________________
54
THE PRACTICAL DHARMA
If the householder would carefully observe these rules of conduct, he would come into the possession of the following twenty-one marks which every true gentleman should possess. He would be serious in demeanour, clean as regards both his clothes and person, good-tempered, popular, merciful, afraid of sinning, straightforward, wise, modest, kind, moderate, gentle, careful in speech, sociable, cautious, studious, reverent both to old age and ancient customs, humble, grateful, benevolent, and attentive to business.
By the time that the householder becomes steady in the observance of the above rules of conduct and pratimās he is qualified to become a muni. The admission into the order of monks is accompanied by the impressive ceremony of keśa-lochana which means the pulling out of hair. Perhaps this was intended as a test of the true spirit of vairāgya, since the intensity of the feeling of disgust with a purely animal existence and the proper observance of the rules of conduct enjoined on a layman suffice, by themselves, to bring into manifestation, to a fairly appreciable extent, certain of the natural powers of the soul which enable it to endure pain with a cheerful heart. The intoxicating rhythm of true joy, which is only partially felt by a householder, is one of such powers, and suffices to make one immune to almost all kinds of bodily pain.
The kesa-lochana over, the householder becomes a wanderer, and dependent for his very subsistence on the charity of others. He may possess nothing of value--neither clothes, nor metal, nor anything else. His conduct must be characterised by the highest degree of self-control, and he should perfect himself in righteousness, mercy, equanimity, renunciation, and all other auspicious qualities of a like nature. His object being the attainment of absolute freedom from the trammels of transmigration, he pays no attention to the taunts or jibes of men, nor to the objects of the senses, nor even to the embellishment of his own person. He aims at the perfection of the holiesť form of dhyāna (self-contemplation), the immediate cause of emancipation, and leaves all other things, such as the embellishment of his physical prison' and the like, to those who have no desire, or capacity, to realise the great Ideal of Immortality and Bliss. What others say or think of him does
