CHAPTER-FIVE
RECLUSION AND RENUNCIATION
Now, we shall describe the procedure of Vaanprastha and Sannyaasa.
The order in which ashramaas (or four stages) of a man’s life should be followed is this — first a man should finish his Brahmcharya life (student life with celibacy or strict sex purity), then he should enter Grihasth (married life); then he should be Vaanprasth or Recluse, that is, going to a forest to practice austerities, in the end he should be a Sannyaasin or Renuncient, that is, he should renounce the world and devote himself solely to the work of preaching religion and piety to the public.
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A vaanaprasth should enter into this stage of life with the sole object of viewing truth after his initiation accompanied by the performance of agnihotra. He should attain knowledge and purity by means of agnihotra. He should attain knowledge and purity by means of all kinds of austerities, Yog, and noble-thinking.
When he has a desire to become sannyaasin, he should send his wife home and embrace Sannyaas.
‘After completing the third stage of his life, that is, after living as a vaanaprastha from the fiftieth to the seventy-fifth year of his life, he should enter into the fourth stage and become sannyaasin; renouncing all his connections.’
-Manusmriti 6//33
Q.-Is it sinful to enter into the sannyaasa aashram without passing through the stages of grahasth and vaanaprastha?
A.-It is and it is not.
Q.-Why this duplicacy?
A.-There is no duplicacy. If a man renounces the world at an early age and then falls into sensual indulgence, he is the greatest sinner. But, if he does not, then he is highly noble.
The very day non-attachment takes place, he should be a sannyaasin either from grhasth aashram direct or from vaanaprasth. The procedure described above is only that which is followed in ordinary course. But, there are alternatives. The second alternative is to take the sannyaasa direct from the grahasth, without entering into vaanaprasth. The third alternative is to embrace sannyaas immediately after the brahamacharya aashram (leaping over the two) if he is quite free from all carnal desires, has full control over his self and feels a very strong desire to devote his whole life to public good.
‘No man can realize God by mere intellect, if he is not fee from evil deeds, if he is not peaceful, if he has not acquired habits of concentration by means of yoga, or if he does not possess equilibrium of mind.’
-Kathopanishad 2//23
‘A wise sannyaasin should check his tongue and mind from evil tendencies and should prompt them towards knowledge and inner-self. He should centre the self in God and knowledge in the quietude of the self.’
-Kathopanishad 3//13
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He should not keep company with the following:
‘Those who wallow in ignorance and think themselves great men and well-learnt, such fools are on the road moving downward and suffer miseries like the blind following the blind.’
-Mundukopanishad 2//8
‘Those puerile-minded people, who take pleasure in ignorance, proudly think that they have achieved, what a man ought to achieve. They are engrossed in ritualism and owing to infatuation neither themselves realize the truth nor help others to do so. Such persons are always immersed in the pain of births and deaths.’
-Mundukopanishad 2//9
‘Those sannyaasin whose inner self has become pure by means of firm renunciation and acquisition of the Vedaant (that is, knowledge of God given in Ved-mantraas, their meaning and implications) enjoy the bliss of salvation, and come again to the world at the expiry of the period of salvation.’
-Mundukopanishad 2//6
‘As long as the soul is in the body, it cannot be free from pain and pleasure. Only that soul is emancipated of worldly joys and sorrows which realizes the pure closeness of God in salvation after leaving the body.’
-Chhandogyopanishad 7//12//1
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‘None but Sannyaasins can secure salvation for themselves and for others by giving up ill-will against all creatures and sensual indulgence; and by performing Veda-enjoined duties and extremely hard austerities.’
-Manusmriti 6//75
‘A sannyaasin can attain an abiding happiness in this life and after death only when he subdues all his desires for worldly objects and is clean of all external and internal emotions.’
-Manusmriti 6//80
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Q.- What is the necessity of taking Sannyaas?
A.– Just as the body needs the head, similarly other Aashramas need sannyaas. Without it, it is not possible to foster knowledge and piety. The other aashramas have very little leisure left after education, family affairs and other services. It is very difficult for other aashramas to be impartial. They are not as free as a sannyaasin to devote himself entirely to public work. The availability of time which a sannyaasin gets for learning and promotion of science is not same as available to other aashramas. Even sannyaasin passing through grahasth and vaanaprasth stages cannot be as useful to the world in promoting the cause of truth as a sannyaasin coming direct from brahmacharya.
