1 "O sinless One, the whole sacred law, applicable to the four classes, has been declared by thee; communicate to us now, according to the truth, the ultimate retribution for their deeds."

2 To the great sages who addressed him thus, righteous Bhrigu, sprung from Manu, answered, "Hear the decision concerning this whole connexion with actions."

3 Action, which springs from the mind, from speech, and from the body, produces either good or evil results; by action are caused the various conditions of men, the highest, the middling, and the lowest.

4 Know that the mind is the instigator here below, even to that action which is connected with the body, and which is of three kinds, has three locations, and falls under ten heads.

5 Coveting the property of others, thinking in one's heart of what is undesirable, and adherence to false doctrines, are the three kinds of sinful mental action.

6 Abusing others, speaking untruth, detracting from the merits of all men, and talking idly, shall be the four kinds of evil verbal action.

7 Taking what has not been given, injuring creatures without the sanction of the law, and holding criminal intercourse with another man's wife, are declared to be the three kinds of wicked bodily action.

8 A man obtains the result of a good or evil mental act in his mind, that of a verbal act in his speech, that of a bodily act in his body.

9 In consequence of many sinful acts committed with his body, a man's soul becomes dead and lifeless; in consequence of sins committed by speech, he sinks to the level of birds and beasts; and in consequence of mental sins, to a low station.

10 That man is called a true tridandin in whose mind these three, the control over his speech (vagdanda), the control over his thoughts (manodanda), and the control over his body (kayadanda), are firmly fixed.

11 That man who keeps this threefold control over himself with respect to all created beings and wholly subdues desire and wrath, thereby assuredly gains complete success.

12 That which impels this body to action they call the soul, the knower of the field (Kshetrajna); but that which does the acts, the wise name the Bhutatman, the self consisting of the elements.

13 Another inner self, which is created with every embodied being, is called Jiva, life, through which the soul becomes sensible of all pleasure and pain in this world and the next.

16 After death another strong body, formed of the five elements and destined to suffer the torments of Hell, is given to wicked men.

17 When the evil-doers by means of that body have suffered there the torments imposed by the angels appointed over Hell, by God's command, they are made to feel the full weight of their deeds.

18 He, having suffered for his faults, which are produced by attachment to sensual objects, and which result in misery, approaches, if God so wills, free from stains, the mercy of his Lord.

19 God, who is never wearied, and the angels who record, examine without tiring the merit and the guilt of that soul, by which it obtains bliss or misery both in this world and the next.

20 If the soul chiefly practises virtue and vice to a small degree, it obtains bliss in the Garden, in a body fashioned by God.

21 But if it chiefly cleaves to vice and to virtue in a small degree, it suffers in Hell the torments inflicted by the angels appointed over it.

22 The soul, having endured those torments, is freed from taint when the term decreed by God has been fulfilled.

23 Let man, having recognised even by means of his intellect these courses of the soul which depend on merit and demerit, always fix his heart on the acquisition of merit.

24 Know Goodness (sattva), Activity (rajas), and Darkness (tamas) to be the three qualities of the soul, by which all created beings are always affected.

25 When one of these qualities wholly predominates in a body, then it makes the embodied soul eminently distinguished for that quality.

26 Goodness is declared to have the form of knowledge, Darkness of ignorance, Activity of love and hatred; such is the nature of these three which is all-pervading and clings to everything created.

27 When man experiences in his soul a feeling full of bliss, a deep calm, as it were, and a pure light, then let him know that it is, among those three, the quality called Goodness.

28 What is mixed with pain and does not give satisfaction to the soul one may know to be the quality of Activity, which is difficult to conquer, and which ever draws embodied souls towards sensual objects.

29 What is coupled with delusion, what has the character of an undiscernible mass, what cannot be fathomed by reasoning, what cannot be fully known, one must consider as the quality of Darkness.

30 I will, moreover, fully describe the results which arise from these three qualities, the excellent ones, the middling ones, and the lowest.

31 The study of the scriptures, austerity, the pursuit of knowledge, purity, control over the organs, the performance of meritorious acts and remembrance of God, are the marks of the quality of Goodness.

32 Delighting in undertakings, want of firmness, commission of sinful acts, and continual indulgence in sensual pleasures, are the marks of the quality of Activity.

33 Covetousness, sleepiness, pusillanimity, cruelty, disbelief, leading an evil life, a habit of soliciting favours, and inattentiveness, are the marks of the quality of Darkness.

34 Know, moreover, the following to be a brief description of the three qualities, each in its order, as they appear in the three times, the present, past, and future.

