Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAP.

II.

6

6

191. Let the scholar, when commanded by his preceptor, and even when he has received no command, always exert himself in reading, and in all acts useful 6 to his teacher.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

192. 6
Keeping in due subjection his body, his speech,
his organs of sense, and his heart, let him stand with
the palms of his hands joined, looking at the face of
his preceptor.

193.

Let him always keep his right arm uncovered, be always decently apparelled, and properly composed; and when his instructor says, "be seated," let him sit opposite to his venerable guide.

194. •

In the presence of his preceptor let him always eat less, and wear a coarser mantle with worse appen

dages; let him rise before, and go to rest after his

'tutor.

195. Let him not 'converse with him,

[ocr errors]

answer his teacher's orders, or reclining on a bed; nor sitting, nor eating, nor standing, nor with an averted face: 196. But let him both answer and converse, if his 'preceptor sit, standing up; if he stand, advancing toward him; if he advance, meeting him; if he run, hastening after him;

[ocr errors][merged small]

197. If his face be averted, going round to front him, from left to right; if he be at a little distance, approaching him; if reclined, bending to him; and, if he stand ever so far off, running toward him.

198. When

II.

198. When his teacher is nigh, let his couch or CHAP. his bench be always placed low: when his preceptor's eye can observe him, let him not sit carelessly

6 at ease.

[ocr errors]

199. Let him never pronounce the mere name of 'his tutor, even in his absence; nor ever mimick his gait, his speech, or his manner.

6

6

[ocr errors]

200. In whatever place, either true but censorious, or false and defamatory, discourse is held concerning his teacher, let him there cover his ears or remove to ⚫ another place :

6

201..
By censuring his preceptor, though justly, he
will be born an ass; by falsely defaming him, a dog;
by using his goods without leave, a small worm; by
envying his merit, a larger insect or reptile.

202. He must not serve his tutor by the intervention of another, while himself stands aloof; nor must he attend him in a passion, nor when a woman is near; from a carriage or raised seat he must descend 'to salute his heavenly director.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

203. Let him not sit with his preceptor to the leeward, or to the windward of him; nor let him say any thing which the venerable man cannot hear.

204.' He He may sit with his teacher in a carriage drawn by bulls, horses, or camels; on a terrace, on a pavement of stones, or on a mat of woven grass; 'on a rock, on a wooden bench, or in a boat.

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

6 205.

6 mean

When his tutor's tutor is near, let him dehimself as if his own were present; nor let him, unless ordered by his spiritual father, prostrate himself in his presence before his natural father, or paternal uncle.

6

206. This is likewise ordained as his constant behaviour toward his other instructors in science; to'ward his elder paternal kinsmen; toward all who may restrain him from sin, and all who give him salutary advice.

[ocr errors]

207. Toward men also, who are truly virtuous, let him always behave as toward his preceptor; and, in like manner, toward the sons of his teacher, who ' are entitled to respect as older men, and are not students; and toward the paternal kinsmen of his venerable tutor.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

6

208.

The son of his preceptor, whether younger or of equal age, or a student, if he be capable of teaching the Veda, deserves the same honour with the preceptor himself, when he is present at any sacrificial act:

209. But he must not perform for the son of his teacher, the duty of rubbing his limbs, or of bathing him, or of eating what he leaves, or of washing ' his feet.

[ocr errors]

6

210. The wives of his preceptor, if they be of the same class, must receive equal honour with their

' venerable husband; but if they be of a different 'class

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

class, they must be honoured only by rising and CHAP. 'salutation.

211. For no wife of his teacher must he perform 'the offices of pouring scented oil on them, of attending them while they bathe, of rubbing their legs and arms, or of decking their hair;

212. Nor must a young wife of his preceptor be
greeted even by the ceremony of touching her feet,
if he have completed his twentieth year, or can dis-
tinguish virtue from vice.

213 It is the nature of women in this world to cause the seduction of men; for which reason the 'wise are never unguarded in the company of females:

6

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

214. A female indeed, is able to draw from the

right path in this life not a fool only, but even a

sage, and can lead him in subjection to desire or to 'wrath.

[ocr errors]

215. Let no man, therefore, sit in a sequestered place with his nearest female relations: the assem'blage of corporeal organs is powerful enough to snatch wisdom from the wise.

216. A young student may, as the law directs, 'make prostration at his pleasure on the ground be'fore a young wife of his tutor, saying, "I am such < an one;"

[ocr errors]

217. And on his return from a journey, he must
once touch the feet of his preceptor's aged wife,
• and

II.

[ocr errors]

CHAP. and salute her each day by prostration, calling to mind the practice of virtuous men.

II.

[ocr errors]

218. As he who digs deep with a spade comes to a spring of water, so the student, who humbly serves his teacher, attains the knowledge which lies deep in his teacher's mind.

219.

WHETHER his head be shorn, or his hair long, or one lock be bound above in a knot, let not 'the sun ever set or rise while he lies asleep in the

[ocr errors][merged small]

220 If the sun should rise or set, while he sleeps 'through sensual indulgence, and knows it not, he must fast a whole day, repeating the gáyatrì :

6

[ocr errors]

221. He, who has been surprised asleep by the 'setting or by the rising sun, and performs not that penance, incurs great guilt.

222. Let him adore GOD both at sunrise and at sunset, as the law ordains, having made his ablution ' and keeping his organs controlled; and, with fixed attention, let him repeat the text, which he ought 'to repeat, in a place free from impurity.

[ocr errors]

223. IF a
<
woman or a Súdra perform any act
leading to the chief temporal good, let the student
be careful to emulate it; and he may do whatever
gratifies his heart, unless it be forbidden by law:

224. The chief temporal good is by some declared 'to consist in virtue and wealth; by some, in wealth • and

« PreviousContinue »