FITNESS FOR RENUNCIATION
Devotee: I am inclined to give up my job and remain always with Sri Bhagavan.
Bhagavan: Bhagavan is always with you, in you. The Self in you is Bhagavan. It is that you should realize.
D: But I feel the urge to give up all attachments and renounce the world as a sannyasin.
B: Renunciation does not mean outward divestment of clothes and so on or abandonment of home. True renunciation is
the renunciation of desires, passions and attachments.
the renunciation of desires, passions and attachments.
D: But single-minded devotion to God may not be possible unless one leaves the world.
B: No; one who truly renounces actually merges in the world and expands his love to embrace the whole world. It would be more correct to describe the attitude of the devotee as universal love than as abandoning home to don the ochre robe.
D: At home the bonds of affection are too strong.
B: He who renounces when he is not yet ripe for it only creates new bonds.
D: Is not renunciation the supreme means of breaking attachments?
B: It may be so for one whose mind is already free from entanglements. But you have not grasped the deeper import of renunciation: great souls who have abandoned the life of the world have done so not out of aversion to family life but because of their large-hearted and all embracing love for all mankind and all creatures.
D: The family ties will have to go some time so why shouldn’t I take the initiative and break them now so that my love can be equal to all?
B: When you really feel that equal love for all, when your heart has so expanded as to embrace the whole of creation, you will certainly not feel like giving up this or that; you will simply drop off from secular life as a ripe fruit does from the branch of a tree. You will feel that the whole world is your home.
Om Namah Shivay
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