The renouncer is depicted in Brahmanical literature as having reached a condition that transcends normal human existence. He is freed from all the duties and obligations, rules and regulations, customs and taboos that dog ordinary mortals. His freedom foreshadows on earth the transcendent freedom (mokṣa) from the birth-death cycle (saṃsāra), a transcendence that is the ultimate aspiration in all Indian religions. It is not surprising, therefore, that renunciation is often termed mokṣa. The VkhDh (1.9), moreover, asserts that for a renouncer “there exists neither dharma nor adharma, neither truth nor falsehood, neither purity nor impurity, nor any such duality.” The Chāndogya Upaniṣad (2.23.1) speaks of three divisions of dharma (dharmaskandhāḥ) which correspond to the first three orders of life (āśrama), viz., perpetual student, householder and forest hermit. It then mentions “the person established in Brahman” (brahmasaṃstha), who attains immortality, while those who follow the three divisions of dharma attain only one of the heavenly abodes. According to the traditional interpretation, brahmasaṃstha is a renouncer, who is thus placed outside the pale of dharma.

One definition of dharma states that it consists essentially of commands. A command refers to what has to be done (kartavya) and demands activity (karman). Dharma, therefore, pertains to the sphere of action (pravṛtti). A renouncer, on the other hand, abandons all actions; he is said to be beyond the scope of positive injunctions. His condition is one of non-action (nivṛtti).