Download - Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads - Vail, L. F
-
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
1/26
Journal of Religious Ethics, Inc
"Unlike a Fool, He Is Not Defiled": Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa UpaniadsAuthor(s): Lise F. VailReviewed work(s):Source: The Journal of Religious Ethics, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Fall, 2002), pp. 373-397
Published by: on behalf of Journal of Religious Ethics, IncStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40018091.
Accessed: 14/03/2013 07:59
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
WileyandJournal of Religious Ethics, Incare collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Journal of Religious Ethics.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jreihttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40018091?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40018091?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jrei -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
2/26
"UNLIKEA FOOL,HE IS NOTDEFILED"
Ascetic
Purity
and
Ethics
in
the
Samnydsa
Upanisads
Lise F.
Vail
ABSTRACT
The authors
of the
Samnydsa Upanisads,
manuals of ascetic
lifestyle
and
practice,
recommend that wanderers renounce
behavioral standards
of
their
formerly
Brahmin
householder
life,
including
ritual
purity
and fa-
milial duties. Patrick Olivelle
argues
that these
ascetics are thereafter
considered
impure
and
corpse-
or
ghoul-like, clearly
lacking
in
dharma.
However,
these
Upanisads
counsel
pursuing
mental
purity
and
moral be-
havior,
and
modeling
oneself after the
perfection
of the
Absolute. This es-
say investigates
ascetic notions of
purity
and
identity,
and virtues such as
non-violenceand kindness cultivated in forest isolation. Is ascetic dharma
universal
in
intent,
and is it
conceptually
opposed
to householder dharma?
What
type
of ethics is admired
by
the
authors,
what
type deprecated?
Oli-
velle's
position
is
reevaluated,
as is
Jeffrey Kripal's
notion that
monistic
mysticism
does not
support
ethics
adequately.
keywords:
ascetics,
Samnydsa
Upanisads,
purity,
Hinduism, virtue,
ethics,
non-violence.
RELATIVELY
SOLATED
FOREST-DWELLERS AND WANDERERS
CONSTITUTE one of
the most archaic
of Hindu ascetic traditions. The
Samnydsa Upanisads,
translated by Patrick Olivelle in 1992,xpresent the philosophyand rec-
ommended
lifestyles
for
formerly
Brahmin ascetic
wanderer-renouncers
(samnydsis).2
These
twenty
later sectarian
Upanisads
were
composed
sometime between
2nd-15th ents. C.E. and are of
varying lengths
and un-
known
authorship.
Olivelle
notes that the
purpose
for
their
composition
was the establishment
of the Vedic
scriptural
(and
thus
revelatory)
1
F. Otto Schrader
provided
scholars with a critical Sanskrit edition
in
1912 under
the
title The Minor
Upanisads,
Vol
I:
Samnydsa Upanisads.
Madras:The
Adyar Library.
Tex-
tual
abbreviations
employed
n
the
present
essay may
be
found
in
the References
section,
under Olivelle 1992.
2
Olivelle notes
that the
commonly
used word
samnyasa,
of Brahmin
ascetical
origin,
surprisingly
did not come into common
usage
as "renouncer" r "ascetic" ntil
around the
3-4th
century
C.E. It
originally
meant
casting
down or
off,
and/or
abandonmentof ritual
activity, among
other
significations.
JRE 30.3:373-397.
2002 Journalof
Religious
Ethics,
Inc.
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
3/26
374
Journal
of
Religious
Ethics
validity of already established ascetic lifestyles and renouncertheology,
and that
they "played
a central role
in
the
theological
reflections
and dis-
putes concerning
that
key
institution of
Brahmanical
religion"
(Olivelle
1992,
5).
Despite
their
initially off-putting regulatory
language,
these
scriptures
are
interspersed
with beautiful
mystical
outpourings
and dec-
larations of the
union
of
Atman,
the individual
soul,
with
Brahman,
the
Absolute,
passages
taken from the earlier
classical
Upanisads,
Epics,
Puranas,
and other texts. To enhance this
higher experience,
ascetics
are told to remain in
solitude
as much as
possible,
meditating
and dis-
identifying
with their bodies.
Nonetheless,
Upanisadic
passages
about
the virtues and behavior proposedfor samnydsis are unexpectedly rich
in
ethical
reflection.
Moreover,
although
these
twenty scriptures
were
written
over more than a
thousand-year period,
and
represent
sectari-
ans of both
Saiva and Vaisnava traditions for
instance,
the
Sdtydyanlya
Upanisad
appears
to be of Sri Vaisnava
persuasion
their fundamen-
tal stances
on renouncer
values,
theology,
and
practices
are
remarkably
consistent
throughout.
We are therefore able to
explore
the ethics of the
Samnydsa Upanisads
in
a
comprehensive
manner.
One such
passage,
from Brhad-Avadhuta
Upanisad
(BAU)
304-5,3
from
which
my
article title is
drawn,
provides
us with more renouncer
ethical questions than answers:
[The
renouncer's]
conduct consists
of
wandering
about
freely
and unobtru-
sively.
He
may
wear a
garment
or
go
naked. For him there is neither
right
nor
wrong,
neither
pure
nor
impure.
He offers the internal sacrifice .... It
is a
great
sacrifice,
a
great
offering.
[Conducting
himself]
as he
pleases,
let
him
not
condemn all these manifold rites. That is the
great
vow. Unlike a
fool,
he is
not defiled.
Is this
passage
proposing
that Hindu
renouncers can do whatever
they
like,
that
they
have no
positive
ethical
system,
no
general
code
of
dharma? It is said here that ascetics have neither right (dharma) nor
wrong
(adharma),
and
Olivelle has claimed that renouncers have no
dharma as
general duty,
except negative
prohibitions,
and are them-
selves
defined
negatively
(Olivelle 1992).4
The
passage
also claims that
3
See
Referencesunder
Olivelle 1992 for
abbreviationsused
in
this
essay
for the overall
Samnydsa
Upanisads
and
each of the
twenty
individual
Upanisads.
4
Although
he admits:
"Following
he rule of their
dharma,
they perform
activities
distinctive to their
state,
such as
begging,
wearing particular types
of
clothes or no
clothes at
all,
carrying
a
begging
bowl,
bearing
a
staff,
and the
like,"
he soon
says
that
even
if
positively
expressed, specific
rules for renouncers are
"exclusive
specifications"
(parisamkhyd),
and so
prohibit any
other
behavior than what
they
state. So
they
are
still
considered
negative;
the
broader,
general regulations
are all
negative.
On
p.
64 he defines
dharma
as
"proper
onduct"or
regulations.
It
is
obviously
more than this
(Olivelle
1992,
63-67).
Olivelle
says
that the SamnU
and other Brahminical texts such as the 17th
century
Yatidharmaprakdsa
"A
Treatise on World
Renunciation")
by
Vasudevasrama,
define
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
4/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He Is Not
Defiled"
375
ascetics are not "defiled"na villipyate) or it might mean they cannot be
defiled,
or that
they
are
pure.