35 When a man, having done, doing, or being about to do any act, feels ashamed, the learned may know that all such acts bear the mark of the quality of Darkness.

36 But, when a man desires to gain by an act much fame in this world and feels no sorrow on failing, know that it bears the mark of the quality of Activity.

37 But that bears the mark of the quality of Goodness which with his whole heart he desires to know, which he is not ashamed to perform, and at which his soul rejoices.

38 The craving after sensual pleasures is declared to be the mark of Darkness, the pursuit of wealth the mark of Activity, the desire to gain spiritual merit the mark of Goodness; each later named quality is better than the preceding one.

39 I will briefly declare in due order what states a man obtains in this whole world through each of these qualities.

40 Those endowed with Goodness rise to the rank of the righteous who draw near to the angels, those endowed with Activity remain in the condition of ordinary men, and those endowed with Darkness ever sink to the condition of cattle, nay, worse; that is the threefold course of men's states.

41 But know this threefold course that depends on the three qualities to be again threefold, low, middling, and high, according to the particular nature of the acts and of the knowledge of each man.

51 Thus the result of the threefold action, the whole course of the states of men, which consists of three classes, each with three subdivisions, and which includes all created beings, has been fully pointed out.

52 In consequence of attachment to the objects of the senses, and in consequence of the non-performance of their duties, fools, the lowest of men, reach the vilest condition.

54 Those who committed mortal sins (mahapataka) pass through dreadful hells for large numbers of years.

73 In proportion as sensual men indulge in sensual pleasures, in that same proportion their taste for them grows.

74 By repeating their sinful acts those men of small understanding suffer pain here below and in the world to come;

75 The torture of being tossed about in dreadful hells, Tamisra and the rest, that of the Forest with sword-leaved trees and the like, and that of being bound and mangled;

76 And various torments, the pain of being devoured by ravens and owls, the heat of scorching sand, and the torture of being boiled in jars, which is hard to bear;

77 And afflictions from cold and heat and terrors of various kinds,

78 Imprisonment in fetters hard to bear, and the misery of being enslaved by others,

79 And separations from their relatives and dear ones, and the pain of dwelling together with the wicked, labour in gaining wealth and its loss, trouble in making friends and the appearance of enemies,

80 Old age against which there is no remedy, the pangs of diseases, afflictions of many various kinds, and finally unconquerable death.

81 But with whatever disposition of mind a man performs any act, he reaps its result in the world to come, in a state corresponding to the same quality.

82 All the results proceeding from actions have been thus pointed out; learn next those acts which secure supreme bliss to a scholar.

83 Studying the scripture, practising austerities, the acquisition of true knowledge, the subjugation of the organs, abstention from doing injury, and serving the teacher are the best means for attaining supreme bliss.

84 If you ask whether among all these virtuous actions, performed here below, there be one which has been declared more efficacious than the rest for securing supreme happiness to man,

85 The answer is that the knowledge of God is stated to be the most excellent among all of them; for that is the first of all sciences, because eternal life is gained through that.

86 Among those six kinds of actions enumerated above, the performance of the acts taught in the revealed scripture must ever be held to be most efficacious for ensuring happiness in this world and the next.

87 For in the performance of the acts prescribed by the revealed scripture all those others are fully comprised, each in its turn in the several rules for the rites.

88 The acts prescribed by the revealed scripture are of two kinds, such as procure an increase of happiness in this world, and such as ensure supreme bliss in the hereafter.

89 Acts which secure the fulfilment of wishes in this world or in the next are acts done for a reward; but acts performed without any desire for a reward, preceded by the acquisition of true knowledge, are declared to ensure supreme bliss.

90 He who sedulously performs acts done for a reward attains a high station in the Garden; but he who is intent on the performance of those done solely for God's sake passes indeed beyond all worldly things to supreme bliss.

91 He who devotes his offerings to God alone, recognising that all created beings are His signs and that He encompasses all things by His knowledge and power, becomes sovereign over himself and is illumined by His light.

92 Even while performing the above-mentioned sacrificial rites, a scholar should exert himself in acquiring the knowledge of God, in restraining his passions, and in studying the scripture.

93 For that secures the attainment of the object of existence, especially in the case of a scholar, because by attaining that, not otherwise, a man has gained all his ends.

94 The revealed word of God is the eye of men and a guide to the righteous of every age; the ordinance of the revelation is both beyond the sphere of human power, and beyond the sphere of human comprehension; that is a certain fact.

