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160
LAWS OF MANU.
TV, 1996
perform a penance under the pretence (that the act is intended to gain) spiritual merit, (thus) hiding his sin under the pretext of) a vow and deceiving women and Sudras.
199. Such Brâhmanas are reprehended after death and in this (life) by those who expound the Veda, and a vow, performed under a false pretence, goes to the Rakshasas.
200. He who, without being a student, gains his livelihood by (wearing) the dress of a student, takes upon himself the guilt of (all) students and is born again in the womb of an animal.
201. Let him never bathe in tanks belonging to other men; if he bathes (in such a one), he is tainted by a portion of the guilt of him who made the tank.
202. He who uses without permission a carriage, a bed, a seat, a well, a garden or a house belonging to an(other man), takes upon himself one fourth of (the owner's) guilt.
203. Let him always bathe in rivers, in ponds, dug by the gods (themselves), in lakes, and in waterholes or springs.
204. A wise man should constantly discharge the paramount duties (called yama), but not always the minor ones (called niyama); for he who does not
may be performed either by a sinner in order to atone for a crime or by a guiltless man in order to gain spiritual merit; see Baudh. III, 8, 27-31.
201. Vi. LXIV, 1; Yâgñ. I, 159; Baudh. II, 5, 6. 202. Yâgñ. I, 160; Baudh. II, 6, 29.
203. Vi. LXIV, 16; Yâgñ. I, 159. Garta, 'water-holes' (Gov., Nâr.), means according to Kull., who quotes a verse of the Khândogya-parisishta, Nand., and Râgh., a brook.'
204. Regarding the two classes of duties, see Yâgñ. III, 313314. Though the commentators give various explanations of yama
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