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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 7: Verses 45-52
Full of glory and made brighter by glow (in the shape of austerity), formidable and having no vessel other than his belly, the Yogi, like fire, does not imbibe any impurity (in the form of sin) even though consuming anything and everything (although he never consciously eats any impure substance). (Like fire, again,) he remains hidden from view at times and becomes visible at others, (thereby) earning the respect of those who seek blessedness. And burning the past as well as the future sin of those who make an offering to him, he eats everywhere (only that which is offered by others). (Again, even) as fire (though having no definite shape of its own) assumes the shape of the firewood through which it reveals itself, (so) having entered a particular body (viz., that of a divinity or a sub-human creature) possessed of noble or ignoble characteristics and evolved by His own Maya, the all-pervading Brahma appears endowed with that (very) form. The (various) states beginning with birth and ending with death, brought about by (the passage of) Time, whose course cannot be perceived, belong to the body alone and not to the soul, just as appearance and disappearance etc., occur only to the digits of the moon (and not to the moon itself). Though taking place every moment by force of Time, which flits with the rapidity of a stream (of water), the birth and death of bodies assumed by the Spirit are not perceived any more than the rising and going out of the flames of fire (which likewise take place every moment). Like the sun sucking the moisture (in summer) and releasing it (during the monsoons) by its rays, a Yogi (engaged in the quest of the Spirit) enjoys with his senses the objects of the senses and parts with them according to the needs of the moment but is not affected (by the act of enjoyment or gift). (Even) as the sun reflected in 'a reflecting substance (e.g., a vessel full of water), is perceived by men of gross understanding differently (though one and the same) as though existing in the vessel etc., so is the (one) self clothed in a vesture (like the body) understood differently by those who recognize the physical body as their self, though one by itself. Excessive fondness or attachment should never be conceived for any person or object by and he comes to grief like the anyone. The mind of a man who does Having becomes a nest on a tree, a certain dove lived in (famous) dove (of the legend).
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