यथा जातरूपधरो निर्द्वन्दो निष्परिग्रहस्तत्तत्त्वब्रह्ममार्गे सम्यक्सम्पन्नः शुद्धमानसः प्राणसन्धारणार्थं यथोक्तकाले विमुक्तो भैक्षमाचरन्नुदरपात्रेण लाभालाभौ समौ भूत्वा शून्यागारदेवगृहतृणकूटवल्मीकवृक्षमूल-कुलालशालाग्निहोत्रशालानदीपुलिनगिरिकुहरकन्दरकोटरनिर्झरस्थण्डिलेष्वनिकेतवास्य प्रयत्नो निर्ममः शुक्लध्यानपरायणोऽध्यात्मनिष्ठोऽशुभकर्मनिर्मूलनपरः संन्यासेन देहत्यागं करोति स परमहंसो नाम स परमहंसो नामेति
yathā jātarūpadharo nirdvando niṣparigrahastattattvabrahmamārge samyaksampannaḥ śuddhamānasaḥ prāṇasandhāraṇārthaṃ yathoktakāle vimukto bhaikṣamācarannudarapātreṇa lābhālābhau samau bhūtvā śūnyāgāradevagṛhatṛṇakūṭavalmīkavṛkṣamūla-kulālaśālāgnihotraśālānadīpulinagirikuharakandarakoṭaranirjharasthaṇḍileṣvaniketavāsya prayatno nirmamaḥ śukladhyānaparāyaṇo'dhyātmaniṣṭho'śubhakarmanirmūlanaparaḥ saṃnyāsena dehatyāgaṃ karoti sa paramahaṃso nāma sa paramahaṃso nāmeti
Naked as he was born, beyond the pairs, without possession, fully established on the path of Brahman, with a pure mind — for the mere sustaining of the breath, at the appointed time, free, living on alms with his own belly for a bowl, equal to gain and no gain, dwelling without abode in an empty house, in a temple, in a grass hut, in an anthill, at a tree's root, in a potter's shed, in a fire-house, on river sand, in a mountain cave, in a cleft, in a hollow, by a waterfall, on bare ground — without effort, without “mine”, given to bright contemplation, established in the Ātman, intent on uprooting evil deeds — he by renunciation accomplishes the leaving of the body: he is called the paramahaṃsa, he is called the paramahaṃsa.
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The last paragraph, and all of it is a single portrait.
The first word sets the tone: jātarūpa-dhara — “wearing the form in which he was born”, that is, naked. Nothing remains even of what was thrown into the waters in the previous paragraph.
Then nirdvandva — “beyond the pairs”: unswayed by the dyads of heat and cold, honour and dishonour, gain and loss. The word is from the Gītā, where it describes one who has passed out from under the guṇas.
His eating is described by two phrases, and both are splendid. Prāṇa-sandhāraṇārtham — “for the mere sustaining of the breath”: he eats not for savour and not his fill, but so as not to die. And udara-pātreṇa — “with the belly for a bowl”: there is no vessel, and nothing is laid by for tomorrow.
Then comes the long list of night-lodgings, and it is the heart of the paragraph. An empty house, a temple, a grass hut, an anthill, a tree's root, a potter's shed, river sand, a hollow, a waterfall, bare ground.
The list is deliberately long and deliberately indiscriminate: the temple is named between the hut and the anthill. For one who chooses nothing, a holy place and a termite mound are equal as lodgings.
And the book's last word is paramahaṃsa, repeated twice, as the end of an upaniṣad is always repeated.
Haṃsa is the swan; tradition says it can part milk from water. Hence the name: he who discerns.
Note that the Jābāla describes no attainments — no visions, no powers. Its whole summation: a man who owns nothing and does not choose where to sleep.