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SPIRITUAL LIGHT. can such a man propitiate the religious preceptors ?' A tree which has not taken deep roots is sure to remain stuntcd. ( 5 )
Notes—To the aspirant on the path of yoga, the first essential is the service to the venerable elders, worldly and spiritual. The worldly class includes parents, teachers and social leaders. Here in this verse the author has* adequately described the importance of duties towards parents. All are under a load of innumerable obligations rendered to them by their parents. Manusmriti well describes that it is beyond one's power, even in hundreds of years to discharge the debt of filial gratitude one owes to one's parents who have undergone so many difficulties and troubles from the time of birth to one's coming of age and whose love and affection are incomparably strong and dear and baffle all description. The natural instinct and the predominating desire is the propagation of the species and the preservation of the offspring. This filial duty is looked upon by the Jains and the Hindus as an act of piety and celebrated as the noblest of human virtues. In this progressive time every thing is available at any high price but the warm affection, keen solicitude, tender and unremitting care, which the parents have for their children can not be had even at any exorbitant price. So the venerable Jain Saint Hemacharya well identified this pious service to the parents with strict and high austerity. Their word must be looked upon as imperatively obligatory. It should not be trifled with
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