Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c6.s3.18

c6.s3.18

Another duty of the Brahmachārī is to go out on a daily round of begging. It was not begging for himself but for the support of his school. Its educative value is explained in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (xi, 3, 3, 5), which points out that it is meant to produce in the pupil a spirit of humanity and renunciation. But its moral effects may be examined more closely. First, the contrast between his own life and that of the world at large brings home to him the value of the scheme for which he stands, which he will now all the more try to consolidate. This makes for a more complete organization of the personality, a deeper loyalty to his system. Further, the daily duty of begging makes the Ego less and less assertive, and, with it, all unruly desires and passions, which do not shoot forth, as their roots wither. Thus there is reached a greater balance of the inner life. A sense of balance and harmony further brings out the contrast between the behaviour of his own group and that of the men of the world, and this further confirms his faith in his own group or order.