Praśna II, Paṭala 9, Khaṇḍa 21

1. There are four orders, viz. the order of householders, the order of students, the order of ascetics, and the order of hermits in the woods.^[1]

2. If he lives in all these four according to the rules (of the law), without allowing himself to be disturbed (by anything), he will obtain salvation.^[2]

3. The duty to live in the teacher's house after the initiation is common to all of them.^[3]

4. Not to abandon sacred learning (is a duty common) to all.

5. Having learnt the rites (that are to be performed in each order), he may perform what he wishes.

6. Worshipping until death (and living) according to the rule of a (temporary) student, a (professed) student may leave his body in the house of his teacher.

7. Now (follow the rules) regarding the ascetic (Saṃnyāsin).

8. Only after (having fulfilled) the duties of that (order of students) he shall go forth (as an ascetic), remaining chaste.^[4]

9. For him (the Saṃnyāsin) they prescribe the following rules).

10. He shall live without a fire, without a house, Without pleasures, without protection. Remaining silent and uttering speech only on the occasion of the daily recitation of the Veda, begging so much food only in the village as will sustain his life, he shall wander about neither caring for this world nor for heaven.^[5]

11. It is ordained that he shall wear clothes thrown away (by others as useless).

12. Some declare that he shall go naked.^[6]

13. Abandoning truth and falsehood, pleasure and pain, the Vedas, this world and the next, he shall seek the Ātman.^[7]

14. (Some say that) he obtains salvation if he knows (the Ātman).

15. (But) that (opinion) is opposed to the Śāstras.^[8]

16. (For) if salvation were obtained by the knowledge of the Ātman alone, then he ought not to feel any pain even in this (world).

17. Thereby that which follows has been declared.^[9]

18. Now (follow the rules regarding) the hermit living in the woods.

19. Only after (completing) that (studentship) he shall go forth, remaining chaste.

20. For him they give (the following rules):

21. he shall keep one fire only, have no house, enjoy no pleasures, have no protector, observe silence, uttering speech on the occasion of the daily recitation of the Veda only.^[10]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

21. 'Though four (orders) are enumerated, he uses the word "four," lest, in the absence of a distinct rule of the venerable teacher, one order only, that of the householder, should be allowed, as has been taught in other Smṛtis.'--Haradatta. Manu VI, 87.

[2]:

Manu VI, 88.

[3]:

Manu II, 247-249, and above.

[4]:

The meaning of the Sūtra is, that the studentship is a necessary preliminary for the Saṃnyāsin. If a man considers sufficiently purified by his life in that order, he may become a Saṃnyāsin immediately after its completion. Otherwise he may first become a householder, or a hermit, and enter the last p. 154 order, when his passions are entirely extinct. See also Manu VI, 36; Yājñ. III, 56-57.

[5]:

Manu VI, 33, 42-45; Yājñ. III, 58 seq.

[6]:

'Another (commentator) says, "Some declare that he is free from all injunctions and prohibitions, i.e. he need neither perform nor avoid any (particular actions),"'--Haradatta.

[7]:

'He shall seek, i.e. worship, the Ātman or Self, which has been described in the section on transcendental knowledge (I, 8).'--Haradatta.

[8]:

Haradatta apparently takes the word Śāstras to mean 'Dharmaśāstras.'

[9]:

'That which follows' are the Yogas, which must be employed in order to cause the annihilation of pain, after the knowledge of the Ātman or Self has been obtained.

[10]:

'But which is that one fire? Certainly not the Gṛhya-fire, because he must remain chaste. Therefore the meaning intended is, "He shall offer a Samidh morn and evening in the common fire, just as formerly, (during his studentship)." Another commentator says, "Gautama declares that he shall kindle a fire according to the rule of the Śrāmanaka Sūtra. The Śrāmanaka Sūtra is the Vaikhānasa Sūtra. Having kindled a fire in the manner prescribed there, he shall sacrifice in it every morning and every evening."'--Haradatta. See also Manu VI, 4; Yājñ. III, 45.