Upanishads

Bhikshuka Upanishad

Shuklayajurveda
group of Upanishads – sannyasa

Om shanti shanti shanti.

1. Mendicant monks seeking Liberation are of four kinds: Kutichaka, Bahudaka, Hamsa and Paramahamsa.

2. Kutichaka (hut-dwelling ascetics), like (the ancient sages) Gautama, Bharadwaja, Yajnavalkya and Vasishtha, maintain their lives on eight morsels of food, and seek only Liberation by following the path of jnana yoga.

3. Then, the Bahudaka ascetics (living mainly near temples on the banks of holy rivers), having (i.e. carrying) with them a triple symbolic staff (tridanda), a water vessel, leaving a tuft of hair on their heads, a sacred thread, and dressing in ochre-colored clothes. Avoiding wine and meat (i.e. completely giving up wine and meat), they support their lives on eight morsels of food received in alms from Brahmin families, and seek only Liberation, following the path of jnana yoga.

4. Then come the ascetics of the Hamsa level, who stay one night in a village, five nights in a city, and seven nights (or more) in a holy place. Maintaining their lives on milk products, constantly devoted to the vows of Chandrayana, they seek only Liberation by following the path of Jnana Yoga.

5. And then come the ascetics of the (highest) Paramahamsa class, (such as the ancient sages) Samvartaka, Aruni, Shvetaketu, Jadabharata, Dattatreya, Shuka, Vamadeva and Harita, who maintain their lives on eight morsels of food, and seek only Liberation by following the path of jnana-yoga. They take shelter in the shade of trees, in deserted houses or in cemeteries. They may wear clothes or be naked. They observe neither dharma nor adharma (i.e. they are above worldly laws). They feel neither happiness nor unhappiness; they are constantly peaceful. They discard the doctrines of Vishishtadvaita (preached by Ramanuja), Shuddha-dvaita (Madhvacarya) and Asuddha-dvaita. They are the adherents of the Advaita system. Looking with equal eyes upon pebbles, stones and gold, they accept alms from people of all castes, and see everywhere only the Atman. Naked, untouched by the pairs of opposites (i.e. heat and cold, etc.), not accepting any gifts, constantly dwelling in unwavering sattvic/pure meditation, established in the Atman alone, accepting alms at the prescribed time for the maintenance of the body, (staying) in an abandoned house, a temple, a haystack, an ant-hill, the shade of a tree, a potter's hut, a place of kindling a ritual fire, the sandy bank of a river, a mountain thicket or a cave, a hollow tree, near a waterfall or on damp earth, they are on the right path for the realisation of Brahman; with a pure heart, they give up their bodies in a state of complete renunciation, – like Paramahamsa. They are indeed Paramahamsa (for they will become absorbed in Brahman).

Thus ends the Bhikshuka Upanishad, which belongs to the Shuklayajurveda.

Om shanti shanti shanti.