z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 05.indd MK SJ DK YS 23 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 264
264 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Gautama Dharma Sutra [1] says:
“ Some (declare, that) he (who has studied the Veda) may make his choice (which) among the orders (he is going to enter).”
“ (The four orders are, that) the student (that of) the householder, (that) of the ascetic (bhikshu) (and that of) the hermit in the woods (Vaikhanasa).”
As is clear from the two Dharma Shastras what order a person should enter after completing the stage of Brahmacharya is a matter which was left to his choice. If he wished he might marry and become as householder; or without entering into the marital state he might if so inclined straightaway enter into the order of a Sannyasi. That Manu in making matrimony a condition precedent for entry into the order of Vanaprashtha and Sannyas has made a revolutionary change is therefore quite obvious.
There is another change Manu seems to have made. One does not see why to reach Sannyasa after matrimony it was necessary to go through Vanaprastha. Why one could not straightaway become a Sannyasi. After all is there any difference between a Vanaprastha and a Sannyasi which can be called to be fundamental? In an excursus to this Chapter, I have collected together the rules made by Manu for regulating the conduct of the Vanaprastha and the Sannyasi. From a perusal of these rules it will be found that there is hardly any difference. Except the fact that the Vanaprastha is required to perform some of the religious duties and observances which are prescribed for the householders there is in substance no difference between men who have entered the two orders. It is equally true that the ends to be realized by the Vanaprastha and the Sannyasi are the same. How similar are the ends to be achieved by them can be seen by reference to the following texts from Manu.
ENDS TO BE ACHIEVED
Vanaprastha Sannyasi
VI. 29 “These and other observances must a Brahmana who dwells in the forest diligently practise, and in order to attain complete ( union with) the Supreme Soul, (he must study) the various sacred texts contained in the Upanishads.
VI. 85 “A twice-born man who becomes an ascetic after the successive performance of the abovementioned acts, shakes off sin here below and reaches the highest Brahmin.
1 Chapter III. Verses 1 and 2.