The maxim [Page0652-c+ 57] of washing off the mud. Just as it is more advisable for one to avoid getting into mud than to get into it and then wash it off, so it is more advisable for one to avoid getting into danger than to expose oneself to it and then try to get out of it somehow or other; cf. prakṣālanā- ddhi paṃkasya dūrādasparśanaṃ varaṃ; and also “Pre- vention is better than cure”.