Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c6.s9.136

c6.s9.136

“Knowing that, if a Brahmin, after he has renounced, is unable to endure bodily discomfort, he should become a wandering ascetic who wears a single garment; who is shaven-headed; and who has no possessions [JU 68]. Or, if he wishes to follow the normal rule, he should become clad as he was at birth; he should renounce his sons, friends, wife, close relatives, and so forth, as well as Vedic recitation, and all rites; he should also forsake this entire universe; and he should discard his loincloth, staff, and garment. Enduring the pairs of opposites [JU 70, n. 25], he is affected neither by cold nor by heat, neither by pleasure nor by pain, neither by sleep nor by honor and dishonor. He is freed from the six waves of existence [PhU 48, n. 4]. He gives up slander, egotism, jealousy, pride, deceit, envy, indignation, desire, hate, pleasure, pain, lust, anger, greed, delusion, and the like, and he regards his body as a corpse. He considers nothing within or without as other than himself. He pays obeisance to no one. He neither pays homage nor utters *svāhā* or *svadhā* [KśU 36, n. 14; PhU 51, n. 7]. He neither blames nor gives praise. Let him live without forethought or planning, [154] satisfied with whatever he receives at random. Let him not accept gold and the like. For him there is neither invitation nor dismissal [PhU 51, n. 8], neither mantras nor non-mantras, neither meditation nor worship, neither the perceptible nor the imperceptible, neither the separate nor the non-separate, neither day nor night [PhU 51]. At all times he lives resolutely without a home in deserted houses, at the foot of trees, in temples, on haystacks, in potter’s sheds, in sheds for fire sacrifices, in the southeastern quarter, on the sandy banks of rivers, in cellars, in glens, by waterfalls, in open fields, or in a forest. Like Śvetaketu, Ṛbhu, Nidāgha, Vṛṣabha, Durvāsas, Saṃvartaka, Dattātreya, and Raivataka, he has no visible emblem; he keeps his conduct concealed; he acts as if he were a fool, a lunatic, or a goblin; and, although he is sane, he behaves like a madman. Triple staff, sling [LSU 21, n. 27], bowl, water pot, [155] waistband, and loincloth: let him abandon all these in water, saying: ‘Earth, *svāhā!*’ Waistband, loincloth, staff, garment, and water pot: let him throw all these in water and thereafter wander clad as he was at birth and seeking the self. He is clad as he was at birth. He is indifferent to the pairs of opposites [JU 70, n. 25]. He has no possessions. He is firmly established in the path of the true Brahman. His mind is pure. At the proper time and merely to sustain his life, he eats food that he receives without asking,³⁴ using his hand or his mouth as a begging bowl [ĀrU 11, n. 14], and remaining the same both when he receives and when he does not. He is selfless. He devotes himself completely to meditating on the pure Brahman. He is grounded in the Supreme Self. He is intent on the uprooting of both pure and impure acts [JU 69–71]. After renouncing, he gives up the three bodies³⁵ in the manner of the wasp and the worm,³⁶ calling to mind the mystic OM with the thought: ‘I am Brahman, who is absolute bliss and pure consciousness.’ Such a man, who abandons his body through renunciation, has done all there is to do. *[156]* That is the secret teaching.”