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 The Final Philosophy of the Veda 287

injunction: “ Tell the truth; do your duty, do not neglect the study of the Veda! After having given to your teacher your gift of love, see to it that the thread of your race be not cut off 1 Do not neg» lect truth, duty, health, property, and the study of the Veda! I’Ionor your mother as a god! Honor your father as a god! Honor your teacher as aged! Honor your guest as a god 1 Live an irreproachable life; honor your superior; give alms in true Spirit! When in doubt follow the judgment of Brahmans of tried authority. ”

Then he passes into the life stage of full~grown man, husband and householder (green/m). His great duties are now worship and sacriﬁce to the gods,~——-—and the begetting of sons. The latter are of great im~ portance, because they carry on through unbroken generations the cult of the Manes or Fathers who, in a vaguely inconsistent way, are still carrying on a happy life in the abodes of the blessedmbetween transmigrations we must suppose. This as reward for their supposedly very pious lives.

It is at the end of this stage that we may suppose Yajnavalkya takes leave of his beloved Maitreyi‘. The curtain now drops on the scene of all temporal interests: wife, children, home, and property. It isa curious fact that in theory at least the higher religion of the Upanishad begins where the religions of other