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Home > SMRTI > Education & Research
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Renunciation
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| "Renunciation truly means |
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| Yoga is a diversion of tendencies of the mind, from the externalization
of its action, its field of activity, to an internalization of at
least a part of it to begin with. Now we are only externalized,
or most of us are only externalized. In the beginning we seek to
divert a little of it inside and by contact with what is inside
us, the bliss that is inside us, we wean the mind away from the
outside. By this training of yoga, we are therefore made capable of working without either attraction or repulsion. We are made capable of existing without love or desire, hatred or antagonism. Because we are in communion with what is inside ourselves - the Ultimate. That association alone becomes valuable to us, and the rest of the world ceases to have any meaning for us. Therefore all tendencies, all attributes, all desires and hates, all these are struck off. And as my Master says this is real renunciation. Not the giving up of wealth or the writing of a cheque to some mission and ending it all. That is not renunciation. So when we develop by spiritual growth, we renounce without really knowing that we are renouncing. By enriching ourselves and coming closer and closer to the Ultimate within ourselves, we become more and more dependent on that inner self. We seek His guidance, we seek His advice, we obey His voice when He speaks to us. And as this dependence on Him increases and it becomes Ultimate, it becomes surrender. It is surrender without surrendering; it is renunciation without renouncing, it is truth without seeking it. So all this becomes possible through the simple act of meditation. To effect the surrender of heart in the easiest way, only an act of will is required. Besides, the lighter and finer the will, the more effective shall be its working. The adoption of this method is sure to bring in an attitude of renunciation from the very first day. A courageous start is all that is needed for the purpose. The traditional approaches to renunciation I have had long discussions with Master on one condition most religions seem to prescribe: to give away all wealth and property before embarking on a religious way of life. Some even prescribe total renunciation of the family, and adoption of asceticism. Master is quite definite that such prescriptions are unnecessary, and some may even go against Nature. He said, "What is wrong with wealth as long as it is rightly earned? When a man works he is entitled to the fruit of his labour. Yes! There is a right way of using wealth, as there are innumerable wrong ways. Wealth is only a power. And all power is good so long as it is used constructively for the good of humanity. Every person has a right to earn money lawfully. I see nothing wrong in it. But we must not be attached to wealth. It must not become the aim. Our Goal must always be fixed, and there must be no straying from it. Anything may come on the way, but we must go on and on towards our goal. You must treat wealth like a river. Take as much of it as you need, and then use the rest for the benefit of your brothers and sisters. That is the right way. Now look here! They say you must leave your family and children and run away to the jungle, or to the Himalayas. What is the use? It is not easy to do it. It is against Nature. It is also a cowardly act as you are running away from your duties and responsibilities. When you are in the jungle, your thoughts will be only of the home and family. How can you do tapasya under such conditions? Then what is the correct way? I am telling you, it is better to bring the jungle into your home, rather than carry your home into the jungle. How is this to be done? Really speaking it is quite simple. Think that in your own home you are only a guest. You will find all problems evaporate. Treat your wife and children as trust property entrusted to you by God. They are not yours. They are not your wife and not your children, but they are under your trust, under your care. You understand this? All sense of possession must go. It is only when you think 'this thing is mine' that loss also comes. When it is in trust you can administer it objectively and very correctly. You will be able to do for them what they need, what is necessary. Really speaking you learn correct performance of duty only in the family environment. Lalaji used to say that the grihastha life is the most important training ground, for it is here that we learn true charity, true love, true renunciation. Only in the life of the householder do we learn to think of others before we think of ourselves. So it is very important. And I tell you it is really very easy. Just divert the mind!" Master continued, "Really speaking, I have not much opinion about sanyasa. Yes, there are a few genuine sanyasis who have adopted that way of life out of a true and genuine spirit of renunciation and longing for the Divine. But the majority are only those who have run away from the responsibilities of life and are living off society. Some of them are quite bad too in their ways of life and moral behaviour. But our people have been taught to revere them, and many suffer for it." According to Master, the ancient traditional ways of renunciation of wealth and family can be exceedingly harmful spiritually and can block an abhyasi's spiritual progress, sometimes through several lives. Once a person has accepted certain responsibilities like wife, children etc., he is duty-bound to discharge these responsibilities, and Master indeed teaches that to run away from home and family is a sign often of cowardice and selfishness. So under the Sahaj Marg system there is no place for this traditional interpretation of renunciation. What then does Master