229.20

Therefore let men get whatever they want—I will not be slighted through abuse or elevated through praise.

The person who understands the way things really are should delight in contempt, as if it were a nectar: the discerning man is always wary of honor, as if it were a poison. The man who is despised sleeps blissfully, and has nothing to fear in in this world and the world beyond. He is released from all sin, whereas the person who despises another is struck down. When wise men who long for the transcendent goal undertake this vow, they find bliss.

229.25

By completely withdrawing all one’s desires, the one who masters the senses attains the condition of brahman, the intransient state beyond primordial matter. The gods, gandharvas, pishachas and rakshasas do not reach the state of that person who has attained the highest destiny.