History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t1.79

v4.c63.t1.79

It is not, however, to be supposed that purely secular benefits to be derived from sons were not thought of at all. People were alive to them but those benefits were submerged under the flood of extravagant ideas about the spiritual benefits derived from sons. For example, the Bṛ.¹²²⁴ Up. I. 5. 16, after mentioning the three worlds of men, *pitṛs* and gods, declares that the world of men can be won only through the son (while in I. 5. 17 there is eulogy of the son and instruction to him that he is Brahma, he is yajña, he is the heavenly world). Nār. IV. 5 says¹²²⁵ "fathers wish to have sons on their own account thinking in their hearts 'He will free me from low and high debts'". Kāt. (551) has a similar verse and makes the meaning of Nār. clear¹²²⁶. Vide above (under ṛṇādāna pp. 416-417).