61. A man who out of greed has stolen gems, pearls or coral, or any of the many other kinds of precious things, is born among the goldsmiths.
62. For stealing grain (a man) becomes a rat, for stealing yellow metal a Hamsa, for stealing water a Plava, for stealing honey a stinging insect, for stealing milk a crow, for stealing condiments a dog, for stealing clarified butter an ichneumon;
63. For stealing meat a vulture, for stealing fat a cormorant, for stealing oil a winged animal (of the kind called) Tailapaka, for stealing salt a cricket, for stealing sour milk a bird (of the kind called) Balaka.
64. For stealing silk a partridge, for stealing linen a frog, for stealing cotton-cloth a crane, for stealing a cow an iguana, for stealing molasses a flying-fox;
65. For stealing fine perfumes a musk-rat, for stealing vegetables consisting of leaves a peacock, for stealing cooked food of various kinds a porcupine, for stealing uncooked food a hedgehog.
66. For stealing fire he becomes a heron, for stealing household-utensils a mason-wasp, for stealing dyed clothes a francolin-partridge;
67. For stealing a deer or an elephant a wolf, for stealing a horse a tiger, for stealing fruit and roots a monkey, for stealing a woman a bear, for stealing water a black-white cuckoo, for stealing vehicles a camel, for stealing cattle a he-goat.
68. That man who has forcibly taken away any kind of property belonging to another, or who has eaten sacrificial food (of) which (no portion) had been offered, inevitably becomes an animal.
69. Women, also, who in like manner have committed a theft, shall incur guilt; they will become the females of those same creatures (which have been enumerated above).
70. But (men of the four) castes who have relinquished without the pressure of necessity their proper occupations, will become the servants of Dasyus, after migrating into despicable bodies.
71. A Brahmana who has fallen off from his duty (becomes) an Ulkamukha Preta, who feeds on what has been vomited; and a Kshatriya, a Kataputana (Preta), who eats impure substances and corpses.
72. A Vaisya who has fallen off from his duty becomes a Maitrakshagyotika Preta, who feeds on pus; and a Sudra, a Kailasaka (Preta, who feeds on moths).
73. In proportion as sensual men indulge in sensual pleasures, in that same proportion their taste for them grows.
74. By repeating their sinful acts those men of small understanding
suffer pain here (below) in various births;
75. (The torture of) being tossed about in dreadful hells, Tamisra and the rest, (that of) the Forest with sword-leaved trees and the like, and (that of) being bound and mangled;
76. And various torments, the (pain of) being devoured by ravens and owls, the heat of scorching sand, and the (torture of) being boiled in jars, which is hard to bear;
77. And births in the wombs (of) despicable (beings) which cause constant misery, and afflictions from cold and heat and terrors of various kinds,
78. The (pain of) repeatedly lying in various wombs and agonizing births, imprisonment in fetters hard to bear, and the misery of being enslaved by others,
79. And separations from their relatives and dear ones, and the (pain of) dwelling together with the wicked, (labour in) gaining wealth and its loss, (trouble in) making friends and (the appearance of) enemies,
80. Old age against which there is no remedy, the pangs of diseases, afflictions of many various kinds, and (finally) unconquerable death.
81. But with whatever disposition of mind (a man) forms any act, he reaps its result in a (future) body endowed with the same quality.
82. All the results, proceeding from actions, have been thus pointed out; learn (next) those acts which secure supreme bliss to a Brahmana.
83. Studying the Veda, (practising) austerities, (the acquisition of true) knowledge, the subjugation of the organs, abstention from doing injury, and serving the Guru are the best means for attaining supreme bliss.
84. (If you ask) whether among all these virtuous actions, (performed) here below, (there be) one which has been declared more efficacious (than the rest) for securing supreme happiness to man,
85. (The answer is that) the knowledge of the Soul is stated to be the most excellent among all of them; for that is the first of all sciences, because immortality is gained through that.
86. Among those six (kinds of) actions (enumerated) above, the performance of) the acts taught in the Veda must ever be held to be most efficacious for ensuring happiness in this world and the next.
87. For in the performance of the acts prescribed by the Veda all those (others) are fully comprised, (each) in its turn in the several rules for the rites.