Q.-The institution of sannyaas is contrary to the wishes of God. God wishes to increase population. Without family life, progeny is impossible. If sannyaas be most important and all become sannyaasins there will be an end of human species.
A.-Well, several marriages do not yield progeny or children die soon after their birth. Why do you not call it contrary to God’s wishes? If you say, in the words of a Sanskrit poet that it is no fault of ours if success does not come even after making efforts, then we shall rejoin that it is a very great loss indeed if people multiply in family life but through unrighteous conduct fight each other to death. Quarrels are mostly due to misunderstanding. If a sannyaasin is successful in creating affection between the people by preaching true Vedic Dharma, he would be instrumental in saving hundreds of thousands, and doing the work of thousands of families in the increase of population. Besides, it is not practicable for all men to enter into sannyaas. All cannot forgo sensual pleasures. There is one more point. All men who become virtuous by the preaching of sannyaasins should be looked upon as their sons.
Q.-Sannyaasins say that they have no duties to perform.
They receive food and clothes from others and live a life of ease. Why should they worry their brains about the world which is due to nescience, that is, is unreal. They should regard their-self as God. If anybody comes to them, they should tell him the same thing, that is, “Thou too, art God, no virtue or sin attaches to thee. Heat and cold belong to the body, hunger and thirst to vital airs, joys and sorrows to the mind. The world is unreal. So are the affairs of the world-unreal and imaginary. Therefore, it is not the business of the wise to be engrossed in this world. Whatever evil or good there is, it is all a function of the senses, not of the soul.” Such are the teaching of the sannyaasins, while you assign quite different duties to the sannyaasins. Which should be held as true and which as untrue?
A.-Is it not their duty even to do good actions? Manu clearly says that all sannyaasins must do Ved-enjoined good deeds. Will it be possible for them to give-up eating and dressing? And, if they cannot give up such actions; then how are they not fallen and sinful by quitting good actions? When they accept food, dress et cetra, from the householders and give them nothing in return, then are they not committing the great sin of ingratitude? Just as eyes and ears are useless, if the work of seeing and hearing is not taken from them. Similarly, if sannyaasins do not devote themselves to the study and propagation of the Vedic teachings, they are a useless burden to the world. Those who preach that it is not worthwhile to worry our brains about the false world are themselves false and propagators of sin. Whatever is done through the medium of body is entirely of the soul and it is the soul that enjoys the fruit. Those who say that the soul is God, are in the slumber of ignorance. The soul is finite and its knowledge is also finite. God is infinite and all-knowing. God is eternal, pure, wise and free-natured. The soul is sometimes bound and sometimes free. God being all-pervading and all-knowing can never be susceptible to mis-apprehension or ignorance. The soul has sometimes knowledge and sometimes ignorance. God never suffers the pain of birth and death. The soul does. For these reasons their teachings are wrong.
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Q.-Teaching and preaching are done by house holders. What is, then, the need of sannyaasins?
A.-Let teaching of truth be imparted to and received by all classes. But, family-men can neither afford so much time nor impartiality as sannyaasins can. As to brahmanaas, it is their duty to teach and preach-males to males and females to females. But, sannyaasins have more time to travel from place to place than householder brahmanaas. If the brahmanaas do anything against Vedic injunctions, the sannyaasins can put a check over them. Therefore, there is a need of sannyaas.
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The belief that dead ancestors come and the offerings made to them actually reach them is erroneous. It is impossible as well as against the Vedaas and all cannons of logic. When they do not come how can they flee? When according to God’s design, souls are re-born after death in consequences of the merits or demerits of the past life, how is it possible for them to come? Therefore, this too is a fabrication of bellygods and mendicants. One thing there can be. Wherever sannyaasis will go, they will put an end to the anti-Vedic and irreligious practices of shraaddha for the dead.
LIGHT OF TRUTH: CHAPTER – ONE | CHAPTER – TWO | CHAPTER – THREE | CHAPTER – FOUR | CHAPTER – FIVE | CHAPTER –SIX | CHAPTER –SEVEN | CHAPTER – EIGHT | CHAPTER – NINE | CHAPTER – TEN
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