Sannyas is the Ultimate Gamble
It takes courage to sacrifice anything to live with integrity.
Our ability to be in tune with others and Existence depends entirely upon how we conduct ourselves. It depends on the priorities we choose in life. What if we do not choose? What if we accept things as they happen to us?
It is time to talk about renunciation. Renunciation is not running away from life. Renunciation is flowing with life without resistance. The Sanskrit word sannyas refers to this state of trust in Existence that allows us to let go of all other things in life.
There is a beautiful story from the life of Buddha:
After enlightenment, Buddha visited many places preaching his dhamma or teachings, and initiating people into spiritual life.
On his way, he entered Kapilavastu, his birth place. He walked on the streets with his disciples, wearing the saffron robe. Everyone watched him with great wonder.
Buddha's wife, Yashodhara, heard the noise in the street and asked what it was. Her maids told her that it was none other than her own husband who had returned as the Buddha, the enlightened soul. She did not go to meet him. Instead, she called for her son Rahul. Rahul was born the night that Buddha left home in search of enlightenment.
She asked Rahul, 'Do you see that radiant figure there who holds a begging bowl and yet looks like a king? He is your father. Go and ask him for your inheritance.' The young boy ran downstairs and pushed his way through to where Buddha stood. He fell at Buddha's feet and boldly repeated what his mother had told him.
Buddha lifted him up gently with a smile and looked at him. He simply removed the gold-hemmed cloth the boy was wearing and replaced it with a saffron one.
The boy, seven years of age, was given his inheritance. He was the first and only child allowed into the monastic order of the Buddha.
Someone asked me, 'If everything in life is evolving naturally by the process of evolution like ape into man, and bad into good, would man not ultimately evolve into god? Where then is the need for meditation, sannyas … where then is the need for inspiration?'
I replied, 'It took millions of years for the man to evolve, and it would take equally long for man to become god. If you are willing to wait that long, it is alright with me!'
On the other hand, you can decide to live consciously with a clear understanding about life, the laws and structure of the universe, and meditation. You can revolutionize the process of your evolution. The right revolution leads to evolution or enlightenment. That is sannyas, the greatest revolution of an individual. It is to live like a Paramahamsa, like an enlightened being.
Adi Shankara, the enlightened master from Bharat, beautifully says in his work Vivekachoodamani:
For all living creatures, a human birth is rare, and even rarer is to have a sattvic (goodness) attitude, and more so to have steadfastness on the path of spiritual activity as explained in the Vedas …
These words had a very powerful effect on the life of Swami Vivekananda, an enlightened master from Bharat who lived thousands of years after Adi Shankara. When Swami Vivekananda was preparing for his law examination, these very words landed on him like a thunderbolt. He could not read further. He left his books and started running along the road. He was running to his master, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. While he was running, the truth of Adi Shankara's words was ringing in his very being. He thought to himself, 'I have gained all these three: I have been born as a human being. I have gained the desire for liberation. I have got a great master … then why am I still wasting my life? Why am I still wasting my life?' Again and again, these words were haunting him. Swami Vivekananda went on to become enlightened and spread Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's mission worldwide.
Sannyas is the path for those who want to win over themselves, who want to be free of the clutches of jealousy, anger, stress and depression forever. People think sannyas is chosen by losers. No. Of course, sometimes those who don't know what to do with their lives take up sannyas. But that is not the spirit of sannyas.
Sannyas is the effort to become conscious for the first time – conscious of the mechanism that surrounds you as a human being. You are part of Existence. Existence moves with its own mechanism, with its own music. Falling in tune with it is the science of sannyas. Sannyas is a being level relationship, being in tune with the whole of Existence. That is the shortest path to success in life.
To hear the song of Existence, you need to start moving in the right space. To find that space, you need to first drop any other thing you know, and listen to the song with deep awareness. You will find it. In that space, life will flow like a river moving towards the sea. Any other path will take longer.
When life becomes a flowing river, it has to merge with the sea. There is no other way. Sannyas is the science of flowing with the natural course of Existence and finally merging with it.
Flow like a river
The river heads only towards the sea. It does not stagnate anywhere. A sannyasi heads only towards his goal of enlightenment. He knows no distractions. The river flows blissfully, whatever be the things thrown into it on its way. So many things are thrown into the river – flowers, twigs, food, animals, birds, dead bodies, etc. But the river flows, not bothering about anything.
