Chapter 28

Vishnu Smriti 28

Now, the residence in the teacher's household for a brahmacārī (a religious student under a vow of celibacy). // Vi_28.1 //

Worship at the two twilights. // Vi_28.2 //

He shall mutter his prayers standing at the morning twilight, and seated at the evening twilight. // Vi_28.3 //

The performance of bathing and the fire-oblation at both times. // Vi_28.4 //

Submersion in water like a staff. // Vi_28.5 //

Study when called upon. // Vi_28.6 //

Doing what is pleasing and beneficial to the teacher. // Vi_28.7 //

Wearing a girdle, staff, deerskin, and sacred thread. // Vi_28.8 //

Begging for bhaikṣya (alms) from virtuous people, except from the teacher's family. // Vi_28.9 //

Eating the alms with the teacher's permission. // Vi_28.10 //

Avoidance of food from a śrāddha, artificial salt, sour gruel, stale food, dancing, singing, women, honey, meat, collyrium, leftovers, injury to living beings, and obscenity. // Vi_28.11 //

Sleeping on a low bed. // Vi_28.12 //

Rising before the teacher and going to bed after him. // Vi_28.13 //

And having performed his twilight worship, he shall perform the salutation to his teacher. // Vi_28.14 //

And he shall touch his feet with crossed hands. // Vi_28.15 //

The right foot with the right hand, and the other with the other. // Vi_28.16 //

And at the end of the salutation, he shall announce his own name, ending with the word "bhoḥ". // Vi_28.17 //

He shall not converse with him while standing, sitting, lying down, eating, or with his face turned away. // Vi_28.18 //

To one who is seated, he shall do so standing; to one who is walking, by approaching him; to one who is coming, by going to meet him; to one who is running, by running after him. // Vi_28.19 //

To one with his face turned away, by facing him. // Vi_28.20 //

To one who is far away, by approaching him. // Vi_28.21 //

To one who is lying down, by bowing. // Vi_28.22 //

And in his line of sight, he shall not sit as he pleases. // Vi_28.23 //

And he shall not utter his name without a title. // Vi_28.24 //

He shall not imitate his gait, gestures, speech, and the like. // Vi_28.25 //

Where there is censure or slander of him, he shall not remain there. // Vi_28.26 //

He shall not share a seat with him. // Vi_28.27 //

Except on a rock, a wooden plank, a boat, or a cart. // Vi_28.28 //

When the teacher's teacher is present, he shall behave as towards his own teacher. // Vi_28.29 //

And without being instructed by his teacher, he shall not salute his own elders. // Vi_28.30 //

Towards a teacher's son who is a child or of the same age, if he is a teacher, he shall behave as towards the teacher. // Vi_28.31 //

He shall not wash his feet. // Vi_28.32 //

He shall not eat his leftovers. // Vi_28.33 //

Thus he shall master one Veda, two Vedas, or all the Vedas. // Vi_28.34 //

Then, the ancillary Vedic texts. // Vi_28.35 //

But he who, without having studied the Veda, exerts himself elsewhere, he, together with his descendants, attains the state of a Śūdra. // Vi_28.36 //

The first birth is from the mother; the second is at the binding of the Muñja girdle. // Vi_28.37 //

There, his mother is the Sāvitrī verse, and his father is the ācārya (spiritual preceptor).[^6] // Vi_28.38 //

By this, their status as twice-born is established. // Vi_28.39 //

Before the binding of the Muñja girdle, a twice-born man is equal to a Śūdra. // Vi_28.40 //

A brahmacārī shall be shaven-headed or have matted hair. // Vi_28.41 //

After mastering the Veda, with the teacher's permission, having given him a gift, he shall perform the ritual bath. // Vi_28.42 //

Or, he may spend the rest of his life in the teacher's household. // Vi_28.43 //

There, if the teacher dies, he shall behave towards the teacher's son as towards the teacher. // Vi_28.44 //

Or towards his wives of the same varṇa. // Vi_28.45 //

In their absence, he shall be a perpetual brahmacārī, tending the sacred fire. // Vi_28.46 //

A Brāhmaṇa who thus practices the vow of celibacy without laziness, / He goes to the highest state and is not born here again. || Vi_28.47 ||

The intentional emission of semen by a twice-born man under a vow, / The knowers of dharma call a transgression of the vow of a brahmacārī. || Vi_28.48 ||

Having incurred this sin, wearing a donkey's skin, / He shall beg for alms from seven houses, proclaiming his own deed. || Vi_28.49 ||

Subsisting on the alms received from them for a single meal a day, / Performing ablutions at the three junctures of the day, he becomes pure in a year. || Vi_28.50 ||

A twice-born brahmacārī who unintentionally emits semen in a dream, / Having bathed and worshipped the sun, shall mutter three times the verse "punar mām". || Vi_28.51 ||

Without having performed the begging of alms and without having kindled the sacred fire, / A student who is not ill for seven nights shall perform the vow of an avakīrṇin. || Vi_28.52 ||

If the sun should rise upon him while he is sleeping out of willfulness, / Or set upon him while he is sleeping through ignorance, he shall fast for a day, muttering prayers. || Vi_28.53 ||