Shloka 14
Avadhūta’s Further Teachers: Detachment, Solitude, One-Pointed Meditation, and the Lord as Āśraya
एकचार्यनिकेत: स्यादप्रमत्तो गुहाशय: । अलक्ष्यमाण आचारैर्मुनिरेकोऽल्पभाषण: ॥ १४ ॥
eka-cāry aniketaḥ syād apramatto guhāśayaḥ alakṣyamāṇa ācārair munir eko ’lpa-bhāṣaṇaḥ
သန့်ရှင်းသူသည် တစ်ယောက်တည်း လှည့်လည်သင့်ပြီး တည်နေရာတစ်ခုကို မတည်မြဲစွာ မထားသင့်။ မပျင်းမရိပ်ဘဲ တိတ်ဆိတ်ရာတွင် နေ၍ အခြားသူများ မသိမသာ ဖြစ်အောင် ပြုမူသင့်သည်။ အဖော်မပါဘဲ သွားလာ၍ လိုအပ်သလောက်သာ ပြောဆိုရမည်။
The previous narration concerning the shell bracelets of the young girl demonstrates that even saintly persons engaged in ordinary yoga processes should remain alone to avoid conflict or disturbance. In other words, persons engaged in ordinary yoga processes should not even associate with each other. This verse indirectly refers to the serpent, who, fearing attack from human beings, keeps himself secluded. From this example we learn that a saintly person should not associate with ordinary materialistic people. He should also avoid having a fixed residence and should wander unnoticed by others.
FAQs
This verse highlights steadiness under one genuine ācārya, constant vigilance (apramāda), inwardness rather than display, simplicity, and restrained speech as key marks of a sage.
King Yadu inquired about the Avadhūta’s wisdom and freedom; the Avadhūta explains the disciplined, non-showy lifestyle that protects spiritual practice and keeps the mind fixed on realization.
Reduce unnecessary talk, avoid gossip and argument, and use speech for truth, kindness, and bhakti—such restraint preserves focus, lowers distraction, and strengthens inner practice.