Submitted by: Jared Hobbs
A class of texts arose during the Late Vedic Period, circa 600-350 BCE, known as the Upanisads. In the Upanisads, meaning “hidden connections”, the Upanisadic writers attempted to find bandhus, or mental equivalences, between the Vedic ritual and the universe. This cosmic speculation led to a belief in the possibility of internalizing the Vedic ritual, thereby invalidating the need to behave in accordance with the strict rules of the Vedic society. The rules and societal structure actually became viewed as obstacles in the path to moksha, or liberation from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. Some of these new schools of thought, although at the time considered heterodoxy, were eventually embraced as a legit form of religious life for people in the Vedic society, known as asceticism.
These ascetics, or sramanas (meaning “to strive”, as in performing austerities), renounced the Vedic society and culture as a reaction to the exclusive religious rights of the village brahmins and the roles played and debts owed as a householder. The different ideals embraced by the sramanas and the brahmins were further solidified by a growing separation in the views of what was considered proper dharma, or duty. Dharma, for the brahmins and orthodox practitioners were greatly centered around the role of the householder.
The householder is the ideal template for any religious person within the Vedic society. Their duties include the three debts: studentship to the Rsis (those to whom the Veda were revealed), spawning offspring to the ancestors, and the giving of sacrificial offerings to the gods. Becoming a student and performing the rituals gives purpose and payment to the Brahmins, allows multiple castes to perform their dharma and karma, and upholds Rti, the cosmic order. Giving birth gains one immortality through his son and continues the lineage of his ancestors. In this way, village life for all classes could continue in its customarily harmonious way. Females are extremely important to a male householder. A man is not complete without a wife and a son, and cannot perform the rituals. If one interprets such concepts as dharma, karma, and varna in the traditional ways, then they may feel impelled to pursue the life of the householder, because it is the established and most efficient means of performing one’s religious duties.
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However, as the Upanisads and sramanical sects gained more precedence, so did the new understandings of dharma and karma in reference to samsara and the liberation from samsara, moksha. The life of the householder included the continual creation of mental samskaras, or karmic seeds, which was equivalent to certain rebirth within samsara. As the goal for the ascetic is liberation from samsara, the complete antithesis of a life in the village was embraced, and expressed as living in the wilderness, literally and metaphorically. Performing the Vedic ritual could not guarantee one moksha. Having children only further ties one into samsara. Seeking to know the atman as Brahman, the ascetic renounces society in order to find isolation to cease the turnings of the mind. In having done this, the renouncer rises above the desire for a son, for wealth, and the world. Thus, they become celibate and withdraw from society. Although withdrawn from society, they are dependent upon it, because they accumulate no wealth. And so they must beg. This antithetical lifestyle was met with opposition by the brahmins, who are invested and dependent upon householders.
The brahmin’s initial attempts to deter people from pursuing asceticism were highly polemical. For example, in the Mahabharata, one finds stories of ancestors suffering in hell-realms due to the withering of their family tree. This casts ascetical austerities in a selfish and harmful light. Later, compromises were made with the installation of the asrama system. This system refers to stages of life in which certain lifestyles are designated. The sramanical lifestyle is reserved for the elderly who have completed their domestic duties and fulfilled many natural desires. Preparing for renouncing and removing obstacles in the path to moksha occurs during the first three seasons of one’s life. Only then should one abandon his attachments to pursue the life of an ascetic. Even with the asrama system, texts were still written in praise of the householder, who lives a supposedly superior lifestyle. They offer sacrifices and perform austerities, whereas the mendicant wanderer only performs austerities. All people in the different stages of life depend upon the householder, much like the ocean upon which all rivers return.
The sramanas were not so-called silent sages, as they returned the volley to the brahmins. For instance, in a story of a discussion of the Buddha and his father, the father pleads with the young Buddha to accept the kingdom as the new ruler as the father becomes an ascetic during the proper stage of life. Noting the urgency of liberation, the Buddha replies that his father would not stop a man trying to escape from a burning house, and likely he should not stop a man from trying to escape from the cycle of death and rebirth. The ascetics felt the designation of renunciation to the last asrama was to liken it to a form of retirement, and to ignore the urgency of the need for liberation.
The brahmins then further argued that if it was indeed knowledge that leads to liberation, then it matters not whether one is a householder or ascetic, and one might as well remain a householder. The sramanas reply with a hypothetical situation to “prove” that householders can’t obtain the supreme knowledge. The dual opposition continues to the present, with no satisfactory conclusion, but a syncretic acceptance.
The village brahmins had comfortably asserted themselves as most pure and highest class of the vedic society, with certain exclusive religious rights. A reaction to this eventually arose as people began to embrace an ascetic lifestyle with a new interpretation of certain key concepts within the Upanisadic literature. Philosophic arguments ensued in regards to the lifestyle of the ideal religious person. In the end, no resolution was found, but was eventually settled with a syncretic tolerance.
About the Author: To obtain a larger grasp on Vedic topics such as the samskara novel, please visit Jared Hobbs at his blog for all topics spiritual, psychological, philosophical, and more! @
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