e fire at due hours, and performing ablutions at
morn and eve, I shall thin myself by reduced diet, and covering myself
with skins, bear matted locks on my head. Enduring cold, wind, and heat
as also hunger and thirst and toil, I shall emaciate my body by penances
as laid down in the ordinance. Charming to the heart and the ear, I shall
daily listen to the clear strains of cheerful birds and animals residing
in the woods. I shall enjoy the fragrance of flower-burthened trees and
creepers, and see diverse kinds of charming products that grow in the
forest. I shall also see many excellent recluses of the forest. I shall
not do the slightest injury to any creature, what need be said then of
those that dwell in villages and towns?[10] Leading a retired life and
devoting myself to contemplation, I shall live upon ripe and unripe
fruits and gratify the Pitris and the deities with offerings of wild
fruits and spring water and grateful hymns. Observing in this way the
austere regulations of a forest life, I shall pass my days, calmly
awaiting the dissolution of my body. Or, living alone and observing the
vow of taciturnity, with my head shaved clean, I shall derive my
sustenance by begging each day of only one tree.[11] Smearing my body
with ashes, and availing of the shelter of abandoned houses, or lying at
the foot of trees, I shall live, casting off all things dear or hateful.
Without indulging in grief or joy, and regarding censure and applause,
hope and affliction, equally, and prevailing over every couple of
opposites, I shall live casting off all the things of the world. Without
conversing with anybody, I shall assume the outward form of a blind and
deaf idiot, while living in contentment and deriving happiness from my
own soul. Without doing the least injury to the four kinds of movable and
immovable creatures, I shall behave equally towards all creatures whether
mindful of their duties or following only the dictates of the senses. I
shall not jeer at any one, nor shall I frown at anybody. Restraining all
my senses, I shall always be of a cheerful face. Without asking anybody
about the way, proceeding along any route that I may happen to meet with,
I shall go on, without taking note of the country or the point of the
compass to which or towards which I may go. Regardless of whither I may
proceed, I shall not look behind. Divesting myself of desire and wrath,
and turning my gaze inwards, I shall go on, casting off pride of