Hindu Vedic Philosophy (Sanatana Dharma, Morals, Rituals and Articles)

Ideals of the Sannyasin
Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa
From ‘Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna’
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore
The first birth of a man is from his father; Upanayan (Sacred Thread Ceremony of the Twice-born) marks his second birth, and Sannyasa the third.
The mind is much wasted while one is engaged in worldly pursuits. And that loss can be made good, only if one takes to the life of renunciation (sannyasa).
Who is a fit candidate for the holy order of Sannyasins? He who gives up the world altogether without having any thought of the morrow, as to how he will eat or how he will be clothed, is fit to be a true Sannyasin. His mentality must be like that of a man who can, if need be, let himself fall fearlessly from the top of a tall tree, without any thought of saving his own life or limbs.
Yogins and Sannyasins are like snakes. The snake does not dig out a hole for itself, but lives in the hole made by the mouse. When one hole becomes uninhabitable, it enters into another hole. Just so Yogins and Sannyasins make no house for themselves. They pass their days in other men’s houses- today in one house, tomorrow in another.
Sadhus (Monks) never settle down in a place where there are no ‘jungles’ nearby and where ‘food and drink’ is hard to get. ‘Jungles’ means solitary spots for answering the calls of nature; and ‘food and drink’ means alms. As Sadhus live on alms, they select only those places for their temporary residence where alms can be easily procured. When they get tired in the course of their journey they may halt at a place for a day or two, in spite of the difficulty of procuring alms. But they never stay anywhere if there is scarcity of water and of solitary spots for answering the calls of nature. Good Sadhus never attend to these matters of physical cleanliness in places where they may be observed by others. They finish these things in solitude, far away from the haunts of men.
If a white cloth is stained even with a small spot, the stain appears very ugly indeed. So the smallest fault of a holy man becomes painfully prominent.
A Sannyasin may himself be perfectly unattached and may have full control over his senses. Yet to set an example to mankind he must make a rigorous renunciation of ‘woman and gold’ (lust and wealth). For only when they notice the thoroughness of the Sannyasin’s renunciation, will men take courage; only then will they make efforts to renounce sex and riches. And who indeed will impart this lesson on renunciation, if not the Sannyasin?
What is the sign of a genuine Sannyasin and a Tyagi? (Tyagi = man of renunciation). Both must be entirely unconnected with lust and gold. Should they feel an attachment for gold, or be troubled by pollution even in a dream, all their spiritual exercises would come to naught.
When one has taken up the garb of a Sannysin, one has to conduct oneself precisely like a true Sadhu. Don’t you see in the drama how the person playing the part of a king always acts like a king and how he who is in the role of the minister always plays the minister?
Once a village clown put on the garb of a Sannyasin and appeared before the Zamindar (landlord) of the place. The Zamindar wanted to present him with a purse, but he refused to accept it and went away. After a while he came back, having washed himself and changed his dress, and asked for the money that the Zamindar wanted to give. When he dressed like a Sadhu, he could not even touch the money, but now he was ready to feel gratified even with a four-anna bit (four dimes).
A person went to a holy man to get some medicine for his sick child, carrying the little patient in his arms. The holy man asked him to come next day. Next day, when the man went, the Sadhu said, "Give no sweets to the child, and the child will soon be cured."
The man replied, "Sir, you could have told me this yesterday even."
The Sadhu said, "Yes, I could have, but yesterday I had a quantity of sugar lying before me, and seeing that, your child would have thought that the Sadhu who advised others not to take sugar but ate it himself was a hypocrite.
The man who becomes an ascetic owing to some misunderstanding with his father, or mother, or wife may be called an ‘ascetic-by disgust’. His asceticism is momentary; he gives up the ascetic way of life as soon as he gets a good lucrative job in a wealthy family.
Question by a disciple, "How can we recognise a truly pious man (sadhu)?"
The Master replied, "He is truly pious whose heart and soul are wholly dedicated to God. Truly pious is he who has renounced ‘woman and gold’. The truly pious man never views women in the ordinary worldly light. He always remains at a distance from them, and if they happen to come near, he looks on them as his mother and shows respect to them. He thinks constantly of God, and serves all creatures knowing that He resides in all. These are the general traits of the truly pious.
Trust not a Sannyasin, who practises medicine, uses spells and incantations, receives money, and displays his piety with the signboards of elaborate external marks.
Forgiveness is the true nature of the ascetic.
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Sannyasa-Its Ideals and Practice
By Swami Vivekananda
The foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa
On the eve of his leaving for the West for the second time, Swami Vivekananda addressed the junior Sannyasins of Belur Math on 19-06-1899.]
Excerpts
This is not the time for a long lecture. But I shall speak to you in brief about a few things, which I should like you to carry into practice. First, we have to understand the ideal, and then the methods by which we can make it practical. Those of you who are Sannyasins must try to do good to others, for 'Sannyasa' means that. There is no time to deliver a long discourse on ‘Renunciation’, but I shall very briefly characterise it as "the love of death". Worldly people love life. The sannyasin is to love death.
Are we to commit suicide then? Far from it. For suicides are not lovers of death, as it is often seen that when a man trying to commit suicide fails, he never attempts it for a second time. What is the love of death then? We must die, that is certain; let us die then for a good cause. Let all our actions – eating, drinking, and everything that we do- tend towards the sacrifice of our self. You nourish your body by eating. What good is there in doing that if you do not hold it as a sacrifice to the well being of others? You nourish your minds by reading books. There is no good in doing that unless you hold it also as a sacrifice to the whole world. For the whole world is one; you are rated a very insignificant part of it, and therefore, it is right for you that you should serve your millions of brothers rather than aggrandise this little self.
In the Bhagavad Gita (Ch. 13, verse 13) it is stated:
"With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads, and mouth everywhere, with ears everywhere in the universe, That (God) exists pervading all."
Thus you must die a gradual death. In such a death is heaven, all good is stored therein- and in its opposite is all that is diabolical and evil.
Then as to the methods of carrying the ideals into practical life. First, we have to understand that we must not have any impossible ideal. An ideal, which is too high, makes a nation weak and degraded. This happened after the Buddhistic and Jain reforms. On the other hand, too much practicality is also wrong. If you have not even a little imagination, if you have no ideal to guide you, you are simply a brute. So we must not lower our ideal, neither are we to lose sight of practicality. We must avoid the two extremes. In our country, the old idea is to sit in a cave and meditate and die. To go ahead of others in salvation is wrong. One must learn sooner or later that one cannot get salvation if one does not try to seek the salvation of his brothers.
You must try to combine in your life immense idealism with immense practicality. You must be prepared to go into deep meditation now, and the next moment you must be ready to go and cultivate these fields (pointing to the meadows of the Math). You must be prepared to explain the difficult intricacies of the Shastras (scriptures) now, and the next moment to go and sell the produce of the fields in the market. You must be prepared for all menial services, not only here, but elsewhere also.
You must stand on your own feet. You must have this new method- the method of man making. The true man is he who is strong as strength itself and yet possesses a woman’s heart. You must feel for the millions of beings around you, and yet you must be strong and inflexible and you must also possess obedience; though it may seem a little paradoxical- you must possess these apparently conflicting virtues.