Realisation??? - on sannyasa

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sadaji,

Sadanandaji wrote

"All I can say is I have take up sanyaasa to test that myself, if that is

true. Otherwise it is only academics. Since you were the one who was

responsible for my writing on ManDukya, I may tell my wife that you are the

one who is responsible for my taking the orange robes!"

 

Sadaji your above comment reminds me of sage yAjn~valkya who was prepared to go to the forest taking up vidvat sannyAsa(eligibility criteria - the person has completed his shAstra studies and takes to the sannyasa life style for brahma niShThA and lives in the forest. no samAdhi built and no follwers to do pUja for the samAdhi. No one knows about his whereabouts.) He had two wives!!! KAtyayini and maitreyi.

Thanks to maitreyi, we have the BrhadAraNyaka upaniShad and the teaching Atmanastu kAmAya sarvam priyam bhavati.

Atmanastu kAmAya sannyAsaM api priyam bhavati.

Bhaskarji has been psing some interesting questions on sannyAsa.

This is inspiring me to share my thoughts on sanyAsaya.

My personal association and exposure with the sannyAsa order has been from early childhood. My father was a staunch devotee of Sringeri mutt. He had seen three generation of pontiffs. All that was inculacted in the young mind was sannyAsis are to be venerated and one is not supposed to go close to them. One has to take blessings and come away and not spend too much time personally with them which will disturb their routine.

One is not supposed to go share the sorrows and pain and create grief in them. One is not supposed to scold a sannyAsi, because the scolder will recieve theoir pApAm and the sannyasi is to be venerated to get their punYA.

One goes there only to attend the various functions which ofcourse had been absolute source of joy to the entire family. This was the input from the family.

Later on growing up I understood that they have a routine, yoga to be practised and also to study sanskrit Grammar and the vedas, perform rituals, organise yjn~as for the welfare of the people, run the admisinstration of the institution they are in etc., all for the welfare of the people. That means their lives are dedicated to the welfare of the people alone and they have no personal agenda to achieve in life.

There were some funny questions in my mind regarding them?

Me being a lady, I used to think from the woman's angle, Why the sannyAsis are not supposed to touch and bless the ladies?

Why shouldn't they see the widows? Why shouldnot they entertain other castes? Why should they bathe when someone touches them?

Why should they not eat in others homes?

Why this special cooking for them?

Why this special treatment for them? Why can't they be treated like any other person in society? They are not special in any manner other than wearing an ochre robe? They may have had special ShAstra education, well even the pundit teacher who used to come home to teach Vedas to my father was also educated?

Why can't I just go to the temple or even do namaskaram to my parents and grandparents and get their blessings? Why go to a sannyasi to get the blessings? What special about sannyasais?

If some one gave me an answer saying, they have given up everything in life and taken to sannyAsa order, they are the chosen one etc. I will argue saying what have they given up? Except wearing the normal clothes, they are into everything in life. There is no difference. They are not married and not have a home of their own. 'NO WIFE No STRIFE IN LIFE' No children to pester them and no need to take responsibilty for their parents also. No home and some generous philanthropic person builds a place for them too. I used to say ' If all needs are going to be taken care of by somebody, I will also study the shAstra and take to sannyAsa and there will be no responsibility for me in life'

All these arguements were on till 2000 January, till I found this book on Sannyasa by Swami Shivananda. A wonderful book to read all about sannyasa. We have questions galore because we have no understanding of the life style. Sannyasa order is a life style about which, we see them living and we have not lived. So we have questions.

We have no questions on Brahmacharya Ashrama, childhood, adoloscence, schooling, college because we have lived and experienced.

For those who are married will sure have no questions but regrets of GrahasthAshrama. For both man and woman.

For those who are already into vAnaprastha will know and those grahasthas who have not yet entered will also know about this because they are seeing their elders in the family , their partents and grandparents.

When we do not have jnanam there are burning questions in the heart. To get jn~nam on sannyasa, one has either got to personally live or accept the shastra injunctions or read books about it written by a SANNYASI and not by anybody else to get a clear picture. Concliding by looking at the modern sannyasi lifestyle, is not a solution.

There are different types of sannyasas

vidvat sannyasa, vividisha sannyasa, kutIcaka, parivrAjaka, apat sannyasa etc.

Sankara had classified sannyasa into ten orders and they all had their duties prescribed. called the dashanAmi order.

There are 64 samskaras for every person from conception to after death.

