"If oneself (the ego) rises, all will rise;
                   if oneself subsides, all will subside.
              To the extent to which we behave humbly,
     to that extent (and to that extent only) will good result.
                 If one can remain controlling the mind
                       (keeping the mind subsided),
                           one can live anywhere."
                                    Sri Ramana Maharshi in Who am I?
 

    All things within the world are insecure. The one thing that can never be insecure is the presence of God within your heart. Therefore Lord Krishna declares, in chapter 18 verse 52 of the Bhagavad Gita, that the love of seclusion is a trait of an enlightened Sage.

    viviktasevi laghvasi
        yatavakkayamanasah
    dhyanayogaparo nityam
        vairagyum samupasritah

    Dwelling in solitude, eating lightly,
        controlling speech, body, and mind,
    constantly devoted to yoga meditation,
        taking refuge in dispassion.

    Viviktasevi literally means, “loving to be alone”.  But one must realize that there are different levels of solitude. When one wants to gather his mind from confusion or complexity, a short period of seclusion becomes helpful. But seclusion is not the goal. Real seclusion develops if your mind recognizes God within you, God who is all encompassing. One, without a second.

    Movement towards God is a mystical seclusion. Because the world does not disturb you the moment you begin to move towards God. This advanced aspect of seclusion has to be understood, in which you become secluded from the world as you come closer to God, and that can happen no matter where you are.

    Another word used in the Gita is anikat, meaning one has no home; literally meaning that one is a wanderer. The profound understanding is that although one possesses many things, one knows that “nothing belongs to me”, not even including the body. Then the devotee of God has no house, no body to live in. To the degree that his ownership and doership subsides, to that degree he is not bound to the body. Subsiding the mind from wandering into the world, one wanders Godward, unbound and enjoying aloneness, with God alone. At this advanced stage of yoga one goes on doing their duty, surrendering to God.  Living anywhere humbly and introspecting through enquiry, one can gradually move away from attachment to the uncontrolled body, mind, senses and impurities.

             "If one can remain controlling the mind
                   (keeping the mind subsided),
                       one can live anywhere."
    

* Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, recorded by Sri Munagala Venkataramiah, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, Talk 164.