Hindu Medicine c5.s3.24

c5.s3.24

away of the fruit,” how to bear the separation from her child once it has grown up. The ritual begins “ at about the fifth year of the child’s life and ends when the son enters the circle of adult life.” It represents “ the unrelenting demand made by life and the outer world which can only be satisfied through sacrifices. The woman must, therefore, symbolically sacrifice to him [the Guru] the things that she most cares for, not only once but repeatedly through the years.” ¹² The limitation of this dietetics of the soul consists in that it does not make allowance for the development of the individual. As a compensation for the strict adherence to the community, enforced by the chain of rituals that fetter the masses, the system of Yoga represents the complete detachment of the few from all human bonds.¹³