Then who is the "fool"hat the
renouncer s
unlike?
perhaps
a
householder Brahmin. Is there a
renouncer ethical
system,
or set
of
principles,
that constitutes a conscious
subversion of
Brahmin householder
ethics;
yet
if
a renouncer can
do
as
he
likes,
what
is the sense
of that
oppositional,
subversive formulation?
Finally,
what
shall we
make of the renouncer as neither
pure (medhya)
nor
impure
(amedhya),
if
he is said
by
the texts to be "not defiled"?Olivelle as com-
mentator
says
that for the most
part
these
renouncers are
considered
impure
(Olivelle
1992,
92-93).
For this
reason,
many confusing
issues,
or at least paradoxes,await us in exploringthe ethics of the Samnydsa
Upanisads.
Renouncers
beyond
the initial
stages
are admonished
to "live free"
wandering,
seeking
no human
companionship,
and
maintaining
no rela-
tionships
with
those to whom
they
come
to
beg
for
food,
as a bee moves
easily
from flower
to flower
(NpU
174).5
In such a
physical
condition of
separation,
and
a
required
state of
inner
detachment,
what sort
of
ethics
or code
of dharma
could
emerge?
Jeffrey Kripal
has
recently suggested
that
the
nondual
(monistic)
Hindu
mystic
who attains the
highest
ex-
periential
state of moksa
(liberation)
may
be considered
beyond
human
morality and moral systems by definition, and that there is no neces-
sary
relation
between ethics
and
mysticism
(Kripal
1998).
So we must
ask:
Is the
nondual
Upanisadic
renouncer
a
mystic
who is
truly
consid-
ered
by
the
authors
to be
beyond
all
morality,
able
to do whatever he
or
she6
pleases
even
if
s/he
transgresses
ordinary
human laws and moral
codes?
First,
I think
we must
broaden
the
concept
of dharma here
to
in-
clude
more
than
the
performance
of
formal
duties or
rights.
In tradi-
tional
Hindu
parlance,
this
term also
signifies
cosmic
order,
righteous-
ness,
ethics,
moral
sense,
and
purity
of attitude
and
purpose,
as well as
righteous
actions. Even if one establishes that
Upanisadic
renouncers
renunciation
mostly
through negative
definition
(the
language
of
discarding
rites and
behaviors)
rather
than
positive
injunctions
to
action
(Olivelle
1977, 46;
1990,
138).
5
Scriptural
references
provided
n
this
paper
are
merely
illustrations
within the texts
of the
principles,
virtues,
or
points
being
discussed;
hey
are not exhaustive
of all references
on
each
subject
within the
Samnydsa
Upanisads.
Wandering
s but one
of the established
lifestyles
for ascetic
renouncers
n India. SamnU
and Pancamdsramavidhi
1 th
century)
are
examples
of texts
advocating
wandering
orthe
renouncers
of
highest
attainment
(Olivelle
1980).
Similarly,
field
studies have
frequently
located
ascetics who
place
high
value on
wandering,
such
as the North
Indian Ramanandis
who
practice
an
eight-month
annual
pilgrimage
(Burghart
1983).
bAs Olivelle
notes,
"There s no
point
in
hiding
the fact that
these documents and
much of
Brahmanical
heology speak
almost
exclusively
to men"
Olivelle
1992,
xv).
There
were
always
female
renouncers,
he
claims,
but
they
tended to
be
ignored
by
renouncer
theologians.
For
this
reason,
I will
mostly
use
the male
pronoun
he
in
this article.
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
5/26
376
Journal
of
Religious
Ethics
are not performersof Brahminical or even samnyasa (ascetic) rituals,
that
by
no means defines them as
lacking
a
samnyasa
dharma;
nor do
duties need to be
formally
defined as a
system
of ethics.
They
can
be
clearly
laid out intuitive or
pre-theoretical
values,
attitudes,
and be-
haviors that make
culturalogical
or
semiotic
sense within
the SamnU
(Samnyasa
Upanisads)
texts.
Many
of the discussions of ethical issues in these
Upanisads
center
around
purity
and how
it is
defined. Notions of
purity
(variously,
suddhi,
sauca,
soca,
medhya,puta,
niranjana,
and so
on)
both demarcate
admired
ascetic
virtues and
conduct,
and also constitute
categories
of constraint
that are to guide the ascetic toward categorically rejecting particular
behaviors,
such as violence
(himsa).
Some
behaviors,
as
well,
seem
to
have little
fundamental ethical
significance.
I
argue
here that there is
an ascetic
ethical
dharma,
or set of ethical
guidelines,
for renouncers
in
these
texts,
one
focused on both recommended and disdained
types
of
purity
and on
cultivation of divine virtues. This dharma
primarily
supports
a virtue
or aretaic ethics that
provides dispositions
for
guiding
an
ascetic's behavior.
Ultimately,
the
scriptures say,
it sets the renouncer
free
in
a kind of
natural or
supernatural
moral
state.
This article will be
less
concerned
with
the
rites, rules,
or
actions,
and more with the
present
textual emphasis on dharma as character and divinity.
Finally,
at
issue is also whether this
Upanisadic
ethical
"system"
or
renouncers is
intended
specifically
only
for
ascetics,
or
if
it is also
con-
sidered
a universal ethic at
the foundation of others'
(specifically
house-
holders')
ethics,
or is
it
fully
in
opposition
to,
and
subversive
of,
Brahmin
householder
purity
and ethics?
It is
possible
to
read the
Upanisadic
au-
thors
as,
in
part,
ascetic
renouncers
asserting
the
primacy
of
a virtue-
ethical
point
of
view,
while
de-emphasizing
a
purely rule-deontological
approach
to
ethical life.
1.
Impure
Body
or
Purified
Temple
of
Brahman?
The
authors of
the
Samnyasa
Upanisads
spend
little
time,
compara-
tively
speaking,
discussing
ritual
purity,
and
impurity
or
physical
dirt
connected with
the
physical
body.
I
must
mention this because discus-
sions of
purity
in
Hinduism have
generally
centered around issues of
the
body's
fragile
state of
purity
and
impurity,
with
the latter conditions
affecting
a
person's
everyday
state of
being
temporarily
and,
more
per-
manently,
his/her
caste
and
community
standing.
Louis
Dumont noted
some
time
ago
in
his
classical
formulation
that the
purity/pollution
dis-
tinction
forms an
important
ideological
basis for
caste
hierarchy
(Dumont
1970,
43).
Everyday
elements such
as
water, food,
touch, sex,
or even
a
person's
shadow
have
been
believed to
either
pollute
or
purify
those of
high
caste.
The
various
types
of
Brahmins are
particularly
vulnerable
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
6/26
"Unlike
a
Fool,
He Is
Not
Defiled"
377
to pollution, due to their attributed high purity status, with purity said
to be weaker and
more
static than
pollution
(for
an
early
discussion,
see
Mandelbaum
1972,
192-232).
