eamless
slumber or when Emancipation has been attained). That person, however,
who has attained to Emancipation, aided by his knowledge, forcibly drives
off that consciousness of duality. Two Brahmas should be known, viz., the
Brahma represented by sound (i.e., the Vedas), and secondly that which is
beyond the Vedas and is supreme. One that is conversant with Brahma
represented by sound succeeds in attaining to Brahma that is Supreme. The
slaughter of animals is the sacrifice laid down for the Kshatriyas. The
growing of corn is the sacrifice laid down for the Vaisyas. Serving the
three other orders is the sacrifice laid down for the Sudras. Penances
(or worship of Brahma) is the sacrifice laid down for the Brahmanas. In
the Krita age the performance of sacrifices was not necessary. Such
performance became necessary in the Treta age. In the Dwapara, sacrifices
have begun to fall off. In the Kali, the same is the case with them. In
Krita age, men, worshipping only one Brahma, looked upon the Richs, the
Samans, the Yajuses and the rites and sacrifices that are performed from
motives of advantage, as all different from the object of their worship,
and practised only Yoga, by means of penances. In the Treta age, many
mighty men appeared that swayed all mobile and immobile objects. (Though
the generality of men in that age were not naturally inclined to the
practice of righteousness, yet those great leaders forced them to such
practice.) Accordingly, in that age, the Vedas, and sacrifices and the
distinctions between the several orders, and the four modes of life,
existed in a compact state. In consequence, however, of the decrease in
the period of life in Dwapara, all these, in that age, fall off from that
compact condition. In the Kali age, all the Vedas become so scarce that
they may not be even seen by men. Afflicted by iniquity, they suffer
extermination along with the rites and sacrifices laid down in them. The
righteousness which is seen in the Krita age is now visible in such
Brahmanas as are of cleansed souls and as are devoted to penances and the
study of the scriptures. As regards the other yugas, it is seen that
without at once giving up the duties and acts that are consistent with
righteousness, men, observant of the practices of their respective
orders, and conversant with the ordinance of the Vedas are led by the
authority of the scriptures, to betake themselves from motives of
advantage and interest to sacrifice