विप्रवृत्तिश्चतुर्धेयं श्रेयसी चोत्तरोत्तरा ॥१६॥
vÄrtÄ vicitrÄ Å›ÄlÄ«na-
yÄyÄvara-Å›iloñchanam
vipra-vá¹›ttiÅ› caturdheyaá¹
Å›reyasÄ« cottarottarÄ
vÄrtÄ - the occupational means of livelihood for the vaiÅ›ya (agriculture, cow protection, and trade); vicitrÄ - various types; Å›ÄlÄ«na - livelihood achieved without effort; yÄyÄvara - going to the field to beg for some paddy; Å›ila - picking up the grains left in the field by the proprietor; uñchanam - picking up the grains that have fallen from bags in shops; vipra-vá¹›ttiḥ - the means of livelihood for the brÄhmaṇas; caturdhÄ - four different kinds; iyam - this; Å›reyasÄ« - better; ca - also; uttara-uttarÄ - the latter compared to the former.
As an alternative, a brÄhmaṇa may also take to the vaiÅ›ya’s occupational duty of agriculture, cow protection, or trade. He may depend on that which he has received without begging, he may beg in the paddy field every day, he may collect paddy left in a field by its proprietor, or he may collect food grains left here and there in the shops of grain dealers. These are four means of livelihood that may also be adopted by brÄhmaṇas. Among these four, each of them in succession is better than the one preceding it.
A brÄhmaṇa is sometimes offered land and cows in charity, and thus for his livelihood he may act in the same way as a vaiÅ›ya, by cultivating land, giving protection to cows and trading off his surpluses. A better process, however, is to pick up grains from a field or from a dealer’s shop without begging.