These
conceptions
of
impurity/pollution
not
infrequently
have an associated attribution or
sometimes
merely
an
"aura"
f
immorality,
as
if
-
using
the
phrase
most familiar
in
the
West
cleanliness were
next to
godliness,
and
filth a moral
insult,
clearly
more
so than one
would find
in
many
countries
outside India
(and
traditional
Japan).
Likewise,
in
the
Samnydsa Upanisads,
the
body
is
not
infrequently
rejected
as
something
unclean. MU 109
says living
in
the human
body
is
like being a frogin a dark well: "Madewith its mother'sand father'sfilth,
this
body
dies soon
after it is born. It is a
filthy
house of
joy
and
grief.
When it is
touched,
a bath is ordained"
MU
113-4).
In a
fair number
of
passages
the ascetic is even told to
think of
his
body
as a
corpse
(for
example,
TaU
243).
In his
long
introduction to the
SamnU,
Olivelle notes
his
position
that the
renouncer s considered
mpure.
Although
he admits
the renunciation
ceremony
s
thought
to be
purifying,
the state the
ascetic
assumes
henceforth
in
Samnydsa
constitutes a kind of "cultural
death."
He
has had a funereal initiation
rite,
and since he no
longer
follows the
purifying
rites incumbent
upon
the householder
Brahmin,
he is no
longer
pure. Olivelle says: "The renouncer .. is as impure as a dead man ..."
(Olivelle
1992,
94).7
As a
culturally
deceased
being,
he
wanders
about,
living
like one animal
or
another,
and
purposefully appearing
to be mad
or a fool.
The author of the
Maitreya Upanisad
quoted
above, however,
has not
finished his
teaching.
From
discussing
the
problems
of
bodily
secretions,
touch,
and
disease,
and the
need for
frequent
baths,
he
abruptly
switches
gears.
The true
disgusting
feces and
urine,
he
says,
are not
body
and
bodily
secretions;
they
are instead
the notions of
/
and
mine,
in
other
words
human
egotism.
MU
114
continues: "Feces and urine are
T
and
'mine.'
Removing
their smell and stain is said to be true
purification
(suddha-saucam
iti).
Cleansing
with water and soil constitutes the com-
mon
(or
worldly) type
(laukikam).
I
Washing
with the soil of
knowledge
and the
water
of detachment
is called true
purification
(saucam)"
The
ordinary
Brahmin householder
notion of
purification
which connects
physical
cleanliness
to adharma
-
is demoted
in
importance
to
"worldly"
or
"common"
radition,
and
replaced by
what the author sees as true
in-
ner
purification,
that
is,
mental
purification,
purification
of character:
"It is the
purification
that
brings purity
to the mind and
destroys
the
7
Olivelle further
says:
"Deathsand births
in
the
family
create
periods
of
impurity
when
[normal]
rites
[or
worship]
are
suspended.
A renouncer is
similarly impure,
because his
mother
(delusion)
has
died,
and a son
(enlightenment)
s born to
him"
(1992,
163,
n.14).
It
is difficult to
comprehend
his
"analogical easoning."
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
7/26
378
Journal
of Religious
Ethics
three (karmic)tendencies (vasanas)"(MU 115).The author's statements
constitute a
disagreement
with
any
notion that ascetics are
generically
impure
(as
Olivelle
argues, pp.
92-93),
and
possibly suggest
that it is
bathed Brahmin
householders,
with
still
unpurified
minds,
who
may
be
less than
pure.
There
is
a
corresponding
shift
in
Upanisadic
discussions about
re-
nouncer food
consumption.
Brahmin householders
normally
must
ascer-
tain
carefully
correct or
pure
food choices and avoid
potentially
polluting
food and donors.8 Such ritual concerns
dealing
with food and caste
are
remarkably
reduced
in
these
texts,
though they
are not
entirely
absent.
BSU 266-7 notes:
An
ascetic
may beg
food
in
the manner of a bee even from the
house
of
a
barbarian
...
Let
him
maintain himself with solicited and unsolicited
types
of almsfood.
The
faults
of
what
it
touches do not defile the
wind,
or the act of
burning
the
fire. Urine and excrement do not defile
water,
or the faults of food an
ascetic.
The
more established renouncers thus are allowed to
beg
food from
any-
one,
except they
should
avoid
the
infamous,
those who have fallen
from
their caste, heretics, and temple priests (BSU 267), who are frequently
exchanging
foodstuffs
publicly.9
The
Dharmasutras
(Hindu
customary
law
books)
assume that the
body
can be
made either
impure
or
pure depending
on internal or ex-
ternal contact with
the world.10The
Samnydsa Upanisads, by
contrast,
assume that the
ordinary body
is
naturally filthy
(thus
supporting
Oliv-
elle's
point).
However,
such
radically
negative
words
about the
body
have
a
specific
pedagogical purpose
focusing
the
renouncer
away
from con-
centration on
his
body-as-self,
and the
perceived
continual need
to
manip-
ulate the
body's
physical
state
(as
householder Brahmins do
concerning
purification,foodconsumption,or ritual action). Instead, the renouncer
must
review the
purity
condition of his mind
and character.
Frequently
SamnU
authors
argue
that the
ascetic,
in
higher stages
of
his
practice,
should
begin
to
give up
the
ordinary
Brahmin
purity prac-
tices.
NpU
203
prescribes
reduced
bathing
correlated with
increasingly
high
levels of
spiritual
attainment:
"A
bath is
ordained three times a
day
for
(lowest
renouncer)
Kuticakas,
twice a
day
for
Bahudakas,
and once
a
day
for
Hamsas.
A
mental bath is
ordained
for
Paramahamsas,
a
bath
8
See, forexampleDharma Sutra ofApastamba 1.16-19;DhS ofBaudhayana 1.12, 3.3;
and
DhS
ofVasistha
Chapter
14 in
Olivelle 1999.
y
The call to
abjure
food
tainted
by
the
infamous
may
have to do with
transference
of
an ethical
impurity
(wrong-doing
or
-thinking)
unrelated to
caste.
10
For
positions
found in
the dharma
texts,
see,
for
example,
DhS
ofApastamba
1.15,
notes
2.28, 3.12,
3.27
(354),
and 10.28
(357),
and
other
passages
in
Olivelle 1999.
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
8/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He Is
Not
Defiled"
379
with ashes for Tunyatitas, and a wind bath for (highest) Avadhutas."
Similarly,
there
is the decreased use of
ordinary
civilized
clothing
as
one
ascends levels
of
spiritual
attainment
(the
basis for
these
"types"
of re-
nouncers).
The
highest
ascetics,
the
"Tunyatitas
and
Avadhutas[,]
are
clad
as
they
were
at birth"
NpU
204).
One could
argue
that fewer
baths
and
fewer clothes mean
less
purity;
such an
argument
would be
aligned
with the
perspective
of the
Brahmin
householder.
However,
from the al-
ternative
SamnU authorial
perspective,
as the renouncer becomes
more
spiritually
advanced,
and
internally pure,
he
needs less and less
of
the
gross
material
world to
help purify
and cover him. So it seems more
likely
that greater purity is being suggested.
