=Bhāgavata-Purāṇa [Kṛṣṇa/Bhakti-bible]
Canto 11 Chapter 8
What One Learns from Nature
The honorable brahmin said:
(1) Since there is sensual happiness, oh King, in both heaven and hell, and also feelings of unhappiness [as their counterpart] are there for all embodied beings , an intelligent person should not desire such happiness.
(2) He should eat, as passive as a python, what is acquired accidentally, whether it is much or little, tasteless or pure and delicious food.
(3) When no food is coming he should, just like a big python that eats whatever providence provides, lie down and fast for many days.
(4) Both physically and mentally being strong, he should, though endowed with senses, stay free from desire, and resting [but] clear-minded, carry his body without engaging in action.
(5) A sage is pleasing, grave, unfathomable, unlimited, unsurpassable [in his knowing] and never disturbed, just like the calm waters of the ocean.
(6) Someone wise who accepts Narayana as the One Supreme, just like the ocean with its rivers, does not dry up or swell, whether he flourishes to his liking or is penniless.
(7) When someone who did not conquer his senses sees a woman, he is tempted by that seductive illusory energy of the Lord, and lands in darkness, just like a moth lands in the fire.
(8) Upon seeing the by Maya produced clothing, golden ornaments and so on of the women, a person lacking in discrimination will - with his desire for sense-gratification - feel aroused by lusty desires, and no doubt lose his spiritual bearings, just like a moth is destroyed.
(9) A sage has to practice the occupation of a honeybee, by going door to door without giving trouble, and only eat little bits of food, just enough to keep the body alive.
(10) Just like a honeybee obtains its nectar from small and large flowers, a well versed man must extract the [Vedic] essence from both the smallest and the largest scriptures.
(11) With the belly as his container and the hand as his plate, he should - nót being a collector like a honeybee - accept food in charity and not keep it for the night or the next day.
(12) A mendicant should not collect for the night or the following day, because he, just like a honeybee [collecting more and more], would lose himself thereby [in excess].
(13) A mendicant must not touch a girl, not even with his foot or one of wood, because he otherwise will be captured by the physical contact, just like an elephant in the grip of a she-elephant.
(14) A man of intelligence should never try to get a woman, because he otherwise may find himself killed [because of a rival], the way an elephant will be destroyed by other elephants superior in strength.
(15) Riches that with great difficulty are accumulated by a greedy person, who neither enjoys them himself nor shares them with others, are rather enjoyed by someone else who steals them away, just like the honey collector does upon discovering honey.
(16) The way a honey thief is the first one to enjoy the honey that was painstakingly collected, also the ascetic is the first one to enjoy the eagerly desired blessings of the wealth that with a lot of trouble was acquired by householders.
(17) An ascetic moving through the forest should not listen to worldly songs. He should learn from the deer that was captured for being fooled by the hunter's call. (18) Taking pleasure in common dancing, musical entertainment and songs, Rishyashringa, the son of Mrigi, was subdued by women, like he was a plaything.
(20) Sages [even] who are of self-restraint quickly conquer the material senses, except however for the tongue, the desire of which increases with the fasting.
(21) A human being not in control of his tongue but in control of his other senses, has no self-control yet, [only] when he has conquered his tongue, he has mastered them all.
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