1 An initiated Snataka, who has thus lived according to the law in the order of householders, may, taking a firm resolution and keeping his organs in subjection, dwell in the forest, duly observing the rules given below.

2 When a householder sees his skin wrinkled, and his hair white, and the sons of his sons, then he may resort to the forest.

3 Abandoning all food raised by cultivation, and all his belongings, he may depart into the forest, either committing his wife to his sons, or accompanied by her.

4 Taking with him the household fire and the implements required for domestic sacrifices, he may go forth from the village into the forest and reside there, duly controlling his senses.

5 Let him offer those five great sacrifices according to the rule, with various kinds of pure food fit for ascetics, or with herbs, roots, and fruit.

6 Let him wear a skin or a tattered garment; let him bathe in the evening or in the morning; and let him always wear his hair in braids, the hair on his body, his beard, and his nails being undipped.

7 Let him perform the Bali-offering with such food as he eats, and give alms according to his ability; let him honour those who come to his hermitage with alms consisting of water, roots, and fruit.

8 Let him be always industrious in privately reciting the Veda; let him be patient of hardships, friendly towards all, of collected mind, ever liberal and never a receiver of gifts, and compassionate towards all living creatures.

9 Let him offer, according to the law, the Agnihotra with three sacred fires in God's name, never omitting the new-moon and full-moon sacrifices at the proper time.

10 Let him also offer the Agrayana and the Chaturmasya sacrifices, as well as the Turayana and likewise the Dakshayana, in due order.

11 With pure grains, fit for ascetics, which grow in spring and in autumn, and which he himself has collected, let him severally prepare the sacrificial cakes (purodasa) and the boiled messes (charu), as the law directs.

12 Having offered those most pure sacrificial viands, consisting of the produce of the forest, he may use the remainder for himself, mixed with salt prepared by himself.

13 Let him eat vegetables that grow on dry land or in water, flowers, roots, and fruits, the productions of pure trees, and oils extracted from forest-fruits.

14 Let him avoid honey, flesh, and mushrooms growing on the ground or elsewhere, the vegetables called Bhustrina, and Sigruka, and the Sleshmantaka fruit.

15 Let him throw away in the month of Asvina the food of ascetics, which he formerly collected, likewise his worn-out clothes and his vegetables, roots, and fruit.

16 Let him not eat anything grown on ploughed land, though it may have been thrown away by somebody, nor roots and fruit grown in a village, though he may be tormented by hunger.

17 He may eat either what has been cooked with fire, or what has been ripened by time; he either may use a stone for grinding, or his teeth may be his mortar.

18 He may either at once after his daily meal cleanse his vessel for collecting food, or lay up a store sufficient for a month, or gather what suffices for six months or for a year.

19 Having collected food according to his ability, he may either eat at night only, or in the day-time only, or at every fourth meal-time, or at every eighth.

20 Or he may live according to the rule of the lunar penance (Chandrayana), daily diminishing the quantity of his food in the bright half of the month and increasing it in the dark half; or he may eat on the last days of each fortnight, once a day only, boiled barley-gruel.

21 Or he may constantly subsist on flowers, roots, and fruit alone, which have been ripened by time and have fallen spontaneously, following the rule of the Institutes of Vikhanas.

22 Let him either roll about on the ground, or stand during the day on tiptoe, or let him alternately stand and sit down; going at the Savanas, at sunrise, at midday, and at sunset, to water in the forest in order to bathe.

23 In summer let him expose himself to the heat of five fires, during the rainy season live under the open sky, and in winter be dressed in wet clothes, thus gradually increasing the rigour of his austerities.

24 When he bathes at the three Savanas, at sunrise, midday, and sunset, let him offer libations of water in worship of God and in memory of the departed, and practising harsher and harsher austerities, let him dry up his bodily frame.

25 Having reposited the three sacred fires in himself, according to the prescribed rule, let him live without a fire, without a house, wholly silent, subsisting on roots and fruit,

26 Making no effort to procure things that give pleasure, chaste, sleeping on the bare ground, not caring for any shelter, dwelling at the roots of trees.

27 From scholars who live as ascetics, let him receive alms, barely sufficient to support life, or from other householders who reside in the forest.

28 Or the hermit who dwells in the forest may bring food from a village, receiving it either in a hollow dish of leaves, in his naked hand, or in a broken earthen dish, and may eat eight mouthfuls.