A feature
supportive
of the increased
purity
of more advanced as-
cetics
is
another
type
of
Upanisadic
statement about bodies. That
is,
there
are
passages
that treat the bodies
of
higher
renouncers as
sacred
places
rather
than
as
filthy
or
disgusting
places,
such
as the "the
divine
city
of Brahman
(divya
brahmapura)
of Brahma
Upanisad
75.
Passages
in
NpU
187
and
following explore
the vision of
the
body
as
made
up
of
Brahman,
the
Absolute,
from
head to toe. Nirvana
Upanisad
(NU)
228
s.51
refers
to the
liberated renouncer's
"immaculate
body
[as]
the seat
of the
supportless"
and
NU 229 s.68
claims of the liberated
ascetic,
"He
burns up illusion, selfishness, and egotism; so in the cemetery his body
remains
intact"
that
is,
apparently
pure
and
without
decay.11
The
sug-
gestion
here
is that
by
the
time the
renouncer's
practice
is
completed,
his
body
is rather
like an
animated
temple.
In
Maitreya Upanisad
113,
Lord
Siva
likewise
says:
"The
body
is said to
be a
temple,
and the soul is
truly
Siva.
Discard the
faded
flower
offerings
of
ignorance. Worship
with the
thought:
'I
am he.'"12
Crucially,
hese
texts
base their discussions
of the
body upon
the clear
necessity
of
the renouncer
knowing
"I
am not the
body."
dentification
with
one's
particular
body
and
mind,
with their
limitations of
gross
ma-
teriality
and a desire-ridden
psyche,
is
especially
abjured.
I
never
experience
the delusion
of
taking
the
body
for the self.
(BAU 307)
Let
him
stop
considering
the
body
as
his own. He indeed who
regards
not
the
body
as his own
is called
Brahman.
(NpU
191-2)
11
Hindu renouncers
and ascetic
gurus
are
frequently
buried
rather than cremated
in
India due
to
perceived
purity
of
person
in
life,
and also after death.
The tombs of saints are
often
believed
to emote
purifying power,
so
strong
is this
perceived "purity."
12It is possible that the body as a disgusting hell and the body as temple are two
separate
strands
of
Hindu
thought
found
in
these
scriptures
one
viewing
the human
body negatively
and
the other
positively.
I
think
it is rather that
they operate
as
stages
of
spiritual
development
within the
same texts. The notion
of
dynamic
stages
of
ascent,
as
I
will show
elsewhere,
is
clearly present
throughout
hese
Upanisads
"TheWormBecomes
a
Wasp:
Subtle
Ascetic
Strategies
in
the
Samnydsa
Upanisads?
article
in
progress.
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
9/26
380
Journal
of
Religious
Ethics
The belief that 'I am in my body' s the path to Kalasutra. It is the snare
of
Mahavici,
and the
row of
Asipatravana
(three hells).
(NpU
144)
In
fact,
replacing
human
physical
and mental
identity
with self-
identification with
Brahman,
the
Absolute,
is
required
no matter
how
the
body
is viewed.
Olivelle's statement that
the ascetic is
generically impure
is
thereby
countered
by
the textual
authors,
who
argue
that the
renouncer is not
his
body
no
matter whether it be clean or
unclean,
pigsty
or
temple,
or
somewhere
in
between. The
body
has been renounced
as his central
concern.
During
the
course of his
practice
there
may
indeed
be a notion
of
progressive
physical
purification,
as
I
believe is
suggested
but still
he
is not his
physical body.
So when BAU 305 remarks: "Unlike a
fool,
he
is not
defiled"
(na
sa
mudha-uillipyate),
one
meaning may
well be
something
like this: Unlike a
fool,
the
samnydsi
knows
that he is not
his
body,
whatever
its condition. He knows that his true Brahman-self
cannot ever be
defiled.
Another
useful
interpretation
would be:
Only
fools even think
up
no-
tions
of
impurity
or
defilement,
and
consider themselves
to
be
that
-
fools such as
those Brahmin
householders who are
so
concerned with
physical purificationby rites, food, and water, that they miss the more
elevated
meanings
of
purity.
Both
interpretations imply
that renouncers
here are not
impure
because
of
(a)
their lack of
body-identification
and
identification
with
Brahman;
(b)
their
rejection
of
ridiculous
conceptions
and
superficial
deontological
rules of
defilement
(impure
food, touch,
or
caste);
and/or
(c)
impurity categories
no
longer
apply
to those who have
renounced
mere
humanness. As we
shall
see,
knowing
Brahman-as-self
means
knowing
one is
generically
pure.
It
would not matter
if
one
never
bathed
again;
the
body's
external
physical
condition is
useful
perhaps
only
for lower
level
samnydsis
who
still need such
rules to
help guide
their
thinking and behavior.One can find similar statements about the ulti-
mate
uselessness of
rituals
and social
regulations.
("To
a mind that
rests
in
its source
. . .
things
within
the
purview
of rites
are false"
[MU 110].
"Fools,
ied to
customs of
class and
order,
get
their
rewards
according
to
their
deeds"
[MU
112].)
Is
this some
scathing
commentary
on
ordinary
householder
purity
in
relation to
ethical
dharmal Have
these
Upanisadic
renouncers
opted
completely
out of
the
householder
system
of
purity/impurity,
consciously
subverting
its
fascination with
sacred
rule,
denying
that external
pu-
rification
and
rites can
promote
genuine
goodness?
I
would
argue yes,
especially for higher-attaining ascetics. However,their proposal seems
also
to
represent
a
teaching
for
all
renouncers,
and
for Brahmin
house-
holders as
well,
suggesting
that a
deeper
meaning
to
purification
and
ethics can
be
sought
by
all.
They
opt
for
a
progressive
change
of mind
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
10/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He
Is
Not
Defiled"
381
instead of a continual fiddling with body-states, and finally a new focus
on the
Absolute instead
of mind.
Although
the authors
seem to assume that householders and
early
stage
renouncers
will
probably
follow
external
purity regulations,
the
ascetic must
gradually
wean
himself from these
practices
because
they
are
misguided.
Rather
than
recommending
them as useful
preparation
for
spiritual
advancement,
as
one
might expect,
these texts often
connect
continuing
such external
practices
with
perpetuating
the
fundamental
error
of samsdra
that
is,
taking
the external
world for
the Real. So
they
are
speaking
with a
relatively
clear
oppositional
voice
with
regard
to purity of the body.Let us turn next to Upanisadic notions of mental
purity.
2.
RecastingPurity
as
Knowledge
nd Virtue
The authors
spend
considerable
time
discussing
two related
types
of
purity
seen
as
crucial
for the renouncer's
ife and
goals:
(a)
mental
purity,
and
(b)
an associated
ethical
purity.
These
Upanisads
say
that
knowledge
is the
purifier
of the
renouncer
(PbU
298),
that
is,
the
knowledge
of
the identity of Atman and Brahman. The renouncerpossesses a higher
"sacred
hread"
of
internal
knowledge,
making
it
possible
for
him
to never
again
become
sullied
or
unclean
(BU
86-87).
