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Preface
attempt to burn down his sensual-desires by the fire of austerities. (verses 100-101)
Noble men get detached from wealth and renounce it in three ways: the first way is to give it to those who solicit it, the second is not to give it to others but leave it as it is, and the third is not to accrue it in the first place. These three exhibit successively higher levels of renunciation. The one who knows the nature of substances, neither gets to grief nor to pride in leaving wealth. (verses 102-104)
The inclination of the man toward his body is futile; it is full of anxiety, impurity, fear, and disdain. The man with discernment certainly abandons the body and attains the state of everlasting bliss. The path that leads to the state of everlasting bliss consists in compassion (daya or ahimsa), self-restraint (indriyadamana or samyama), renunciation (dāna or parigrahatyaga), and meditation (dhyāna). (verses 105-107)
On acquisition of the discriminatory-knowledge (vivekajñāna), delusion (moha) gets destroyed and, consequently, the soul is freed from the cycle of births and deaths. The young celibate throws up for the world all objects of enjoyment that were available to him, without first enjoying these himself. He establishes himself in the thought, 'nothing belongs to me'. This is the secret of the 'pure-soul' (paramātmā) - the lord of the three worlds. (verses 108-110)
The human mode-of-existence - manuṣya paryaya - is difficult to attain, impure, and void of happiness. Austerity (tapa) can be observed only in this mode-of-existence. Noble men concentrate on the 'pure-soul' (paramātmā) in a proper manner; this does not entail any hardship. (verses 111-112)
The happiness attained through austerity (tapa) can never be attained by craving for wealth. No dust of disgrace ever touches the feet of the man fortified by austerity. Through the power of austerity the ascetic vanquishes his natural enemies, like the passions of anger, etc. In the after-life, he automatically and speedily attains liberation as the culmination of his human effort. (verses 113-114)
The body of the ascetic vanishes when, in time, it has produced the
(XXVII)
