Verses 650–659

650. He who after having been imprisoned in the ties of oxen, wealth, women and sons, is the agent in releasing himself, there from, can his glory on his virtue be comprehended even by (Sridhara) Vishnu? (Spurious)

651. These sinful men who having it in their power to give up the restraints of their children, women, cattle will not yet cast off these ties, these are void of shame and of manhood. (Spurious)

652. The whole race of man is in possession of twelve fruits. (that is, men receive in the next birth twelve percent on the sums they bestow in alms). But whatever they bestow on Brahmins shall return to them with thirty six percent. (evidently apocryphal)

653. He who when the land he had bestowed is lost, bestows other land instead on the original tenant, thus shall form a great blessing to the agent in such an act.

654. If the possessor loses his possession, this is no fault of the bestower. If the holder enjoys the gift, the giver hence derives stability.

655. He who usurps from the Gods, the Brahmin, the poet or the adulator, the gift bestowed either by himself or others, and grieve them, this man shall live till he devour dung without measure. (evidently apocryphal)

656. To devour a mortgage or the fruits of such a possession is a great sin though the committer be a king. The tenant alone has the right to the usufruct, to the exclusion of the land lord.

657. He who mortgages, suffers a certain loss, he loses part of his living. The acceptor of the pledge derives satisfaction therefrom. But he is ruined if he begins to covet it.

658. They who recognize (pity not) the nature of the irrational (uneducated) animals and contrive how to take mortgages from them, these are themselves the most brutish in the earth.

659. The thing that is nourished with vasa herb is poisoned by the vasa-nabhi, which also secures the body from venom; if thou comprehend this thou shalt become him who knows the secrets of the heart.