History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.10.2

v2.c18.10.2

remarks that truth and dharma are in practical life identical terms.¹⁰ One of the noblest prayers in all literature occurs in the Bṛ. Up. (I. 3.28) 'from falsehood lead me unto truth, from darkness lead me unto light, from death lead me unto immortality'. The Muṇḍakopaniṣad says 'only truth is victorious and not falsehood; the path of the gods is spread out by (the pursuit of) truth'. The Bṛ. Up. inculcates on all the great need of three cardinal virtues, viz. self-restraint, *dayā* (compassion or love for all sentient life) and dāna (gifts or charity).¹¹ The Chān. Up. says that the world of Brahman is free from all evil and only those who have lived as chaste students can enter the world of *brahma*. The Chān. Up. V. 10 sternly condemns five sins, viz. theft of gold, drinking spirits, murder of a brāhmaṇa, defiling of one's guru's bed and association with these, as the greatest sins and in V. 11. 5 Aśvapati exultantly declares that in his kingdom there were no grave sinners. The Kaṭhopaniṣad (I. 2.23) insists¹² upon cessation from evil conduct, peace of mind and concentration as essential for the seeker after the Self. The Udyogaparva 43.20ff. speaks of the twelve *vratas* (vows or rules of conduct) for brāhmaṇas and verses 22-25 describe at great length the characteristics of one who is dānta (self-controlled). Śānti 160 contains an eulogy of *dama* (self-control).