29 These and other observances must a scholar who dwells in the forest diligently practise, and in order to attain complete nearness to the supreme God, he must study the various sacred texts contained in the Upanishads,

30 (As well as those rites and texts) which have been practised and studied by the sages and by devout scholars, in order to increase their knowledge of God and their devotion, and in order to purify their bodies;

33 But having thus passed the third part of a man's natural term of life in the forest, he may live as one devoted to God's worship during the fourth part of his existence, after abandoning all attachment to worldly objects.

34 He who, after passing from stage to stage of life, after offering sacrifices for God's sake and subduing his senses, becomes, tired with giving alms and offerings of food, a man wholly devoted to worship, gains bliss after death.

35 When he has paid the three debts, let him apply his mind to the attainment of final salvation; he who seeks it without having paid his debts sinks downwards.

36 Having studied the revealed scriptures in accordance with the rule, having begotten sons according to the sacred law, and having offered sacrifices and charity in God's name according to his ability, he may direct his mind to the attainment of final salvation.

37 A man who seeks final salvation without having studied the scriptures, without having begotten sons, and without having offered sacrifices and charity for God's sake, sinks downwards.

38 Having performed the offering in the name of God the Creator, where he gives all his property as the gift, a scholar may depart from his house to devote himself wholly to God.

39 Radiant worlds become the portion of him who recites the texts regarding God and departs from his house for His worship, after giving a promise of safety to all created beings.

40 For that man by whom not the smallest danger even is caused to created beings, there will be no danger from any quarter, after he is freed from his body.

41 Departing from his house, fully provided with the means of purification, let him wander about absolutely silent, and caring nothing for enjoyments that may be offered to him.

42 Let him always wander alone, without any companion, in order to attain final salvation, fully understanding that the solitary man, who neither forsakes nor is forsaken, gains his end.

43 He shall neither keep a fire, nor a dwelling; he may go to a village for his food; he shall be indifferent to everything, firm of purpose, meditating and concentrating his mind on God.

44 A potsherd instead of an alms-bowl, the roots of trees for a dwelling, coarse worn-out garments, life in solitude and indifference towards everything, are the marks of one who has attained salvation.

45 Let him not desire to die, let him not desire to live; let him wait for his appointed time, as a servant waits for the payment of his wages.

46 Let him put down his foot purified by his sight, let him drink water purified by straining with a cloth, let him utter speech purified by truth, let him keep his heart pure.

47 Let him patiently bear hard words, let him not insult anybody, and let him not become anybody's enemy for the sake of this perishable body.

48 Against an angry man let him not in return show anger, let him bless when he is cursed, and let him not utter speech devoid of truth, scattered at the seven gates.

49 Delighting in what refers to the soul and its Lord, sitting in devotion, independent of external help, entirely abstaining from sensual enjoyments, with himself for his only companion, he shall live in this world, desiring the bliss of final salvation.

50 Neither by explaining prodigies and omens, nor by skill in astrology and palmistry, nor by giving advice and by the exposition of the treatises, let him ever seek to obtain alms.

51 Let him not, in order to beg, go near a house filled with hermits, scholars, birds, dogs, or other mendicants.

52 His hair, nails, and beard being clipped, carrying an alms-bowl, a staff, and a water-pot, let him continually wander about, controlling himself and not hurting any creature.

53 His vessels shall not be made of metal, they shall be free from fractures; it is ordained that they shall be cleansed with water, like the cups used at a sacrifice.

54 A gourd, a wooden bowl, an earthen dish, or one made of split cane, Manu has declared to be vessels suitable for one who has devoted himself wholly to God.

55 Let him go to beg once a day, let him not be eager to obtain a large quantity of alms; for one who eagerly seeks alms attaches himself also to sensual enjoyments.

56 When no smoke ascends from the kitchen, when the pestle lies motionless, when the embers have been extinguished, when the people have finished their meal, when the remnants in the dishes have been removed, let him always go to beg.

57 Let him not be sorry when he obtains nothing, nor rejoice when he obtains something; let him accept so much only as will sustain life, let him not care about the quality of his utensils.

58 Let him disdain all food obtained in consequence of humble salutations; for even one who has attained salvation is bound by the snare of this world when he accepts food given in consequence of humble salutations.

59 By eating little, and by standing and sitting in solitude, let him restrain his senses, if they are attracted by sensual objects.

60 By the restraint of his senses, by the destruction of love and hatred, and by abstaining from injuring creatures, he becomes fit for the eternal life of the Garden.

61 Let him reflect on how men are brought low by their sinful deeds, on their falling into Hell, and on the torments of the Fire,

62 On the separation of men from their dear ones, on their union with hated men, on their being overpowered by age and tormented with diseases,

63 On the departure of the soul from this body, its resurrection, and its standing before God to be judged by its deeds,

64 On the pain inflicted on embodied souls, which is caused by wrongdoing, and the gain of eternal bliss, which is caused by the attainment of their highest aim through righteous deeds.

