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Library: A Brahmana engaging in the duties of other orders is not recommended. Same holds good for others.
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
Tell me about the auspicious, pleasant, greatly consequential, non-violent, and widely accepted dharmas—the means to happiness that bring joy to people like me.
Bhīṣma said:
O best of the Bharatas, four āśramas are prescribed here for the brāhmaṇa, O lord. Of those, three are followed by the other castes.
O king, many actions have been spoken of; they are not heavenly, but are devoted to the kṣatriya order. These are not remembered as examples; indeed, in the kṣatriya order, everything is prescribed as it is.
If a brāhmaṇa engages in the duties of kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, and śūdras, he is condemned as dull-minded in this world and goes to hell in the next.
O Pāṇḍava, apply the same designation that is established in the world for a servant, a dog, a wolf, a beast, or one engaged in wrongful acts, even when it is a Brāhmaṇa.
Of one who is engaged in the six duties, in all four āśramas, endowed with all virtues, arisen and self-controlled.
The imperishable worlds are attained by the brāhmaṇa who is pure, devoted to austerities, free from desires, and generous.
Whatever action a person performs, of whatever kind, by whom, and wherever, he obtains a quality of that very kind by just such a one.
O King, you should know the great calculation of self-study through increase, agriculture and trade, and sustaining life.
Time, impelled and determined by its own succession, helplessly performs actions that are excellent, inferior, and middling.
Gifts are perishable, though they were once considered auspicious; but those who are devoted to their own duties are truly imperishable and omnipresent.
