Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 549

A VANAPRASTHA'S VIRTUES
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look out of doors before every meal to see if there was
anybody near who was hungry and it was their duty to
invite such a person to eat with them, whether he was
a friend or an enemy. It was a sublime and admirable
but I will not commit myself to assert that it
precept
was strictly observed in practice. They were above all
enjoined to restrain their anger, and greatly prided them-
selves on their patience and moderation under the insults
Nevertheless, in
to which they were sometimes exposed.
spite of such admirable philosophy, it seems certain that it
took very little to rouse their spleen. A wholesome dread
for they
of provoking their resentment was generally felt
were on such occasions unsparing with their curses, which,
as we know, had terrible consequences.
Justice, humanity, honesty, compassion, disinterested-
ness, in fact all the virtues, were recognized by them
and they taught them to others by precept and example.
Hence it is that the Hindus profess, at least in theory,
almost the same principles of morality as ourselves and
if they do not practise all the obligations which one man
owes to another in civilized society, it is not because they
are ignorant of them.
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CHAPTEE XXXII
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Vanaprastha Brahmins. Sacrifice of the Yagnam.
The Lesser Yagnam. The Greater Yagnam. The Giants, Enemies
of the Vanaprasthas.
Sacrifices of the
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The most common sacrifice among the Vanaprasthas was
that of homam. They performed it, as I have already
mentioned, by kindling a fire, throwing into it some grains
of rice soaked in ghee, and reciting mantrams.
Fire seems
to have been the object worshipped, and it was offered
sometimes specially to the sun, sometimes to all the planets.
These hermits also offered other daily sacrifices to the gods,
consisting of simple products of nature, such as flowers,
incense, rice, vegetables, and fruits.
Their whole time was
occupied in such sacrifices, repeated several times every
day, in ablutions, and in meditation on the perfections of
Parabrahma. Though it is certain that sacrifices of blood
have been common in India from the remotest ages, we