The Philosophy of the Upanishads c11.s2.t6.76

c11.s2.t6.76

To beget is represented as a religious duty. In Taitt. 1. 9 it is enjoined side by side with studying and teaching the Veda. Frequently it is allegorically described as an act of sacrifice.⁶ In Taitt. 1. 11 the pupil dismissed from study is charged,—“After having delivered to the teacher the gifts of affection, take care that the thread of thy race be not broken.” “He who in his lifetime rightly continues to spin the thread of posterity thereby transfers his guilt to the fathers; for it (begetting) is the transference of his guilt."¹ By the son his continued life is assured in the world of men,² he is admitted to the fathers to consummate his righteous deeds;³ "and if anything whatever has been committed perversely by him, his son will expiate all; therefore is his name 'son';⁴ by the son that is to say he continues to exist in this world."⁵ Particular directions are given in Bṛih. 6. 4 how to proceed in order to beget a son or a daughter of a definite disposition. This chapter forms the conclusion of the Upanishad, and therefore probably the close of the religious instruction imparted to the student at the end of his student life.