Understanding Sannyaasa 1

When understood well, Sannyaasa is, more than an order of life, an inner enrichment. It instills a strong, sublime, inner note of renunciation towards every kind of gain and loss, freeing the mind of all botheration and doubt. Spiritual Wisdom alone has the power to bring such freedom.
Arjuna’s discomfiture in Kurukshetra was due to his lack of renunciation. In utter delusion, he pleaded that he should quit the battlefield, abandoning the war for which he had prepared for 13 years. His mind was shaken, intelligence confused, ego shattered.
Krishna sensed the distress. With timely words of wisdom, he instilled in Arjuna the inner renunciation, calling it yoga. Arjuna was initially surprised. But, very soon he found a new focus. In about 3 hours, the confused Arjuna became clear and resolved. Renunciation, he was clear, does not lie in shunning activity, but in taking it up in an enlightened manner – the ego should drop and the blessedness of universal vision should shine in its place.
“I am a part of the infinite Nature. Nature beams with activity, through me, a part of it becomes manifest. I have no special purpose. Like a drop of water in the river, I also am in the flow of Nature. Let me do my best, feeling that it is an inevitable contribution to the whole. In this are my harmony, fullness and poise. No more am I a disconnected individual. Everything is Divine and Full.”
If you will lead yourself to this kind of expansion, freedom and harmony, therein reigns Sannyaasa. Those who take up Sannyaasa, are taking up that pursuit in a wholesome manner. Therein lies the difference.
– Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
[An extract from Poojya Swamiji’s message to seekers published in the Ashram’s Monthly Journal “Vicharasethu – The Path of Introspection”. This particular portion is from the June 2005 issue.]
(c) Narayanashrama Tapovanam, 2012

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