Verse 4.260

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

अनेन विप्रो वृत्तेन वर्तयन् वेदशास्त्रवित् ।
व्यपेतकल्मषो नित्यं ब्रह्मलोके महीयते ॥ २६० ॥

anena vipro vṛttena vartayan vedaśāstravit |
vyapetakalmaṣo nityaṃ brahmaloke mahīyate || 260 ||

The Brāhmaṇa, learned in the Vedic soriptures, who conducts himself by this course of life, has his sins removed, and remains for ever exalted in the region of Brahman.—(260)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This describes the result of all that has gone before.

‘The Brāhmaṇa, learned in the Vedic scriptures, who conducts himself by this course of life, has his sins’—arising from doing what is forbidden—‘removed’—by means of Expiatory Rites. The meaning is that by doing what is enjoined, and by avoiding what is forbidden, and by expiating by means of rites those sins that may happen to be committed,—‘becomes exalted in the region of Brahman;— or, according to another theory, be becomes of the same nature as Brahman—(260)

Thus ends Discourse IV.

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Cf. 2.244.

This verse is quoted in Nityācārapradīpa (p, 42).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (9.71).—‘The Accomplished Student who maintains this behaviour saves from sin his parents and relations both above and below himself, and fails not in attaining the regions of Brahman.’

Vaśiṣṭha (8.17).—‘Ever bathing, ever wearing the sacred thread, ever studying the Veda, avoiding the food of outcasts, approaching his wife only during the periods, and offering oblations according to law, the Brāhmaṇa fails not to reach the regions of Brahman.’

Baudhāyana (2.4.24).—‘The Brāhmaṇa who every day, during the day and the night and the twilights offers prayers, becomes purified by Brahman and becomes Brahman Itself; and following the scriptures, he wins the regions of Brahman.’

 

End of Adhyāya IV.