Sanyasa and People

This is an extract from a talk by Swami Paramarthananda

The ultimate goal of every individual is supposed to be sanyasa. It is said in the Vedas that everyone must go through four ashramas or stages of life -- brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyasa -- and the final one through which one attains moksha or reaches the Lord is sanyasa. A person could enter vanaprastha when the organs were reasonable intact.

The Vedas glorify sanyasa ashrama. Our culture does not respect possession or position but renunciation. Heroes in our culture are those who have renounced or sacrificed.

The greatest type of sanyasa is paramahamsa sanyasa which is the renunciation of everything. Paramahamsa sanyasa is itself of two types - vividisha sanyasa and vidwat sanyasa. Vividisha sanyasa is taken for studying the scriptures. 'Vividisha' means a desire for learning. Vividisha sanyasa is a step to vidwat sanyasa. In vidwat sanyasa, a sanyasi is not interested in anything. He has attained the knowledge.

According to our scriptures, vividisha sanyasa is the ideal means in life and vidwat sanyasa is the ideal end a person can think of.

The sanyasi who has renounced everything is closest to Brahman (the ultimate reality) which he is pursuing. If he wants an empirical model for Brahman, a sanyasi offers such a model. Brahman & Sanyasi are free from all actions and duties; are both relation less; are behind everything and support everything; both does not depend upon anything for security.

Sanyasa is also the ideal end. A sanyasi gives up everything that will be snatched away by time later. Most of what we possess will be snatched away by time or death. The only un-snatchable entity is the atma. A very important idea - In loss, we are without an object. In g0iving also we are without an object. But in loss there is pain. In giving there is pleasure. It is giving up everything that can be lost or taken away and finding security in what cannot be snatched. This is called Paramahamsa sanyasa or vidwat sanyasa.

Shastras clearly say pleasure is there for a person who does not possess anything. A sanyasi teaches this by his very lifestyle.

'What good is all this (talking about the glory of sanyasa) when I know for sure I am not going to become a sanyasi'? - Sanyasa is ideal and be external or internal. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita - 'Hand over everything (mentally) to Me'. This applies even to a grihastha. A grihastha's attitude should be - 'Oh Lord! Health, wealth, the people around me, are all your gift to me. You can claim them back whenever you want and I will not complain. I will return it with thanks'. Nothing belongs to us. Everything belongs to God. If raga-dwesha (likes and dislikes, passions and aversions) is gone, a grihasta becomes equal to a sanyasi. The house itself is an ashram. This means we can convert our home to an ashram. This is called internal surrender or saranagathi. External surrender is called sanyasa.