Sivananda

THE PATH BEYOND SORROW

Chapter 4: Real Renunciation

3. The Riddle of Life

Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Sri Swami Sivananda The Path Beyond Sorrow

Try to understand the riddle of life and the riddle of this universe. Acquire discrimination. Take recourse to the company of seekers like yourself, getting together now and then with those of your own nature, those who are spiritually inclined. Even this will quicken your discrimination and give you the spirit of renunciation. Inquire into the nature of the Great Reality. Study books like the Gita and the Upanishads and then you will have a comprehensive understanding of the innumerable problems of life. There is not an iota of happiness in this world. Seek the happiness that is within.

In this world, people run after pleasures. Is not great wealth valuable to be owned? Is not a beautiful summer resort somewhere in Switzerland, with a pleasant garden and beautiful smelling flowers and wonderful scenery, pleasant to live in? Is not the company of beautiful people very desirable, very pleasing? Yet, in spite of the desirability of beautiful company, wealth and wonderful health resorts and modern amenities and a great deal of pleasure, gay society, you see young people, intelligent people, people having great prospects for their future, with a wonderful career ahead, kick aside all these things which the world holds dear and take to a life of seclusion, of silence, of renunciation, of dispassion, of inward meditation. Why? Why do they kick aside all these things like worthless straw and retire into seclusion and meditate on the Lord? If there were real pleasure in these things, these people of understanding and intelligence would not do such a foolish thing. So, try to think out the reasoning behind this. Think out what exactly has been their process of reasoning to come to such a conclusion, to take such a step and to adopt such a way of life.

Even now, thousands of young graduates, young doctors and lawyers in India, come to Rishikesh in the Himalayas and wish to be initiated into Sannyas. They then go away higher up into the Himalayas and live there in silence and seclusion, practising deep meditation and Pranayama. Why? You have to reflect and find out for yourself what these young people, these intelligent people, these highly educated people, these people with powers of reasoning, found out for themselves within their hearts, through reflection, through inquiry and discrimination. They were able to get the strength to make God the very centre of their lives and just push aside all things which they knew to be secondary and unimportant.

Amidst the din and boisterous bustle of worldly activities, there do come some moments of tranquillity and peace for everyone when the mind, for the time being, however short it may be, soars above the filthy things of this world and reflects on the higher problems of life, the why and the wherefore of this life, the riddle of the universe. You begin to inquire, “Who am I?” The sincere inquirer becomes serious and becomes absorbed in reflection. He begins to search and understand the truth and discrimination dawns in him. He seeks renunciation and dispassion, concentration and meditation, purification of the body and the mind, eventually to reach the highest knowledge of the Self and become eternally free. But the person whose mind is saturated with worldly emotions and materialistic thoughts is quite heedless of these tranquil moments and does not make use of them and is inevitably carried away by the dual current of attraction and repulsion, like and dislike, love and hatred, and is tossed about helplessly on the tumultuous sea of worldly concerns. How uncertain is sensual life in this world! If you constantly think of the transitory nature of sensory pleasures and their concomitant evils—miseries, worries, troubles, tribulations, anxieties, decay, premature death—then you will slowly develop renunciation within.

Next: Chapter 4: Real Renunciation , 4. Sensual Pleasures Opposed to Spiritual Bliss

Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Sri Swami Sivananda The Path Beyond Sorrow

Chapter 4

Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, Blessed children of the Lord! Radiant rays of the eternal Light Divine! Salutations to you all. With great joy I once again speak to you to give you a little message from the Master Sivananda and from the cultural treasure-house of the Sacred Land of the Himalayas, the Land of the Holy Ganges, the Land of the Upanishads and the Vedas at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 1. Renunciation Should Be Based upon Right Understanding
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 1. Renunciation Should Be Based upon Right Understanding, Renunciation has been the key-note of the teachings of the Great Masters of India. Renunciation is the very essence of spirituality and the secret of God-realization. Renunciation is not lethargy, escapism or irresponsibility. It is the great strength that the aspirant has in his onward march to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the strength of renunciation that truly sustains the aspirant in his arduous journey to the Supreme at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 2. Worthlessness of Worldly Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 2. Worthlessness of Worldly Life, A life of delusion amidst sensuality, money and sense-objects is the pitiful lot of the normal human being. Life is transitory; death is silently staring at you like a venomous serpent with expanded hood, ever ready to strike. Various dire diseases cause much havoc to the body. Youth abandons the body quickly and old age grips it. He alone is saved who makes haste to utilise this precious life in striving to obtain the summum bonum of life through renunciation, discrimination and inquiry. Maya, the great illusory power of the Supreme, is a very great jeweller. She prepares a skeleton, covers it with flesh and muscles, and hides the various impurities within with a very shining skin. Oh, immediately, a human being is absolutely deluded with this appearancewith this doll prepared by Maya. How long are you going to call this body your self? Develop an undeluded imagination and identify yourself with your real nature, Satchidananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss) which is your true Self at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 3. The Riddle of Life
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 3. The Riddle of Life, Try to understand the riddle of life and the riddle of this universe. Acquire discrimination. Take recourse to the company of seekers like yourself, getting together now and then with those of your own nature, those who are spiritually inclined. Even this will quicken your discrimination and give you the spirit of renunciation. Inquire into the nature of the Great Reality. Study books like the Gita and the Upanishads and then you will have a comprehensive understanding of the innumerable problems of life. There is not an iota of happiness in this world. Seek the happiness that is within at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 4. Sensual Pleasures Opposed to Spiritual Bliss
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 4. Sensual Pleasures Opposed to Spiritual Bliss, In the presence of continual sensual pleasures, spiritual bliss cannot exist, just as darkness and light cannot co-exist. If one should come, the other must go. Therefore, show extreme contempt for worldly objects. Destroy all desire from within, Turn the mind away from sensual objects. Give up cravings. Give up deluded attachment and you will develop real renunciation. You yourself have made your life complex and intricate. You have entangled yourself in this quagmire of Samsara by increasing your own desires, your own wants at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 5. The Indispensability of Renunciation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 5. The Indispensability of Renunciation, At this point, we may try to consider one or two modern trends which have a direct bearing upon the vital subject of renunciation. Is renunciation really necessary? Many people in these modern days fight shy of renunciation. They put forward various ingenious arguments to prove that it is not necessary and that it is even useless. In fact, they go a step further and say that renunciation is harmful at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 6. False Prophets of the Modern Age
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 6. False Prophets of the Modern Age, The modern age is materialistic. The dominant note in the era of today is the materialistic sense of values. Materialism also has many forms. There is a materialism which says that this world alone is everything, that this world alone is worth having. Then there is the other kind of materialisma subtle materialism which says that God alone is not enough, that there must be the universe also besides Him and that you cannot totally ignore or neglect this universe. To know God alone, according to the votaries of this subtle doctrine, is imperfection; and perfection is to know the ultimate Reality of God as well as this world. They say that you must know God and you must know this universe also in the true sense at energyenhancement.org
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 7. Inner Renunciation Is Real Renunciation
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 4: Real Renunciation, 7. Inner Renunciation Is Real Renunciation, After all, where can you go to get away from the world? Even if you go to the Himalayan caves, you are still in the world. What really is needed is not so much the renunciation of the outward form of this world, is not so much the giving up of all outward desires. Renunciation does not mean renouncing merely a house, a beach, a garden or a piece of ground, or a mode of eating. Renunciation means completely renouncing worldliness. This is the secret of true renunciation at energyenhancement.org

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