind of drink), coconut and a twelfth wine or spirit is considered to be the lowest among all liquors. 10 - 11.
Similarly sage Pulastya also has prohibited drinking of liquor in his text on moral code. There in that text wine has been considered as ‘Adhama’meaning lowest or worst, but you have changed the meaning altogether as ‘Uttama’meaning the best! 12.
O drunkards, if ‘Urdhvamnaya’ (scripture of Shaktas) is the authentic text in your consideration, why do you misinterpret the word Madhu (honey) as Madya (wine) (thus distorting the sacred tenet). 13.
Hence, your heretical doctrine founded by the vile men because of its contradicting statements to all authoritative texts (like the Vedas) is by no means an authority indeed. 14.
If men belonging to other classes take to drinking, be it so. How come you Brahmins indulge in drinking unhesitatingly which is strictly prohibited and condemned by the Vedic following? 15.
Having drunk the mouth-spit of the outcaste people, you have fallen to the lowest ebb. Hence, still wearing the sacred thread on, how come you denounce Brahminism? 16.
Tell me if there is any single statement in archaic texts which enjoins the Brahmins to drink liquor? 17.
O drunkards, I could quote with authority thousands of statements from all ancient noble scriptures that prohibit intake of liquor. 18.
Meat, liquor and spirit are the foods of Yakshas, demons as well as evils, which should not be eaten by a Brahmin who eats remnants of oblations offered to gods. 19.
There are indeed many statements of this kind available in texts on moral codes. Drinking of liquor or spirit is considered as one of the five heinous sins. 20.
One addicted to consumption of liquor may be purified by death caused by drinking any one of the following boiled substances namely - liquor, water, ghee, cow-urine or milk. 21.
Shri Hari on prohibition of evil practices.
If men belonging in the first three classes (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya) ignorantly consume anything touched by or mixed with ordure or urine or liquor, they need to undergo expiatory rites and re-consecration. 22.
If a Brahmin resorts to drinking of liquor through his folly, he could expiate himself by drinking hot beverage. The same atonement is suggested by religious code for drinking unknowingly. 23.
What will be your fate, you that knowingly or intentionally quaff liquor and also cause downfall of others by making them drink like you do? 24.
Cohabitation with another’s wife is indeed forbidden. I will quote from Bhagavat as to what intense agony will befall whoever resorts to this kind of illicit affair. 25.
The man or woman who has illicitly cohabited with a person of other sex is whipped (in the hell called Tapta-surmya) and made to hug a burning iron effigy of the opposite sex. 26.
Suvrat continued:-
After hearing thus from the lord, the Brahmins unable to answer, became silent, confounded by confusion. 27.
Hearing the words of Shri Hari that shattered them while pointing to their vile doctrine, their guru burning with rage, said to Him, invoking his deity Mahakali with a chalice in (her) hand. 28.
Kichak said:-
‘Even in our creed it is a blemish to drink liquor without reason. But what is wrong in consuming liquor or meat that is offered to god? 29.
In the Vedas, there are instances that state that meat and wine offered to the deities could be had by Brahmins to their heart’s content. Is it a sin, then? 30.
It is told that the slaying of animal in sacrifices as ordained in the Vedas is not in a real sense hurting. Not knowing its esoteric meaning, how could you blame us? 31.
In Mahabharat or in Puranas, it is heard that many Brahmins were drinkers of wine as well as eaters of meat and enjoyers of women of their choice. 32.
Don’t you know in Saptashati chapter of Markandey Puran there is an actual account of appreciation of meat and wine? 33.
Suvrat said:-
Shri Hari said to him who was telling thus, knowing very well his citing to be spurious and ultra vires of Vedic ways and adopting fraudulent tactics. 34.
Shri Hari’s allusion to various texts as regards forbiddance of wine, meat and women.
Shri Narayan Muni said:-
In Puranas as well as in Agamas, it is mentioned that gods are of Sattvic nature, demons and evils of Rajasic nature and Rakshasas, evil spirits and others of Tamasic nature. 35.