65 By deep meditation let him recognise the subtle ways of God's knowledge and power, which encompass all creatures, both the highest and the lowest.

66 To whatever calling he may be attached, let him, though lacking its external marks, fulfil his duty, equal-minded towards all creatures; for the external mark is not the cause of the acquisition of merit.

67 Though the fruit of the Kataka tree (the clearing-nut) makes water clear, yet the water does not become limpid in consequence of the mention of the fruit's name.

68 In order to preserve living creatures, let him always by day and by night, even with pain to his body, walk, carefully scanning the ground.

69 In order to expiate the death of those creatures which he unintentionally injures by day or by night, let him bathe and, with six controlled breaths, ask forgiveness of God.

70 Three controlled breaths even, performed according to the rule, and accompanied with the recitation of the Vyahritis and of the name of God, one must know to be the highest form of austerity for every devout scholar.

71 For as the impurities of metallic ores, melted in the blast of a furnace, are consumed, even so the taints of the organs are destroyed through the control of the breath.

72 Let him destroy the taints through controlled breathing, the production of sin by fixed attention, all sensual attachments by restraining his senses and organs, and all qualities unworthy of a servant of God by meditation.

74 He who possesses true insight into the nature of the world is not fettered by his deeds; but he who is destitute of that insight is dragged down by his own deeds.

75 By not injuring any creatures, by detaching the senses from objects of enjoyment, by the devotions prescribed in revelation, and by rigorously practising self-denial, men gain that state even in this world.

76-77. Let him quit this dwelling, composed of the elements, where the bones are the beams, which is held together by tendons instead of cords, where the flesh and the blood are the mortar, which is thatched with the skin, which is foul-smelling, filled with urine and ordure, infested by old age and sorrow, the seat of disease, harassed by pain, gloomy with passion, and perishable.

78 He who leaves this body, whether by necessity, as a tree torn from the river-bank, or freely, like a bird that quits a tree, is freed from the misery of this world, dreadful like a shark.

80 When by the disposition of his heart he becomes indifferent to all objects, he obtains lasting happiness both in this world and after death.

81 He who has in this manner gradually given up all attachments and is freed from all the pairs of opposites, finds his repose in God alone.

82 All that has been declared above depends on meditation; for he who is not proficient in the knowledge that refers to the soul and its Lord reaps not the full reward of the performance of devotions.

83 Let him constantly recite those texts of revelation which refer to worship, those which describe the attributes of God, and those which treat of the soul.

84 That is the refuge of the ignorant, and even that of those who know the meaning of the revelation; that is the protection of those who seek the bliss of the Garden and of those who seek endless felicity.

85 A man who devotes himself wholly to God, after the successive performance of the above-mentioned acts, shakes off sin here below and attains the highest nearness to God.

86 Thus the law valid for self-restrained devotees has been explained to you; now listen to the particular duties of those who give up the outward rites.

87 The student, the householder, the hermit, and the devotee, these constitute four separate stages of life, which all spring from the stage of householders.

88 But all, or even any, of these stages, assumed successively in accordance with the Institutes of the sacred law, lead the scholar who acts by the preceding rules to the highest state.

89 And in accordance with the precepts of revelation and of tradition, the householder is declared to be superior to all of them; for he supports the other three.

90 As all rivers, both great and small, find a resting-place in the ocean, even so men of all stages of life find protection with householders.

91 By men belonging to any of these four stages of life, the tenfold law must be ever carefully obeyed.

92 Contentment, forgiveness, self-control, abstention from unrighteously appropriating anything, obedience to the rules of purification, coercion of the organs, wisdom, knowledge of God, truthfulness, and abstention from anger, form the tenfold law.

93 Those scholars who thoroughly study the tenfold law, and after studying obey it, enter the highest state.

94 A man who, with collected mind, follows the tenfold law and has paid his three debts, may, after learning the teachings of the scriptures according to the prescribed rule, devote himself wholly to God.

95 Having given up all outward rites, throwing off the guilt of his sinful acts, subduing his organs and having studied the scripture, he may live at his ease under the protection of his son.

96 He who has thus given up all outward rites, who is solely intent on his own particular object, and free from desires, destroys his guilt by his renunciation and obtains the highest state.

97 Thus the fourfold holy law of the devout, which after death yields imperishable rewards, has been declared to you; now learn the duty of kings.