Chapter 30

Viṣṇu Smriti 30

Having begun the study of the Vedas in the month of Śrāvaṇa or Prauṣṭhapada, one shall study for four and a half months. // Vi_30.1 //

Then he shall perform the ceremony of their dismissal outside the village. // Vi_30.2 //

Between the dismissal and the commencement, he shall study the ancillary Vedic texts. // Vi_30.3 //

He shall not study for a day and a night on the fourteenth and eighth days of the lunar fortnight. // Vi_30.4 //

Nor at the transition of seasons, nor after a solar or lunar eclipse, nor during a period of impurity due to birth or death. // Vi_30.5 //

Nor when Indra's banner is raised. // Vi_30.6 //

Nor when the wind is very violent. // Vi_30.7 //

Nor during unseasonal rain, lightning, or thunder. // Vi_30.8 //

Nor during an earthquake, a meteor shower, or when the horizon is ablaze. // Vi_30.9 //

Nor in a village where there is a corpse. // Vi_30.10 //

Nor during a battle. // Vi_30.11 //

Nor during the howling of dogs, jackals, or donkeys. // Vi_30.12 //

Nor at the sound of a musical instrument. // Vi_30.13 //

Nor near a Śūdra or an outcaste. // Vi_30.14 //

Nor in a temple, a cremation ground, a crossroads, or a public road. // Vi_30.15 //

Nor in water. // Vi_30.16 //

Nor with his feet placed on a stool. // Vi_30.17 //

Nor on an elephant, horse, camel, boat, or cart. // Vi_30.18 //

Nor in a desert. // Vi_30.19 //

Nor after a purgative. // Vi_30.20 //

Nor with indigestion. // Vi_30.21 //

Nor when a five-toed animal passes between. // Vi_30.22 //

Nor when the king, a Vedic scholar, a cow, or a Brāhmaṇa is in distress. // Vi_30.23 //

Nor at the commencement ceremony. // Vi_30.24 //

Nor at the dismissal ceremony. // Vi_30.25 //

Nor the Ṛg or Yajur Veda during the sound of the Sāma Veda. // Vi_30.26 //

Nor shall he go to sleep after studying in the last watch of the night. // Vi_30.27 //

Even if pressed, he shall avoid study on days when it is forbidden. // Vi_30.28 //

Because what is studied on a forbidden day yields no fruit, neither in this world nor the next. // Vi_30.29 //

By such study, there is a decrease in the lifespan of both the teacher and the pupil. // Vi_30.30 //

Therefore, by a teacher who desires the world of Brahma, knowledge must be sown in the fields of worthy pupils, avoiding the days on which study is forbidden. // Vi_30.31 //

A pupil shall clasp the feet of his teacher at the beginning and end of his Vedic study. // Vi_30.32 //

And the syllable "Om" shall be uttered. // Vi_30.33 //

Therein, by the Ṛg verses he studies, he satisfies his ancestors with clarified butter. // Vi_30.34 //

By the Yajur verses, with honey. // Vi_30.35 //

By the Sāma verses, with milk. // Vi_30.36 //

By the Ātharvaṇa verses, with meat. // Vi_30.37 //

By the Purāṇas, Itihāsas, ancillary Vedic texts, and Dharmaśāstras he studies, with food. // Vi_30.38 //

He who, having acquired knowledge, lives by it in this world, that knowledge will not bear fruit for him in the next world. // Vi_30.39 //

And he who destroys the fame of others with his knowledge. // Vi_30.40 //

And one shall not receive knowledge from another who is studying from someone else without permission. // Vi_30.41 //

That receiving of it is a theft of Brahman (brahmasteya) for him and leads to hell. // Vi_30.42 //

Whether it be worldly, Vedic, or spiritual knowledge, / From whomever one receives it, one should never betray him. || Vi_30.43 ||

Of the progenitor and the giver of Brahman, the giver of Brahman is the more venerable father; / For the birth from Brahman for a Brāhmaṇa is eternal, both after death and in this world. || Vi_30.44 ||

That his mother and father produce him together out of desire, / One should know that to be his physical birth, that he is born here from the womb. || Vi_30.45 ||

But the birth which his teacher, who has mastered the Veda, brings about for him according to rule / With the Sāvitrī verse—that is true, that is ageless and immortal. || Vi_30.46 ||

He who fills his ears with truth, without causing pain, bestowing immortality, / One should consider him a father and a mother; one should not betray him, knowing what he has done. || Vi_30.47 ||