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is degraded (that is all; he is not damned for ever) But the Vedic idea of a vrata is very different. (how or in what way different was not given.)
The 12 vratas which a lay person (not a monk) can take may be divided into three classes:
I. The first five are called lesser vratas (anuvratas), which means lesser as compared with the vratas of the monk.
The next three vratas are called guna vratas. Guna literally means virtues, but here it means that they give a kind of nourishment to the first five; they support and are helpful to the first five.
3. The last four are called Shiksha vratas, literally disciplinary. They are such that when you are practising them you are making a preparation for the monk life.
FIRST VRATA.
First vrata is called in Sanskrit sthula-prânâtipâta-viramâna vrata. Sthula means rough or gross as distinguished from strict or subtle. Pranātipāta means seperating the prānas (life forces). Viramana means giving up. So the name of this vow means choosing to refrain from some killing; to refrain from destroying life, but not in a literal or strict
sense.
2.
Now the next thing is to know what killing is; and then what particular kinds or forms of killing shall be refrained from,
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