Mahabharata 12.12.7

12.12.7

vittāni dharmalabdhāni kratumukhyeṣvavāsṛjan |
kṛtātmasu mahārāja sa vai tyāgī smṛto naraḥ || 7 ||

This (domestic mode of life again) has been said by all persons acquainted with Vedic truths to be superior to all the (other) modes of life. Knowing this, O king, that the person who in sacrifices gives away his righteously acquired wealth unto those Brahmanas that are well conversant with the Vedas, and restrains his soul, is, O monarch, regarded as the true renouncer. He, however, who, disregarding (a life of domesticity, that is) the source of much happiness, jumps to the next mode of life,--that renouncer of his own self, O monarch, is a renouncer labouring under the quality of darkness. That man who is homeless, who roves over the world (in his mendicant rounds), who has the foot of a tree for his shelter, who observes the vow of taciturnity, never cooks for himself, and seeks to restrain all the functions of his senses, is, O Partha, a renouncer in the observance of the vow of mendicancy. That Brahmana who, disregarding wrath and joy, and especially deceitfulness, always employs his time in the study of the Vedas, is a renouncer in the observance of the vow of mendicancy. The four different modes of life were at one time weighed in the balance. The wise have said, O king, that when domesticity was placed on one scale, it required the three others to be placed on the other for balancing it.