BSU
260 claims:
In the heart
of
those
liberated
while still
alive,
the latent mental
impres-
sions
become
pure,
resembling
withered seeds
bereft of the
germs
of future
births.
Resulting
from
the
pure
spirit,
they
are
purifying
and
highly
exalted.
Eternal
and
consisting
of the meditation
on the
self,
they
abide as
if in
deep
sleep.
With self-knowledgeas a major purifier,one must explorehow to attain
such
knowledge.
Certain
reflections
on
self-identity
and
good
conduct,
and
the avoid-
ance
of
many
other
unsavory thoughts
and
actions,
help
to
support
self-
knowledge.
For
instance,
the
renouncer is
often told to
practice
say-
ing
and
thinking
repeatedly,
"I
am not the
body
...
I
am
Brahman."
In
Kundika
Upanisad
26
he
says:
"I
am
pure
consciousness,
the witness
of
all!"'
. . . Let this
insentient
body
wallow
in
water
or on
land.
By
its
qualities
I am not
touched,
as
space
by
the
qualities
of a
pot
All are
myself
and
I
am
all!
I
am
unique
and
I
transcend
all!
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
11/26
382
Journal
of
Religious
Ethics
I am my own eternal bliss,
Pure
undivided
consciousness!
Many
passages
also
suggest
that the
samnydsi
should
keep
his
mind
pure
and
composed
"Introspective
and
engrossed
in
yourself, pure
and
composed,
wander
about the
world,
O
Narada,
abandoning
inner
attach-
ments"
(NpU
197)
and
in
many
passages,
inner
purity
and
goodness
are
essentially
the same
thing.
In
MU
110,
King
Brhadratha
is addressed
by
the
sage
Sakayanya
as follows:
Sound,
ouch,
and other
objects
f
sense are
truly
worthless.
A soulthat is
attached o them recallsnot thehigheststate
For
he mindalone s
samsdra
worldliness
eading
o
rebirth)!
et
a man
purify
t with
zeal.Theminda man
possesses hapes
his future ourse:hat
is the
eternal
mystery.
This
passage
counsels that
purity
and
goodness
come not
through
manipulation
of
material
objects
or
in
special
rites.
In
fact,
such
ma-
nipulation
can
become
binding;
one
becomes
desirously
attached
to the
objects,
and
consequently
forgets
"the
highest
state."
Instead the search
must be an
inward one.
Mental
purification
will
yield
up
true
purity
and
goodness.The ascetic's aim is to have a pure and tranquil mind, and the
highest
types
of
renouncers are
said to have it
(NpU
135, 155,
186, 197,
283;
JU
70).
Sakayanya
adds
further,
"Forwhen the mind is
tranquil,
he
destroys
(desirously
attached)
good
and evil deeds. His self
serene,
he
abides
in
the self and
enjoys
undecaying
bliss"
(MU
110).
Sakayanya
is
arguing
that a
pure
mind
(cittasuddhi)
prevents
immoral and
unkind
behavior,
a
position
characteristic of a
virtue or character-based ethics.
It
not
only
destroys
past
bad karma
("as
a
fire
when fuel is
spent"),
but
prevents
future
karma
("The
mind a man
possesses
shapes
his
future
course"
MU
110]).
A pure mind may be attained by meditation and repetition of the
mantra
of
identity
with
the
Absolute. "Whenall
the sins rise
up
en
masse,
let him
repeat
the
syllable
OM
12,000
times,
for it
effaces them"
(BSU
273).
Meditation
releases sins
and
cleanses the mind
(LAU
338),
and
such
purification
may
also be
assisted
by
renouncing impure thoughts.
As
a
reminder,
MU
110
claims:
"By
austerity itapas)
a
man achieves
goodness (sattva),
and
through
goodness
he
takes hold of the mind."The
ascetic life
leads
to the
higher
good
in
large
part
because it removes the
internal
traces
(intentions,
memories,
dispositions)
of bad
thoughts
and
deeds from
one's
mind. The
Samnydsa
Upanisads
contain
long
lists of the
"innerenemies" and impurethoughts which the renouncer must abjure.
PhU
48-50
says
of
the
Paramahamsa
renouncer of
high
attainment:
He
gives
up
slander,
pride,
ealousy,
deceit,
arrogance,
esire,hate,
plea-
sure,
pain,
lust,
anger,greed,delusion, xcitement,
ndignation, gotism,
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
12/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He Is Not
Defiled"
383
and the like, and he regards his body as a corpse. He constantly turns
away
from this wretched
body,
the cause
of
doubt,
perversity,
and
error,
and abides
in
that
eternally pure Being.
That
itself is his
state.
I am
indeed that
calm and
unchanging Being,
a
single
mass of
bliss and
consciousness
By knowing
that the
highest
Self and
the
lower
self are
one,
the difference between
them dissolves into oneness. This
knowledge
is his
twilight worship.
The mention
of
twilight worship
here refers to an ascetical
redefinition
process,
wherein householder
Brahmin
samdhyd worship (bathing
and
repetition
of
special
Vedic
mantras)
is
replaced
by
an inner
worship,
which is self-knowledge.External is replacedby internal, physical wor-
ship
by
mental
worship,
and ethical
rules
by
ethical
being
(see
Note
12).
Such
lists of virtues
to assume and vices
to avoid are similar
in
content,
and
the
qualities
can
be
analyzed
into
several
categories.
Some
qualities
have to do
with
avoiding
egoistical
body
or
mind
self-identification.
The
preceding
inventory
includes
pride, arrogance,
indignation, greed,
delu-
sion,
and
egotism
itself. Others
have
to
do
with lack
of
concern
or bodily
states',
here
examples
are
giving
up pleasure
and
pain,
lust, excitement,
desire,
and love for
the
body.Finally,
he
must avoid emotional or mental
states
that hurt both others
and
oneself,
for
example,
slander,
jealousy,
deceit, hate,
and
anger.
Another
catalogue
of
qualities,
with
a number of more
positively
ex-
pressed
mental
and moral
qualities,
is found
at
NpU
195:
He
shall
always
remain
tranquil,
self-controlled,
devoted
to the
study
of
the
Vedantas
(probably,
he
Upanisads),
free from
fear, selfishness,
and
the
pairs
of
opposites,
without
possessions,
and with
his
senses
subdued.
. .
.
Who is free from
selfishness and
pride,
who is the same toward
friends
and the like
(enemies
[Olivelle,
n.
90])
and
friendly
toward all be-
ings,
who is
alone, wise,
and
composed,
shall attain
release.
The
positively
expressed
dharmic virtues here include
tranquility,
self-
control,
devotion
to the
study
of Vedanta
philosophy,
being
the same
toward
friends and
enemies,
being
friendly
toward
all
beings,
and re-
maining
wise, alone,
and
composed.
That
many
of the
qualities
in
this
passage
are
positively
expressed
counters
Olivelle's
argument
about
neg-
ative
samnydsi
dharma
(see
Note
4).
These virtues
can
again
be
classi-
fied,
into
(a)
a
pure,
tranquil
mental
state
(alone,
composed, tranquility,
self-control),
(b)
wisdom
(study
of
Vedanta,
being
wise),
and
(c)
kind-
ness to
others
(friendly
to all
beings).
