Verse 25

²⁵Yadu, who knew dharma, saw a certain twice-born avadhuta going about with nothing anywhere to fear, a poet and young; and he asked him. ²⁶Brahmin, where does this understanding of yours come from, so thoroughly at home, and you doing nothing? Having come by it, you go about the world knowing, and like a child. ²⁷Men mostly work at dharma, wealth and desire, and at the wish to know, and they work with a reason behind it: long life, fame, fortune. ²⁸But you are able, a poet, skilled, fine to look at, and your speech is nectar; and you do nothing and want nothing, like a dull thing, or a madman, or a ghoul. ²⁹While people are burning in the forest fire of desire and greed, you are not scorched by that fire: you are free of it, like an elephant standing in the water of the Ganga.

³⁰Brahmin, we are asking you: tell us what the cause of the delight in your own self is, since you have no contact with anything and are the self alone. ³¹Bhagavan said: Asked in this way by Yadu, who honoured brahmins and had a good mind, and who paid him honour, the greatly favoured twice-born man spoke to him as he bent low in respect.