Upon these then does the aggregate of three depend.  Entire abstraction from all objects is Emancipation.  It is said that Virtue is sought for the protection of the body, and Wealth is for the acquisition of Virtue.  Pleasure is only the gratification of the senses.  All the three have, therefore, the quality of Passion.[375] Virtue, Wealth, and Pleasure, when sought for the sake of heaven or such other rewards, are said to be remote because the rewards themselves are remote.  When sought, however, for the sake of Knowledge of Self, they are said to be proximate.  One should seek them when they are of such a character.[376] One should not cast them off even mentally.  If Virtue, Wealth, and Pleasure are to be abandoned, one should abandon them when one has freed one’s self by ascetic penances.[377] The aim of the triple aggregate is towards emancipation.  Would that man could obtain it!  One’s acts, undertaken and completed with eve tithe aid of intelligence may or may not lead to the expected results.  Virtue is not always the root of Wealth, for other things than Virtue lead to Wealth (such as service, agriculture, &c).  There is again a contrary opinion (for some say that Wealth is earned through chance or birth or like causes).  In some instances, Wealth acquired has been productive of evil.  Other things again that Wealth (such as fasts and vows) have led to the acquisition of Virtue.  As regards this topic, therefore, a dullard whose understanding has been debased by ignorance, never succeeds in acquiring the highest aim of Virtue and Wealth, viz., Emancipation.  Virtue’s dross consists in the desire of reward; the dross of Wealth consists in hoarding it; when purged of these impurities, they are productive of great results.  In this connection is cited the narrative of the discourse that look place in days of old between Kamandaka and Angaristha.  One day, king Angaristha, having waited for the opportunity, saluted the Rishi Kamandaka as he was seated at his ease and asked him the following questions, ’If a king, forced by lust and folly, commits sin for which he afterwards repents, by what acts, O Rishi, can those sins be destroyed?  If again a man impelled by ignorance, does what is sinful in the belief that he is acting righteously, how shall the king put a stop to that sin come into vogue among men?’

“Kamandaka said, ’That man who, abandoning Virtue and Wealth pursues only Pleasure, reaps as the consequence of such conduct the destruction of his intelligence.  The destruction of intelligence is followed by heedlessness that is at once destructive of both Virtue and Wealth.  From such heedlessness proceed dire atheism and systematic wickedness of conduct.  If the king does not restrain those wicked men of sinful conduct, all good subjects then live in fear of him like the inmate of a room within which a snake has concealed itself.  The subjects do not follow such a king.  Brahmanas and all pious persons also act in the same way.  As a consequence the king