Before taking to the oath of sannyasa to his guru a person has to perform various rituals. They are the last ones for him. There is a ritual where he performs his own shraddham while living. He has to perform shraddham for everyone, from bramhaji to his parents, though his parents may be alive. For all practical purposes he is considered dead to the main stream of society.

For taking to the life style of sannyasa, one needs courage to be able to live in society and still be not part of it personally.

It is not easy to give up once samskaramas, nithya naimittika karma, if it has been lived as a routine in life. If there is no karma routine in life, then there is no problem and they may not have any value for this either. cAruvAkA!!

I had the opportunity to watch the sannyasa dIksha ritual at Rishikesh during one of the Shivaratri festivals, when Swami Dayanandaji was giving sannyasa dIksha to his students.

Taking to the lifestyle of sannyAsa has to blossom in ones heart, cannot be forced or self-imposed, or by others. The primary requirement is emotional maturity.

Not all sannyasis are sAstra oriented. They can't even speak a word of the sAstras. They move about like holy hobos. Even this is permitted in the dashanAmi order.

From Brahmacharya one can decide to stay as brahmacharis or move to gRhastashrama. There is a grand ritual for entering taking to this ashrama. Here the two of them choose to take to this ashrama as young mature adults.

Then to Vanaprastha. There is no ritual for this other than celebrating shashti abdha pUrti. But to begin withdrawing with ageing, is an automatic process of life. There is no choice other than choosing to stay away from the hiumdrums of the family life as the phsysique does not permit. One can choose to participate or not, but by then the ailments do not support for active participation in society. But taking to the study of Vedanta is helpful.

Sannyasa is permitted for the men in the shAstras. I dont know if its mentioned for ladies anywhere. I am still doing my research as I am not still convinced.

As vanaprasthas, the husband and wife live outside of the family and do upasana and study etc. The man may decide to take sannyasa and go away from home and the woman is expected to come back and stay with her children,

But a wife cannot leave her husband and go away for sannyasa.

Sannyasa is not given to a lady when her husband is alive. She is not supposed to give up her managala sutra.

But once taken to the sannyasa order there is no going back. No retracing. But we have seen a contemporaray of ours, Vidya bhushana of the udipi SampradAya getting married. He has a child too. Generations will talk scathingly about him.

Sant jn~neshwari's father took to sannyasa and he had to come back to his wife because the very same Guru asked him to go back. Both husband and wife jumped into the river and committed suicide leaving behind four children as orphans. They could not live in peace. Even today, see I am writing about him. History remembers.

Society watches the sannyasi, waiting for a trap. Because once a person takes to sannyAsa, there is a certain expextation from him by the society. He is not going to be a contributor materially. The society has to take care of his needs. The society sets certain standards for him to conform to. If a sannyasi does not live confirming to the rules and regulations of the sannyasi lifestyle, fingers are going to be pointed out.

It is unfortunate that we find a lot of these ochre robes around now. Taking to sannyasa has become a fashion without understanding the purpose of sannyasahood before they are ready mentally , emotionally and spiritually. Where as sannyasa is taken, chosen by some one to adapt to a life style willingly. The guru has to be convinced that one is ready to live a lifestyle of sannyasa before he gives the sannyasa dIksha.

Where as, it is much easier to live as a married man/woman. He/she can err and the mistake is forgiven and forgotten.

After reading the book, and after witnessing the sannyasa ritual, and after having lived in the Gurukula, studied Vedanta and worked in close association with sannyAsis, all my questions and doubts have vanished. Thanks to Ishvara for this knowledge gained and I am able to present this in composure.

Sadaji is right. It is an understanding with right perspective and not academics.

om namo narayanaya

Lakshmi Muthuswamy

 

 

 

Everyone is raving about the all-new Mail Beta.

[Guest guest]

Lakshmiji - PraNAms

 

Thanks for teaching us what is involved in Sanyaasa. Just a question for

you which Basker raised, is sanyAsa necessary or you think it is

helpful? I am aware of Swami Paramarthanandaji's teaching on PORT which

I had posted to the list before.

 

Hari OM!

Sadananda

 

--- Lakshmi Muthuswamy <lakmuthu > wrote:

>

> After reading the book, and after witnessing the sannyasa ritual,

> and after having lived in the Gurukula, studied Vedanta and worked in

> close association with sannyAsis, all my questions and doubts have

> vanished. Thanks to Ishvara for this knowledge gained and I am able to

> present this in composure.