88. The acts prescribed by the Veda are of two kinds, such as procure an increase of happiness and cause a continuation (of mundane existence, pravritta), and such as ensure supreme bliss and cause a cessation (of mundane existence, nivritta).
89. Acts which secure (the fulfilment of) wishes in this world or in the next are called pravritta (such as cause a continuation of mundane existence); but acts performed without any desire (for a reward), preceded by (the acquisition) of (true) knowledge, are declared to be nivritta (such as cause the cessation of mundane existence).
90. He who sedulously performs acts leading to future births (pravritta) becomes equal to the gods; but he who is intent on the performance of those causing the cessation (of existence, nivritta) indeed, passes beyond (the reach of) the five elements.
91. He who sacrifices to the Self (alone), equally recognising the Self in all created beings and all created beings in the Self, becomes (independent like) an autocrat and self-luminous.
92. After giving up even the above-mentioned sacrificial rites, a Brahmana should exert himself in (acquiring) the knowledge of the Soul, in extinguishing his passions, and in studying the Veda.
93. For that secures the attainment of the object of existence, especially in the case of a Brahmana, because by attaining that, not otherwise, a twice-born man has gained all his ends.
94. The Veda is the eternal eye of the manes, gods, and men; the Veda-ordinance (is) both beyond the sphere of (human) power, and beyond the sphere of (human) comprehension; that is a certain fact.
95. All those traditions (smriti) and those despicable systems of philosophy, which are not based on the Veda, produce no reward after death; for they are declared to be founded on Darkness.
96. All those (doctrines), differing from the (Veda), which spring up and (soon) perish, are worthless and false, because they are of modern date.
97. The four castes, the three worlds, the four orders, the past, the present, and the future are all severally known by means of the Veda.
98. Sound, touch, colour, taste, and fifthly smell are known through the Veda alone, (their) production (is) through the (Vedic rites, which in this respect are) secondary acts.
99. The eternal lore of the Veda upholds all created beings; hence I hold that to be supreme, which is the means of (securing happiness to) these creatures.
100. Command of armies, royal authority, the office of a judge, and sovereignty over the whole world he (only) deserves who knows the Veda-science.
101. As a fire that has gained strength consumes even trees full of sap, even so he who knows the Veda burns out the taint of his soul which arises from (evil) acts.
102. In whatever order (a man) who knows the true meaning of the Veda-science may dwell, he becomes even while abiding in this world, fit for the union with Brahman.
103. (Even forgetful) students of the (sacred) books are more distinguished than the ignorant, those who remember them surpass the (forgetful) students, those who possess a knowledge (of the meaning) are more distinguished than those who (only) remember (the words), men who follow (the teaching of the texts) surpass those who (merely) know (their meaning).
104. Austerity and sacred learning are the best means by which a Brahmana secures supreme bliss; by austerities he destroys guilt, by sacred learning he obtains the cessation of (births and) deaths.
105. The three (kinds of evidence), perception, inference, and the (sacred) Institutes which comprise the tradition (of) many (schools), must be fully understood by him who desires perfect correctness with respect to the sacred law.
106. He alone, and no other man, knows the sacred law, who explores the (utterances) of the sages and the body of the laws, by (modes of) reasoning, not repugnant to the Veda-lore.
107. Thus the acts which secure supreme bliss have been exactly and fully described; (now) the secret portion of these Institutes, proclaimed by Manu, will be taught.
108. If it be asked how it should be with respect to (points of) the law which have not been (specially) mentioned, (the answer is), ‘that which Brahmanas (who are) Sishtas propound, shall doubtlessly have legal (force).’
109. Those Brahmanas must be considered as Sishtas who, in accordance with the sacred law, have studied the Veda together with its appendages, and are able to adduce proofs perceptible by the senses from the revealed texts.
110. Whatever an assembly, consisting either of at least ten, or of at least three persons who follow their prescribed occupations, declares to be law, the legal (force of) that one must not dispute.
111. Three persons who each know one of the three principal Vedas, a logician, a Mimamsaka, one who knows the Nirukta, one who recites (the Institutes of) the sacred law, and three men belonging to the first three orders shall constitute a (legal) assembly, consisting of at least ten members.
