Verse 26

²⁶Spoken to in this way by Brahma, king, their fever left them; and they went up to the sage, Tvastr's son, embraced him, and said this. ²⁷We have come to your hermitage as guests. May it go well with you. Let your fathers' wish be granted, dear one, as this moment asks. ²⁸For waiting on their fathers is the highest duty of good sons: even of sons who have sons of their own, brahmin, and how much more of those still in study. ²⁹The teacher is the shape Brahma takes, the father the shape of the lord of creatures, a brother the shape of the lord of the Maruts, a mother the very body of the earth. ³⁰A sister is the shape of pity, a guest is dharma itself come in person, one who arrives at the door is the shape of fire, and all beings are the shape of the self.

³¹So take away by your austerity the pain of your fathers in their pain, and the beating they have taken from others, and be willing, dear one, to do what we ask. ³²We choose you for our teacher and guide, a brahmin deep in Brahman, so that by your fire we may readily beat those who stand against us. ³³No one blames the bowing to a younger man's feet where there is something to be gained by it. Outside the chants, brahmin, years are not what makes a man senior.