"Yudhishthira said, 'Tell me, O grandsire, what is superior to
Brahmacharyya? What is the highest indication of virtue? What is the
highest kind of purity?'

"Bhishma said,--'I tell thee, O son, that abstention from honey and meat
is even superior to Brahmacharyya. Righteousness consists in keeping
within boundaries or in self-restraint, the best indication of
Righteousness is Renunciation (which is also the highest kind of
purity).[209]

"Yudhishthira said, 'In what time should one practise Righteousness? In
what time should wealth be sought? In what time should pleasure be
enjoyed? O grandsire, do tell me this.'

"Bhishma said,--'One should earn wealth in the first part of one's life.
Then should one earn Righteousness, and then enjoy pleasure. One should
not, however, attach oneself to any of these. One should regard the
Brahmanas, worship one's preceptor and seniors, show compassion for all
creatures, be of mild disposition and agreeable speech. To utter
false-hood in a court of justice, to behave deceitfully towards the king,
to act falsely towards preceptors and seniors, are regarded as equivalent
(in heinousness) to Brahmanicide. One should never do an act of violence
to the king's person. Nor should one ever strike a cow. Both these
offences are equivalent to the sin of foeticide. One should never abandon
one's (homa) fire. One should also never cast off one's study of the
Vedas. One should never assail a Brahmana by words or acts. All these
offences are equivalent to Brahmanicide.'

"Yudhishthira said,--'What kind of Brahmanas should be regarded as good?
By making presents unto (what kind of) Brahmanas one may acquire great