Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c8.53

c8.53

**Summary.** Now to sum up: The *Yajña* which is the centre of the Vedic system may be thus understood as education of man in self-sacrifice as the law of his being and the only foundation of his religion, self-sacrifice in the form of performance by him of the different classes of duties making up his life in the world by the performance of different kinds of *Yajñas* already explained, such as *Yajñas* of *Tapas* (Penance), *Yoga* (Meditation), *Svādhyāya* and *Jñāna* (Study and Knowledge). The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* holds that man is born with three debts, debts to *Pitris*, *Rishis*, and *Devas*, and these he can discharge only by fatherhood, *yajña*, and study, as "*Putrī*, *Yajvā* and *Brahmachārī*." Thus the *Yajñas* take the individual through a course of self-realization in progressive stages by which he becomes more and more universal in his outlook and interests until he is emancipated and merged in the Absolute. It is the *Yajñas* which lead to *Dharma* and it is *Dharma* which leads to *Brahma*. Thus, as we have seen, the Veda is concerned only with the two subjects, *Dharma* and *Brahma*, treated in its two sections known as *Karma-kāṇḍa* (including *Devatā-* or *Upāsanā-Kāṇḍa*) and *Jñāna-Kāṇḍa*, which are related to each other like two limbs of the structure of Vedic thought and scheme of life.¹