202 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
drinks, the root of carelessness, that is a sacrifice better than open largesses, better than perpetual alms, better than the gift of dwelling places, better than accepting guidance.’
- ‘And is there, O Gotama; any other sacrifice less difficult and less troublesome, of greater fruit and of greater advantage than all these five?’
‘Yes, O Brahman, there is.’
‘And what, O Gotama, may that be-?’
(The answer is the long passage from the Samana-phale Sutta 40, p. 62 (of the text,) down to 75 (p. 74) on the First Ghana, as follows:
The Introductory paragraphs on the appearance of a Buddha, his preaching, the conversion of a hearer, and his renunciation of the world.
The Silas (minor morality).
The paragraph on Confidence.
The paragraph on ‘Guarded is the door of his senses.’
The paragraph on ‘Mindful and self possessed.’
The paragraph on Content.
The paragraph on Solitude.
The paragraph on the Five Hindrances.
The description of the First Ghana.)
‘This, O Brahman, is a sacrifice less difficult and less troublesome, of greater fruit and greater advantage than the previous sacrifices,
(The same is then said the Second, Third, and Fourth Ghanas, in succession (as in the Samannao-phalo Sutas 77-82) and of the Insight arising from knowledge (ibid 83, 84), and further (omitting direct mention either way of 85-96 inclusive) of the knowledge of the destruction of the Asavas, the deadly intoxications or floods (ibid. 97-98).
‘And there is no sacrifice man can celebrate, O Brahman, higher and sweeter than this.’
- And when he had thus spoken, Kutadanta the Brahman said to the Blessed One:
‘Most excellent, O Gotama, are the words of thy mouth, most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up what has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms—just even so has the truth been made known to me in many a figure by the Venerable Gotama. I, even I, betake myself to the Venerable Gotama as my guide, to the Doctrine and the Order. May the Venerable One accept me as a disciple, as one who, from this day