"O Lord, by whom, after attaining the qualifications of sannyāsa, is it fit to be taken?" To which Brahma, replied: "After first expounding the qualifications of sannyāsa, the rules of sannyāsa will then be stated. Hearken carefully. A eunuch, the outcaste, the maimed, the lewd, the deaf, the youth, the dumb, the heretic, the discus-bearer, the Liṅga-wearer, the vaikhānasa (forester), the Haraḍhvaja (carrier of Śiva's flag), the reciter of Veḍas for hire, the bald-headed, one without (sacrificial) fire—all these, even though they have attained vairāgya are unfit for sannyāsa. Even though they have become sannyāsins, they are unfit to be initiated into the mahāvākyas (sacred veḍic sentences). The Paramahamsa sannyāsin stated before (as fit to take sannyāsa) is the one qualified. It is stated in the smṛṭis that he is a parivrāt who is not afraid of others, as others are not afraid of him. The eunuch, the limbless, the blind, the youth, the sinful, the outcaste, the door-keeper, the vaikhānasa, the Haraḍhvaja, the chakrī (discus-bearer), the Liṅgī (Liṅga-wearer), the heretic, the bald-headed, one without fire (sacrifice), one that had undergone sannyāsa twice or thrice, the reciter of Veḍas for hire—all these are not fit for regular sannyāsa but only for āṭura-sannyāsa (viz., sannyāsa taken while a person is afflicted, etc.). What is the opinion of āryas (Hinḍūs) on the (fit) time for āṭura-sannyāsa (being taken)? The time when prāṇa (life) is about to rise (out of the body) is called āṭura. The time other than it is incapable of conferring (upon one) the path of salvation and is not āṭura. Even in āṭura-sannyāsa, the wise should according to rules, initiate themselves into sannyāsa after reciting the

manṭras again and again in the course of respective manṭras. There is no difference between regular and āṭura-sannyāsa in the manṭras to be uttered at the time of taking sannyāsa. There is no karma without manṭras; (hence) karma needs manṭras. Anything done without manṭra cannot be termed karma. Hence manṭras should not be given up. Any karma done without manṭra is like an offering made in ashes. Through the conciseness (of the performance) of the karmas, it is stated to be āṭura-sannyāsa.