Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

VAIRAAGYA (RENUNCIATION)

Three are the ways to Hell, which to the soul Are ruinous — desire, wrath, avarice, Therefore should one this triad still re- nounce.

"The ideal of Renunciation consists in owning the whole world while disowning one's own self — Kalidasa

Ishaa vaasyamidam sarwam yath kincha jagathyaam jagath thena thyakthena bhunjeethhaa maa grudhhaha kasya swidhanam. All this is for habitation by the Lord, what- soever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not after any man's possession. Kurvathreveha karmaani jijeevishecchath samaaha evam thwayi naanyathethosthi na karma lipyathe nare Doing verily works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years, thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man. The rule of the divine life : Enjoyment of the universe and all it contains is the object of world-existence, but renunciation of all in desire is the condition of the free enjoyment of all. The renunciation demanded is not a moral constraint of self-denial or a physical rejection, but an entire liberation of the spirit from any craving after the forms of things. The terms of this liberation are freedom from egoism and, consequently, freedom from personal desire. Practically, this re- nunciation implies that one should not re- gard anything in the universe as a necessary object of possession, nor as possessed by another and not by oneself, nor as an object of greed in the heart or the senses. This attitude is founded on the percep- tion of unity. For it has already been said that all souls are one possessing Self, the Lord; and although the Lord inhabits each object as if separately, yet all objects exist in that Self and not outside it. Therefore by transcending Ego and real- ising the one Self, we possess the whole universe in the one cosmic consciousness and do not need to possess physically. Having by oneness with the Lord the possibility of an infinite free delight in all things, we do not need to desire. Being one with all beings, we possess, in their enjoyment, in ours and in the cosmic Being's, delight of universal self-expres- sion. It is only by this Ananda at once transcendent and universal that man can be free in his soul and yet live in the world with the full active Life of the Lord in His uni- verse of movement.

-Bhagavad Gita

The learned ones know sanyaasa to be the giving up of actions done with a desire for reward. The adepts call the abandon- ment of the results of all works as thyaaga.

Some learned persons say that action, beset with evil (as it is), should be given up, and others (say) that the practice of sacri- fice, charity and austerity should not be given up.

The practice of sacrifice, charity and austerity is not to be abandoned; it is surely to be undertaken. Sacrifice, charity and austerity are verily the purifiers of the wise.

“The sage who has attained the stage of Sthitapragya, free from lust, passion, wealth etc, The faces in Tejapunja, one can feel holiness in his facial appear- ance. The Snakes are the symbol of creation, wealth and the law of nature. The Serpent is also protecting the rishi. The linga is the symbol of prakriti (God- dess) and purusha (God). The Yogi is extending abhaya hasta to the followers of good deeds.” - (PS.) The man of renunciation, who has be- come imbued with sattwa , who is wise and freed from doubts, does not hate unbefitting action, nor does he become attached to be- fitting activity. He has realised God but he cannot see the full god, only after the body perishes he can reach that stage. Mystic union into god is like light entering into light, water entering into water, and open space enter- ing into open space! — Dr.R.S.Padaki

But even these actions have to be un- dertaken by renouncing attachment and (hankering for) results. This is my firm and best conclusion, O Paartha.

Whatever action one may relinquish merely as being painful. from car ol physi- cal setting be having)’ resorted to renun- ciation based on rajas, will surclv not ac- quire the fruits of renunciation.

Whatever obligatory duty is performed just because it is a bounden duty, O Arjuna, by giving up attachment and the result as well, — that renunciation is considered to be based on sattwa.

- Shri Aurobindo - "The Upanishads"