Words From The Master - 03 April 2008

Renunciation

Renounce what you do not have; there is no need to renounce what you already have.

It is the desire for what one does not have: the dreams, the fantasies and the deep desires, that lead us into trouble. These then are the first list of baggage that needs to be discarded.

Buddha said: Desire is the root cause of all sorrow. Stop desiring and you shall break the vicious cycle of samsara, which is perpetuated only through desire.

Desiring what we do not have generates envy, jealousy, greed, anger, hate and many other negative feelings against others who we perceive have what we do not have. Our actions born out of these negative feelings generate sorrow to others and ultimately sorrow in us.

There is no end to desire. There is none amongst us who can truthfully say that once we achieve what we desire today, we shall remain satisfied. Tomorrow is another day and brings forth more desires than what we had yesterday. Desires breed desires; desires are never satiated upon fulfillment.

True liberation and enlightenment can never take place in the presence of continuing desire. Renounce desire for what you don’t have, and you shall reach enlightenment.

Most people ask me how to renounce worldly life and become a Sadhu. I tell them that there is no need to renounce anything at all. Keep what you have and focus on doing what is right.

For most people material life is the way to live. Renouncing material life in search of an unknown spiritual goal is foolishness. What is needed is to reach the balance between material life and spiritual life that leads to enlightenment. This is possible and certain.

We should live in the present. Living in the here and now, in space and time, within the boundaries of our own being guarantees enlightenment.

Two Zen monks came to a river in spate. As they were about to cross, there came a young maiden who requested their help to cross the turbulent river. One of the monks with no hesitation lifted her in his arms and carried her across the river. The monks then went their way to a monastery nearby. After many hours the second monk exclaimed, “I am disappointed with you. You should not have touched that woman.” Answered the first: ‘I put that woman down many hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?”

When you live in the present, you stop carrying the baggage of your past into your future, which guarantees misery. Stop worrying about becoming a Sadhu; a householder with no baggage on his spirit is far more likely to attain Truth than a Sadhu who has not still renounced what he does not have.

There is a beautiful story in Mahabharata. An aspiring sadhu lived across the street from a prostitute. The woman was for ever chanting the name of Krishna. She had no other means of support and had to entertain men for her living. The sadhu would look at what was happening across the street and seethe in anger. They both died on the same day. Chitragupta consigned the woman to heaven and the sadhu to hell. The sadhu raised the roof and appealed to Yama. Said Yama, you pretended to meditate and all you did was to salaciously watch the woman. She on the other hand had her mind and heart fixed on the lord, even if her body had to do what ever it had to. You both received what your intentions deserved.

Saffron robes do not mean enlightenment, pure thoughts do.