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III ADHYAYA, 4 PADA, 40.
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works (as prescribed for the asramas) and obtained splendour' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 9); and Smriti in the passage, 'Let a Brâhmana stay not one day even outside the asrama; having stayed outside for a year he goes to utter ruin.'
40. But of him who has become that (i.e. entered on a higher asrama) there is no becoming not that (i.e. descending to a lower one), according to Gaimini also, on account of restrictive rule, absence of such like (i.e. statements of descent), and nonexistence (of good custom).
It has been established that there are stages of life for which chastity is obligatory. A doubt here arises whether one who has entered them may for some reason or other fall from them or not.— The purvapakshin maintains that as there is no difference a person may descend to a lower stage, either from the wish of well performing the duties of that stage, or influenced by passion and the like.—To this we reply as follows, 'Of him who has become that,' i. e. of him who has reached the stages for which chastity is obligatory, there is no 'becoming not that,' i.e. descending thence.-Why?—'On account of restrictive rule, absence of such like, and non-existence.' That means: there are, in the first place, restrictive rules declaring that a descent may not take place. Compare 'for life mortifying the body in the house of a tutor' (Kh. Up. II, 23, 2); 'He is to go into the forest, that is he is not to return thence, that is the Upanishad ;' Having been dismissed by the teacher he is to follow one of the four asramas, according to rule, up to release from the body.'- In the second place there are texts teaching the ascent to higher asramas ("Having completed the Brahmakarya state he is to become a householder; he may wander forth from the Brahmakarya state'); but there are none teaching the descent to lower å sramas.-And in the third place there exists no good custom of that kind.—The descent to a lower asrama can in no way be based on the wish of well performing the duties of that asrama; for
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| SR No. | 007682 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1894 |
| Total Pages | 2240 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 38 MB |