In order to dissuade them from a life of austerities, the father replied to those (would-be) monks: 'Those versed in the Vedas say that there will be no better world for men without sons. (8)

'My sons, after you have studied the Vedas, and fed the priests, after you have placed your own sons

at the head of your house, and after you have enjoyed life together with your wives, then you may depart to the woods as praiseworthy sages.' (9)

The young men perceiving that the Purohita was wholly consumed, as it were, by the fire of grief, which was fed by his individual inclinations and blown into a huge flame by the wind of delusion; that he suffered much and talked a great deal in many ways; that he tried to persuade them by degrees, and that he would even bribe them with money and with objects of desire, (spoke) these words: (10, 11)

"The study of the Vedas will not save you; the feeding of Brahmanas will lead you from darkness to darkness, and the birth of sons will not save you. Who will assent to what you said? (12)

"Pleasures bring only a moment's happiness, but suffering for a very long time, intense suffering, but slight happiness; they are an obstacle to the liberation from existence, and are a very mine of evils. (13)

"While a man walks about without abandoning pleasures, and grieves day and night, while he is anxious about other people, and seeks for wealth, he comes to old age and death. (14)

"I have this, and I have not that; I must do this, and I should not do that! While he talks in this strain, the robbers (viz. time) drag him away. What foolishness is this!" (15)

'Great wealth and women, a family and exquisite pleasures: for such things people practise austerities. All this you may have for your asking.' (16)

"What avail riches for the practice of religion, what a family, what pleasures? We shall become

[paragraph continues] Sramanas, possessed of many virtues, and wander about collecting alms." (17)

'As fire is produced in the Arani-wood, as butter in milk, and oil in sesamum seed, so, my sons, is the soul produced in the body; (all these things) did not exist before, they came into existence, and then they perish; but they are not permanent.' (18)

"(The soul) cannot be apprehended by the senses, because it possesses no corporeal form , and since it possesses no corporeal form it is eternal. The fetter of the soul has been ascertained to be caused by its bad qualities, and this fetter is called the cause of worldly existence. (19)

"Thus being ignorant of the Law, we formerly did sinful actions, and through our wrong-mindedness we were kept back and retained (from entering the order). We shall not again act in the same way. (20)