Having taught the Vedas, the preceptor thus instructs the pupil: ‘Speak the truth. Practice righteousness. Do not neglect study. Having offered the teacher the wealth desired by him (enter the householder’s life and see that) the line of progeny is not cut off. Do not swerve from the truth. Do not swerve from righteousness. Do not neglect (personal) welfare. Do not neglect prosperity. Do not neglect learning and teaching.’ (Taittiriya Upanishad, 1.11.1)
This piece of fuel is earth, sky the second; also the
atmosphere he fills with fuel. The Vedic student fills the worlds with fuel
(sacrifice), girdle (study), toil, and discipline. (Atharva Veda, 11.5.4)
In olden times, investiture with the (sacred) girdle was
prescribed for girls (during initiation into the Brahmacharya Ashrama), as was
instruction in Vedic studies, and initiation into the Gayatri mantra. (Harita)
The teacher is ten times more
venerable than an instructor, the father a hundred times more than the teacher,
and the mother a thousand times more than the father. (Manu
Samhita,
2.145)
The son is to be brought up
lovingly for the first five years of his life, and disciplined for the
next ten years; but when he reaches sixteen, he must be treated as a
friend.