Similarly, a sannyasi moves blissfully, untouched by anything that comes his way. The current pulls the river over its obstacles, and it gurgles with a constant music, moving towards the sea. The cosmic intelligence pulls the sannyasi over obstacles as he moves towards the ultimate goal. He knows not what obstacles are. For him, they are all stepping stones on the path to bliss.
One Zen master was asked, 'What is Zen?' He replied, 'Walk on!'
Zen Buddhism beautifully says, life is like the river that flows and fills each form, and bursts its own limitations to expand its capacity. This is the essence of life, and sannyas. Sannyas is learning in action as life moves, not philosophizing. It is a force, not a dogma. For a real sannyasi , life simply moves in the right direction. The learning happens during the movement, not as a separate thing.
Sannyas is nothing but straightaway practicing the truths every passing moment. There is enough philosophy in the world but no one to follow it. Sannyas is simply a conscious decision to live the truth immediately in your life.
A Zen master tells his disciple very beautifully, 'Studying the truth as a philosophy is just collecting preaching material. Remember that unless you practice constantly, your light of truth may go out.'
Practice is nothing but continuously flowing in the right direction without stagnating. Even in stagnation, there will be movement around the obstacle – trying to find the flow again. There is no stopping.
A sannyasi continuously moves with the intelligence of Existence with an attitude of surrender. By surrender, I don't mean inaction. I mean action with an attitude of surrender. There is no stopping. He lives in the moment, spontaneously and according to the need of the moment, which is what is called fluidity.
Sannyas Is not renunciation
Sannyas has always been wrongly associated with renunciation. You don't have to renounce anything. You just need to understand that you are a temporary custodian of some wealth, which is a part of Existence, just as you are as well. Then you won't need to renounce because you never possessed anything in the first place! Even if you have to part with wealth, you will not feel that you are giving away or losing your possessions. The problem starts with the attitude of possessing, with the feeling of 'mine'.
Neither does a sannyasi need to renounce the world nor does a samsari need to be afraid of renouncing. Just the plain understanding that Existence gives and takes at the right moment is enough. Then you know that what is happening is the right thing for the moment and life is flowing as it should. This creates a mental gap between you and your wealth and that gap is called renunciation! It is just a gap, a break in the attitude of possessing, nothing else. It has been wrongly used in the context of sannyas.
A small story:
Two monks were traveling together. One of them strongly believed in acquiring wealth. He practiced spirituality through it. The other strongly followed the path of renunciation. They were discussing the two ways of life. As they were discussing, it became nighttime and they reached a river that they had to cross.
The one who believed in renunciation did not have money with him. He said, 'We don't have money to cross the river. Let us spend the night here and someone will take us across the river tomorrow morning.'
The other one replied, 'That is not possible. We will be eaten by wild animals if we spend the night here. I have money with me. Let us pay the boatman and cross the river.'
Once they crossed the river safely, he asked his companion, 'Now do you understand the value of money? If I too had been a man of renunciation, what would have happened to us?'
The first one replied, 'It was your renunciation that brought us across safely. You parted with your money to cross the river!'
Renouncing is 'having' without the idea of having, and 'parting' without the idea of parting. Otherwise, by merely renouncing outer wealth, you will not gain anything. You will only feel the pain of sacrificing the 'mine'. Sannyas is not escaping from the 'mine'. It is going beyond the 'mine'. And that is possible only through proper understanding. If you renounce with understanding, it is okay. Otherwise, the mine' will simply persist wherever you go. Not only that, if you renounce with the idea that you are renouncing 'yours', it becomes the right action, but for the wrong reason! By merely renouncing outer wealth, you can never be a sannyasi. Sannyas is a change in the inner mental set up, not a change in the outer material set up. Renouncing outer wealth to be a sannyasi is like doing the right action but for the wrong reason.
Wealth and sannyas are not mutually exclusive. In fact, sannyas is the art and science of creating wealth flawlessly.
If you read the vedic scriptures you will see that they always talk only about the abundance of life. They never teach escaping from it. They teach loosening the attachment to possessions, not renouncing or hating it. Sannyas is seeing the vast abundance of life as one whole, and therefore not being attached to your own small possessions. It is knowing that wealth is also a manifestation of Existence and not the essence of life itself.
Sannyas is not suicide. It is life. Sannyas is living in tremendous beauty, both inside and outside you.
Understand, outer beauty and wealth are not enemies to the path of sannyas. They are complementary. Sannyas adds inner wealth and beauty to your outer wealth and beauty. It gives you the intelligence to handle the outer wealth and beauty without any suffering related to it.