Positively expressed
virtues men-
tioned
elsewhere include:
purity,knowledge,
and
equanimity (NpU
159-
61, 195);
and faith
(MU
116),
forbearance
and
sincerity (NpU
139-40),
fortitude
(NpU
157),
calm
tranquility
(MU
110-11),
and others.
I
think we can
safely
assume that
both the
positively
and
nega-
tively expressed
virtue
statements are
intended
to
impact
not
only
the
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
13/26
384
Journal
of
Religious
Ethics
renouncer,but also other people with whom he comes in contact. The
wise
tranquil
mind,
which
knows its
Brahman-self;
a mind free
of slan-
der,
jealousy,
deceit, hate, fear,
desire,
and
anger,
and
possessed
of the
virtue of kindness and
compassion,
certainly
has an
ethical
bent,
and
would
impact
others
in
human contact.
Evil deeds are
prevented
by
de-
stroying
evil
thoughts,
and a kind of
intuitive,
natural ethical
goodness
is
said to remain. The mind
again
becomes
foundational
consciousness
(KU
26;
PhU
49);
it
can hold no
taint,
as it could
when mental
perception
was
attached
by
attraction
or aversion to
gross
objects
and
persons
in
the
world.
Infact, the initial vow ofrenunciationtaken bythe Brahmincandidate
includes a
set of
powerful confirming
statements,
constituting
a
verbal
vow,
called
the
praisa
or
Call.
During
this ritual
Call,
the new renouncer
should
repeat
three times:
"I
have renounced!"
Samnydstam may
a),
af-
firming
his
new status
of
renunciation.
Immediately following,
he is to
say:
"Safety
(or
freedom from
fear)
from me to all
beings"
(Abhayam
sarvabhiltebhyo)
ArU
9;
PpU
282).
This dual vow is said to
burn
up
all
congenital
and
corporeal
aults or
impurities
(BSU
252).
The second
por-
tion of the vow
"Safety
from me to all
beings"
is
given special weight
by
its
location at the crucial invocational
high point
of this
initiatory
ritual. It could be called a new ascetic mandate, perhaps even one defin-
ing
mandate of renunciation. The renouncer
is
told
henceforth to show
kindness
by
not
injuring any living being
humans, animals,
or
plants
(ArUlO;
NpU
157, 183;
PpU
283),
including
worms, insects,
moths,
and
trees
(NpU
197).
This
injunction
to
ahimsd, non-violence,
also
includes
avoiding
the vicious forms of
thinking
and
speaking already
mentioned,
such as
anger, greed, lying, cheating,
deceit
(ArU
8),
and
insulting
oth-
ers
(NpU
143);
and also the renouncer should avoid desires
(ArU
8;
NpU
142)
which,
of
course,
frequently impinge upon
others.
The vow for a
future mendicant life also includes a
strong
ethical
statement: "Thereafter hey live the life of mendicants.
Celibacy
(brah-
macarya),
non-injury
(ahimsd),
non-possession
(aparigraha),
and truth-
fulness
(satya) guard
these
assiduously (yatnena
he raksato he raksato
he
raksata
itif
(ArU 10).
NpU
143
says
in
less formal
language:
Let him
bear
harshwordswith
patience;
et
him
not insult
any
man;
and
let him
not show
hostility
o
anyone
or
the sake of this
body.
At those
whoshow
anger
et him
not directhis
anger
n
return;
et him
bless
whenhe
is
cursed;
nd let him not
utter a false
speech
scatteredat
the seven
gates.
Rapt nthejoyof the innerself,he sits still,free rom aresand onging.
Withhimself
as sole
companion,
et
him
wanderon
earth
seeking
bliss.
Other
passages
mention similar
mandated
or
advocated virtues:
The
renouncer
should
practice
friendliness,
kindliness
(NpU
145),
and
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
14/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He Is Not
Defiled"
385
impartiality to all beings (NpU 145, 157). Nirvana Upanisad 226 s.17
redefines the liberated renouncer's
ife as
a
play
of
kindness toward oth-
ers
in
its
aphorism "Compassion
alone is his
pastime
(keli)"
BAU 308
seeks
to redefine such
post-liberation
action
for others' sake as a non-
binding, acceptably
beneficial
goal:
"Even
though
I
have done all there
is to
do,
yet yearning
for the welfare of the world
I
shall
proceed along
the
path pointed
out
by
the
scriptures.
How could that hurt me?"The
ascetic is to
regard
others with
equal eyes (NpU
158)
and be the same
to all
beings
(BSU
260),
since he must see all
beings
as his own self
(NpU
159).
To move fora moment to an early modernsetting, Mahatma Gandhi's
position
on
the nature
of non-violence bears resemblance
to what is
said
on this
subject
in
the
Samnydsa Upanisads.
Gandhi
wrote that
non-violence
necessarily implies
self-purification
(Merton
1965,
1-111,
1-245). "[Mental
non-violence]
has
potency
which
the world does not
yet
know,"
he
says;
it is more
powerful
than violence
(1-256,
1-343).
Ahimsd
is the
supreme
dharma
(1-301)
"Where here is ahimsd there
is
Truth,
and
Truth is God"
(11.151)
Gandhi
mentions
Brahman/Atman as the
basic
power
behind
non-violence,
that which makes it
possible
to
be
non-
violent
(1-187,
1-191).
Finally,
he connects
ahimsd
with a
person's per-
ceived self-identity with all beings claiming that the common Self is
the reason
we should
all
live
according
o the ethic of
non-violence;
doing
violence
to others
does violence
to ourselves
(1-270,
1-279).
To sum
up,
he
argues
that
non-violence
is
a
positive
ethical
virtue
(not
merely
a
ques-
tion of
avoiding
a
vice),
with divine
underpinnings,
yet requiring
men-
tal
purification
to
attain
-
arguments
that the SamnU
authors make as
well.
An ascetic's
renunciation
is sometimes
said
in
these
Upanisads
to
be
useful
to
humanity
as
a whole.
His eremetical
garment
and
insignia,
the
authors
remark,
will be a
signal
and a favor
to the
world,
bringing
merit
to those who offer him food.13
Also,
his
renouncing
the world will
help
members
of
his extended
family
and
friends
sixty generations
before and
sixty
after
him
(BSU
251).
It is said
elsewhere
that one hundred
prior
and
three
hundred
subsequent
generations
will
benefit
if
a wise man
renounces;
a
virtuous ascetic
rescues
sixty generations
before and
thirty
after
him
(SU
331).
The usefulness
of the
ascetic to the
world or even
to other
renouncers
is not
particularly
stressed
in
these
Upanisads
as a
whole,
but
this feature
is
certainly
not absent.
They
are,
at
times,
told
13Olivelle
says:
"They[eremeticalgarments] are also good for the good of the world
because
people
recognize
him as a renouncer
by
reason
of these
insignia,
thus
enabling
them
to
acquire
merit
by
paying
him
homage
and
offering
him
food"
Olivelle
1992, 137,
n.
