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MAITRẬYANA-BRÂHMANA-UPANISHAD.
the dead); intoxicated by the wine of illusion, like one intoxicated by wine; rushing about, like one possessed by an evil spirit; bitten by the world, like one bitten by a great serpent; darkened by passion, like the night; illusory, like magic; false, like a dream; pithless, like the inside of the Kadali; changing its dress in a moment, like an actor?; fair in appearance, like a painted wall, thus they call him; and therefore it is said:
Sound?, touch, and other things are like nothings; if the elemental Self is attached to them, it will not remember the Highest Places.
3. This is indeed the remedy for the elemental Self: Acquirement of the knowledge of the Veda, performance of one's own duty, therefore conformity on the part of each man to the order to which he happens to belong. This is indeed the rule for one's own duty, other performances are like the mere branches of a stem. Through it one obtains the Highest above, otherwise one falls downward. Thus is one's own duty declared, which is to be found in the Vedas. No one belongs truly to an order (asrama) who transgresses his own law? And if people say, that a man does not belong to any of the orders, and that he is an ascetic 8, this is wrong, though, on
1 M. reads natavat. . M. reads ye 'rthâ anarthâ iva te sthitäh, esham. 3 M. reads na smaret paramam padam. • M. reads svadharma eva sarvam dhatte, stambhasâkhevetarâni.
• The commentator considers the other sacrificial performances as hurtful, and to be avoided.
6 M. reads anyathadhah pataty, esha. 7 The rules of the order to which he belongs. & A Tapasvin is free from the restrictions of the preceding âsra
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