Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

Understanding Biblical Symbolism


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ASCETIC; SELF-RESTRAINED MAN

A symbol of an individuality who, after liberation from all below the higher mind, departs from his house," that is, rises above the causal-body, and continues his progress upward through the buddhic plane.

"Having performed the Ishti, sacred to the Lord of creatures (Pragâpati), where he gives all his property as the sacrificial fee, having reposited the sacred fires in himself, a Brahmana may depart from his house as an ascetic, . . . after giving a promise of safety to all created beings.... Making over the merit of his own good actions to his friends, and the guilt of his evil deeds to his enemies, he attains the eternal Brahman by the practice of meditation."-Laws of Manu, VI. 38, 39, 79.

Having renounced as lower all that he has attained and is now possessed of, and putting his trust in the supreme sacrificial Law, the liberated ego turns his attention to the atma-buddhic energies within, and aspires beyond the causal-self; firm in his resolve not to use his powers in frustration of the Divine scheme. To higher and lower plane activities, in schemes of manifestation which in him are to go forth, he bequeaths his acquirements. Then, freed from all relativity, he passes into the Supreme.

 

See Also

AGNIHOTRA
ANCHORITE
ARHATS
ASRAMAS
HERMIT
HOUSEHOLDER
LIBERATION
MONK
ORDERS
PRAGÂPATI
SANNYASIN
SOUL