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of a mental defilement. So long as they are there they eat up into the vitals of the mind and the body and they do prevent the soul from retaining its balance. Hence a person possessed of a thorn, even if he formally accepts a vrata, cannot concentrate on its observance. When a thorn or some such sharp thing is kept thrust within a bodily part then the body and the mind of the person concerned are deprived of their balance by this irritant and as a result this person is prevented from concentrating on any task; in a like manner do the mental defilements in question act as a cause of unease—which is why a renunciation of thein is the first condition of becoming a vratin. 13.
The Types of Vratin :
There are two possible types of Vratin–Viz. agārin (lit. one with a house) or householder and anagārin (lit. one without a house) or world-renouncer. 14.
Not all those accepting vratas are possessed of similar capacities. Hence corresponding to the greater or lesser effectiveness of their capacities the vratins are divided into two types—viz. (1) agārin and (2) anagāra. Agāra means house. And he who stands associated with a house is agārin. So agārin means householder. Similarly, he who does not stand associated with a house is anagāra—that is, a world-renouncer, a monk. Though the direct meaning of the words agārin and anagāra refers to residing in a house and not residing in a house yet what has to be adopted here is the corresponding intended meaning, and viewed from that end an agārin is one afflicted with wordly desires while an anagārin one free from worldly desires. When this intended meaning is adopted the net purport of the aphorism turns out to be as follows : If a person, even while residing in a house, is free from all worldly desires then he is in fact an anagāra; on the other hand, if a person, who has renounced his house and resides in a forest, is not yet free from worldly desires then he is in fact an agārin. Thus the true and chief criterion of being an agārin and being an anagāra is just one, and it is on the basis of it that the vratins are here classified into two types.
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