It has been declared that the members of the four âsramas have a claim
to the knowledge of Brahman, and that the duties connected with each
âsrarna promote knowledge. A doubt now arises whether those men also who,
on account of poverty and so on, stand outside the âsramas are qualified
for the knowledge of Brahman, or rtot.--They are not, the Pûrvapakshin
holds, since such knowledge is to be attained in a way dependent on the
special duties of each âsrama; while those who do not belong to an
âsrama are not concerned with âsrama duties.--This view the Sûtra
rejects. Those also who do not stand within any âsrama are qualified for
knowledge, 'because that is seen,' i.e. because the texts declare that
men such as Raikva, Bhîshma, Samvarta and others who did not belong to
âsrama were well grounded in the knowledge of Brahman. It can by no
means be maintained that it is âsrama duties only that promote knowledge;
for the text 'by gifts, by penance, by fasting, and so on' (Bri. Up. IV,
4, 22) distinctly declares that charity also and other practices, which
are not confined to the âsramas, are helpful towards knowledge. In the
same way as in the case of those bound to chastity--who, as the texts
show, may possess the knowledge of Brahman--knowledge is promoted by
practices other than the Agnihotra and the like, so--it is concluded--in
the case of those also who do not belong to any abrama knowledge may be
promoted by certain practices not exclusively connected with any âsrama,
such as prayer, fasting, charity, propitiation of the divinity, and so
on.