If a Brahmana accepts the gifts made to him by the king, he loses, by such acceptance, the merit that he would otherwise win by a his penances, they day. Indeed, such acceptance destroys that merit as a burning fire destroys a wilderness.
अह्रापहि तपो जातु ब्राह्मणस्योपजायते। तद् दाव इव निर्दह्यात् प्राप्तो राजप्रतिग्रहः॥