Manava Dharmashastra 6.66

6.66

bhūṣitaḥ kusumakaṭakādyābharaṇaiḥ | dharmaḥ parivrājakasya yadvihitamātmopāsanādi tadyatnataścaret | yasminnāśrame yo vihitastaṃ caret | na tridaṇḍādiliṅgadhāraṇamātrādyatimātmānaṃ manyeta | api tu samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu syāt | rāgadveṣalobhānyatnataḥ pariharediti tātparyam | na liṅgatyāgena bhūṣaṇābhyanujñānam |

Even though he be adorned, the man should fulfil his duty, to whichever order he may belong. He should be equal to all beings; mere external marks are not conducive to merit.—(66)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Adorned’—with flowers, bracelets and other ornaments.

‘Duty’—all that has been prescribed for the Renunciate, such as meditation on the Self and so forth, he shall perform with care. In fact one should perform the duties of that order to which he may belong.

One should not consider himself to have become a ‘Renunciate’ merely by wearing such external marks as the ‘three staffs’ and the like; in fact ‘he should be equal, to all beings’;—that is, he should, with care, eschew all love, hatred and greed.

By deprecating the external marks it is not meant that the man should wear ornaments.—(66)

Cf. 3.50 and 12.102.

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 3.65);—and in Yatidharmasaṅgraha (p. 35), which reads bhūṣitaḥ’ for ‘dūṣitaḥ’, explains it as ‘adorned with the staff and other signs of the Remmciate’ and says that the particle ‘api’ implies that even when without these, he should meditate upon the identity of the individual and supreme selves.

Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 6.66-67)
Vaśiṣṭha (10.18).—‘He shall not wear any visible mark of his order, nor adopt any visible rules of conduct.’

Yājñavalkya (3.65).—‘The mere adoption of any particular order is not a means of acquiring spiritual merit.’