p. 268
मौनात् पूर्वोक्तात् तूष्णीभावादेव मुनिर्भवति, न पुनः अरण्यवसनमात्रात् मुनिः भवति ।तेषामपि तूष्णींभूतानां मध्ये यस्तु पुनः अक्षरम् अविनाशिनं तं परमात्मानं वेद ‘अयमहमस्मि’ इति साक्षाज्जानाति, स मुनिश्रेष्ठ उच्यते ।श्रूयते च—‘एतमेव विदित्वा मुनिर्भवति’ इति ॥
In plain words
You become a muni through mauna — the silence described earlier, the actual state of being quiet — and not by moving to the forest. Even among those who have gone silent, there is one who knows the akṣara, the imperishable, that supreme Self, and knows it directly, as 'this I am.' He is the one called the foremost of munis. And śruti says the same: knowing this alone, one becomes a muni.
Close to the Sanskrit
From mauna — from that silence spoken of earlier, from the very state of being quiet — one becomes a muni; not, on the other hand, does one become a muni from mere dwelling in the forest. But among those too who have become silent, the one who knows the akṣara, the imperishable, that supreme Self — who knows it directly as 'this I am' — he is called the foremost of munis. And it is heard in śruti: 'Knowing this alone, one becomes a muni.'