Derived from the root "‘vr’" ("will, rule, restrain, conduct, choose, select"), the word is found over 200 times in the Rigveda. It is also found in other Vedic literature including the Upanishads, but the context suggests that the meaning of the word in the Vedic era was not as a personal pious observance, and instead was related to ṛta and dharma, in the sense of inner principles and universal laws that keep order in the cosmos. Every man's vocation, as in hymn 9.112.1 of the Rigveda, is called his "Vrata". Thus, whatever profession one is devoted to, resolves to do his best in, is deemed "Vrata" in the Vedic literature. The act of sacrifice, in another context such as in hymn 1.93.8 of the Rigveda, is also called a "Vrata".