Verse 2.248

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

एतेष्वविद्यमानेषु स्थानासनविहारवान् ।
प्रयुञ्जानोऽग्निशुश्रूषां साधयेद् देहमात्मनः ॥ २४८ ॥

eteṣvavidyamāneṣu sthānāsanavihāravān |
prayuñjāno'gniśuśrūṣāṃ sādhayed dehamātmanaḥ || 248 ||

When all these are non-existent, he should perfect his body, while he carries on the tending of the Fire, with only such diversions as standing and sitting.—(248)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Non-existence’ may mean either death, or absence of proper qualification.

‘When all these are non-existent,’ he should carry on the tending of the fire,—i.e., he should continue to wash and besmear with clay the fire-house, he should kindle the fire, he should constantly keep near the Fire, just as his Preceptor used to do;—all this constitutes the ‘tending of the fire.’ While doing all this, ‘he should perfect his body’—i.e., let it wear away; this is called ‘perfecting’ in the same manner (of contrary signification) as the blind man is described as ‘having excellent eyes.’

‘Sthānāsanavihāravān’—‘with only such diversion as standing and sitting’; i.e., he should amuse himself only by standing for sometime and sitting for sometime.

Others have explained this to mean that he ‘should sit in the proper posture for meditation’—such as the Svasti(k/h?) and the rest—‘and should go about begging alms.’—(248)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Deham sādhayet—‘Let the body wear away’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja);—‘shall make the Soul in his body perfect, i.e. fit for union with Brahman’ (Kullūka, Nārāyaṇa and Rāghavānanda).

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 458) as laying down the duties of the lifelong Student;—in Vidhānapārijāta (p. 504);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 106);—and in Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, (p. 504), where the note is added on the expression ‘sthānāsanavihāravan’ that what is meant is that ‘during his spare time left after he has fully accomplished all his duties, he may stand or sit or walk about’. Medhātithi explains it to mean ‘at times he shall stand, and at times sit down,—in this manner he shall divert himself.’ But he goes on to add another explanation offered by ‘others’, by which the meaning is that ‘he shall practise the postures prescribed in connection with Yogic practices, and live on alms’.—Nārāyaṇa explains the phrase to mean a particular form of austerity consisting in ‘standing, sitting and wandering’.—It is quoted in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 167), which explains the phrase to mean ‘standing, sitting and moving at stated times.’

This phrase ‘sthānāsanavihāra’ appears to have been an old idiom; it is met with for the first time in Baudhāyana’s Dharmasūtra (II. 1. 41), where we read —

samudrasamyānam...... eṣāmanyatamat kṛtvā chaturtha kālāmitabhojinaḥ syuḥ ape? bhyapeyuḥ savanānukalpam sthānāsanābhyām viharanta ete tribhirvarṣaistadapahanti pāpam.

Translated literally, this means—

‘Sea-voyage (and a few other acts enumerated)..., having done any one of these acts, people should eat sparsely at the fourth part of the day, should enter water in the morning, at midday and in the evening; amusing themselves by sitting and standing, they destroy that sin after three years.’

The exact meaning of the expiatory rite here prescribed has never been understood. Whenever the question of sea-voyage has come up for discussion, the antagonists of the voyage have held that by the last clause Baudhāyana clearly meant that the voyager should have to commit suicide; to spend three years ‘standing and standing’, i.e. without any sleep—would he nothing short of self-immolation. The protagonists of sea-voyage felt all along that the passage could not mean this; though they were unable to suggest any other plausible explanation. They thought that even if suicide were actually meant, there were more effective means available for doing that; and in fact the ordinance that ‘the man shall not sleep for three years’ looked absurd on the face of it.

We find the expression in several other works.

(1) In Padmapurāṇa (Ādi-khaṇḍa, 58. 26) we read in course of the description of the duties of Vānaprastha, the man in the third stage of life—sthānāsanābhyām viharet na kvachid dhairyamutsṛjet, ‘he shall divert himself with sitting and standing, and shall not renounce his steadiness on any point.’

The committing of suicide certainly could not form a duty of the ordinary Yānaprastha, the hermit retiring from active life to a life of meditation and worship.

(2) In Yājñavalkya (III 50) we read—sthānāsanavihārairvā yogābhyāsena vā tathā (dinam nayet), where Mitākṣarā adds the explanation—kañcit kālam sthānam kañcit chopaveśanam, ‘for some time he shall sit, and for some time he shall stand’—in this manner he shall spend the day. And Aparārka says—sthānena gatinivṛttyā, āsanena, upaveśanena vihāreṇa caṅkramaṇena (i. e. ‘resting, sitting, and walking) ca divasam nayet.

(3) Again in Manu (VI. 22) ‘sthānāsanābhyām viharet’ where Medhātithi says, ‘sthānāsanābhyām dine, rātrau tu kevalasthaṇḍilaśāyītām vakṣyati’, by which also the text means—‘he shall spend the day in standing and sitting.’

(4) Lastly in Manu (XL 224) we meet with the same expression; and here it forms part of the Kṛcchra—penance.

From all this it is clear that the phrase could never have been intended to lay down anything so physically impossible as passing three years ‘without sleep.’ In fact a careful study of all the above texts leads us to the conclusion that what is meant by the words ‘sthānāsanābhyām viharet’ is exactly what is expressed by the Hindi idiom ‘uṭha baiṭha kara samaya bitānā’; and the sense would appear to be that the man shall have recourse to no other diversion or amusement, save what may be obtained by ‘standing or sitting.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (3. 8).—‘In the absence of them, he shall reside either with a senior fellow-student, or with the fire.’

Vaśiṣṭha (7.5, 6).—‘On the teacher's death, he shall attend upon the Fire;—as the fire has been recognised as the teacher.’

Viṣṇu (28, 46).—‘In his absence, the Life-long Student shall attend upon the Fire.

Yājñavalkya (1. 49).—(See above.)