History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c25.37

v2.c25.37

Commentators like Sarvajña-Nārāyaṇa on Manu VI. 35 endeavour to bring about reconciliation between the three views set out above as follows: the view that a man may pass on to *saṁnyāsa* immediately after the period of student-hood (without being a householder) applies only to those men who are, owing to the impressions and effects of restrained conduct in past lives, entirely free from desires and whose tongue, sexual appetites, belly and words are thoroughly under control; the prescriptions of Manu enjoining on men not to resort to *saṁnyāsa* without paying off the three debts are concerned with men whose appetites have not yet thoroughly been brought under control and the words of Gautama that there is only one *āśrama* (that of the house-holder) relate only to those whose appetites for worldly pleasures and pursuits are quite keen.