One should constantly strive to satisfy the gods, ancestors, and fellow human beings each day, offering appropriate rites and gifts that bring joy not only to living beings, but also to the wise sages and the hosts of subtle spirits. The seers are to be honored through study, the ancestors with the prescribed oblations, all beings with food, and the spirits with ritual offerings. In this way, the five great sacrifices are performed, for these are ordained to cleanse the five daily slaughters that inevitably occur in a householder’s life: the use of the mortar, the grinding stone, the hearth, the water pot, and the broom. These five slaughters are inherent to the householder’s path, and because of them, one is hindered from reaching heaven. Therefore, the five sacrifices are proclaimed as a remedy for this subtle sin. Even a person who has undergone all the twenty-eight sacraments and rites, as prescribed, will not attain liberation if they lack the virtues of the true self. Therefore, one who has cultivated the qualities of the self should perform all actions enjoined by the scriptures, always dedicating their wealth for the welfare of cows and Brahmins. With cows, land, gold, garments, fragrant flowers, and water, one should worship the Auspicious One—He who is Brahmā, Viṣṇu, the Sun, Rudra, Fire, and the very Self. Through vows, fasts, proper rituals, and unwavering faith, free from envy, one approaches that Supreme Being who is beyond the senses, peaceful, subtle, unmanifest, eternal, the all-pervading Vāsudeva, the very form of the universe, from whom all these manifestations arise. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, the Blessed One, the Sun, the Lord of Bulls, the eight Vasus, the eleven leaders of hosts, the guardians of the worlds, the ancestors, and the mothers—all these powers are declared, endowed with both the moving and the unmoving; Brahmā and the others, four in number, have their root in the Lord of the Unmanifest. Whether worship is offered to Brahmā, the Sun, Viṣṇu, or Śiva, if performed without distinction and with the sacred syllable Om, all that moves and does not move is thereby worshipped. The supreme abode of Brahmā and the others, and the foundation of the three, is established in the Veda itself; therefore, Pūṣan is to be worshipped diligently. Thus, making fire and Brahmins the foremost, one should honor them with gifts, vows, fasts, recitation, offerings, and similar acts. For one devoted to ritual practice, cherishing the Vedānta, the śāstras, and the smṛtis, and always fearing wrongdoing, there is nothing in this world or the next that remains unattainable. At this point, the sages address Sūta: “O Sūta, recount for us in detail and proper order the enumeration of the Purāṇas, and also the complete law of giving, as it should be known.” Sūta replies, “This very teaching was spoken in the Purāṇas by the Primeval Person, the Soul of the Universe, to Manu. Listen to it. The Purāṇa was first remembered by Brahmā as the foremost of all scriptures, and then, from his mouths, the Vedas were brought forth. In a previous cycle, there was but one Purāṇa, vast as a hundred crores of verses, a holy means to the three aims of life. When the worlds were consumed by fire, I, taking the form of a horse, gathered the limbs—the four Vedas and the extensive Purāṇa. I took up Mīmāṃsā and Dharmaśāstra as well, and composed them. Then, in the form of a fish at the beginning of the new cycle, I dwelt in the ocean of waters. While residing there, I recounted all this knowledge, which the four-faced Brahmā heard and then transmitted to the sages and the gods. Thus, the Purāṇa became the source of all scriptures. But, O king, seeing that over time it was not fully accepted, I, assuming the form of Vyāsa, condensed it in every age—always in the Dvāpara Yuga—into four hundred thousand verses. Dividing it into eighteen parts, I made it manifest in this world. Even now, in the world of the gods, it exists in its vast form of a hundred crores, but here its meaning is summarized in four hundred thousand verses, as found in the eighteen Purāṇas. Now, O best of sages, listen as I name them, as they were formerly declared by Brahmā to Marīci. The Brāhma Purāṇa is said to have thirty thousand verses; whoever writes it out and gives it, along with a cow and water, on the full moon of Vaiśākha, is honored in Brahmā’s world. When the world was a golden lotus, this Purāṇa, based on that account, is called the Padma by the wise; the Padma Purāṇa is said to have fifty-five thousand verses. Whoever gives this Purāṇa, accompanied by a golden lotus and sesame seeds in the month of Jyeṣṭha, obtains the fruit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice. That Purāṇa which Parāśara spoke, concerning the account of the Boar Epoch and all dharmas, is known as the Vaiṣṇava. At that time, whoever gives it, together with a cow and clarified butter, on the full moon, with a purified mind, attains the realm of Varuṇa; the wise know this Purāṇa to be of twenty-three thousand verses. In the context of the Shvetakalpa, Vāyu spoke about dharmas; the Vāyu Purāṇa, endowed with the greatness of Rudra, is said to be twenty-four thousand verses. In the month of Śrāvaṇa, on the Śrāvaṇa full moon, whoever gives it, along with a cow and jaggery, joined with a bull, to a householder Brahmin, that purified soul dwells in Śiva’s world for one kalpa. Where, with reference to the Gāyatrī, the expanse of dharma is described, along with the slaying of Vṛtrāsura, that is called the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. In the midst of the Sarasvata Kalpa, those best of men who are present, the account of their deeds in the world is called the Bhāgavata. Whoever, after writing it, gives it together with a golden lion, on the full moon of the month of Bhādrapada, attains the highest state; this Purāṇa is declared to have eighteen thousand verses. Where Nārada spoke of dharmas and those based on the great kalpas, that is called the Nāradiya, numbering twenty-five thousand. On the fifteenth day of Āśvina, one who gives it, together with a cow, attains the highest perfection, which is difficult to obtain again. Where, with reference to omens, the inquiry into dharma and adharma is explained, in response to the questions of sages by those who practice dharma—all that was narrated in detail by Mārkaṇḍeya. That Purāṇa, numbering nine thousand verses, is here called the Mārkaṇḍeya.” In this way, the tradition and the sacred knowledge of the Purāṇas and their proper giving is revealed, as spoken by the ancient sages and preserved for the welfare of all beings.