2).
Additional
meanings
are
possible,
including
instruction
of
householders,
support
of
spiritual
progress,
bestowal of
grace,
and
also the
performance
of
miracles.
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
15/26
386 Journal
of Religious
Ethics
to be teachers of others and to scatter their joy and kind compassion
wherever
they
move about
in
the freedom of liberation.
Ahimsd here is both a virtuous mental
disposition
of
gentle
and
kindly
harmlessness
and also
a
negative
action-avoidance
springing
from it.
In
line with the notion that the
renouncer-in-training
avoids rites and
ac-
tions in
general, yet
cultivates
inner virtuous
qualities,
the
Samnydsa
Upanisads
as a whole focus on the renouncer's
mind and character
more
than
on his actions. This is the
path
of
wisdom,
rather than the
path
of
action,
as has been so often
pointed
out for
samnydsis
(see
Olivelle
1992,
60-67).
However,
the avoidance of harm to others
is not
merely
a
self-protectiveavoidance of potentially binding actions (karmas),due to
the focus on
positive
virtues
-
kindness, friendliness,
equal
vision,
com-
passion,
and so on. To never be selfish or
greedy
around
others,
to never
expect anything
for
oneself from them
clearly
the
character
portrait
of the ideal
self-realized
samnydsi
in
these texts is
not
simply
a cultur-
ally
dead or wraithlike and
frightening being.
He is
portrayed
instead
as rather
quiet
and kind not at all what one
might
expect
from
an
ini-
tial
surface
reading
of the texts. The renouncer's
pretense
appearing
to
be
anti-social, anti-cultural, foolish, mad,
or
dumb
in
the
presence
of
others,
and
his
strange
appearance
naked,
matted
hair,
looking
like a
ghoul is only that, pretense. We must carefully distinguish character
and
identity
from what is utilized
purposefully
as
"masquerade"
Vail
2003).
The
Samnydsa
Upanisads
do call on the
ascetic
mostly
to
remain
soli-
tary,
wandering
or hidden
away
from humankind
in
caves and aban-
doned
temples.
Avoiding ntimacy
he
should
stay
alone
(NpU
143, 145-6),
free from
desirous love and
hatred
(rdgadvesa)
(NpU
142),
not associat-
ing
with
householders or hermits
(NpU
183-4),
not
gathering disciples
to
make fame or
money
(BSU
126),
and
not
answering stupid questions
with
wise answers
(BSU 173).
NpU
146 tells the
renouncer
merely
to an-
swer "Narayana! God)"o
inquirers,
a
strategy potentially
both
socially
off-putting
and
yet
possibly
aimed
at
Self-recognition
for
both
parties.
If
he
stops
in
any
one
place, NpU
220 further
says,
the ascetic is like a deer
trembling
with fear.
Why
tremble,
if
as
NpU
183
says,
his own
grant-
ing
of
safety
to others
makes
him
not be harmed
by
other creatures?
The
answer most
likely
lies
in
perceived danger
in
close
association with
people
of
desirous,
immoral
inclinations,
at least for
samnydsis
of
lower
attainments.
NpU
145-6
offers some
explanation
in
its claim that ordi-
nary
"peoplegossip
with each other
about news of
kings,
almsfood,
and
the
like.
Intimacyundoubtedly gives
rise to
attachment, backbiting,
and
jealousy."
To
help
the renouncer
avoid
cultivating
similar
qualities
in
himself
-
gustatory
desires,
sexual
longings,
wistfulness for home or
family
or com-
forts,
and desires for
amusement such
as
gambling
and
shows,
or
anger,
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
16/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He Is Not
Defiled"
387
NpU 146-9 expresses analogicallythe renouncer'scorrectresponse to all
temptations.
He
is
to be as a
tongueless
man,
a
eunuch, lame,
blind, deaf,
and
stupid (NpU
147)
that
is,
like one who
has no
senses,
no
sexuality,
no
wanderlust,
nor keen interest
in
pleasure.
"Let
him
always
keep
his
conduct
sinless, honest,
and
sincere,
withdrawing
his
senses
completely,
as a tortoise
withdraws its limbs
..."
(NpU
148-9).
And
yet
the mandate also
to
practice
kindliness and
compassion
when
the renouncer
does encounter householders or other
renouncers
helps
to
keep
his "conduct
sinless,"
and since the
ascetic often is told to
beg
for
food,
that
is
one
major
time
during
which he must learn to
practice
such
virtues. One's actions, it is said, should be consistent with one's inner
state
(NpU
196).
How,
therefore,
should a
person
attain final success at
being
inwardly
virtuous?
3.
Recasting
Purity
as Brahman tself
According
o
these
texts,
there
is one final
purity
that must be attained
by
the
renouncer.
It is a fundamental
and essential
purity
the notion
of
Brahman
(or
Narayana/Visnu
or
Siva or
Purusa)
as
pure,
that
is,
eter-
nal
pure
Being (nityaputastha)
(PhU
45),
pure
undivided Consciousness
(akhandabodha)(KU 26):
When there
is
nothing
to
be
grasped,
a
man,
free of mind and breath and
endowed
with steadfast
knowledge,
becomes dissolved
in
the
pure
and
supreme
reality,
as
a
lump
of salt
in
water.
(LAU 338)
These
texts
repeatedly
say
that the
purity
of the renouncer who is
cleansed
of all samsaric
mental
qualities,
and cultivated
kindliness and
non-violence,
is the
same as the
purity
of Brahman.
"[The
Avadhuta
renouncer]
is
eternally
pure,"
says
Lord
Narayana
in
TaU 242. "He is a
great
man whose
mind abides
in
me alone.
I also
abide
in him
alone."
BAU 304
says
that the Avadhutais
properly
denoted
by
the
phrase
"You
are
That."
He is
rare,
and
eternally pure,
as
Brahman is
pure
(JU
70-71;
NpU
155);
yet
he also cannot
be defined
since Brahman is too
great
to
be defined
(NpU
213).
Some
of the same
terms,
such as
suddhate,
are
used to
refer
both to
Brahman-purity
and
to
physical
or ritual
purity.
However,
Brahman-purity
in
SamnU seems
to reflect a different
genus
of
purity
than
that
wrought
by bathing;
Brahman/liberated
renouncer
purity
is
permanent
and so
strong
as to be
completely
invulnerable to
pollution
(invalidating
Olivelle's
statement
in Note
7,
and
necessitating
scholars
regularly distinguishing types
of
purity
in
Hindu
thought).
The renouncer's
mind
either is held to
reflect,
or is the same
thing
as,
the
purity
of the
Absolute: "The
Imperishable
is his
purity" (Aksayam
niranjanam
[NU
225
s.5]).
This is
yet
another
way
of
approaching
the
phrase-
"Unlike
a
fool,
he is not
defiled"
(BAU 305).
As Brahman
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
17/26
388 Journal
of Religious
Ethics
cannot be defiled, the renouncer with 'I am That' awareness can never
be
anything
other
than
pure
Brahman,
the fundamental
Pure One.