It is told that milk, ghee, and nectar (Ambrosia) are favourite food items of gods, whereas for demons and evils it is wine and meat. 36.
Hence summoned by the foremost king Pruthu, all the species in three worlds had extracted their own food from mother earth in the form of a cow. 37.
The band of gods with Indra for calf, milked nectar into a vessel of gold - the drink that imparted mental power, vital energy and bodily strength. 38.
The Demons - the sons of Diti and Danu - employing Virochan, the son of Prahlad, the great Asur as calf, milked spirituous liquor into an iron vessel. 39.
The Yakshas, Rakshasas, spirits and ghouls, feeding on flesh, milked the blood that intoxicates them into a skull using the lord of the elementals (Rudra) for calf. 40.
Thus it is propounded in Bhagavat Puran that flesh and wine should not be considered as fit to be offered to gods. 41.
Men overpowered by Rajasic and Tamasic qualities tend to have inclination for flesh and wine. It is not the ordinance of the Vedas. 42.
Vedas speak of violence restricted to only sacrifice. It is to make people abstain from it and to curb the unlimited violence done otherwise all the time. Truly, Vedas never favours violence. 43.
Descriptions of violence appearing in Mahabharat and Purans are only to stimulate interest (in religiosity); but eventually they have established nonviolence as the highest virtue. 44.
O drunkard, where in Saptashati (a part of) Markandey Puran is the instance that tells Brahmins to consume flesh and liquor? 45.
If the worship of Goddess is to be performed with offerings of flesh and wine according to you, there is no such instance in ‘Rahasya’ chapters (of Durgasaptashati) occurring in Markandeya Puran. 46.
On the contrary ‘worship of this sort - with offerings of wine and meat (prescribed for kings), which I have mentioned above, should be avoided by the Brahmins’. This way prohibitive rule is clearly stated for Brahmins in the ‘Rahasya chapters’ in the second half of the stanza. 47.
Not knowing the purport of Shastras, people like you, who are sinners, along with your disciples will certainly to go the worst of the hells. 48.
Usanas (Shukracharya) grandson of sage Bhrugu has set forth bounds of propriety for Brahmins, among which is ‘abstinence from drinking wine, for it is a great sin’. Listen to those words of him. 49.
‘A foolish Brahmin who drinks wine through confusion, from such day falls from Dharma. His act will be considered as great a sin as killing a virtuous one, and he will be forbidden here in this world as well as in the world above.’ 50.
Are not such bounds of propriety laid down by Shukracharya? Wherefore, how come drinking of wine is not a sin of great magnitude? 51.
In the past, Shvetaketu, son of Uddalak had strictly forbidden men from going to any woman (of their choice) like animals do. 52.
‘Women, who transgressing their husbands, commit adultery, from such moment would be reckoned as committing heinous crime equal to feticide and hence will be facing greater agonies. 53.
Similarly it would a heinous crime on the part of men who transgress their virtuous virgin wives and enjoy other women, and are therefore destined for the same fate. 54.
‘Any animal flesh for that matter, in all respect, should not be eaten by men’, is a well-known virtuous path. Is it not? 55.
Even eating flesh offered in the sacrifice is a grave blemish for Brahmins. Hence there is no blameless eating of flesh indeed. 56.
Therefore in Mahabharata, there is a statement negating eating of flesh offered in sacrifice even. Let me tell you about that. 57.
One who has abandoned eating of flesh should not partake of it even as part of though sanctified by a ritual; not even in the name of manes or otherwise. 58.
Eating flesh of all animals is a sin equal to eating flesh of a fish. Hence a Brahmin should not eat those. 59.
This is the conclusion as laid down in Vedic scriptures. So all of you who are flesh eaters, your views and practices are spurious. 60.
Without killing of an animal, how meat or flesh can be gotten, O meat lovers? Fatal harm done to living beings is a grave sin; and here you are doing it intentionally. Hence your teachings are false and wrong. 61.
Thus ends the Forty-sixth chapter entitled ‘Refuting of heretical doctrines in Jayatalpapura’ in the second Prakarana of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ the rules of the code of conduct. 46
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