The Jabala Upanishad presents the Vedanta philosophy view that one who truly renounces lives an ethical life, which includes not injuring anyone in thought, word or deed.

The Jabala Upanishad is an ancient text, composed before 300 CE and likely around the 3rd century BCE,[4] and among the oldest that discuss the subject of renouncing the worldly life for the exclusive pursuit of spiritual knowledge.

[10] The Jabala Upanishad presents the Vedanta philosophy view that the proper life of a sannyasi is not about any rituals, nor wearing any sacrificial thread, but about the knowledge of one's soul (Atman, self).

The third stage of life, in the Vedic texts, combined Vanaprastha (retired or forest dweller) and Sannyasa (renunciation) as one ashrama.

According to Soti Shivendra Chandra, a scholar at the Rohilkhand University, the separation of Vanaprastha and Sannyasa as two different stages of life is first mentioned in the Jabala Upanishad.

[2] Textual references and literary style suggest that this Hindu text is ancient, composed before the Asrama Upanishad which is dated to 300 CE.

[24] The first three chapters are devoted to defining the place where the seat of all beings and ultimate reality (Brahman) resides, and how to reach it through meditation, the Hindu god Shiva and the city of Varanasi.

[27] They describe the characteristics of a Paramahamsa as one who has reached the highest status of spirituality,[28] who abandons all external signs of asceticism and discards all relationships or worldly comforts to know "Brahman, the nature of the Self".

[22] This is the place, asserts the Upanishad, where Rudra imparts the moksha knowledge just when the last vital breaths of the dying are departing, leading one to videhamukti (salvation after death).

[30][34] Ramanathan interprets this verse to mean that one who knows the true nature of Avimuktam understands that "the individual Self (soul) is no other than the attributeless Brahman".

[1] In the fourth chapter of the Upanishad, King Janaka of Videha asks Yajnavalkya, "Lord, explain Sannyasa [renunciation].

"[36] Yajnavalkya answers that one may complete Brahmacharya (the student stage of life), then Grihastha (householder), followed by Vanaprastha (retirement) and finally Sannyasa (pilgrimage as Parivrajaka Bhikshu, renunciation).

According to the translation by Paul Deussen, a professor and German Indologist, Yajnavalkya answers that "this very thing is sacred thread, namely the Atman".

[50] Yajnavalkya states that the renouncer can choose a hero's death by dying in a "just war",[51] or abstain from eating any food, or go into water or fire, or start off on the "great journey".

[48][52][note 3] This section has led some scholars to believe that this Upanishad may be giving the choice of ending life to the individual and justifying suicide in certain circumstances.

[8][57] According to this Upanishad, the renouncer pilgrim undertakes the journey to the knowledge of Brahman with purity of thought, without belongings, with his head shaved, wearing discoloured garments, free from enmity towards all, and he lives on alms.

[59][49] In the sixth and final chapter, Yajnavalkya lists exemplars of Paramahamsas,[note 5] the highest renouncers: the sages Samvartaka, Aruni, Svetaketu, Durvasa, Ribhu, Nidagha, Jadabharata, Dattatreya and Raivataka.

), without belongings, wholly devoted to the way to truth, the Brahman, with a pure heart, going out, begging alms at a proper time[note 6] only to sustain his life, with the belly as his utensil, even-tempered whether he gets anything or not, staying homeless, whether in a deserted house, in a temple, on a heap of grass, on an ant-hill, at the roots of tree, in a potter's workshop, on a river bank, in a mountain cave, in a ravine, in a hollow tree, at a waterfall, or just bare ground, not striving, free from feeling of "mine", given to pure contemplation, firmly rooted in the supreme Self, eradicating all evil deeds, [...] he is called a Paramahamsa.

[64] This principle in the Jabala Upanishad was cited by medieval-era scholars such as Adi Shankara,[note 7] Vijñāneśvara, Sureśvara, and Nilakantha as the Vedic basis that makes renunciation an individual choice and right.

[64] The Jabala Upanishad concurred with some Dharmasastras on the right to renounce and lead a monastic life, but its views contradicted others such as those in Manusmriti verses 6.35–37.

The Jivanmukti-viveka, written by the 14th-century Advaita Vedanta scholar and Vijayanagara Empire mentor Vidyaranya, refers to the Jabala Upanishad while describing those who achieve living liberation.