Mudgalapurana 3.18: brahmacaryāśramavarṇanaṃ nāmāṣṭādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Nara and Nārāyaṇa said: / And the classes and stages of life are four; hear about them, O great sage: / Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, and Śūdra are proclaimed as the classes.

Studentship, householdership, forest-dwelling, and likewise / renunciation are declared in the Vedas as the stages of life by expounders of the Vedas.

These four stages of life are considered in succession for Brāhmaṇas; / and for Kṣatriyas and Vaiśyas renunciation is not found.

Householdership alone is proclaimed as the stage of life for Śūdras; / and that very same is always to be known by the wise for outcasts.

And when a Brāhmaṇa is born and devoted to the state of childhood, / in the fifth, seventh, or eighth year one should perform the girdle ceremony.

Having received the sacred thread, the twice-born should go near a guru; / there, endowed with modesty, he should study the Vedas and all else.

Right there the Brāhmaṇa should practice studentship to the end; / evening and morning he should wander for alms, and then practice the Gāyatrī.

In the morning, in the form of Brahmā; at midday, having the form of Rudra; / that Gāyatrī, in the form of Viṣṇu, he should meditate upon with devotion in the evening.

With the three syllables 'bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ' he should sip water with self-restraint; / ending with 'svāhā', full of great splendour, he should touch the sense-organ during the ritual placements.

With the three fingers beginning with the forefinger he should touch the mouth; / with the union of the forefinger and thumb the wise man should touch the nose;

with the thumb and the ring finger he should touch the eyes; / and with the little finger he should touch the ears, there is no doubt of this.

With both thumbs he should touch the navel, and the chest with the palm of the hand; / with all the fingers the middle of the eyebrows, and with the tip of the thumb the tuft of hair.

With all the fingers he should touch his own arm in rites such as ritual placement; / thus sipping of water is proclaimed, with the names mentioned in each own Vedic branch.

The twilight devotion is especially to be performed with mantras originating in the Veda; / and there, O great sage, he should cause the ritual placements of the Praṇava to be made,

and those of the Vyāhṛtis, and of the Gāyatrī arising from the syllables on the six limbs; / having performed the placements of the head of the Gāyatrī, he should then sip water.

With the mantra beginning with 'sūryaśca' especially in the morning; / with 'āpaḥ punantu' at midday, and in the evening with the mantra 'agniśca'.

Then he should perform the sprinkling twenty-nine times; / [

then he should make the offering of water, and then perform the adoration.

Then he should perform release from the curse of the Gāyatrī, meditation, and recitation; / the student [should recite] hundreds separately at each of the [three] times.

And he should perform the recitation of the Gāyatrī with restrained speech and focused mind. / At that time, a householder should perform one hundred and eight recitations.

And a forest-dweller should perform a thousand recitations at that time. / In this way, the twilight worship is always performed at the three times by brahmins.

He should recite the three-footed Gāyatrī joined with the syllable Oṃ. / I shall explain the sequence in that regard; listen to it, O best of sages!

First uttering the praṇava, the vyāhṛtis are then spoken; / having recited 'bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ', the praṇava is then spoken.

Then that three-footed Gāyatrī, O brahmin, and then once again / the syllable Oṃ. Recitation is always performed thus according to rule by the twice-born.

And by renouncers, O best of brahmins, especially the four-footed [Gāyatrī] / is to be recited, that very Gāyatrī according to the division of their respective stages of life.

A student of the Veda, O great sage, should beg alms according to the rule / from householders of his own lineage and others, and should offer it to his teacher.

The observant brahmin should put 'bhavat' first; a kṣatriya, in the middle; / and a vaiśya at the end, constantly uttering it for the sake of begging.

If the alms received are taken in their entirety by the teacher, O honor-bestowing one, / then he who observes celibacy should dwell keeping a fast.

Whether the alms given by the noble / teacher are small or complete, having eaten that much, he should remain in his presence.

Equipped with a staff of palāśa wood, he should offer kindling into the sacred fires / evening and morning, and he should keep his nails and hair [uncut].

To him, the guru is the supreme deity with all devotion; / he should perform service to the guru's wife and son just as to the guru.

He should never dwell in seclusion with the wives of the guru, / nor should he converse with women when there is no necessary task.

Well-restrained, he should not listen to women's songs and the like; / and the celibate student must especially never emit semen.

If semen is lost in a dream, he should then perform an ablution; / in that case, recitation of the Gāyatrī one hundred and eight times is prescribed.

Instructed by the guru, he should pursue his study, O sage; / the wise one devoted to sacred learning should not argue with the guru on his own.

Endowed with such various marks as have been stated, / the fortunate student of the Veda should be intent on the study of the Veda.

For twelve years, or sixteen, the twice-born / should observe the student's celibacy, or according to his own desire.

Having mastered the Vedas and other texts, committing them to memory with reverence, / he should then worship the guru and give him his sacrificial fee.

When his mind is attached to worldly objects, he should become a householder then; / if not, he should embrace renunciation, or go to the forest.

Or the best of the twice-born may remain perpetually abiding in lifelong celibacy; / whatever is the purity of his mind, so should he perform everything.

By him who has completed his study, under its control, O great sage, / are knowledge, yoga, and other actions; therefore he should practice that.

This celibate studenthood has been described in brief, O great sage; / through hearing it, it yields complete merit and serves the welfare of the world.

'Oṃ tat sat.' Thus ends the eighteenth chapter, named 'Description of the Student Stage of Life', in the third section, on the deeds of Mahodara, in the glorious and greatest Mudgalapurāṇa, an Upaniṣad among the Purāṇas.

Section 3, Chapter 19, page 38