Ask The Master: 14 Jan 2008

Q. Dearest Swamiji, is it necessary to renounce the world to realize the self?

To realize the self, there is only one thing you must be willing to renounce: ignorance.

Self-realization has nothing to do with giving up the world. To run away from the world is just as bad as clinging to it; in both cases it is evident that the world is controlling your actions. Aversion to the world is as much a product of ignorance as attachment to it, they are just two sides of the same coin.

A person can live in a cave in the mountains and be obsessed with sansar (worldliness), while another can live in the world and yet be completely detached from its pushes and pulls (sannyas). To take sannyas is not to renounce the world, but simply to renounce both attachment and aversion to the world. The very same life, when seen through the mist of ignorance, is sansar -- and when seen in the clear light of self awareness, becomes sannyas.

It is true, sannyasins always lead a simple life, untouched by sansar. But for them, the renouncing of attachment and aversion is not an effort. When self-realization awakens, renouncement happens naturally.

The first step towards sannyas is to become aware of your inner conflict between attachment and aversion. As you witness it, you become aware that there is a core inside you that is beyond this conflict, a being that is completely unconcerned with the questions of Yes and No. This is your Self, eternal and immutable. In the blaze of this awakening, all that is superfluous simply drops away like dead leaves from a tree. What remains is the completely essential -- this is sannyas.

True sannyas is to live like a lotus in a lake, perfectly at ease in the muddy water, but untouched and unsullied by it.

A Zen story says that a master and his disciple were on their way from one village to the next. At the border of the villages flowed a shallow stream which they usually crossed by wading through it. This time, they discovered that due to heavy rains, the stream had swollen into a small river, too deep to wade across.

The disciple was alarmed, and enquired of the master, "Should we attempt to cross this river, Master?"

Replied the master with a twinkle in his eye, "Certainly you should cross the river, my child. Just remember not to get your feet wet!"

This is the true meaning of sannyas. When you can cross the river of sansar, but the sansar can no longer wet you, you have found sannyas.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: "? + Nithyananda = !" Swami Nithyananda Transforms your Questions into Wonder!