z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 05.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 397
HIS SERMONS
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lying on his back. How, then, can there arise in him any view of bodyhood ? Yet there is indeed latent in him a tendency to the view of bodyhood.’
“ ‘ Likewise, Malunkyaputta. there can be no mental conditions for a tender baby-boy, dull of wits and lying on his back. How, then, can there be in him any wavering of mental conditions ? Yet there is in him a latent tendency to wavering.’
“ ‘So also, Malunkyaputta, he can have no moral practice. How, then, can there be in him any moral taint of dependence on rite and ritual ? Yet he has a latent tendency thereto.’
“ ‘Again, Malunkyaputta, that tender babe has no sensual passions. How, then, can be known the excitement of sensual delight ? But the tendency is there.’
“ ‘ Lastly, Malunkyaputta, for that tender babe beings do not exist. How then can it harbour malevolence against beings ? Yet the tendency thereto is in him.’
“Now, Malunkyaputta, will not those wanderers of other views thus reproach you, using for their reproach the parable of that tender baby-boy ?”
When this was said, the venerable Ananda thus addressed the Exalted One : “ Now is the time, Exalted One. O Wayfarer, now is the time for the Exalted One to set.”
IV