CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Behavior of a Perfect Person
This Thirteenth Chapter describes the regulative principles for  sannyāsīs  and also describes the history of an  avadhūta . It concludes with a description of perfection for the student in spiritual advancement.
Śrī Nārada Muni has been describing the symptoms of various  āśramas  and  varṇas . Now, in this chapter, he specifically describes the regulative principles to be followed by  sannyāsīs . After retiring from family life, one should accept the status of  vānaprastha , in which he must formally accept the body as his means of existence but gradually forget the bodily necessities of life. After  vānaprastha  life, having left home, one should travel to different places as a  sannyāsī . Without bodily comforts and free from dependence on anyone with respect to bodily necessities, one should travel everywhere, wearing almost nothing or actually walking naked. Without association with ordinary human society, one should beg alms and always be satisfied in himself. One should be a friend to every living entity and be very peaceful in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A  sannyāsī  should travel alone in this way, not caring for life or death, waiting for the time when he will leave his material body. He should not indulge in unnecessary books or adopt professions like astrology, nor should he try to become a great orator. He should also give up the path of unnecessary argument and should not depend on anyone under any circumstances. He should not try to allure people into becoming his disciples just so that the number of his disciples may increase. He should give up the habit of reading many books as a means of livelihood, and he should not attempt to increase the number of temples and  mathas , or monasteries. When a  sannyāsī  thus becomes completely independent, peaceful and equipoised, he can select the destination he desires after death and follow the principles by which to reach that destination. Although fully learned, he should always remain silent, like a dumb person, and travel like a restless child.
In this regard, Nārada Muni described a meeting between Prahlāda and a saintly person who had adopted the mode of life of a python. In this
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