Performing the purificatory rite consequent upon bearing matted locks, and of regeneration and having performed for sometime the rites of the sacred fire and studied the Vedas, one should, with purified soul and controlled senses having first carefully performed all the duties of the house-hold order, proceed, with or without his wife, to the forest for adoption of the mode called Vanaprastha.
जटाधारणसंस्कारं द्विजातित्वमवाप्य च। आधानादिनि कर्माणि प्राप्य वेदमधीत्य च॥ सदारो वाप्यदारो वा आत्मवान् संयतेन्द्रियः। वानप्रस्थाश्रमं गच्छेत् कृतकृत्यो गृहाश्रमात्॥