teach? He says we must cultivate an attitude of "non-attachment attachment," that is, we perform our duties, discharge our obligations in all spheres of our existence, while remaining unattached to all these. The Raja Rishis like Janaka are stated to be examples of this ideal of human living. Master's most important teaching is that to 'give up' creates strain and enormous tensions. So we are not required to 'give up' but to create an attachment to higher values and purposes, when automatically and naturally the unnecessary things of life drop off. That is, detachment has to be created by developing attachment in a different direction. When we attach ourselves to the Divine, the world falls off. We are no longer part of it, though of it. We are in it, living in it. This may be the condition of 'the living dead' that Master refers to. We are alive while we are really dead to this existence. What does renunciation truly mean? Those of you who would not subject to extreme pain must understand that you cannot enjoy extreme pleasure, in no field of human existence. Then we are at the midpoint as I repeat, gentle swings. No pleasure, no pain, no danger, no frustration, but a benign, calm, fulfilled existence. Then I begin to think of my Self. My problems in existence are over. I know now I have a Self inside. I seek someone who can tell me what it is. He says, "Sit and meditate. I cannot tell you what it is. You have to perceive it, experience it in yourself." Through this meditation I become aware that there is something in me, which is not the me I thought I was. I begin to go more and more towards it. As I go more and more towards the east, I am inevitably going more and more away from the west. No need to renounce. By the fact of turning inwards, I am turning away from the external. Automatically, the renunciation that people have tried for centuries to achieve and failed, is in my hands, is in my grasp. I renounce without renouncing, because I am walking towards the right thing, the right goal - my inner Self. Why do I have to be ascetic? Why do I have to renounce? Why do I have to give away? There is often a misunderstanding about renunciation. And when we talk of renunciation, people say, "But how can I go without car? How can I do without a telephone?" In the spiritual language, renunciation does not mean this rather mundane idea of renunciation. It means detaching your mind and your attachment from these things. After all, neither Christ nor Buddha renounced the world because they were still living here on this planet. They did not die immediately. They had to live long enough to teach other people, make followers, and at least help some of them to achieve their own spiritual status. But if we study their life we understand what renunciation really means. It means living in a detached way. They were also eating and drinking. They had clothes, but the minimum necessary for life. Renunciation or non-attachment is no doubt an essential stage in realization and we can never be free from the entanglements of Maya unless we cultivate non-attachment. But it does not mean severing our connection with home, the family and all worldly concerns and taking up the life of a religious mendicant. I do not agree with those who hold the view that the only means of cultivating non-attachment is to get away from home and family and retire to a solitary corner discarding all worldly ties. Renunciation effected by such forced means, is seldom found to be genuine, for it is just possible that in spite of their apparent forced detachment from the world, they may still inwardly be clinging to it. No doubt as a householder we have to look after many things, we have to support our family, we have to provide for the education of our children, we have to look to their wants and necessities, we have to protect them from heat and cold, from trouble and sickness and so on. For these necessities we earn and possess money and property. The real evil is only our undue attachment with things which we are associated with. This is the main cause of our sufferings. But if we are able to do everything in life thinking it to be our duty without any feeling of attraction or repulsion, we are in a way free from worldly ties and have renounced the world in the true sense although we possess and make use of many things. Everything we possess shall, then, seem to be a sacred trust from the Supreme Master, for the discharge of the duties entrusted to us. Renunciation truly means non-attachment with worldly objects and not the non-possession of things. Thus a household life in which possession of things and worldly ties are indispensable is no impediment in the way of renunciation and consequently of realization, only if one is not unduly attached to the objects he is connected with. There are numerous examples of saints having attained the highest degree of perfection leading a household life all through. Renunciation is in fact a condition or an inner state of mind, which brings to our view the transitory and changing character of things and creates a feeling of non-attachment with such objects. His eyes are fixed every moment on Reality which is unchanging and eternal and he is free from the feeling of attraction and repulsion. This is Vairagya(renunciation) in the true sense of the term. When we have achieved this state of mind we are free from desires. We feel contented with what is available to us. The end of desires means the stopping of the formation of samskaras. What remains now is only to undergo the effect(Bhog) of the previously formed samskaras which are to be worked out during the course of our life. Nature too helps us in the work by creating field for Bhog in order to remove the impressions of our thoughts and actions from the causal body. When these coverings melt away we begin to assume finer forms of existence. The man who is born in this world is sure to taste miseries. One cannot escape these. When I see the world, I find