Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation by Alain Daniélou

Author:Alain Daniélou
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hindu Philosophy
ISBN: 9781594774356
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Company
Published: 2011-07-13T16:00:00+00:00

THE THREE DEBTS OF MAN

Man has three debts to pay. If he desires to free himself from the chains of life, he must first render an account of what he has received and fulfil his obligations, which are three: toward the gods, toward his ancestors, and toward his teachers.

From the gods, man receives the world, the position he occupies, and the whole system to which he belongs, as well as the social order, which is the image of cosmic order governed by divine laws. Man must pay his debt to the gods by worshipping them and nourishing them with the smoke of sacrifices, and by cooperating in the natural order. He must dedicate to the gods the best of himself, as well as the first fruits of the earth and the first grains of rice at each meal. He must sacrifice to them the best kid of the herd and must at all times show them his gratitude for all their gift and protection.

Man must also venerate his ancestors, honor their memory, offer them libations, and above all pay the debt he has contracted by receiving the gift of birth. This debt can only be discharged by begetting a son to continue his line, race, caste, and family. Daughters do not count, since by marriage they pass into another family. Having many children is purely a question of choice or social ambition, to which Hinduism attaches no particular virtue—in fact, rather the opposite. Having nurtured and raised a child and introduced him to life, the parents become the first rank of that child's ancestors. The son must show abundant respect and care for them in their old age, and must especially perform their funeral rites with precision, since it is these rites that free the spirits of the dead from that painful and uncertain state between the death of the physical body and the dissolution of the subtle body.

Man's debt towards the sages, or Rishis, from whom he has received knowledge and the precepts of wisdom, can only be paid by study and by transmitting to others what he has received. The duty of study and teaching, which are the only means of discharging this most onerous of debts, has played a remarkable role in Hindu civilization.

Learned men, sages, monks, and scholars may not retire from the world, despising it and taking no interest therein. They must find disciples who are worthy of receiving and capable of transmitting their burden of learning and must spread the light of their knowledge all around. This is why learned men, wandering monks, and philosophers are met with everywhere, teaching metaphysics or philosophical systems in the village square, or commenting on the sacred texts or the notions of traditional science. This has been highly important in India in giving even the poorest, most humble, and apparently least cultivated a level of philosophical and religious knowledge; a breadth of view; an interest in cosmic, divine, and human laws; and a spirit of tolerance, which is

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