Mbh 12.277.7c

Both Immortality and Death are planted in the body. Death is encountered from folly, and Immortality is won by Truth. Transcending desire and wrath, and abstaining from injury, I shall adopt Truth and happily achieving what is for my good, avoid Death like an Immortal. Engaged in the Sacrifice that is constituted by Peace, and employed also in the Sacrifice of Brahma, and restraining my senses, the Sacrifices I shall perform are those of speech, mind, and acts, when the sun enters his northerly course.[1327] How can one like me perform an Animal Sacrifice which is fraught with cruelty? How can one like me, that is possessed of wisdom, perform like a cruel Pisacha, a Sacrifice of Slaughter after the manner of what is laid down for the Kshatriyas,--a Sacrifice that is, besides, endued with rewards that are terminable? In myself have I been begotten by my own self. O father, without seeking to procreate offspring, I shall rest myself on my own self. I shall perform the Sacrifice of Self, I need no offspring to rescue me.[1328] He whose words and thoughts are always well-restrained, he who has Penances and Renunciation, and Yoga, is sure to attain to everything through these. There is no eye equal to Knowledge. There is no reward equal to Knowledge. There is no sorrow equal to attachment. There is no happiness equal to Renunciation. For a Brahmana there can be no wealth like residence in solitude, an equal regard for all creatures, truthfulness of speech, steady observance of good conduct, the total abandonment of the rod (of chastisement), simplicity, and the gradual abstention from all acts.[1329] What need hast thou with wealth and what need with relatives and friends, and what with spouses? Thou art a Brahmana and thou hast death to encounter. Search thy own Self that is concealed in a cave. Whither have thy grandsires gone and whither thy sire too?'"[1330]