Are
the
Absolute's
and the renouncer's
qualities
the same
set?
In
many
cases
yes
-
both are sacciddndnda
(existence, consciousness,
bliss),
both
are
supportless except
for
Self-support,
both are called the detached
Witness
(saksi)
of world
events,
both have
equality-consciousness
(Brah-
man is
like the
sun,
which illumines all
beings
[BAU
305]),
both are
considered
rooted
in
the subtlest of the subtle. Would
the authors con-
versely agree
that Brahman has the realized renouncer's
ethics?
The
higher
renouncers are told to
repudiate
social
distinctions be-
tween superiorand inferior (TaU243; PpU 288), and between high and
low
renouncers.
Caste, class,
and orders are said to be
temporary,
mul-
tipartite,
and a
great
torment
(MU
112),
eventually
to be
transcended
completely
(BAU
304;
TaU
243).
Even
seeing
differences between
hu-
mans and
animals,
or
bugs
and trees is to be avoided. None
should be
harmed.
YdjfiavalkyaUpanisad
314
says:
"The
BlessedLord
has enteredwith a
portion
of himselfas
the
soul":
o
thinking,
et
him
boweven o a
dog,
a Candala
outcaste), cow,
ra
donkey,
prostrating
imselfon the
ground
ike a stick.
And
"Enjoying
he wealth of
detachment because of his incessant
knowl-
edge,
he
reflects within
himself: There is no one else different from me.'
Perceiving only
his own form
everywhere,
he attains liberation while he
is still
alive"
(NpU
202).
Accordingly
Brahman, too,
is
universal,
conscious
Witness,
who sees
all
beings
equally
and has within
Itself no
conception
of
high
and
low,
no
concern
for caste
and social
honor. The
assumption
seems to be that
the
Absolute's
intention is
never to
harm,
but instead to
protect
all
beings,
who
are Its
own self.
. .
an
interesting
conception
of a
kindly,
non-
violent
Reality
certainly
in line with much of Advaita Vedanta
philosophi-
cal
thinking,
but
also
bearing
an
unexpectedly gentle,
almost
parental
quality
for a
formless,
genderless
Godhead.
This Brahman whose ethic
would
be
detached
caring
would
apparently reject
social
hierarchy
as
dharma,
and
much of the
human
melodrama of
loves, hates, desires,
and
dualities
as false
samsaric
currency.
The
Samnydsa
Upanisads
do
advocate a renouncer ethical
dharma fo-
cusing
on
cleansing
the mind
and
recognizing
the
divinity
of the
deeper
human
self.
The
authors
subvert and
replace
what
they
see as an
external
(overlyrule-deontological)dharma,
based
upon
Vedic
scriptural injunc-
tions,
preferring
instead to
find a
more essential
internal core to
Vedic
teachings.
The
informal
renouncer
virtue
ethical
dharma that remains
borrows
many
of
its
ethical
principles
from
householder
traditions,
and
utilizes
he its
behavioral
dharma
mostly
techniques
of mind
solitary
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
18/26
"Unlikea
Fool,
He Is Not
Defiled"
389
meditation,mantra repetition, contemplationon identity-truths, and re-
jection
of the false mental accretions
and the "inner
enemies";
and also
support
for the cultivation of
compassion,
kindness,
and some
teaching.
The
required spiritual techniques
orient the
aspirant
inward,
in
support
of the
mental
cleansing necessary
to reach the Atman/Brahman evel. Re-
nouncer
dharma thus includes a
variety
of attitudes and methods that
establish
it as an
informal or
pre-theoretical
system
of
virtue
ethics,
containing
some
universalized
deontological principles,
such as
non-
violence,
and the
all-important
fundamental
Brahman-identity.
There
is avoidance of
mental vices that
mask
It;
other rules of conduct receive
only secondarystatus. This ascetic dharma is intended to constitute an
exact mirror
of the intrinsic
goodness
the
purity
and
natural ethical
being
of
the Absolute.
However,
to
clarify
further,
Brahman-qualities
are
one's own
qualities,
beyond
mirrors
altogether.
One
of
the
arguments
virtue ethicists
make
against
deontic ethical
stances
is that
good
duties
performed
without the
requisite
good
inten-
tional
disposition
are
disingenuous
actions. Within
the Hindu
context,
at
least since the
sixth
century
B.C.E.,
variations of this
argument
have
also
been
assumed
by scriptural
authors
discussing
karma
and its effects.
Since
attached
actions
(ordinary
actions
and ritual
behavior
performed
out of greed, desire, anger,and so on) actually endanger one karmically
speaking
by producing
urther
negative
dispositional
seeds,
such
actions
are
worse than
useless;
they bring
the doer down
morally by perpet-
uation.
The
Samnydsa
Upanisads,
like
many
other
yoga-related
texts,
argue
vociferouslyagainst
such
tainted
actions,
taking
as one
of their ma-
jor projects
the
ending
of
both
dispositional impurities
and
superficial,
duty-alone
actions.
The ascetic
is advised
to
protect
himself
by ceasing
ordinary
work-in-the-world
action
altogether
during
the
period
of train-
ing,
while
cultivating
divine
nature and
virtues.
Only
at the end of the
training process
when
moksa is
reached
may
the
samnydsi
consider
himself free to act as he
likes,
forthen his actions will be dispositionally
pure
to
the core.
One
possibility
is to call
this kind of dharma
a Brahman-metaethic
a
foundational
ontological principle
by
which other
ethical considera-
tions
must be
viewed.
Such an
ethical foundation
subverts
some,
but not
all
of varndsramadharma's
ordinary
Brahmin deontic
positive-negative,
and
pure-impure,
social
regulations
by
rendering
them
foolish,
a mere
scratching
the
surface
of
deeper
ethical and
spiritual
issues.
The SamnU
passages
that
outline
broadly
the
general
duties
of householders
(for
example, NpU
131)
assume
that
lay
Brahmins
while
performing
these
duties
should
gradually
be
turning
in
an inward
direction
focusing
on
God
and
the virtues
such as these
six:
tranquility,
self-control,
equanim-
ity,
forbearance,
concentration,
and
faith
(p.
171,
n.
5)
so that detach-
ment
(vairdgya),
the
true
condition,
will
eventually
naturally
arise. One
This content downloaded on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:59:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 Unlike a Fool, He is Not Defiled Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Sanysa Upaniads - Vail, L. F.
19/26
390
Journal
of
Religious
Ethics
might expect that the dharmic householding life would be considered
a needed
preparation
for ascetic life. Such is
likely
the case.
However,
the
Upanisadic
textual
agenda
of
guiding aspirants
away
from a focus
on
external
materiality
is
expressed powerfully
enough,
that
I
believe
such notions of "valuable
preparation"
are
considerably
underplayed.
One should not find
such
preparatory
life
too
valuable;
too
many
are
tempted
to
stay
there. To miss the
underlying
metaethic would
be to
miss
everything.
Both
Hindu
Brahmin
householder and renouncer
normative
ethics
assume that human
nature
is
fundamentally
in
accord
wit