Mbh 12.11.5a

"'"The bird said, 'Among quadrupeds the cow is the foremost. Of metals, gold is the foremost. Of words, mantras, and of bipeds, the Brahmanas, are the foremost. These mantras regulate all the rites of a Brahmana's life beginning with those appertaining to birth and the period after it, and ending with those appertaining to death and the crematorium. These Vedic rites are his heaven, path, and foremost of sacrifices. If it were otherwise, how could I find the acts (of persons in quest of heaven) become successful through mantras? He who, in this world, adores his soul, firmly regarding it to be a deity of a particular kind, obtains success consistent with the nature of that particular deity.[17] The seasons measured by half the months lead to the Sun, the Moon, or the Stars.[18] These three kinds of success, depending upon action are desired by every creature. The domestic mode of life is very superior and sacred and is called the field (for the cultivation) of success. By what path do those men go that censure action? Of little understanding and deprived of wealth, they incur sin. And since those men of little understanding live by abandoning the eternal paths of the gods, the paths of the Rishis, and the paths of Brahma, therefore, they attain to paths disapproved of by the Srutis.[19] There is an ordinance in the mantras which says, "Ye sacrificer, perform the sacrifice represented by gifts of valuable things. I wilt give thee happiness represented by sons, animals, and heaven!"--To live, therefore, in accordance with ordinance is said to be the highest asceticism of the ascetics. Therefore, ye should perform such sacrifices and such penances in the shape of gifts. The due performance of these eternal duties, viz., the worship of the gods, the study of the Vedas, and the gratification of the Pitris, as also regardful services unto the preceptors--these are called the austerest of penances.