![]() ![]() This well-attested progression belies the common assumption that professional ascetics define the practices that are secondarily adopted in mild or partial forms by people otherwise living ‘in the world’. These fixed-term vratas were explicitly used as a model for professional ascetical modes, both Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical. ![]() Yet they all constituted temporary deviations from everyday life there is no unambiguous allusion to a permanent state of ascetic practice, that is, asceticism as a profession, at least until the upaniṣads. These regimens all included restrictions on eating, sleeping, sexual activity, and other activities such restrictions might be mild or severe, depending on the ritual purpose that occasioned the regimen. Lasting for a fixed term, they began with a formal rite of consecration (e.g., the upanayana, or the dīkṣā for a soma-offerer), and ended with a ceremony of release (avabhṛtha, uddīkṣā). The earliest clear examples of ascesis were the regimens, called vrata or dīkṣā, associated with Vedic study and worship. A distinction should be made between temporary ascetic practice and professional asceticism. There we can identify a cluster of basic practices and attitudes aimed at maximizing control over oneself, with the assumption that such self-control gives rise or provide access to extraordinary power. ![]() "Our oldest sources for ascetical practices in India are embedded in the Vedic ritual literature. ![]()
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