of staleness, etc.) with the food placed before him, nor should he applaud its merits.  He should covet a bed and a seat that are removed from the haunts of men.  The places he should seek are such as a deserted house, the foot of a tree, a forest, or a cave.  Without allowing his practices to be known by others, or concealing their real nature by appearing to adopt others (that are hateful or repulsive), he should enter his own Self.[1338] By association with Yoga and dissociation from company, he should be perfectly equable, steadily fixed, and uniform.  He should not earn either merit or demerit by means of acts.[1339] He should be always gratified, well-contented, of cheerful face and cheerful senses, fearless, always engaged in mental recitation of sacred mantras, silent, and wedded to a life of Renunciation.  Beholding the repeated formation and dissolution of his own body with the senses that result from and resolve into the elemental essences, and seeing also the advent and departure of (other) creatures, he should become free from desire and learn to cast equal eyes upon all, subsisting upon both cooked and uncooked food.  Frugal in respect of his fare, and subjugating his senses, he achieves tranquillity of Self by Self.[1340] One should control the (rising) impulses of words, of the mind, of wrath, of envy, of hunger, and of lust.  Devoted to penances for cleansing his heart, he should never allow the censures (of others) to afflict his heart.  One should live, having assumed a status of neutrality with respect to all creatures, and regard praise and blame as equal.  This, indeed, is the holiest and the highest path of the Sannyasa mode of life.  Possessed of high soul, the Sannyasin should restrain his senses from all things and keep himself aloof from all attachments.  He should never repair to the places visited by him and the men known to him while leading the prior modes of life.  Agreeable to all creatures, and without a fixed home, he should be devoted to the contemplation of Self.  He should never mingle with house-holders and forest-recluses.  He should eat such food as he may obtain without effort (and without having thought of it beforehand).[1341] He should never suffer joy to possess his heart.  To those that are wise such a life of Renunciation is the means for the attainment of Emancipation.  To those, however, that are fools the practice of these duties is exceedingly burthensome.  The sage Harita declared all this to be the path by which Emancipation is to be achieved.  He who sets forth from his home, having assured all creatures of his perfect harmlessness, attains to many bright regions of felicity which prove unending or eternal.’”

SECTION CCLXXIX