95 All those traditions (smriti) and all those despicable systems of philosophy, which are not based on the revelation, produce no reward after death; for they are declared to be founded on Darkness.

96 All those doctrines, differing from the revelation, which spring up and soon perish, are worthless and false, because they are of modern date.

97 The four classes of men, the three worlds, the four stages of life, the past, the present, and the future are all severally known by means of the revealed word.

98 Sound, touch, colour, taste, and fifthly smell are known to be means of enjoyment through the revealed word alone.

99 The lore of the revelation guides all created beings; hence I hold that to be supreme, which is the means of securing happiness to these creatures.

100 Command of armies, royal authority, the office of a judge, and sovereignty over the whole world he only deserves who knows the science of the revealed law.

101 As a fire that has gained strength consumes even trees full of sap, even so he who knows the revealed law burns out the taint of his soul which arises from evil acts.

102 In whatever station a man who knows the true meaning of the revealed law may dwell, he becomes, even while abiding in this world, fit for nearness to God.

103 Forgetful students of the sacred books are more distinguished than the ignorant, those who remember them surpass the forgetful students, those who possess a knowledge of the meaning are more distinguished than those who only remember the words, men who follow the teaching of the texts surpass those who merely know their meaning.

104 Austerity and sacred learning are the best means by which a scholar secures supreme bliss; by austerities he destroys guilt, by sacred learning he obtains everlasting life.

105 The three kinds of evidence, perception, inference, and the sacred Institutes which comprise the tradition of many schools, must be fully understood by him who desires perfect correctness with respect to the sacred law.

106 He alone, and no other man, knows the sacred law, who explores the utterances of the sages and the body of the laws, by modes of reasoning not repugnant to the revealed lore.

107 Thus the acts which secure supreme bliss have been exactly and fully described; now the secret portion of these Institutes, proclaimed by Manu, will be taught.

108 If it be asked how it should be with respect to points of the law which have not been specially mentioned, the answer is, "That which scholars who are Sishtas propound shall doubtlessly have legal force."

109 Those scholars must be considered as Sishtas who, in accordance with the sacred law, have studied the revealed scripture together with its appendages, and are able to adduce proofs perceptible by the senses from the revealed texts.

110 Whatever an assembly, consisting either of at least ten, or of at least three persons who follow their prescribed occupations, declares to be law, the legal force of that one must not dispute.

111 Three persons who each know one of the three principal books of revelation, a logician, a Mimamsaka, one who knows the Nirukta, one who recites the Institutes of the sacred law, and three men belonging to the first three stages of life shall constitute a legal assembly, consisting of at least ten members.

112 One who knows the Rig-veda, one who knows the Yajur-veda, and one who knows the Sama-veda, shall be known to form an assembly consisting of at least three members, competent to decide doubtful points of law.

113 Even that which one scholar versed in the revealed scripture declares to be law must be considered to have supreme legal force, but not that which is proclaimed by myriads of ignorant men.

114 Even if thousands of men who have not fulfilled their sacred duties, are unacquainted with the revealed scripture, and subsist only by the name of their birth, meet, they cannot form an assembly for settling the sacred law.

115 The sin of him whom dunces, steeped in ignorance and unacquainted with the law, instruct in his duty, falls, increased a hundredfold, on those who propound it.

116 All that which is most efficacious for securing supreme bliss has been thus declared to you; a scholar who does not fall off from that obtains the most excellent state.

117 Thus did the Lord disclose to me, through a desire of benefiting mankind, this whole most excellent secret of the sacred law.

118 Let every scholar, concentrating his mind, fully recognise that all things, both seen and unseen, exist by God's command and are encompassed by His knowledge; for he who recognises the universe as God's creation does not give his heart to unrighteousness.

119 God alone is the Lord of all the angels, the universe is sustained by Him; for He decrees the connexion of these embodied souls with their deeds.

122 Let him know God to be the sovereign ruler of them all, subtler than the subtlest, perceived by no eye, and known to the intellect alone in a state of deep contemplation.

123 Some call Him the Radiant, others the Lord of creatures, others the Mighty, others the Sustainer of life, and again others the Eternal; to Him belong the most beautiful names.

124 He encompasses all created beings by His knowledge and power, and by His decree they pass through birth, growth and decay, like the wheels of a chariot that constantly revolve.

125 He who thus recognises the signs of God in all created beings becomes even-minded towards all, and enters the highest state, nearness to his Lord.

126 A man who recites these Institutes, taught by Manu, will be always virtuous in conduct, and by God's leave will reach whatever condition he desires.