Greatness of Austerities

Sanatkumara said

The gift of drink is always a supreme, excellent gift. It satisfies a great many living beings and is like life itself. So without restriction and with affection one must give it. Building water bodies gives great bliss in this world and the next, truly. So a man must build tanks, wells and lakes. A well-made tank that is always full of water takes away half the sins of the man who built it. When men constantly dig water bodies where cows, brahmanas and the virtuous drink, they save everyone in their lineages. A person who without restriction arranges drinking water in summer never faces hardship on an extremely hard, uneven road. Those who build ponds are said to have qualities, which I will tell. Those who dig ponds are honoured everywhere in the three worlds and win the best fame. They live in the sun's world, gain his friendship and suffer no afflictions from the sun. The learned say that one who digs a pond gains endless merit and the fruits of dharma, artha and kama. The four kinds of beings find supreme refuge in a pond. In every direction ponds lead to excellent prosperity. Gods, humans, gandharvas, ancestors, nagas, rakshasas and unmoving beings take refuge in ponds. Brahma has said that a man who builds a pond full of water in the rainy season gains the fruit of an agnihotra sacrifice; full in autumn, the fruit of giving a thousand cows; full at the start of winter and in deep winter, the fruit of a sacrifice with abundant gold given; and full in spring and summer, the fruit of an atiratra or ashvamedha sacrifice, say the learned. Sanatkumara told Vyasa he had thus told the fruits of water bodies, excellent and loved by living beings, and now would tell the merits of planting trees.

A person who plants trees in a desolate forest saves everyone in his parents' lineages, those before him and those to come. So trees must be planted, and without doubt they become his sons. When he goes to the next world he gains undecaying worlds. Trees honour many gods with flowers, all ancestors with fruit and all guests with shade. Kinnaras, uragas, rakshasas, gods, gandharvas, humans and many rishis shelter under trees. Full of flowers and fruit they satisfy humans, which is why, by dharma, they are called sons in this world and the next. Those who dig ponds, plant trees, brahmanas who perform sacrifices and those who speak the truth are never dislodged from heaven. Truth is the supreme brahman, supreme austerity, supreme sacrifice, supreme learning. When others sleep, truth is awake. Truth is the supreme state and holds up the world. Everything rests on truth. Holy sacrifices, worship of gods, rishis and ancestors and all learning gained rest on truth. Sacrifices, austerities, gifts, mantras, Devi Sarasvati and celibacy are all truth. The syllable Aum is truth, indeed true. The wind blows by truth, the sun heats by truth, fire burns by truth, heaven rests on truth. By truth people can gain everything, following the Vedic rules and bathing in all tirthas. If a thousand ashvamedhas and a hundred thousand other sacrifices were set on one side of a balance and truth on the other, truth would weigh more. Gods, ancestors, humans, uragas and rakshasas are pleased by truth, and so are all the worlds and all moving and unmoving things. Truth is said to be supreme dharma, the supreme state, the supreme brahman, so one must always speak truth. After tormenting themselves with extremely hard austerities, sages are devoted to truth. By devoting themselves to the dharma of truth siddhas go to heaven, travelling with the Matrikas on vimanas full of apsaras. Truth must always be spoken, and nothing is higher. To gain success in the vast, fathomless ocean one should bathe mentally in the pure lake and tirtha that is truth, said to be the means to the supreme destination. Men who do not lie for their own sake, for others' sake or for their sons' sake go to heaven. The Vedas, sacrifices and mantras always exist in brahmanas, but those who resort to untruth do not gain them. So one should always follow truth.

Vyasa said

Store of austerities, please tell me again of the fruits of austerities, for brahmanas and all the other varnas.

Sanatkumara replied

I will speak of austerities, the means to gain all one wishes. Even for brahmanas they are extremely hard to do; listen attentively. Austerities are called supreme and fruits are gained through them. Those engaged in austerities always rejoice with the gods. Heaven is gained by austerities, and fame, and desire is satisfied by them. Austerities are the means to everything, and liberation is gained by them. They are great, the forms of knowledge, discernment, prosperity and good fortune. Through austerities a man can gain many things and whatever the mind desires. Without tormenting oneself by austerities one can never reach Brahma's world or Parameshvara Shankara. When a man tormenting himself by austerities is engaged in any task, he gains everything in this world and the next. A drunkard, a man who lies with another's wife, a killer of a brahmana and one who violates his guru's bed can all cross over through austerities and be freed of all sins. Sarveshvara Sthanu, eternal Vishnu, Brahma, Agni, Shakra and others have performed austerities. There are eighty-eight thousand sages who have held up their seed, and by their austerities they play in heaven with the gods. Shakra, lord of the gods, got his kingdom by austerities, and by austerities the slayer of Vritra rules everything from one day to the next. By austerities the two gods Surya and Chandra work for the worlds' welfare, and stars and planets have their light. In this world there is no happiness that austerities cannot gain, and those who know the Vedas know that every kind of happiness is gained by them. Knowledge, discernment, freedom from disease, beauty, good fortune and happiness are always gained through austerities. Brahma created the universe by austerities, Vishnu without tiring preserves it by austerities, Hara destroys by austerities, and Shesha holds up the whole earth by austerities. Great sage, Vishvamitra, Gadhi's son, was a kshatriya, but by austerities became a brahmana and was famous in the three worlds. Sanatkumara told Vyasa he had thus told the greatness of excellent austerities and would now tell the greatness of study, which is better than austerities.