it very troublesome. Some are groaning with pain, a few are suffering from the loss of their dear ones and a great number are anxious to achieve success at each step. We try to get rid of these by going into penance, and rishis(sages) have devoted themselves thoroughly to it. All that is born of attachment is misery. Pleasure and pain both contribute to misery. There is no remedy for overcoming these miseries except devoting ourselves towards Godly thought of the purest nature. We need not renounce the world and go for penance in the forest. Let the material world and spiritual world go side by side, glittering equally. One cannot be a loser in any way, if doing his household duties, he brings himself up to the realisation of God as well. We should soar with both wings if we want to succeed. It is a vague idea of the people in general that God is to be searched for in the forests. My idea is that He should be searched for in the heart. One is performing the household duties and at the same time is equally busy with Godly devotion. You may say that these two things are incompatible and are contradictory to each other, but it is not the case. In the long run, Godly wisdom begins to work and one does his duty from the mind beyond. How renunciation can happen? In the Hindu system, in the yogic tradition, renunciation is a vital necessity. Giving up! And the tradition is full of stories of people who left their wives and children and went away into the jungle to practice meditation. My Master's teaching was totally different. He said, "We do not renounce. As our level of being changes, unwanted things fall off by themselves." Very much like when a plane lifts off the ground, the earth falls below it. And he used to make a joke about that. He said, "Imagine if a plane had to take off by pushing the earth out into space beneath it." Impossible to the point of absurdity. When it takes off, the earth remains behind. So that is how, in our system, renunciation happens without our having to renounce anything. Perhaps the greatest renunciation is this idea of attachment to life, which is what we experience as the fear of death. I do not think anybody is free from that fear, I mean, at any time. The older we get, the more afraid we are of death. But with this fantastic system of my Master, when the inner existence becomes something finer and subtler, more or less in tune with that infinite existence of the Divinity, this fear of death goes. Not because we think of death and negate death, but because, in a very natural way, we have achieved oneness with that eternal life, which we call divine life. And this body becomes merely a vehicle for that achievement. It is as easy to leave it as it is to get out of your car when you have come home. And that is how my Master defines the ultimate state of human existence as, "Going back home to that original home from which we have unfortunately descended here." In true renunciation we do not renounce anything. The objects which have been enslaving us, they renounce us. It is not we who are attending, it is the whole grasp of our attention which is making us slaves and when our attention goes to something higher, automatically this attraction falls of. Then there is no power in external objects of the world to attract us, to enslave us, to hold us in bondage. When we start meditation, this memory of our original home is strengthened in us little by little. And as it grows, we find what Master very beautifully calls a state of nonattached attachment. True renunciation is impossible. We may give up our wealth, but when you have it in the thought, it is almost as bad as having the wealth. And it has the complication that we have the feeling of having renounced, and then ego develops, "I have renounced." So egoism develops. Therefore, renunciation has no benefit when it is an imposed renunciation. But when the tendencies of the mind are slowly turned inwards, and the mind is itself attracted by what it finds inside, the outside world loses any charm that it has had upto now. And by the very loss of that, there is renunciation. That is, instead of our giving up the world, the world gives us up! Because now the mind is no longer externalized, it does not go out. In another way, we can say we are now looking outwards through the senses. In spirituality, we try to go inwards with the senses, and here is the great secret: because the senses cannot help us, we abandon the senses without a second thought. It is not a conscious thing. It is like a carpenter who takes different tools for different work. You cannot say he is renouncing this tool in favour of another tool. I find this idea of renunciation is a very troublesome idea for almost all people. It is like a telephone. We use it because it helps us to speak to somebody who is very far away. It does not mean that I renounce my voice or I renounce personal communication. Therefore, when we are able to accept the need to turn inwards, this wonderful thing happens, which my Master has spoken about again and again, that the senses lose their control over us, which they have now, in a very very wrong way. This truth my Master put in a very short form. He said, "Turn from here to here and there is every thing that you have to realize." Thus, Vairagya can be attained only when one is wholly diverted towards the Divine. When it is so, one naturally becomes disinterested in his own self, including everything connected with it. Thus he loses not only the body-consciousness but subsequently the soul-consciousness as well. What remains then is nothing but the "being in dead form or a living dead." It is not an accident that great saints, when they leave this world, have to throw everything off. That is the final renunciation. Some Pearls to Pick |
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"Renunciation really means
liberating yourself from the hold that something has upon you."
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