It might have been some young people studying, about to go into the monastery, and I think from the text one could definitely get that sense, because so much of the text deals with the things that they are about to give up - you know, lust and drinking and all the really incredibly good things in life that they're about to give up.
Sprint, you might recall, was the just about the last company in the United States left to lust for the ability to stanch its loss of customers by being able to offer the Apple iPhone.