|
Mahabharata Santi Parva (Mokshadharma Parva) Chapter 244:3
Of excellent disposition and conduct, with sins all washed off, the person who is conversant with his own self never desires to do any act for either this or the other world. Freed from wrath and from error, without anxiety and without friendship, such a person lives in this world like one totally uninterested in its concerns. One (in the observance of Sannyasa) should not feel reluctant in discharging the duties included in Yama and those also that walk behind them (and are included in niyama). Such a one should with energy live according to the ordinances in respect of his own mode, and throw away Vedic study and the sacred thread that is indicative of the order of his birth. Devoted to righteousness and with his senses under complete control, such a one, possessed of knowledge of self, attains undoubtedly to the end for which he strives.[1] After the third is the fourth mode of life. It is very superior, and fraught with numerous high virtues. It transcends in point of merit the three other modes of life. It is said to occupy the highest place. Listen to me as I discourse upon the duties that belong to that mode which is pre-eminent and which is the high refuge of all!' |
|
References
- ↑ [The duties included in yama (as explained by the commentator) are universal benevolence, truthfulness, faith, Brahmacharya, and freedom from attachment. Those that are included in niyama are purity (of body and mind), contentment, study of the Vedas, meditation on the Supreme, etc. Swasastra sutra means the sutras of his own sastras—i.e., the duties laid down in respect of that Sannyasa which he has adopted; the chief of which is enquiry after the Soul or Self: Bhutimanta implies Vedic recitation and the sacred thread. He who has taken to Sannyasa should display energy in these, i.e., persistently enquire after the Soul and throw away all caste-marks, and other indications. 'The desirable end' is of course, gradual Emancipation of that obtained at once. Following the commentator, K.P. Singha gives the correct version. The Burdwan version, containing the very words of the gloss, is based upon a complete misconception of their meaning.]
Related Articles
| ||||||||