tic.
Subsisting upon food obtained without asking and without trouble, and
that has come to him spontaneously, he should make a fire. He should make
his round of mendicancy in a place whence smoke has ceased to curl up and
where all the inhabitants have already eaten.[139] The person who is
conversant with the conduct that leads to Emancipation should seek for
alms after the vessels (used in cooking) have been washed. He should
never rejoice when he obtains anything, and never be depressed if he
obtains nothing. Seeking just what is needed for supporting life, he
should, with concentrated mind, go about his round of mendicancy, waiting
for the proper time. He should not wish for earnings in common with
others, nor eat when honoured. The man who leads the life of mendicancy
should conceal himself for avoiding gifts with honour. While eating, he
should not eat such food as forms the remains of another's dish, nor such
as is bitter, or astringent, or pungent. He should not also eat such
kinds of food as have a sweet taste. He should eat only so much as is
needed to keep him alive. The person conversant with Emancipation should
obtain his subsistence without obstructing any creature. In his rounds of
mendicancy he should never follow another (bent on the same purpose). He
should never parade his piety; he should move about in a secluded place,
freed from passion. Either an empty house, or a forest, or the foot of
some tree, or a river, or a mountain-cave, he should have recourse to for
shelter. In summer he should pass only one night in an inhabited place;
in the season of rains he may live in one place. He should move about the
world like a worm, his path pointed out by the Sun. From compassion for
creatures, he should walk on the Earth with his eyes directed towards it.
He should never make any accumulations and should avoid residence with
friends. The man conversant with Emancipation should every day do all his
acts with pure water. Such a man should always perform his ablutions with
water that has been fetched up (from the river or the tank).[140]
Abstention from harm, Brahmacharyya, truth, simplicity, freedom from
wrath, freedom from decrying others, self-restraint, and habitual freedom
from backbiting: these eight vows, with senses restrained, he should
steadily pursue. He should always practise a sinless mode of conduct,
that is not deceptive and not crooked. Freed from attachment, he should
always make one who comes a