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MAHÂVAGGA.
is eminent, a hero, a great sage (mahesi), victorious, free from desire, purified, enlightened, him I call a Brahmana.
(646) 54. "The man who knows his former dwellings, who sees both heaven and hell, and has reached the destruction of births, him I call a Brâhmana. (647)
55. For what has been designated as "name" and “family” in the world is only a term, what has been designated here and there is understood by common consent?
(648) 56. 'Adhered to for a long time are the views of the ignorant, the ignorant tell us, one is a Brâhmana by birth.
(649) 57. 'Not by birth is one a Brahmana, nor is one by birth no Brâhmana; by work (kammana) one is a Brâhmana, by work one is no Brahmana. (650)
58. By work one is a husbandman, by work one is an artisan, by work one is a merchant, by work one is a servant.
(651) 59. 'By work one is a thief, by work one is a soldier, by work one is a sacrificer, by work one is a king.
(652) 60. 'So the wise, who see the cause of things and understand the result of work, know this work as it really is 2.
(653) 61. By work the world exists, by work mankind
1 Samañña h' esâ lokasmim Nâmagottam pakappitam Sammukkâ samudâgatam
Tattha tattha pakappitam. 2 Evam etam yathâbhâtam Kammam passanti pandita Patikkasamuppâdadaså Kammavipäkakovida.
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