Then the Great Steward also went to the seven well-to-do brahmins and seven hundred bathed initiates and said, “Good fellows, please now find another tutor to teach you to recite the hymns. I wish to go forth from the lay life to homelessness. As I understand what the Divinity says about putrefaction, it’s not easy to quell while living at home. I shall go forth from the lay life to homelessness.” “Please don’t go forth from the lay life to homelessness! The life of one gone forth is of little influence or profit, whereas the life of a brahmin is of great influence and profit.” “Please, good fellows, don’t say that. Who has greater influence and profit than myself? For now I am like a king to kings, like the Divinity to brahmins, like a deity to householders. Giving up all that, I shall go forth. As I understand what the Divinity says about putrefaction, it’s not easy to quell while living at home. I shall go forth from the lay life to homelessness.” “If the Steward is going forth from the lay life to homelessness, we shall do so too. Your destiny shall be ours.”

6.7. Informing the Wives