Giving up or renunciation, is the substance of sanyaasa. It does not lie in
external forms. To give up truly is to abandon the desires that work up the mind. Sri
Krishna deals with this point in the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita in clear terms.
Whatever one may be engaged in, that the spirit of renunciation in the heart should govern
activity. The mind should be pure whatever the external form; and given the will, it can
be kept pure.
Our great spiritual teachers who were pure,
and competent, and truly wiser than us have declared this after careful research. They
have told that we would become pure in hem and mind if we meditated on God with love and
devotion in whatever form, as father, as mother, as teacher or in other aspects closer to
our heart. There cannot be the spirit of renunciation without devotion to God. The songs
of Saint Maanikkavaachagar bear this out. We are in no way wiser than he was. |
